A transcriptomic analysis of 8 tissues across 20 bilaterian species reveals that ancestral gains of tissue-specific gene expression were closely associated with whole-genome duplications in vertebrates and the diversification of ancestral tissue types.

We evaluate the drivers of intensification traps — the combined loss of biodiversity and crop production that results from too-intensive agriculture. Our results reveal the conditions under which these lose–lose situations emerge and highlight the strong ramifications of disregarding biodiversity in agricultural management.

The Anthropocene has been rejected as a formal epoch by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Moving on and recognizing the deeper and more complex roots of human impacts on our planet will enable us to better, and more fairly, address them.

Sauropod specialist Verónica Díez Díaz retains a fondness for an armoured giant.

Most diversity–synchrony–stability studies are conducted on a single trophic level. A multitrophic assessment of algae–herbivore assemblages across five long-term tropical and temperate marine system datasets demonstrates the varied and complex nature of diversity–synchrony–stability relationships.

The authors build recombination maps of marine, freshwater and hybrid sticklebacks at a scale of 3.8 kb, examining differences in recombination rates and evolutionary implications in populations undergoing adaptive divergence. They find evidence of recombination suppression in hybrids and reduced fitness of recombinants in a natural hybrid zone.

A 15-year experiment at rocky intertidal sites on the northwestern US coast documents kelp, barnacle and mussel abundances before, during and after a multi-year marine heatwave and an outbreak of sea star wasting disease, including changes to communities that did not recover after return to baseline conditions.

Niche contiguity occurs when only current climatic conditions are used to estimate the niche of a species, ignoring potential niche expansion under climate change. An assessment of 24,944 species shows that nearly half exhibit niche contiguity, which can lead to overestimates of biodiversity loss under climate change.

Analysing strontium isotope ratios for individuals of 18 bovid and equid species dating to the Last Glacial Period (115–11.7 ka), the authors find that 16 of these species lack definitive evidence of migration, even those species that are long-distance migrants today.

An analysis of fish and macroinvertebrate communities in European rivers over 32 years shows that inland ship traffic is associated with declining taxonomic richness, diversity and trait richness and with increased taxonomic evenness.

Recent media coverage gives the impression that the very idea of tackling climate change by slowing tropical deforestation is a scam — this is not true and the idea could harm forests.

Achieving inclusive and sustainable ocean economies, long-term climate resilience and effective biodiversity conservation requires urgent and strategic actions from local to global scales. We discuss fundamental changes that are needed to allow equitable policy across these three domains.

Sauropod specialist Verónica Díez Díaz retains a fondness for an armoured giant.