Perspectives

This Perspective uses a social–ecological systems framework to make recommendations for global targets that capture the interdependencies of biodiversity, ecosystem services and sustainable development to inform the Convention on Biological Diversity post-2020 process and the future of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

This Perspective discusses the microbial metacommunity of animal social groups, and the social and environmental forces that shape it at different levels, from individuals to species.

Urbanization can cause rapid evolutionary responses among city-dwelling species but evolution is rarely accounted for in urban conservation efforts. Here, the authors outline a framework for integrating evolutionary principles into the management of urban biodiversity.

The postdoctoral experience is in need of reform. Here the authors outline concrete steps that institutions, postdocs and mentors can take to improve the landscape.

Ecosystem restoration needs to incorporate network and evolutionary approaches to focus on long-term recovery of the complexity of ecosystems.

Anthropogenic sensory pollutants, such as noise, light and chemicals, are affecting biodiversity. This Perspective uses an understanding of animal sensory ecology to explore how these impacts can be mitigated.

A decentralized community is introduced that aims to standardize and integrate species trait data across organismal groups, based on principles of Open Science.

Expert elicitation methods identify a set of essential ecological variables that may be used to guide effective conservation and management of the deep sea.

Time lags in the response of species to conservation interventions may mask success. In this Perspective, the authors explore the effects of time lags on biodiversity indicators using both theory and empirical data.

The authors hypothesize an ancestral condition of indiscriminate sexual behaviours directed towards all sexes, rather than a state in which different-sex sexual behaviour is a baseline and same-sex sexual behaviour is anomalous.

Expert elicitation methods identify seven priority themes and questions for the field of microbiome research in coastal marine ecosystems.

The authors evaluate the reproducibility of ecological niche modelling literature and provide a checklist of crucial items for more reproducible ecological niche models.

Transnational corporations control large proportions of the industries and commodities that directly and indirectly impact the environment. Here, the authors discuss the problems, but also potential benefits, of such consolidation for sustainability.

Across pre-Columbian Amazonia, the relationship between cultural transitions and climatic trends is assessed.

Parasites’ biological rhythms coordinate their activities with both the external environment and the biotic environment of their host. Here, the authors discuss biological rhythms of both host and parasite from an ecological and evolutionary perspective.

Changes in species distribution and abundance can be captured using essential biodiversity variables (EBVs). Here, the authors synthesize the data and approaches needed for EBVs that allow monitoring of populations in both space and time.

Integrating fossil and geochemical records challenges the notion that the Ediacaran and Cambrian worlds were markedly distinct and places biotic and environmental change within a longer-term narrative.

Conceptualising the Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor (LECA) is essential for unravelling early evolution, yet there is disagreement over what form LECA took. Here the authors examine four potential forms of LECA: an abstract phylogenetic state, a single cell, a population, and a consortium of organisms.

Evolutionary change in trait variation has the potential to affect the ecosystem tipping points that are of concern in a world undergoing anthropogenic change.

Climate change is spatially asymmetrical and so will alter the behaviour of generalist consumer species, affecting food webs in two ways. Movement into novel ecosystems will affect the topology of food webs, while changes within an ecosystem will affect interaction strengths.