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The genome of the extinct thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger, has been sequenced from a 109-year-old museum specimen. The sequence resolves the phylogenetic placement of the species and reveals details of convergent evolution between the thylacine and eutherian canines.
The US beef industry is a major contributor of greenhouse gases and is commonly regarded as unsustainable at current levels. A new study models a system in which sustainability could be increased by subsistence on grass and agricultural by-products, prompting the question, ‘what are the limits of sustainable livestock production in the US’?
The application of a species-extinction model allows improved determination of the timing of phenological events, and increases the breadth of data types that can be mined and compared in phenology research.
Emerging research suggests ancient Amazonians employed a range of cultivation practices to develop diversified diets, rich in both wild and domesticated plant and animal resources. Southwestern Amazonia is now understood as a major centre of plant domestication.
Phylogenetic data infer temporal clustering of immigration and re-diversification of Australian lizards and snakes, suggesting that climatic and geological changes may have precipitated re-assemblies of this vertebrate group.
A survey of plant and animal sightings, feeding interactions and carbon cycling across 4.8 million hectares provides evidence for the role of multitrophic biodiversity and interactions in large-scale biogeochemical dynamics in the Amazon.
The quantitative genetics of reproduction and lifespan in a Utah population from the 1800s reveal no support for any of the three most prominent hypotheses invoked for why women live so long past menopause.
Comb jellies are remarkably different from other animals. Phylogenetic analyses of broadly sampled ctenophore transcriptome data provide additional evidence that they are the sister group to all other animals and reveal details of their evolutionary relationships to each other.
The immune system must distinguish self from non-self, but an imbalanced reaction in either direction can lead to immunopathology or severe infection. A new model incorporating host life history predicts which error will be more tolerated.
A focus on sea anemones throws the classic concept of germ layer homology on its head, as cnidarians are found to possess the gene expression programmes for three, rather than two, germ layers.
Trace fossils from the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition of Brazil point to the existence of bioengineering meiofaunal animals prior to the ‘Cambrian Explosion’.
A randomized controlled trial of a ‘payments for ecosystem services’ scheme in Uganda finds a significant reduction in deforestation, with cost-of-carbon savings greater than the price of the payments.
Across land, air and water, larger animals are generally faster, but only up to a certain point. A new study provides a unifying explanation for why this might be so.
The remarkable diversity in sperm morphology and performance in zebra finches is generated by a supergene on a sex chromosome and maintained by a heterozygous advantage.
