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Genome of the tobacco cutworm, Spodoptera litura, which is one of the most widespread and destructive agricultural pests in tropical and subtropical Asia.
Immune systems face a trade-off between sensitivity and specificity when challenged by pathogens. Here, the authors use epidemiological tools to explore the evolution of optimal immune discrimination in relation to life-history strategy.
Basic anatomical patterns are conserved in chordates. Here, the authors show mid-embryonic conservation during vertebrates’ development and evolutionary constraints introduced by recruitment of mid-embryonic programmes to later stages of development.
Comparing 396 Northern Hemisphere woody plant species grown under identical conditions in a common garden, the authors show that eastern North American species have 11% shorter vegetation periods than their European and East Asian relatives.
Ecosystem accounts quantify trade-offs between the economy and the environment. Here, the authors apply this approach to a regional case study of native forest use to show how it can be used to inform policy about complex land management decisions.
Ecological and evolutionary processes shape the phenotypic composition of populations. Mesocosm experiments with threespine sticklebacks show how the interactions between phenotype, population density and environment determine evolutionary trajectories.
Theory predicts that competing species should fill niche space, but empirical evidence is lacking. Here, the authors reconcile theory and data by showing that niche packing depends on whether regulating factors are substitutable or not.
Trace fossils from the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition of Brazil are interpreted as the remains of burrows made by a nematoid-like organism moving through sediment: these organisms are interpreted as the oldest known fossil meiofaunal bilaterians.
The cnidarian endoderm has been considered homologous to the bilaterian endoderm and mesoderm. Here, a gut-like ectoderm is revealed in a sea anemone, corresponding to the bilaterian endoderm, supporting an alternative model of germ layer homology.
Brain and skull development are intimately related across tetrapods. Here, the authors show a close relationship between brain and skull roof across evolutionary transitions and ontogenetic stages of reptiles.
A large, lobe-finned fish from the Late Devonian of China disrupts previously accepted stem-tetrapod phylogeny and reveals parallel evolution within the lineage.
Global patterns of upper-ocean plankton phenology are described and found to vary strongly by latitude and productivity regime, with insolation having a globally overarching role.
The genetic architecture underlying rapid phenotypic changes remains largely unknown. Here, the authors show that genes with an intermediate degree of pleiotropy have the highest rate of adaptive evolution in Arabidopsis thaliana.
Female common cuckoos often make a hawk-like call after parasitizing a host’s clutch. Here, field experiments show that this call increases the chances of parasitic success by diverting host parents’ attention.
Phrygana scrubland flowers display integrated, predictive patterns of scent emissions (volatile emissions) and colour (corolla reflectance spectra). This phenotypic integration is consistent with the sensory abilities and perceptual biases of bees.
Ranges of species overlap predict chromosome inversion differences between closely related passerine birds, suggesting that inversions have the selective advantage of suppressing recombination when hybridization occurs.
Direct and cascading land-use effects alter biomass and species richness of taxa across trophic levels ranging from microorganisms to birds in a multi-taxon research initiative in Sumatra, Indonesia.
DNA methylation patterns are studied in five diverse human populations. The evolutionary stability of DNA methylation in humans is found to be much greater than that observed previously in plants.