Articles in 2017

A mathematical model coupling malaria epidemiology and socioeconomic–demographic factors related to land-use change identifies the different kinds of malaria dynamics that arise early on with land-use change.

Isolates of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii adapted to a decade of chronic warming in outdoor mesocosms have higher competitive fitness than ambient controls, due to greater photosynthetic capacity and reduced susceptibility to photoinhibition

Analysis of multiple species of sponge-dwelling, snapping shrimp reveals pair-forming, communal and eusocial species, suggestive of evolution of eusociality via a ‘family-centred model’, paralleling insects and vertebrates.

The evolutionary origin of the enzyme-catalysed Krebs cycle is unclear. Here, the authors identify non-enzymatic intermediates that replicate key elements of the cycle, suggesting that inorganic catalysts may have driven the origin of metabolic processes.

Domesticated animals are great models to understand how diversity is generated. Here, the authors show that patterns of cranial shape variation in domestic pigeons mirror cranial variation in birds in general, suggesting that selection on conserved developmental mechanisms can generate tremendous diversity.

Comparative transcriptomic analysis of mitochondria-related organelles across Metamonada, a group of anaerobic microbial parasites, identifies a potentially new class of organelle in which ATP and hydrogen production are decoupled.

Tracking vegetation change in sub-Saharan Africa between 1992 and 2011, the authors reveal contrasting patterns in woody cover between drylands and humid zones, with decreases in both areas associated with high human population growth.

The distinctive mammalian middle ear evolved by separation of the primary jaw joint from the mandible, requiring breakdown of Meckel’s cartilage. Here, genetic and pharmacological manipulation of mice and opossums is used to mimic transitional forms found in Mesozoic mammals and gain insights into middle ear evolution.

Terrestrial animals can be classified into distinct biogeographic regions, but less is known about what shapes these global boundaries. Here, the authors identify geological and climatic factors that determine the separation of realms through time.

Use of public funding for conservation of resurrected species would lead to fewer extant species that could be conserved, and consequent net biodiversity loss.

Restoring degraded food webs is a major conservation challenge and different approaches have been used. Here, modelling is used to show that restoring species together rather than sequentially leads to faster and less variable ecosystem recovery.

As populations evolve in a constant environment, the rate of adaptation decreases. Here, experimental E. coli populations are used to show that global epistasis reduces the effect size of beneficial mutations as evolution proceeds.

A field study of young trees shows that complementarity among tree crowns in canopy space is a mechanism linking biodiversity with ecosystem productivity, and as such may contribute to diversity-enhanced productivity in forests.

Higher-order interactions (HOIs) are often assumed to be negligible in natural communities. Here, the authors present a framework for incorporating HOIs into diversity models and show that their inclusion can dramatically improve explanatory power.

Genomic data from over 100 populations of Timema stick insects are used to show the transition from an early phase of speciation involving localized genetic regions to later stages involving genome-wide differentiation.

Living in a harsh environment is linked to breeding in cooperative groups, but which is cause and which is effect? Here, a bird phylogeny is used to show that, contrary to previous assumption, cooperative breeders are more likely to colonize harsh environments.

Analysis of time-series abundance trends from more than a thousand local populations across Europe reveals a consistent impact of temperature on terrestrial communities, but variable impacts on freshwater and marine realms.

Segmental duplications in the genome are regions with the potential for the evolution of phenotypic novelties, but their cataloguing has been technically difficult. Here, the evolution and function of human duplications is characterized.

Evolutionary sexual conflict often occurs after copulation within the female body, allowing the female to respond flexibly to the male strategy. Here, theoretical results show that this female plasticity reduces levels of sexual conflict and prevents runaway selection.

Certain mutations are characteristic of specific lineages across the phylogeny of birds, reptiles and mammals. Here, protein structural information is used to separate out such mutations that are adaptive from those that compensate changes at other sites.