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Two long-term diversity manipulation experiments over an environmental gradient provide insights into how loss of biodiversity affects ecosystem functioning: the invariant consequences of biodiversity loss for multifunctionality; and the possibility that similar multifunctionality values across differing ecosystems may mask individual effects of biodiversity loss.
Biological responses to ocean acidification will depend on variation in tolerance and phenotypic plasticity over different timescales. This study of the spiny damselfish demonstrates the importance of parental variation and transgenerational effects in the response of fish to ocean acidification.
High-throughput metabarcoding of coral reef fish larvae from the Red Sea enables species-level reconstruction of the highly biodiverse larval community, and their spatio-temporal distribution and abundance.
A transcriptomic analysis of Plasmodium falciparum in infected children finds that parasites in areas of low transmission intensity invest more in transmission to new hosts (reproduction) and less in within-host replication (growth) than parasites in high-transmission areas.
Experiments with populations of great tits found that aposematic prey were avoided over cryptic species, not solely through individual experience, but based on observation of conspecifics’ experience tasting unpalatable prey.
The sequences of human β-globin orthologues from 15 deer species were determined and used in protein structural modelling to identify a sickling mechanism that differs from that seen in erythrocytes in human sickle-cell disease.
The ability of a species to adapt to climate change depends on its genetic diversity. Here, based on the geographic distribution of genetic variants associated with drought resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana, the authors predict the future genetic maladaptation of Central European populations.
Analysing >1 million river invertebrates from nine biogeographic regions, the authors show that functional trait diversity increases consistently as glacier cover decreases.
Combining data on sea-surface chlorophyll-a with a regional ocean model and diatom abundance from sediment grabs, the authors determine the strength of pelagic–benthic coupling across the George V region in East Antarctica.
The Tasmanian tiger is an extinct carnivorous marsupial. By sequencing the genome of a preserved specimen the authors show long-term population decline and reveal the genetic basis of the phenotypic convergence between Tasmanian tigers and canids.
A 30-year monitoring study of brown bears in Sweden documents the demographic impact of regulated hunting, which includes pronounced life history changes despite sustainable management.
Reconstructing forest extent in tropical Africa around 1900 based on empirical data from palaeo-proxies and historical maps, the authors show that deforestation rates have been substantially slower than suggested by modelled estimates alone.
Analysis of sedimentary DNA from ten European lakes reveals that over the past 100 years cyanobacterial communities have become compositionally and phylogenetically more similar, in line with homogenization of lake environmental conditions.
The US beef industry is regarded as environmentally unsustainable. Modelling a system where cattle subsist solely on grass and food industry by-products, the authors estimate that 45% of current production could be achieved without the use of any high quality cropland.
Dispersal and social behaviour co-evolve, yet their evolutionary consequences are unclear. Here, the authors show that linkage between the loci responsible for dispersal and social behaviour results in the emergence of social polymorphism.
Analysis of 65 grasslands worldwide from the Nutrient Network experiment reveals that plant communities with higher α- and β-diversity have higher levels of ecosystem multifunctionality, and that this effect is amplified across scales.
The widespread presence of somatic PIWI-interacting RNAs targeting transposable elements across the arthropod phylum suggests that this pathway was active in the last common ancestor of arthropods.
Mathematical modelling combined with activity-tracking data from 73 terrestrial carnivore species reveals positive scaling between body size and the proportion of active time devoted to foraging until around 5 kg, after which negative scaling occurs.
The authors sequence genomes of one nemertean and one phoronid and show that the two are closely related lophotrochozoans. Their data also support a common origin of bilaterian head patterning.
Here a large terrestrial plant species dataset reveals that in crossing continents, invasive plant species shift climatic niches much more commonly than previously thought.