Reviews & Analysis

New dates for Spanish rock art open up the possibility that Neanderthals were artists, but further evidence is required before we can be certain.

Horizontal gene transfer events — the exchange of genetic material between organisms — can be used to date the timeline of evolution of microorganisms that lack a fossil record.

An audit of recent research on the scales of data collection in ecology highlights the field’s data limitations, which may hinder progress in linking processes across scales.

Human development is restricting animal movement within anthropogenic landscapes, with consequences for population- and ecosystem-level processes.

A conceptual model linking drivers of change to biodiversity loss identifies major gaps in the Aichi targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and provides a mechanism for developing new indicators.

Palaeoproteomics is an emerging field at the intersection of evolutionary biology, archaeology and anthropology. This Perspective provides a best practice primer for researchers, reviewers and editors.

A focus on the sharp edge of manufactured stone flakes reveals increasing control and efficiency over a 2-million-year dataset, and fosters replicable, standardized methods in lithic analysis. But scaling this method up to more complex stone tools may require further thought.

Genomes from hunter-gatherers dated to around 9,000 years ago reveal two early postglacial migrations into Scandinavia: an initial migration from the south and a second coastal migration north of the Scandinavian ice sheet.

Forests that are free of significant human-induced degradation should be accorded urgent conservation priority, it is argued, owing to evidence that they hold particular value for biodiversity, carbon sequestration and storage, water provision, and the maintenance of indigenous cultures and human health.

A duplicated gene in Drosophila melanogaster showcases an example of how sexual antagonism can be resolved.

The concept of ecosystem multifunctionality has emerged from two distinct research fields. In this Perspective, the authors reconcile these views by redefining multifunctionality at two levels that will be relevant for both fundamental and applied researchers.

Open data is increasing rapidly, but data sets may be scattered among many repositories. Here, the authors present an overview of the open data landscape in ecology and evolutionary biology, and highlight key points to consider when reusing data.

The genome of the Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa), a parthenogenetic fish species, shows little genetic decay and a high degree of diversity. The genetic health of this asexual vertebrate is surprising given the accumulation of genomic damage that is expected to follow from asexual reproduction.

Individual differences in behaviour have been of great interest to behavioural geneticists in recent years. This Review examines the genomic tools available to study such differences, and the pitfalls to avoid.

Allowing biogeographical data to evolve at varying rates on a globe, not a plane, reveals new insights into the origin and dispersal of dinosaurs. The method could also be applied to manifold organisms, from humans to influenza viruses.

Control of gene activity through transcriptional regulatory elements is a major driving force in human evolution. A new study measures nascent transcription directly and shows that sequence, activity and three-dimensional organization of transcriptional regulatory elements all contribute to the evolution of gene activity within primate CD4⁺ T cells.

A dataset that links geographical occurrences, phylogenies, fossils and climate reconstructions for more than 10,000 vertebrate species reveals accelerated rates of climate niche evolution in warm-blooded animals.

For natural ecosystems, the speed of climate change is what matters most. If stratospheric climate geoengineering is deployed but not sustained, its impacts on species and communities could be far worse than the damage averted.

The earliest animal diversification has been associated with increased oxygenation. Here an alternative model is proposed: hypoxia-inducible transcription factors gave animals unprecedented control of cell stemness that allowed them to cope with fluctuating oxygen concentrations.

Until recently, human dispersals out of Africa and into the Levant early in Marine Isotope Stage 5 (around 126–74 ka) were characterized as a precursor to a later, more successful out of Africa event. Recently discovered archaeological evidence from Asia challenges this story and helps challenge what we see as dispersal success.