Ecology and evolution

Featured articles

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  New estimates indicate that males are not larger than females in most mammal species

  The narrative that larger males are the norm in mammals has predominated for over a century. An analysis of body mass dimorphism across mammals, sampling families by their species richness, indicates that males are not larger than females in most mammals and that monomorphism is almost as prevalent.

  • Kaia J. Tombak
  • Severine B. S. W. Hex
  • Daniel I. Rubenstein

  ArticleOpen Access12 Mar 2024 Nature Communications
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  Systematic review of the uncertainty of coral reef futures under climate change

  Global warming targets are considered inadequate to protect coral reefs, but this prognosis is based on models with similar approaches. This systematic review of studies that project coral responses to climate change found that divergent modelling methodologies had discrepancies in coral reef outcomes, and that those used for climate change syntheses may project more severe consequences than other methods.

  • Shannon G. Klein
  • Cassandra Roch
  • Carlos M. Duarte

  ArticleOpen Access12 Mar 2024 Nature Communications
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  Warming underpins community turnover in temperate freshwater and terrestrial communities

  Predicting species responses to climate change may be complicated by the influence of other factors. Here, the authors report that warming is linked to terrestrial and freshwater community shifts towards warm-adapted species overall, but body size, thermal niche breadth, species richness and baseline temperature modulate the trends.

  • Imran Khaliq
  • Christian Rixen
  • Anita Narwani

  ArticleOpen Access1 Mar 2024 Nature Communications

• The bioethics of skeletal anatomy collections from India

  Millions of skeletal remains from South Asia were exported in red markets (the underground economy of human tissues/organs) to educational institutions globally for over a century. It is time to recognize the personhood of the people who were systematically made into anatomical objects and acknowledge the scientific racism in creating and continuing to use them.

  • Sabrina C. Agarwal

  CommentOpen Access24 Feb 2024 Nature Communications
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  Convergent evolutionary patterns of heterostyly across angiosperms support the pollination-precision hypothesis

  Heterostylous plants have floral morphs bearing female and male sex organs at reciprocal heights. Here the authors show that, across angiosperms, heterostyly is associated with tubed flowers pollinated by long-tongued insects, supporting the Darwinian hypothesis about precise pollen transfer between heterostylous morphs.

  • Violeta Simón-Porcar
  • Marcial Escudero
  • Juan Arroyo

  ArticleOpen Access9 Feb 2024 Nature Communications
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  Predator selection on phenotypic variability of cryptic and aposematic moths

  Selection is expected to act differently on aposematic and cryptic species. Analysis of wing images revealed that camouflaged moths exhibit higher wing pattern variability than aposematic moths, supporting the theory that camouflaged species display more variability, consistent with anti-predator strategy.

  • Ossi Nokelainen
  • Sanni A. Silvasti
  • Johanna Mappes

  ArticleOpen Access23 Feb 2024 Nature Communications
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  Marine protected areas promote stability of reef fish communities under climate warming

  Protected areas are meant to defend species from direct exploitation and habitat loss, but they might also reduce climate change impacts. Here, the authors show that marine protected areas mitigate the impacts of marine heatwaves on reef fish communities.

  • Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi
  • Amanda E. Bates
  • Eneko Aspillaga

  ArticleOpen Access28 Feb 2024 Nature Communications
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  Removal of detritivore sea cucumbers from reefs increases coral disease

  Coral diseases are commonly sediment-associated. Here the authors conduct a field experiment in French Polynesia and Palmyra Atoll showing that removal of sea cucumbers that clean reef sediments while feeding increases coral disease.

  • Cody S. Clements
  • Zoe A. Pratte
  • Mark E. Hay

  ArticleOpen Access26 Feb 2024 Nature Communications
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  Predatory protists reduce bacteria wilt disease incidence in tomato plants

  Soil organisms are affected by the presence of predatory protists. Here, the authors predatory protists are negatively associated with bacteria wilt disease incidence in tomato plants and that fertilisation enhances the abundance of predatory protists

  • Sai Guo
  • Zixuan Jiao
  • Stefan Geisen

  ArticleOpen Access27 Jan 2024 Nature Communications
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  Scattered tree death contributes to substantial forest loss in California

  Tree mortality due to climate change and other disturbances is on the rise. Here, the authors use high-resolution remote sensing data, ground observations and deep learning to quantify individual dead trees and potential drivers across California in the year 2020, encompassing 91.4 million dead trees.

  • Yan Cheng
  • Stefan Oehmcke
  • Stéphanie Horion

  ArticleOpen Access20 Jan 2024 Nature Communications
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  Conserved chromatin and repetitive patterns reveal slow genome evolution in frogs

  Frogs are an ancient and ecologically diverse group of amphibians that include important model systems. This paper reports genome sequences of multiple frog species, revealing remarkable stability of frog chromosomes and centromeres, along with highly recombinogenic extended subtelomeres.

  • Jessen V. Bredeson
  • Austin B. Mudd
  • Daniel S. Rokhsar

  ArticleOpen Access17 Jan 2024 Nature Communications
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  Mesozoic evolution of cicadas and their origins of vocalization and root feeding

  The evolution of cicadas is unclear due to a lack of understanding of transitional features. Here, the authors assess adult and nymph mid-Cretaceous cicadas, to elucidate their morphological evolution and identify evidence of the origins of cicada sound-generation and subterranean lifestyle.

  • Hui Jiang
  • Jacek Szwedo
  • Bo Wang

  ArticleOpen Access8 Jan 2024 Nature Communications
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  Steeper size spectra with decreasing phytoplankton biomass indicate strong trophic amplification and future fish declines

  Using a global synthesis of size spectra data from pelagic food webs, this study finds that size structure is not driven by temperature as often suggested, but by the nutrient status of the system. This means that modest phytoplankton declines projected for key fishing grounds at mid-latitudes will amplify into substantial reductions in the supportable biomass of fish.

  • Angus Atkinson
  • Axel G. Rossberg
  • Constantin Frangoulis

  ArticleOpen Access9 Jan 2024 Nature Communications
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  More than 17,000 tree species are at risk from rapid global change

  Tree species may be vulnerable to multiple global change factors. Here, the authors find that more than 17 thousand tree species are exposed to increasing anthropogenic threats, including many species classified as data-deficient in the IUCN Red List.

  • Coline C. F. Boonman
  • Josep M. Serra-Diaz
  • Jens-Christian Svenning

  ArticleOpen Access2 Jan 2024 Nature Communications
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  Pervasive associations between dark septate endophytic fungi with tree root and soil microbiomes across Europe

  While mycorrhizal-plant interactions are widely studied, other root symbionts may also be ecologically important. Here, the authors show that dark septate endophytes are a strong predictor of rhizosphere and associated soil microbiomes in broad-leaved tree across Europe.

  • Tarquin Netherway
  • Jan Bengtsson
  • Mohammad Bahram

  ArticleOpen Access2 Jan 2024 Nature Communications
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  Undiscovered bird extinctions obscure the true magnitude of human-driven extinction waves

  The true number of human-driven bird extinctions is likely larger than we think. Here, the authors combine recorded extinctions with estimates from the fossil record to suggest that ~1400 bird species have gone extinct since the Late Pleistocene.

  • Rob Cooke
  • Ferran Sayol
  • Søren Faurby

  ArticleOpen Access19 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Worldwide Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene population declines in extant megafauna are associated with Homo sapiens expansion rather than climate change

  Extinction of megafauna is a defining trend of the last 50,000 years. Here, the authors use genomic data to infer population histories of 139 extant megafauna, suggesting that their population decline is better explained by Homo sapiens expansion than by climate change.

  • Juraj Bergman
  • Rasmus Ø. Pedersen
  • Jens-Christian Svenning

  ArticleOpen Access24 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
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  Artificial light at night is a top predictor of bird migration stopover density

  Twice a year, billions of nocturnal avian migrants traverse landscapes that are changing through natural and anthropogenic forces. Here, the authors identify light pollution as an influential predictor of bird migration stopover density across the USA.

  • Kyle G. Horton
  • Jeffrey J. Buler
  • Geoffrey M. Henebry

  ArticleOpen Access4 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Diversification of flowering plants in space and time

  Global spatiotemporal patterns of plant diversification are unclear. Here, the authors use a genus-level phylogeny and global distribution data for 14,244 flowering plant genera, finding a negative correlation between spatial patterns of diversification and genus diversity.

  • Dimitar Dimitrov
  • Xiaoting Xu
  • Zhiheng Wang

  ArticleOpen Access22 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
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  Functional diversity of sharks and rays is highly vulnerable and supported by unique species and locations worldwide

  Elasmobranchs (sharks, rays and skates) are among the most threatened marine vertebrates, yet their global functional diversity remains largely unknown. This study uses a trait dataset of over 1,000 species to assess elasmobranch functional diversity and compare it against other previously studied biodiversity facets to identify global conservation priorities.

  • Catalina Pimiento
  • Camille Albouy
  • Fabien Leprieur

  ArticleOpen Access24 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
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  Ecological forecasts for marine resource management during climate extremes

  Forecasting ecology can support proactive decision-making in the face of uncertain environmental conditions. Using case studies on whale entanglement and sea turtle bycatch, this study showcases the capacity for existing management tools to transition to a forecast configuration and provide skilful forecasts up to 12 months in advance.

  • Stephanie Brodie
  • Mercedes Pozo Buil
  • Michael G. Jacox

  ArticleOpen Access5 Dec 2023 Nature Communications
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  Tree mortality during long-term droughts is lower in structurally complex forest stands

  Tree height and forest structure may both determine forest responses to drought. Here, the authors analyse highresolution airborne LIDAR data on <1 million trees during the 2012-2016 California drought and find that presence of both tall trees and structurally complex stands reduces tree mortality under drought.

  • Qin Ma
  • Yanjun Su
  • Qinghua Guo

  ArticleOpen Access17 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
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  Experimental mining plumes and ocean warming trigger stress in a deep pelagic jellyfish

  The deep ocean is increasingly subjected to human-induced environmental change, but little is known about species-specific responses to stressors, including those from deep sea mining. This study shows that elevated temperatures and simulated sediment plumes cause physiological stress in a cosmopolitan deep-sea jellyfish, confirming the detrimental impact of seabed mining.

  • Vanessa I. Stenvers
  • Helena Hauss
  • Henk-Jan T. Hoving

  ArticleOpen Access21 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
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  Planktonic microbial signatures of sinking particle export in the open ocean’s interior

  Sinking of organic particles to the deep seafloor is fundamental to ocean carbon cycling. Here, the authors investigate prokaryotic communities in sinking and suspended particles, identifying depth-specific signatures of particle export and carbon cycling processes.

  • Fuyan Li
  • Andrew Burger
  • Edward F. DeLong

  ArticleOpen Access7 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
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  The radiation continuum and the evolution of frog diversity

  The contribution of adaptive radiation to species and phenotypic diversity within major clades is not clear. Here, the authors use morphological and phylogenetic data for 1226 species of frogs, finding that less than half of families resemble adaptive radiation, but that adaptive radiation contributed to 75% of diversity.

  • Gen Morinaga
  • John J. Wiens
  • Daniel S. Moen

  ArticleOpen Access4 Nov 2023 Nature Communications
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  The rise of predation in Jurassic lampreys

  Here, the authors report two fossil lampreys, jawless vertebrates, from the Middle-Late Jurassic fossil Lagerstätte Yanliao Biota of North China. These large lampreys have an extensively toothed feeding apparatus resembling the Southern Hemisphere pouched lamprey, suggesting an ancestral predatory habit and southern origin of living lampreys.

  • Feixiang Wu
  • Philippe Janvier
  • Chi Zhang

  ArticleOpen Access31 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
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  Soundscapes and deep learning enable tracking biodiversity recovery in tropical forests

  Cost-effective biodiversity monitoring through time is important for evidence-based conservation. Here, the authors show that automated bioacoustics monitoring can be used to track tropical forest recovery from agricultural abandonment, suggesting its use to assess restoration outcomes.

  • Jörg Müller
  • Oliver Mitesser
  • Zuzana Buřivalová

  ArticleOpen Access17 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
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  Impact of global climate cooling on Ordovician marine biodiversity

  The largest increase in marine biodiversity in Earth’s history took place nearly 500 million years ago during a geological period called the Ordovician. This event is well documented based on paleontological data, but its causes are debated. This study uses a numerical model to demonstrate that global climate cooling may have triggered biodiversification at that time.

  • Daniel Eliahou Ontiveros
  • Gregory Beaugrand
  • Alexandre Pohl

  ArticleOpen Access10 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
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  The positive effect of plant diversity on soil carbon depends on climate

  Soil carbon content is positively related with plant diversity in global grasslands, and this relationship is particularly strong in warm and arid climates. Plant diversity is related to soil carbon via the quality of organic matter.

  • Marie Spohn
  • Sumanta Bagchi
  • Laura Yahdjian

  ArticleOpen Access19 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
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  Multidimensional responses of grassland stability to eutrophication

  Anthropogenic eutrophication is a driver of plant community shifts in many grassland ecosystems. Here, the authors use data from a globally distributed experiment to assess how nutrient addition affects multiple facets of grassland ecological stability and their correlations.

  • Qingqing Chen
  • Shaopeng Wang
  • Yann Hautier

  ArticleOpen Access11 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
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  Bayesian analyses indicate bivalves did not drive the downfall of brachiopods following the Permian-Triassic mass extinction

  Brachiopod-bivalve switch in diversity dominance after the Palaeozoic era is a textbook example of clade replacement, and its mechanism has long been debated. Here, new Bayesian analyses suggest that diversification turnover between the two was not driven by biotic competition but the end-Permian extinction.

  • Zhen Guo
  • Joseph T. Flannery-Sutherland
  • Zhong-Qiang Chen

  ArticleOpen Access9 Sep 2023 Nature Communications
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  Mesophotic coral bleaching associated with changes in thermocline depth

  Rising global temperatures cause widespread bleaching of shallow coral reefs but mesophotic reefs at depths over 30 metres are thought to be sheltered by cooler waters. Here, at sites in the Chagos Archipelago, the authors show bleaching of corals at depths of 90 metres, which might be due to warm surface waters being pushed deeper by the ocean’s response to the Indian Ocean Dipole.

  • Clara Diaz
  • Nicola L. Foster
  • Phil Hosegood

  ArticleOpen Access16 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
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  Ecological mechanisms and current systems shape the modular structure of the global oceans’ prokaryotic seascape

  This study investigated how ecological mechanisms and large-scale oceanic current systems shape prokaryotic microbial community patterns. They show that prokaryotic communities in the upper 200 m of the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, the southern Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea have a modular structure of co-occurring taxa with similar environmental preferences.

  • Felix Milke
  • Jens Meyerjürgens
  • Meinhard Simon

  ArticleOpen Access2 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
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  Genomic adaptation of giant viruses in polar oceans

  This study examines the biogeography and functional gene repertoires of marine eukaryote-infecting large and giant DNA viruses. It shows a clear divide in the viral communities between polar and nonpolar environments, with recurrent evolutionary adaptations to the polar environment likely driven by alterations of their genomic functions.

  • Lingjie Meng
  • Tom O. Delmont
  • Hiroyuki Ogata

  ArticleOpen Access12 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
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  A latitudinal gradient in Darwin’s naturalization conundrum at the global scale for flowering plants

  Alien species could be either more or less likely to become naturalized where closely related species occur. This study reveals a global latitudinal pattern whereby successfully naturalized alien plants are more closely related to natives at higher latitudes, reinforced by human modification of the environment.

  • Shu-ya Fan
  • Qiang Yang
  • Mark van Kleunen

  ArticleOpen Access12 Oct 2023 Nature Communications
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  Composition of cetacean communities worldwide shapes their contribution to ocean nutrient cycling

  Cetaceans such as dolphins and whales contribute to the cycling of essential nutrients in the surface ocean through defecation. Using a bioenergetic modelling approach, this study shows that the contribution of different cetaceans is heterogeneous both in terms of quantity and in quality, as the nutrient cocktails they release reflect the physiology and ecology of each species.

  • Lola Gilbert
  • Tiphaine Jeanniard-du-Dot
  • Jérôme Spitz

  ArticleOpen Access19 Sep 2023 Nature Communications
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  Earthworms contribute significantly to global food production

  Earthworms contribute to plant growth. Here, Fonte et al. conduct a global meta-analysis and estimate that earthworms contribute to roughly 6.5% of global grain (maize, rice, wheat, barley) production and 2.3% of legume yields, equivalent to over 140 million metric tons annually.

  • Steven J. Fonte
  • Marian Hsieh
  • Nathaniel D. Mueller

  ArticleOpen Access26 Sep 2023 Nature Communications
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  Microbial growth under drought is confined to distinct taxa and modified by potential future climate conditions

  Climate change increases the frequency and intensity of drought events, affecting soil functions driven by microorganisms. Here, Metze et al. develop a method to estimate microbial growth rates in dry soils, and provide insights into the response of active microbes to drought today and in potential future climate conditions (high temperatures and CO2 levels).

  • Dennis Metze
  • Jörg Schnecker
  • Andreas Richter

  ArticleOpen Access22 Sep 2023 Nature Communications
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  Evolutionary dynamics of genome size and content during the adaptive radiation of Heliconiini butterflies

  The diverse Heliconius butterflies have evolved key innovations, including pollen feeding, and are a quintessential example of adaptive radiation. Using comparative genomics, Cicconardi et al. identify targets of selection at coding and non-coding loci during major ecological transitions in Heliconius.

  • Francesco Cicconardi
  • Edoardo Milanetti
  • Stephen H. Montgomery

  ArticleOpen Access12 Sep 2023 Nature Communications
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  Bat teeth illuminate the diversification of mammalian tooth classes

  Despite their key role in the evolution of mammals, the origin and diversification of tooth classes (incisors, canines, premolars and molars) remain relatively obscure. Here the authors use integrative approaches to explain the independent evolution and rapid diversification of two tooth classes, premolar and molars, in noctilionoid bats.

  • Alexa Sadier
  • Neal Anthwal
  • Karen E. Sears

  ArticleOpen Access22 Aug 2023 Nature Communications
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  Global analysis of ocean phytoplankton nutrient limitation reveals high prevalence of co-limitation

  Nutrient limitation is a key constraint on ocean productivity. Here, by analysing a compilation of field experiments spanning the global ocean, this study shows that increasing the number of different nutrients supplied significantly increases net phytoplankton growth, suggesting multiple nutrients are often approaching co-limiting levels.

  • Thomas J. Browning
  • C. Mark Moore

  ArticleOpen Access17 Aug 2023 Nature Communications
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  Genome mining shows that retroviruses are pervasively invading vertebrate genomes

  Ongoing retroviral invasion into vertebrates has been rarely documented. Here the authors have identified 412 endogenous retroviruses that are invading the genomes of over a hundred vertebrate species. This may be relevant to conservation of threatened species, zoonoses in the wild, and emerging infectious diseases in humans.

  • Jianhua Wang
  • Guan-Zhu Han

  ArticleOpen Access17 Aug 2023 Nature Communications
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  Patrilocality and hunter-gatherer-related ancestry of populations in East-Central Europe during the Middle Bronze Age

  By analysing 91 Bronze Age genomes from East-Central Europe, the authors discovered that Middle Bronze Age populations were formed by an admixture event involving hunter-gatherers and that the social structure of resulting population was primarily patrilocal.

  • Maciej Chyleński
  • Przemysław Makarowicz
  • Helena Malmström

  ArticleOpen Access1 Aug 2023 Nature Communications
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  Urbanisation generates multiple trait syndromes for terrestrial animal taxa worldwide

  Cities may host surprisingly diverse and functionally distinct biological communities. This global analysis on 5302 vertebrate and invertebrate species finds evidence of 4 trait syndromes in urban animal assemblages, modulated by spatial and geographic factors.

  • Amy K. Hahs
  • Bertrand Fournier
  • Marco Moretti

  ArticleOpen Access7 Aug 2023 Nature Communications
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  Comparative genomics reveals a unique nitrogen-carbon balance system in Asteraceae

  Asteraceae is the largest family of flowering plants. Here, the authors assemble the genomes of stem lettuce (within Asteraceae) and beach cabbage (within Goodeniaceae) for evolutionary genomics analyses and reveal the absence of the core regulatory gene of nitrogen and carbon assimilation in Asteraceae.

  • Fei Shen
  • Yajuan Qin
  • Xiaozeng Yang

  ArticleOpen Access20 Jul 2023 Nature Communications
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  Plant traits poorly predict winner and loser shrub species in a warming tundra biome

  Functional trait data could guide predictions of species responses to environmental change. Here, the authors show that winner and loser shrub species in the warming tundra biome overlap in trait space and may therefore be difficult to predict based on commonly measured traits.

  • Mariana García Criado
  • Isla H. Myers-Smith
  • Anna-Maria Virkkala

  ArticleOpen Access28 Jun 2023 Nature Communications