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An analysis of publicly available viral genomes explores the evolutionary dynamics of host jumps and shows that humans are as much a source of viral spillover events to other animals as they are recipients.
Analysis of publicly available viral genomes shows that humans may give more viruses to animals than they give to us, and reveals evolutionary mechanisms underpinning viral host jumps.
Long-term experimental evolution in brewer’s yeast reveals how the transition to simple multicellularity can drive ecological divergence and maintain diversity.
Metatranscriptomic data from more than 2,000 mosquitoes of 81 species show that the composition of mosquito viral communities is determined more by host phylogeny than by climate and land-use factors, which will help to inform arbovirus surveillance.
A meta-transcriptomic analysis of the viromes of 2,438 mosquitoes of 81 species from across China identifies geographic hotspots of mosquito virus diversity, links between mosquito virome composition and host phylogeny, and a suggestion of long-distance mosquito dispersal.
Constructing a biosphere-scale model of the evolutionary history of metabolism based on >12,000 biochemical reactions, the authors show that a bottleneck in purine synthesis prevents metabolic expansion from geochemical precursors.
This Review identifies and describes interactions and feedbacks between biodiversity and diversity of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, and uses case studies from South America to illustrate the conservation and human benefits that can arise from protecting both biological and cultural diversity.
Invasive species may have impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning beyond the ecosystem they directly invade, by altering flows of biotic or abiotic materials. In this Review, the authors synthesize current evidence showing how invasive species have cross-ecosystem effects in three ways: by introducing novel spatial flows between ecosystems, or altering the quality or magnitude of spatial flows.
The Anthropocene has been rejected as a formal epoch by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Moving on and recognizing the deeper and more complex roots of human impacts on our planet will enable us to better, and more fairly, address them.
Analysing camera-trap data of 163 mammal species before and after the onset of COVID-19 lockdowns, the authors show that responses to human activity are dependent on the degree to which the landscape is modified by humans, with carnivores being especially sensitive.
Climate warming is triggering a steady increase in the mean thermal optimum of plant communities. We show that this increase reflects the dieback of cold-adapted species rather than the arrival of warmer-adapted species, with negative effects on local diversity and mutually cancelling effects on community heterogeneity.
Long-term experimental evolution and modelling show the evolution of small and large cluster-forming lineages of snowflake yeast that coexist over generations due to a trade-off between organismal size and competitiveness for dissolved oxygen.