Volume 1 Issue 11, November 2017

Our incomplete taxonomic knowledge impedes our attempts to protect biodiversity. A renaissance in the classification of species and their interactions is needed to guide conservation prioritization.

Reciprocal interactions between hosts, their symbionts and their oncobiota (cancer cell communities) are yet to be studied in detail. Considering malignant cells in addition to the holobiont perspective allows greater understanding of the processes governing both host phenotypes and cancer dynamics.

A survey of plant and animal sightings, feeding interactions and carbon cycling across 4.8 million hectares provides evidence for the role of multitrophic biodiversity and interactions in large-scale biogeochemical dynamics in the Amazon.

Emerging research suggests ancient Amazonians employed a range of cultivation practices to develop diversified diets, rich in both wild and domesticated plant and animal resources. Southwestern Amazonia is now understood as a major centre of plant domestication.

Comb jellies are remarkably different from other animals. Phylogenetic analyses of broadly sampled ctenophore transcriptome data provide additional evidence that they are the sister group to all other animals and reveal details of their evolutionary relationships to each other.

The immune system must distinguish self from non-self, but an imbalanced reaction in either direction can lead to immunopathology or severe infection. A new model incorporating host life history predicts which error will be more tolerated.

The quantitative genetics of reproduction and lifespan in a Utah population from the 1800s reveal no support for any of the three most prominent hypotheses invoked for why women live so long past menopause.

Host–microbiome interactions may have unique characteristics that are not completely captured by existing ecological and evolutionary theories. Here, the authors highlight potential pitfalls in applying these frameworks to the human microbiome.

Lake ecosystems have provided much of the empirical evidence for ecological resilience theory. Here, a more rigorous logical approach is called for when translating this research into management decisions.

Incorporating marine biomes into the planetary boundaries framework promotes integrated understanding of biophysical limits and earth system governance.

Despite recent IUCN downgrading of the giant panda’s conservation status from ‘endangered’ to ‘vulnerable’, new GIS and remote sensing data reveal panda habitats to cover less area and be more fragmented than previously.

Long-term grassland and forest experiments reveal that temporal strengthening in biodiversity functioning relationships is mainly driven by increases in functioning in high-diversity communities.

Reduced competition for water among species in mixed tropical plant communities mediates community resistance to drought: weaker competition permits growth maintenance in drought, whereas stronger competition inhibits it.

Here the concept of climate-change velocity is used to explore whether northward displacement of vegetation will keep pace with temperature under climate change. Remote sensing data suggest it will not, possibly due to resource availability.

Comparing 396 Northern Hemisphere woody plant species grown under identical conditions in a common garden, the authors show that eastern North American species have 11% shorter vegetation periods than their European and East Asian relatives.

Ecological interaction networks may fall on a continuum between mutualism and antagonism. Here, the authors show that community robustness increases when both the beneficial and detrimental effects of parrots feeding on plants is taken into account.

A high-diversity Amazonian system reveals the influence of mammalian diversity on the carbon cycle, mediated through vertebrate feeding events.

The global distribution of nearly all extant reptile species reveals richness patterns that differ spatially from that of other taxa. Conservation prioritization should specifically consider reptile distributions, particularly lizards and turtles.

Ecosystem accounts quantify trade-offs between the economy and the environment. Here, the authors apply this approach to a regional case study of native forest use to show how it can be used to inform policy about complex land management decisions.

4,000-year-old phytoliths (plant microfossils) from the Monte Castelo shell mound (southwestern Amazonia) provide evidence for an independent rice domestication event in the Americas.

Cetaceans show a similar increase in brain size as is seen in human evolution. Here, this increase is shown to be linked to an expansion in the social and ecological niche.

The ability to cope with environmental variability is thought to be a major driver of brain-size evolution. Here, the authors show that cognitive capacity in birds may instead have pre-dated and facilitated the colonization of variable habitats.

The reverse Krebs cycle is a potential primordial anabolic pathway central to biochemistry. Here, the authors show that more than half of the cycle can be promoted by metals and metal ions without enzymes.

Basic anatomical patterns are conserved in chordates. Here, the authors show mid-embryonic conservation during vertebrates’ development and evolutionary constraints introduced by recruitment of mid-embryonic programmes to later stages of development.

The evolution of appendicular muscles in bony fishes and cartilaginous fishes remains unclear. Here, the authors show that migratory muscle precursor cells, known from bony fishes, are also present in catsharks.

Newly sequenced transcriptomes are combined with existing data to establish Ctenophora as the sister group to all other animals and suggest a radiation around 350 Ma as well as multiple transitions from a pelagic to a benthic lifestyle.

Genome of the tobacco cutworm, Spodoptera litura, which is one of the most widespread and destructive agricultural pests in tropical and subtropical Asia.

Ecological and evolutionary processes shape the phenotypic composition of populations. Mesocosm experiments with threespine sticklebacks show how the interactions between phenotype, population density and environment determine evolutionary trajectories.

Immune systems face a trade-off between sensitivity and specificity when challenged by pathogens. Here, the authors use epidemiological tools to explore the evolution of optimal immune discrimination in relation to life-history strategy.

Using a historical dataset, Moorad and Walling investigate possible selection for post-reproductive lifespan in humans, finding indirect selection favouring early-life fitness in both sexes, but none in females over 50.