Featured
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Editorial |
Warning from the tropics: rainforests are losing their ability to help humanity
New analysis of carbon from tropical forests suggests the need for yet faster emissions reductions.
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Editorial |
The United Nations must get its new biodiversity targets right
Global goals to reduce biodiversity loss will be revised this year. All eyes are on China, which must ensure the new targets are measurable and meaningful.
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Career Column |
From conference traveller to tree planter
Gabriel Waksman found a personal way to overcome his eco-anxiety and combat his carbon emissions — by planting native woodlands.
- Gabriel Waksman
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Correspondence |
Brazil’s mystery oil spill: an ongoing social disaster
- Richard J. Ladle
- , Ana C. M. Malhado
- & Barbara R. Pinheiro
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Article
| Open AccessGiant virus diversity and host interactions through global metagenomics
Analysis of metagenomics data revealed that large and giant viruses are globally widely distributed and are associated with most major eukaryotic lineages.
- Frederik Schulz
- , Simon Roux
- & Tanja Woyke
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Editorial |
A better way for countries to track their progress on sustainability
A US–Chinese team shows how sustainability metrics can be improved.
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Editorial |
Get the Sustainable Development Goals back on track
At the current rate, most of the goals will not be met. Here’s how the 2030 agenda can be put back on the right path.
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News Feature |
Nature’s 10: Ten people who mattered in science in 2019
Picks include a quantum pioneer, a co-discoverer of Ebola and a bioethicist-turned-activist.
- David Cyranoski
- , Nisha Gaind
- & Alexandra Witze
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News Feature |
India’s tigers seem to be a massive success story — many scientists aren’t sure
Researchers question official figures showing a sharp rise in the tiger population, and the country’s plans to protect the species.
- Gayathri Vaidyanathan
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Article |
Arthropod decline in grasslands and forests is associated with landscape-level drivers
Analyses of a dataset of arthropod biomass, abundance and diversity in grassland and forest habitats in Germany for the period 2008–2017 reveal that drivers of arthropod declines act at the landscape level.
- Sebastian Seibold
- , Martin M. Gossner
- & Wolfgang W. Weisser
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News Feature |
How the earliest mammals thrived alongside dinosaurs
An explosion of fossil finds reveals that ancient mammals evolved a wide variety of adaptations allowing them to exploit the skies, rivers and underground lairs.
- John Pickrell
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Research Highlight |
Bones reveal a jumbo crocodile hiding in plain sight
Analysis reveals that specimens of New Guinean freshwater crocodile belong to two species rather than one.
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Editorial |
The value of biodiversity is not the same as its price
An assessment of nature’s contribution to economic growth must listen to diverse voices.
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Comment |
Save reefs to rescue all ecosystems
An approach that tackles the underlying causes of coral-reef decline could be applied to other habitats, argue Tiffany H. Morrison, Terry P. Hughes and colleagues.
- Tiffany H. Morrison
- , Terry P. Hughes
- & Maria Carmen Lemos
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Letter |
Wilderness areas halve the extinction risk of terrestrial biodiversity
Wilderness areas with minimal levels of human disturbance promote the persistence of biodiversity by acting as buffers against species loss, and therefore represent key targets for environmental protection.
- Moreno Di Marco
- , Simon Ferrier
- & James E. M. Watson
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Editorial |
End the drought in drought research
Policymakers battling water shortages and land degradation need independent scientific advice.
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Editorial |
Take action to stop the Amazon burning
The planet’s largest rainforest is on fire. Brazil and the world must halt the destruction before it’s too late.
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Editorial |
Teenage activists and an IPCC triumph
The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a well-timed blueprint for action. Decision makers must now pay attention — a nascent youth movement is showing them how.
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News |
Giant freshwater fishes are in alarming decline
The plunge in numbers of these enormous species is part of a broader downward trend in freshwater megafauna.
- Amy Maxmen
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News Feature |
Humans versus Earth: the quest to define the Anthropocene
Researchers are hunting for nuclear debris, mercury pollution and other fingerprints of humanity that could designate a new geological epoch.
- Meera Subramanian
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Editorial |
Write rules for deep-sea mining before it’s too late
The International Seabed Authority must commit the mining industry to a sustainable future.
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Correspondence |
Citizen science could map snakebite risk
- Rafael Ruiz de Castañeda
- , François Grey
- & David J. Williams
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News |
Ocean snail is first animal to be officially endangered by deep-sea mining
Valuable metals and minerals pepper the creature's habitat, drawing commercial interest to the sea floor.
- Jonathan Lambert
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Correspondence |
Fisheries subsidies wreck ecosystems, don’t bring them back
- U. Rashid Sumaila
- , Sebastian Villasante
- & Frédéric Le Manach
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Letter |
Location-level processes drive the establishment of alien bird populations worldwide
Bayesian hierarchical regression analysis of a global database of bird introduction events reveals the environmental, climatic and biotic factors that are the primary determinants of the successful establishment of populations of alien species.
- David W. Redding
- , Alex L. Pigot
- & Tim M. Blackburn
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Letter |
National food production stabilized by crop diversity
A greater diversity of crops at the national level increases the temporal stability of total national harvest, reflecting markedly lower frequencies of years with sharp harvest losses.
- Delphine Renard
- & David Tilman
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Correspondence |
Plantations take economic pressure off natural forests
- Jaboury Ghazoul
- , Miguel Bugalho
- & Rodney Keenan
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Correspondence |
Forests: when natural regeneration is unrealistic
- Manuel R. Guariguata
- , Robin L. Chazdon
- & Lindenmayer David
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Correspondence |
Beware small dams, they can do damage, too
- Carlos Garcia de Leaniz
- , Arjan Berkhuysen
- & Barbara Belletti
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Correspondence |
Use nudges to change behaviour towards conservation
- Brendan Fisher
- , Theresa Marteau
- & Andrew Balmford
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World View |
How China will protect one-quarter of its land
Other nations could learn from China’s red-line initiative to preserve nature, biodiversity and ecosystem services in the country, says Jixi Gao.
- Jixi Gao
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Nature Podcast |
Podcast: Urban vs Rural BMI, and the health of rivers
Hear the latest science updates, brought to you by Benjamin Thompson and Shamini Bundell.
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News |
Humans are driving one million species to extinction
Landmark United Nations-backed report finds that agriculture is one of the biggest threats to Earth’s ecosystems.
- Jeff Tollefson
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News |
‘Global deal for nature’ fleshed out with specific conservation goals
To maintain a liveable planet, governments need to protect 30% of Earth’s land and sea and sustainably manage another 20%, say researchers.
- Jeff Tollefson
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News |
Mexican ecologists push to transform prison island into nature reserve
Waters surrounding Isla María Madre host vibrant coral reefs that have stayed relatively untouched for over 100 years.
- Emiliano Rodríguez Mega
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Correspondence |
Don’t let damage to wetlands cancel out the benefits of hydropower
- Virgilio Hermoso
- , Miguel Clavero
- & Andy J. Green
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News Feature |
Tree sleuths are using DNA tests and machine vision to crack timber crimes
Scientists are optimistic that innovative techniques can pinpoint the true origin of timber.
- Aisling Irwin
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News |
Skin-eating fungus is mighty species slayer
Frog-killing chytrid fungus has caused major declines in more species than any other pathogen.
- Matthew Warren
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Letter |
Climate–land-use interactions shape tropical mountain biodiversity and ecosystem functions
Elevational trends in biodiversity and ecosystem functions across natural and anthropogenic habitats on Mount Kilimanjaro show that the effects of land use are strongly mediated by climate.
- Marcell K. Peters
- , Andreas Hemp
- & Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter
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Toolbox |
AI empowers conservation biology
Faced with mountains of image and audio data, researchers are turning to artificial intelligence to answer pressing ecological questions.
- Roberta Kwok
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News & Views |
Forty years of fathoming life in hot springs on the ocean floor
Ocean-floor hot springs teeming with animal life were reported 40 years ago. How has knowledge of life thriving in such extreme conditions grown since then, and what challenges remain for exploration and conservation down there?
- Cindy Lee Van Dover
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Correspondence |
Protect Madagascar’s national parks from pillage
- Jonah Ratsimbazafy
- , Julia P. G. Jones
- & Russell Mittermeier
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Correspondence |
Brand Madagascar’s rosewood and ebony as endangered
- Lucienne Wilmé
- & Patrick O. Waeber
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News |
Ethiopia’s church forests are a last refuge for dwindling biodiversity
Ecologists are working with the nation’s Tewahedo churches to preserve these pockets of lush, wild habitat.
- Alison Abbott