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News |
Oil from the Amazon? Proposal to drill at river’s mouth worries researchers
Energy firm Petrobras says any leaked oil would not reach the Brazilian coast, but scientists are concerned about a vast reef nearby.
- Meghie Rodrigues
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News Feature |
Expeditions in post-war Colombia have found hundreds of new species. But rich ecosystems are now under threat
Since Colombia’s peace agreement opened the country up, scientists have been racing to study its riches before it’s too late.
- Aisling Irwin
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News |
Rings of fire: centuries of tree growth show wildfires increasing in Vietnam
The data suggest human activities are more to blame for the increase than climate change.
- Jude Coleman
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News Explainer |
Deep-sea mining could soon be approved — how bad is it?
The creatures at the bottom of the ocean are little-studied, but emerging data hint at long-term damage from efforts to harvest metals on the sea floor.
- Natasha Gilbert
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Matters Arising |
The importance of trait selection in ecology
- Alexandra Weigelt
- , Liesje Mommer
- & M. Luke McCormack
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: The importance of trait selection in ecology
- C. Guillermo Bueno
- , Aurele Toussaint
- & Carlos P. Carmona
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Comment |
Current conservation policies risk accelerating biodiversity loss
Three approaches that aim to cut the harms of agriculture — land sharing, rewilding and organic farming — risk driving up food imports and causing environmental damage overseas. An alternative approach is both effective and cheaper.
- Ian Bateman
- & Andrew Balmford
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Editorial |
The world’s plan to make humanity sustainable is failing. Science can do more to save it
There is no planet B, and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are heading for the rocks. Researchers around the world must do their bit to change that.
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News |
Battles over funding could threaten historic effort to save species
Following the signing of last year’s major biodiversity deal, countries are arguing over how to fairly finance conservation.
- Natasha Gilbert
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Research Briefing |
What maintains biodiversity in ecological communities?
An experiment testing two opposing theories about how biodiversity is governed in communities was done at seawall structures at the boundary between high and low tides. Rather than the conventional model, the results support one that suggests that immigration has a larger role in maintaining diversity than do niches.
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Article |
Life history complementarity and the maintenance of biodiversity
Ecological models of species with diverse life history traits show that complementary combinations of life history strategy contribute, together with fitness and niche differences, to the maintenance of biodiversity.
- Kenneth Jops
- & James P. O’Dwyer
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Article
| Open AccessUnveiling the transition from niche to dispersal assembly in ecology
This study shows through a field experiment that tropical intertidal communities switch from a niche- to a dispersal-assembled regime as immigration rates rise.
- Lynette H. L. Loke
- & Ryan A. Chisholm
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Editorial |
The inspiring story of the Tara and its 20-year message from the corals
A remarkable research ship’s voyages to understand marine biodiversity show how visionary thinking can boost understanding of the natural world — and help to better preserve it.
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News |
Accidental DNA collection by air sensors could revolutionize wildlife tracking
Filters at air-pollution monitoring stations trap DNA from a multitude of flora and fauna, researchers find.
- Natasha Gilbert
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News |
Colombia’s ‘cocaine hippo’ population is even bigger than scientists thought
The most comprehensive census yet reveals that there could be twice as many of the invasive animals than previous estimates indicated.
- Luke Taylor
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Editorial |
Why ideas of ‘planetary boundaries’ must uphold environmental justice
Earth-system boundaries define a safe operating space for humanity. Accounting for the planet’s most vulnerable people provides a stark warning of the work still to be done.'
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News & Views |
How to define unjust planetary change
Biophysical and sociopolitical factors have been integrated into a set of measures of planetary change that aim to pinpoint safe and just thresholds for all living things. The exercise is immensely ambitious and inevitably challenging.
- Stephen Humphreys
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Article
| Open AccessSafe and just Earth system boundaries
We find that justice considerations constrain the integrated Earth system boundaries more than safety considerations for climate and atmospheric aerosol loading, and our assessment provides a foundation for safeguarding the global commons for all people.
- Johan Rockström
- , Joyeeta Gupta
- & Xin Zhang
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News |
Major ocean database that will guide deep-sea mining has flaws, scientists warn
As sea-bed mining looms, researchers say better records of sea-floor biodiversity are needed to assess its environmental impact.
- Natasha Gilbert
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News & Views |
Tree islands boost biodiversity in oil-palm plantations
The cultivation of oil palm is here to stay. However, a five-year study indicates that creating islands of native trees within oil-palm monocultures increases biodiversity and ecosystem functioning without notably lowering crop yields.
- Robert Nasi
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Nature Podcast |
‘Tree islands’ give oil-palm plantation a biodiversity boost
Five-year study shows islands increase ecosystem health without lowering crop yield, and a house built from concrete and nappies.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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Article
| Open AccessTree islands enhance biodiversity and functioning in oil palm landscapes
A large-scale, five-year study in Indonesia finds that enriching oil palm-dominated landscapes with patches of trees bolsters biodiversity and ecosystem functioning without impairing oil palm yields but should not replace forest protection.
- Delphine Clara Zemp
- , Nathaly Guerrero-Ramirez
- & Holger Kreft
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News |
This paragliding gecko is new to science
The striking lizard was discovered in northeastern India and hints at how much biodiversity is overlooked.
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Where I Work |
Ranching sea cucumbers to repair the oceans — and improve human health
Libin Zhang aims to restore sea-cucumber populations to rebalance ocean ecosystems and so that people can use their beneficial compounds.
- James Mitchell Crow
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Article
| Open AccessBasin-wide variation in tree hydraulic safety margins predicts the carbon balance of Amazon forests
A pan-Amazon study of forests shows large variations in drought tolerance traits and finds that forests in regions of pronounced climate change are losing biomass and may be operating beyond their hydraulic limits.
- Julia Valentim Tavares
- , Rafael S. Oliveira
- & David R. Galbraith
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Article |
Tree diversity increases decadal forest soil carbon and nitrogen accrual
Analysis of data from the Canadian National Forest Inventory database suggests that greater tree diversity in natural forests is associated with increases in soil carbon and nitrogen stocks.
- Xinli Chen
- , Anthony R. Taylor
- & Scott X. Chang
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Editorial |
Is Africa’s Great Green Wall project withering?
The plan to re-green a 7,000-kilometre swathe south of the Sahara is at risk of losing its pan-African vision and ambition.
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Editorial |
European backsliding on electric vehicles is bad news for the climate
Attempts to put a brake on the transition to electrification and allow ‘climate neutral’ fuels after 2035 ignore the science — what’s needed is policy clarity now.
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Career Column |
Dear scientists: stop calling America the ‘New World’
It’s new to you — but not to me or anyone else who grew up here, writes Fernanda Adame.
- Fernanda Adame
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Where I Work |
Guardian of Ecuador’s diverse — and vanishing — frog species
Conservation biologist Andrea Terán-Valdez aims to protect endangered frogs in Ecuador by breeding populations, cataloguing new species and fighting industrial development.
- Nikki Forrester
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Editorial |
UN high seas treaty is a landmark – but science needs to fill the gaps
The agreement is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for researchers and funders to use every idea and instrument available to preserve the health of the seas.
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Technology Feature |
Astrobiologists train an AI to find life on Mars
An artificial-intelligence model trialled in Chile’s Atacama Desert could one day detect signs of life on other planets.
- Amanda Heidt
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News |
Pablo Escobar’s ‘cocaine hippos’ spark conservation row
Researchers worry Colombian environment ministry will side with animal-rights activists rather than curb the invasive animals’ spread.
- Emiliano Rodríguez Mega
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Article |
Effects of moisture and density-dependent interactions on tropical tree diversity
Moist soil strengthens density-dependent mortality with long-lasting effects on species diversity of tropical trees.
- Edwin Lebrija-Trejos
- , Andrés Hernández
- & S. Joseph Wright
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Article |
Origination of the modern-style diversity gradient 15 million years ago
Quantification of planktonic fossils from the past 40 million years shows that the present-day diversity gradient arose only 15 million years ago as the climate started to cool.
- Isabel S. Fenton
- , Tracy Aze
- & Erin E. Saupe
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News Explainer |
What it would take to bring back the dodo
An audacious plan to ‘de-extinct’ dodos depends on huge leaps in biotechnology and resurrecting a lost habitat.
- Ewen Callaway
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Where I Work |
Mapping the Amazon’s fish under threat
Ichthyologist Lucia Rapp Py-Daniel preserves and catalogues the fish of Amazonian waters as their numbers fall because of industrial development.
- Patricia Maia Noronha
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Research Briefing |
Future heatwaves threaten thousands of land vertebrate species
Heatwaves are increasing in frequency, duration and intensity because of climate change. Projections indicate that if global warming is left unchecked, many animal species will experience almost-permanent extreme-heat conditions, and such weather events will present a major threat to biodiversity.
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News & Views |
From the archive: how kangaroo rats limit their salt intake, and searching for trout
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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News |
Nations forge historic deal to save species: what’s in it and what’s missing
At the COP15 summit, many countries celebrate, but some say their voices were not heard.
- Natasha Gilbert
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News |
Nature’s biggest news stories of 2022
From Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to predicting protein structures with AI and transplanting pig organs into people, our news editors choose the defining moments in science this year.
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News Explainer |
Can the world save a million species from extinction?
A biodiversity crisis looms as negotiators meet at the COP15 summit in Montreal to agree on targets for protecting nature.
- Natasha Gilbert
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Correspondence |
Prioritize gender equality to meet global biodiversity goals
- Emily Woodhouse
- & Marie-Annick Moreau
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Editorial |
World leaders must step up to put biodiversity deal on path to success
Ahead of the COP15 biodiversity meeting, few disagree that we must do more to protect nature — but money, underwritten by top-level support, is needed to make it happen.
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News |
10 startling images of nature in crisis — and the struggle to save it
A visual tour of unfolding threats and desperate attempts to reverse species’ declines.
- Emma Marris
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World View |
COP15 biodiversity plan risks being alarmingly diluted
Scientists raced to gather the strongest ever biodiversity evidence base. Time is running out to use it.
- Sandra Díaz
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Comment |
Biodiversity loss and climate extremes — study the feedbacks
Enough of silos: develop a joint scientific agenda to understand the intertwined global crises of the Earth system.
- Miguel D. Mahecha
- , Ana Bastos
- & Christian Wirth
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News Feature |
GDP is getting a makeover — what it means for economies, health and the planet
Pressure is mounting to downgrade GDP or improve it so economic growth is not the only game in town.
- Ehsan Masood
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Article
| Open AccessLight competition drives herbivore and nutrient effects on plant diversity
Competition for light can cause plant diversity loss in grassland ecosystems when fertilized or herbivores are excluded, and experimentally restoring light can mitigate this biodiversity loss.
- Anu Eskelinen
- , W. Stanley Harpole
- & Yann Hautier