Ecology articles within Nature

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  • Books & Arts |

    A section of salt marsh in a Biennale pavilion links the city and its environment, notes Colin Martin.

    • Colin Martin

  • News & Views |

    Delimitation of species is especially taxing when populations of similar organisms occupy non-overlapping geographical ranges. A new quantitative framework offers a consistent approach for tackling the problem.

    • Thomas M. Brooks
    •  & Kristofer M. Helgen

  • News & Views |

    Projects such as building dams and diverting watercourses enhance water security for humans. But they do little to protect the biodiversity of associated ecosystems, and that's a long-term necessity. See Article p.555

    • Margaret A. Palmer

  • News & Views |

    The ratio of nutrient elements in marine subsurface waters is much the same everywhere, even though biogeochemically distinct ocean biomes exist. A modelling study that includes mixing solves this conundrum. See Article p.550

    • Raymond N. Sambrotto

  • News Feature |

    The ten-year Census for Marine Life is about to unveil its final results. But how deep did the $650-million project go?

    • Daniel Cressey

  • Article |

    Water security affects human wellbeing both directly and indirectly, through its effects on biodiversity. Here, a global map has been generated that shows threats to both direct and indirect water security from a full range of potential stressors. Technological investments have also been incorporated. The map shows that nearly 80% of the world's population is exposed to high levels of threat to water security. Investment enables rich nations to offset high stressor levels, but less wealthy nations remain vulnerable.

    • C. J. Vörösmarty
    • , P. B. McIntyre
    •  & P. M. Davies

  • Article |

    The major nutrients nitrate and phosphate have one of the strongest correlations in the sea, with a slope similar to the average nitrogen to phosphorus content of plankton biomass (16:1). Why this global relationship exists, despite the wide range of nitrogen to phosphorus ratios at the organism level, is unknown. Here, an ocean circulation model and observed nutrient distributions have been used to show that the covariation of dissolved nitrate and phosphate is maintained by ocean circulation.

    • Thomas S. Weber
    •  & Curtis Deutsch

  • News Q&A |

    Coping with climate change is a key priority for conservation in the United States, says new science adviser.

    • Amanda Mascarelli

  • News & Views |

    Theory suggests that the risk of critical transitions in complex systems can be revealed by generic indicators. A lab study of extinction in plankton populations provides experimental support for that principle. See Letter p. 456

    • Marten Scheffer

  • News |

    Revamped conservation effort aims to correct mistakes made in preserving cave paintings.

    • Declan Butler

  • Editorial |

    A proposed road through the Serengeti can be halted only by providing a viable substitute, not by criticism.

  • Opinion |

    Tanzania's iconic national park must not be divided by a highway, say Andrew Dobson, Markus Borner, Tony Sinclair and 24 others. A route farther south would bring greater benefits to development and the environment.

    • Andrew P. Dobson
    • , Markus Borner
    •  & Eric Wolanski

  • News |

    Experts differ on the effects of biodiversity projects on improvements in living standards.

    • Natasha Gilbert

  • News & Views |

    Meticulous reconstruction of the former extent of a glacier high in the mountains of New Zealand will help in interpreting global-scale climatic adjustments that occurred at the end of the last glaciation.

    • Martin P. Kirkbride

  • News & Views |

    An electrifying evolutionary radiation has evidently occurred among elephant fish in Africa's Ivindo basin. An implication is that open niches for communication can result in species diversification.

    • Manuel Leal
    •  & Jonathan B. Losos

  • Letter |

    Populations that become extinct because of environmental degradation pass a tipping point, after which extinction is inevitable. But theory predicts that the population's dynamics indicate what is coming beforehand, through the phenomenon of critical slowing down. It has now been shown that critical slowing down can be used to anticipate extinction in experimental populations of Daphnia magna.

    • John M. Drake
    •  & Blaine D. Griffen

  • News Q&A |

    Rodolfo del Valle and his team are heading to the Southern Ocean to measure a methane leak.

    • Ana Belluscio

  • Letter |

    Bacteria regularly evolve antibiotic resistance, but little is known about this process at the population level. Here, a continuous culture of Escherichia coli facing increasing antibiotic levels is followed. Most isolates taken from this population are less antibiotic resistant than the population as a whole. A few highly resistant mutants provide protection to the less resistant constituents, in part by producing the signalling molecule indole, which serves to turn on drug efflux pumps and oxidative-stress protective mechanisms.

    • Henry H. Lee
    • , Michael N. Molla
    •  & James J. Collins

  • Opinion |

    The main consumer-targeted certification scheme for sustainable fisheries is failing to protect the environment and needs radical reform, say Jennifer Jacquet, Daniel Pauly and colleagues.

    • Jennifer Jacquet
    • , Daniel Pauly
    •  & Jeremy Jackson

  • Books & Arts |

    An ambitious atlas that charts the composition of frozen northern soils highlights their contribution to climate change, finds Philippe Ciais.

    • Philippe Ciais

  • News Feature |

    When oil stopped gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, the ecosystems under assault started on a long road to recovery. Amanda Mascarelli meets the researchers assessing their chances.

    • Amanda Mascarelli

  • News |

    Animals as hidden victims of war are the focus of a groundbreaking initiative launched at King's College London.

    • Rhiannon Smith

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