News & Views |
Featured
-
-
Article |
Marine heatwaves are not a dominant driver of change in demersal fishes
Of 248 marine heatwaves between 1993 and 2019 in North American and European seas, the effects on fish biomass were often minimal, and the heatwaves were not consistently associated with tropicalization or deborealization.
- Alexa L. Fredston
- , William W. L. Cheung
- & Malin L. Pinsky
-
News & Views |
A drowned future for coastal ecosystems
Tidal marshes, mangroves and coral reefs support the livelihoods of millions of people. Most of these ecosystems will be vulnerable to submergence owing to rapid sea-level rise if global warming exceeds 2 °C above pre-industrial levels.
- Qiang He
-
Article
| Open AccessWidespread retreat of coastal habitat is likely at warming levels above 1.5 °C
Without mitigation, relative sea-level rises under current climate change projections will exceed the capacity of coastal habitats such as mangroves and tidal marshes to adjust, leading to instability and profound changes to coastal ecosystems.
- Neil Saintilan
- , Benjamin Horton
- & Glenn Guntenspergen
-
Correspondence |
Shark culling at a World Heritage site
- Philippe Borsa
- , Martine Cornaille
- & Bertrand Richer de Forges
-
News |
Most rare kākāpō parrots have had their genome sequenced
DNA from more than 100 of the critically endangered birds could help to save the species from extinction.
- Katharine Sanderson
-
News & Views |
Corals have algal friends for dinner
Biologists have long sought to understand the factors that enable coral reefs to thrive. A careful analysis of nutrient cycling now points to an unexpected food source that helps to sustain corals during food scarcity.
- Virginia M. Weis
-
Article
| Open AccessNative diversity buffers against severity of non-native tree invasions
Analysis combining multiple global tree databases reveals that whether a location is invaded by non-native tree species depends on anthropogenic factors, but the severity of the invasion depends on the native species diversity.
- Camille S. Delavaux
- , Thomas W. Crowther
- & Daniel S. Maynard
-
Article |
Landscape-scale benefits of protected areas for tropical biodiversity
Protected areas across mega-diverse Southeast Asia are associated with elevated vertebrate biodiversity inside their boundaries and in surrounding areas.
- Jedediah F. Brodie
- , Jayasilan Mohd-Azlan
- & Matthew Scott Luskin
-
Article |
Tropical forests are approaching critical temperature thresholds
Ground truthed thermal data from a new NASA satellite combined with experimental warming data from three continents in an empirical model suggests that tropical forests are closer to a high temperature threshold than previously thought.
- Christopher E. Doughty
- , Jenna M. Keany
- & Joshua B. Fisher
-
Correspondence |
Biodiversity needs both land sharing and land sparing
- Matthew Selinske
- , Sarah A. Bekessy
- & Georgia E. Garrard
-
News & Views |
The great melt will shape unprotected ecosystems
Glaciers should be prioritized in conservation agendas — and soon. Analysis suggests that glaciers could lose around half their area by the century’s end, with uncertain consequences for postglacial ecosystems.
- Nicolas Lecomte
-
Article |
Future emergence of new ecosystems caused by glacial retreat
By 2100, the decline of all glaciers outside the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets will produce new terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems, posing both challenges and opportunities for conservation.
- J. B. Bosson
- , M. Huss
- & F. Arthaud
-
Article
| Open AccessGlobal methane emissions from rivers and streams
A spatially explicit global estimate reveals that land–water connections are important for regulating methane supply to running waters, and that these connections are vulnerable to both climate change and direct human modifications of the land.
- Gerard Rocher-Ros
- , Emily H. Stanley
- & Ryan A. Sponseller
-
Article
| Open AccessPersistent equatorial Pacific iron limitation under ENSO forcing
An assessment of variations in phytoplankton nutrient limitation in the tropical Pacific over the past two decades finds that phytoplankton iron limitation is more stable in response to ENSO dynamics than models predict.
- Thomas J. Browning
- , Mak A. Saito
- & Alessandro Tagliabue
-
-
Where I Work |
Can oyster farming help save the planet?
Ecologist Elena Tamburini hopes to show that shellfish farming efficiently absorbs carbon.
- Linda Nordling
-
News |
Threatened coastal species absent from Chinese protection lists
The lack of legal protections for large coastal animals is leaving them — and their ecosystems — at risk, researchers say.
- Dyani Lewis
-
News & Views |
European river recovery might have run out of steam
How has river quality in Europe changed over time? A detailed analysis of invertebrate data provides a picture of biological recovery from past problems, but also points to remaining challenges.
- Ian P. Vaughan
-
News & Views |
Assessing the values of nature to promote a sustainable future
Understanding the diverse ways in which the natural world provides value aids informed policy decisions. The generation of a detailed catalogue of this diversity, and ways to assess values, paves the way to a more sustainable future.
- Giulia Sajeva
-
Research Briefing |
A coupled land–sea approach to coral-reef conservation in a warming ocean
Local human-derived stressors combine with global ocean warming to threaten coral-reef persistence. Simultaneous reduction of human-derived stressors that originate on land, such as coastal run-off, and sea-based stressors, such as fishing pressure, resulted in greater coral-reef persistence before, during and after severe heat stress than did reduction of either alone.
-
News |
Controlling pollution and overfishing can help protect coral reefs — but it’s not enough
Local management of runoff and fishing intensity bolsters reef health but is no match for climate-induced heatwaves.
- Bianca Nogrady
-
Article
| Open AccessCoral reefs benefit from reduced land–sea impacts under ocean warming
Surveys of reef change are combined with a unique 20-year time series of land–sea human impacts and the results show that integrated land–sea management could help achieve coastal ocean conservation goals and provide coral reefs with the best opportunity to persist in our changing climate.
- Jamison M. Gove
- , Gareth J. Williams
- & Gregory P. Asner
-
Article
| Open AccessThe recovery of European freshwater biodiversity has come to a halt
Improvements in European freshwater biodiversity occurred mainly before 2010 but have since plateaued, and communities downstream of dams, urban areas and cropland were less likely to experience recovery.
- Peter Haase
- , Diana E. Bowler
- & Ellen A. R. Welti
-
Article
| Open AccessDiverse values of nature for sustainability
Following a wide-ranging review of studies, reports and policies about nature’s multiple values, combinations of values-centred approaches are proposed to improve valuation of nature, address barriers to uptake in decision-making, and make transformative changes towards more just and sustainable futures.
- Unai Pascual
- , Patricia Balvanera
- & Eglee Zent
-
-
Career Q&A |
What whale falls can teach us about biodiversity and climate change
Anaëlle Durfort shares her experience quantifying oceanic carbon sinks.
- Magali Reinert
-
News & Views |
A call to reduce the carbon costs of forest harvest
Economic modelling of the global carbon cost of harvesting wood from forests shows a much higher annual cost than that estimated by other models, highlighting a major opportunity for reducing emissions by limiting wood harvests.
- William R. Moomaw
- & Beverly E. Law
-
News |
AI helps scientists to eavesdrop on endangered pink dolphins
Acoustic tracking technology could feed into conservation projects in the Amazon and beyond.
- Lilly Tozer
-
News |
Global map of wildlife trade reveals true cost to the planet
By assessing traded animals’ unique traits and their role in ecosystems, researchers can gauge the potential impact of losses.
- Sara Phillips
-
Article
| Open AccessGlobal hotspots of traded phylogenetic and functional diversity
Using a global dataset of traded species, it is found that the highest levels of traded phylogenetic and functional diversity are from tropical regions, where high numbers of evolutionary distinct and globally endangered species occur.
- Liam J. Hughes
- , Mike R. Massam
- & David P. Edwards
-
World View |
I’ve witnessed the wonders of the deep sea. Mining could destroy them
Deep-sea mining could wreck more than just the ocean floor in ways we have no idea how to repair.
- Beth N. Orcutt
-
Where I Work |
I sample Antarctica’s seaweed to improve human health
Fisheries engineer Ekrem Cem Çankırılıgil probes the chemical make-up of aquatic creatures to determine their possible health benefits for humans.
- Nic Fleming
-
Nature Careers Podcast |
Sexual harassment in science: tackling abusers, protecting targets, changing cultures
Sarah Batterman describes the personal and professional toll after being targeted at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Its director Josh Tewkesbury describes changes after staff spoke out.
- Adam Levy
-
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
-
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
-
Article |
Indirect effects shape species fitness in coevolved mutualistic networks
A numerical analysis of mutualistic interactions between species shows that indirect effects from species they do not interact with directly are the biggest source of variation and cause the largest decreases to species fitness.
- Leandro G. Cosmo
- , Ana Paula A. Assis
- & Paulo R. Guimarães Jr
-
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
-
Article
| Open AccessThe global wildland–urban interface
A global assessment shows that the wildland–urban interface occurs on all continents, showing its broad-scale patterns and providing a basis for future research on dynamics and socioeconomic and biophysical processes.
- Franz Schug
- , Avi Bar-Massada
- & Volker C. Radeloff
-
-
Where I Work |
My glacier is melting — and I’m charting its decline
Glaciologist Andrea Fischer describes her first-hand experience of studying these ever-changing ice masses.
- Nikki Forrester
-
Book Review |
To save bears, we must learn to live alongside them
With urban areas expanding and climate change shrinking bears’ habitats, the animals’ interactions with humans will make — or break — efforts to preserve their populations.
- Henry Nicholls
-
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
-
Article |
Assembly of functional diversity in an oceanic island flora
On the oceanic island of Tenerife, dispersal, speciation and persistence drive the diversity and distribution of plant functional traits.
- Martha Paola Barajas Barbosa
- , Dylan Craven
- & Holger Kreft
-
Research Briefing |
A picture of plant functional diversity on an oceanic island
Extensive fieldwork reveals that island plants have similar functions to plants in other regions of the world, but that the island environment, along with biogeographical and evolutionary processes, filters the life-history characteristics and strategies of the plants, rendering the island flora functionally and ecologically distinct from others.
-
News & Views |
A sustainable way to control the parasitic disease schistosomiasis
A trial in Senegal has tested an innovative method for tackling a common human parasitic disease. The approach reduced infection numbers and also offered agricultural and economic benefits.
- Nathan C. Lo
- & Benjamin Arnold
-
News |
Striking images show plastic litter in the world’s most remote coral reefs
Fishing nets, packaging and other debris threaten wildlife in some of the ocean’s deepest reef ecosystems.
- Katharine Sanderson
-
News |
Oceans are turning greener due to climate change
Researchers are investigating exactly why this is happening and what it might signify.
- Alexandra Witze
-
Article |
A planetary health innovation for disease, food and water challenges in Africa
By harvesting aquatic vegetation that provides habitat for snails that harbour Schistosoma parasites and converting it to compost and animal feed, a trial reduced schistosomiasis prevalence in children while providing wider economic benefits.
- Jason R. Rohr
- , Alexandra Sack
- & Caitlin Wolfe
-
Article |
Plastic pollution on the world’s coral reefs
Plastics were found in 77 out of 84 coral reefs surveyed in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, including in deeper reefs and remote and near-pristine reefs, such as in uninhabited central Pacific atolls.
- Hudson T. Pinheiro
- , Chancey MacDonald
- & Luiz A. Rocha
Browse broader subjects
Browse narrower subjects
- Agroecology
- Animal migration
- Behavioural ecology
- Biodiversity
- Biogeochemistry
- Biogeography
- Biooceanography
- Boreal ecology
- Climate-change ecology
- Community ecology
- Conservation biology
- Ecological epidemiology
- Ecological genetics
- Ecological modelling
- Ecological networks
- Ecophysiology
- Ecosystem ecology
- Ecosystem services
- Environmental economics
- Evolutionary ecology
- Fire ecology
- Forest ecology
- Forestry
- Freshwater ecology
- Grassland ecology
- Invasive species
- Macroecology
- Microbial ecology
- Molecular ecology
- Palaeoecology
- Population dynamics
- Restoration ecology
- Riparian ecology
- Stable isotope analysis
- Theoretical ecology
- Tropical ecology
- Urban ecology
- Wetlands ecology