Ecophysiology articles within Nature

Featured

• Article
  13 March 2024 | Open Access

  Anoxygenic phototroph of the Chloroflexota uses a type I reaction centre

  Cultivation of a new anoxygenic phototrophic bacterium from Boreal Shield lake water—representing a transition form in the evolution of photosynthesis—offers insights into how the major modes of phototrophy diversified.

  • J. M. Tsuji
  • , N. A. Shaw
  •  & J. D. Neufeld

• Article
  26 April 2023 | Open Access

  Basin-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

• Article | 26 October 2022

  Extreme escalation of heat failure rates in ectotherms with global warming

  Within the stressful temperature range, heat failure rate increases by more than 100% per degree Celsius across a broad range of ectotherm taxa.

  • Lisa Bjerregaard Jørgensen
  • , Michael Ørsted
  •  & Johannes Overgaard

• Article | 08 December 2021

   RETRACTED ARTICLE: A constraint on historic growth in global photosynthesis due to increasing CO₂

  An emergent constraint combining biosphere models and carbon budget estimates suggests that the increase in the global terrestrial carbon sink is caused largely by a CO₂-induced increase in photosynthesis.

  • T. F. Keenan
  • , X. Luo
  •  & S. Zhou

• Article | 08 January 2020

  Ocean acidification does not impair the behaviour of coral reef fishes

  In contrast to previous studies, analyses now show that ocean acidification does not perturb important behaviours—such as the avoidance of chemical cues from predators—of coral reef fishes.

  • Timothy D. Clark
  • , Graham D. Raby
  •  & Josefin Sundin

• Letter | 21 November 2018

  Distinct activity-gated pathways mediate attraction and aversion to CO₂ in Drosophila

  Drosophila melanogaster are attracted to CO₂ when in an active, foraging state but experience aversion to CO₂ at low-activity levels, whereas they are attracted to ethanol in all behavioural states.

  • Floris van Breugel
  • , Ainul Huda
  •  & Michael H. Dickinson

• Letter | 08 August 2018

  Ecosystem warming extends vegetation activity but heightens vulnerability to cold temperatures

  Experimental whole-ecosystem warming treatments of a Picea–Sphagnum peat bog reveal the likely phenological consequences of future temperature increases that exceed those of historical climate regimes.

  • Andrew D. Richardson
  • , Koen Hufkens
  •  & Paul J. Hanson

• Review Article | 27 June 2018

  Triggers of tree mortality under drought

  Because climate change is expected to intensify regional-scale droughts, it is important to identify the physiological thresholds that precipitate the mortality of trees and the mechanisms of recovery after drought.

  • Brendan Choat
  • , Timothy J. Brodribb
  •  & Belinda E. Medlyn

• Letter | 21 March 2018

  Insulin resistance in cavefish as an adaptation to a nutrient-limited environment

  Cavefish populations of the Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus, carry a mutation in the insulin receptor gene that renders them insulin- and starvation-resistant relative to surface populations of the same species.

  • Misty R. Riddle
  • , Ariel C. Aspiras
  •  & Nicolas Rohner

• Article | 24 January 2018

  Biomechanics of predator–prey arms race in lion, zebra, cheetah and impala

  Analysis and modelling of locomotor characteristics of two pursuit predator–prey pairs show that hunts at lower speeds enable prey to use their maximum manoeuvring capacity and favour prey survival.

  • Alan M. Wilson
  • , Tatjana Y. Hubel
  •  & Timothy G. West

• Letter | 12 October 2016

  Variability in plant nutrients reduces insect herbivore performance

  Variation in plant nutrient levels suppresses insect herbivore populations and the homogenous nutrient content of modern agricultural crops could be contributing to insect pest outbreaks.

  • William C. Wetzel
  • , Heather M. Kharouba
  •  & Richard Karban

• Article | 23 December 2015

  The global spectrum of plant form and function

  The authors found that the key elements of plant form and function, analysed at global scale, are largely concentrated into a two-dimensional plane indexed by the size of whole plants and organs on the one hand, and the construction costs for photosynthetic leaf area, on the other.

  • Sandra Díaz
  • , Jens Kattge
  •  & Lucas D. Gorné

• Article | 20 July 2014

  Convergence of terrestrial plant production across global climate gradients

  Net primary production is affected by temperature and precipitation, but whether this is a direct kinetic effect on plant metabolism or an indirect ecological effect mediated by changes in plant age, plant biomass or growing season length is unclear — this study develops metabolic scaling theory to be able to answer this question and applies it to a global data set of plant productivity, concluding that it is indirect effects that explain the influence of climate on productivity, which is characterized by a common scaling relationship across climate gradients.

  • Sean T. Michaletz
  • , Dongliang Cheng
  •  & Brian J. Enquist

• Letter | 27 June 2012

  Seasonal bone growth and physiology in endotherms shed light on dinosaur physiology

  Dinosaurs were not necessarily cold-blooded: the main argument in favour of this, namely the presence of seasonal lines of arrested bone growth, has been demolished by a comprehensive study of extant ruminants.

  • Meike Köhler
  • , Nekane Marín-Moratalla
  •  & Ronny Aanes

• News & Views | 21 July 2010

  Fatter marmots on the rise

  Demonstrations of coupled phenotypic and demographic responses to climate change are rare. But they are much needed in formulating predictions of the effects of climate change on natural populations.

  • Marcel E. Visser

• Research Highlights | 31 March 2010

  Ecology: Mothers stress kids out