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Article
| Open AccessMarine protected areas promote stability of reef fish communities under climate warming
Protected areas are meant to defend species from direct exploitation and habitat loss, but they might also reduce climate change impacts. Here, the authors show that marine protected areas mitigate the impacts of marine heatwaves on reef fish communities.
- Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi
- , Amanda E. Bates
- & Eneko Aspillaga
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Article
| Open AccessHerbicide leakage into seawater impacts primary productivity and zooplankton globally
Herbicides used in terrestrial environments pollute coastal ecosystems. Here, the authors analyse the presence of 32 herbicides at 661 bays and gulfs worldwide from 1990 to 2022, showing how under current herbicide stress, phytoplankton primary productivity was inhibited by more than 5% at 25%.
- Liqiang Yang
- , Xiaotong He
- & Yongyu Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessRemoval of detritivore sea cucumbers from reefs increases coral disease
Coral diseases are commonly sediment-associated. Here the authors conduct a field experiment in French Polynesia and Palmyra Atoll showing that removal of sea cucumbers that clean reef sediments while feeding increases coral disease.
- Cody S. Clements
- , Zoe A. Pratte
- & Mark E. Hay
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Article
| Open AccessEnhancing phosphate-solubilising microbial communities through artificial selection
Phosphate-solubilising microorganisms can contribute to reduce the use of P fertiliser. Here, the authors use two artificial selection methods, environmental perturbation and propagation, to build phosphate-solubilising communities that retain P-solubilising capacity in hydroponic systems.
- Lena Faller
- , Marcio F. A. Leite
- & Eiko E. Kuramae
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Article
| Open AccessPredator selection on phenotypic variability of cryptic and aposematic moths
Selection is expected to act differently on aposematic and cryptic species. Analysis of wing images revealed that camouflaged moths exhibit higher wing pattern variability than aposematic moths, supporting the theory that camouflaged species display more variability, consistent with anti-predator strategy.
- Ossi Nokelainen
- , Sanni A. Silvasti
- & Johanna Mappes
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Article
| Open AccessDynamic root microbiome sustains soybean productivity under unbalanced fertilization
Root-associated microbiomes contribute to plant growth and health. Here, the authors unveil the quantitative development of the root microbiome under unbalanced fertilization and highlight a key microbial cluster for soybean productivity.
- Mingxing Wang
- , An-Hui Ge
- & Ertao Wang
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Article
| Open AccessDipterocarpoidae genomics reveal their demography and adaptations to Asian rainforests
Dipterocarp trees are iconic but severely threatened species in Asian rainforests. This study assembles high-quality genomes of seven dipterocarp species to reveal the molecular basis of key adaptations and identifies a recent sharp population decline coinciding with local human activity.
- Rong Wang
- , Chao-Nan Liu
- & Xiao-Yong Chen
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Article
| Open AccessAn agricultural digital twin for mandarins demonstrates the potential for individualized agriculture
A digital twin represents a real world object using available data. Here, the authors develop a digital twin for mandaring orchards in Jeju island showing the value of individualized agriculture to predict fruit quality at tree level.
- Steven Kim
- & Seong Heo
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Article
| Open AccessEffects of human disturbances on wildlife behaviour and consequences for predator-prey overlap in Southeast Asia
Prior studies showed that humans are causing species to become more active at night. Here the authors show that this trend is not consistent across hyperdiverse wildlife communities, as camera trap surveys in Southeast Asia show that responses depend on species traits and do not affect the temporal overlap of biotic interactions.
- Samuel Xin Tham Lee
- , Zachary Amir
- & Matthew Scott Luskin
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Article
| Open AccessTransition from positive to negative indirect CO2 effects on the vegetation carbon uptake
It is unclear how indirect CO2 effect – via associated climate change – on vegetation carbon uptake changes globally. Here, the authors show that such initial positive effect has declined recently, shifting to negative in the early 21st century.
- Zefeng Chen
- , Weiguang Wang
- & Alessandro Cescatti
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Article
| Open AccessPatterns in the temporal complexity of global chlorophyll concentration
For satellite data, noisy observations can often be ignored in favour of smooth trends and signals. Here, the authors developed a method to quantify the complexity of chlorophyll-α time series on a global scale, which led to the discovery of greater differences among regions than previously recognized.
- Vitul Agarwal
- , Jonathan Chávez-Casillas
- & Colleen B. Mouw
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Article
| Open AccessA genome and gene catalog of the aquatic microbiomes of the Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau is the largest plateau in the world and hosts a variety of aquatic ecosystems. Here, the authors present a gene and genome catalogue of Tibetan Plateau aquatic microbiomes, greatly expanding known taxonomic and functional diversity for the region and giving insights into its microbial biogeography.
- Mingyue Cheng
- , Shuai Luo
- & Kang Ning
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Article
| Open AccessDuplicated antibiotic resistance genes reveal ongoing selection and horizontal gene transfer in bacteria
Mobile genetic elements can promote the duplication of antibiotic resistance genes which may in turn accelerate the evolution of resistance to new drugs. Here, the authors show that duplicated antibiotic resistance genes are enriched in bacterial isolates from environments associated with rampant antibiotic use.
- Rohan Maddamsetti
- , Yi Yao
- & Lingchong You
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal freshwater fish invasion linked to the presence of closely related species
Whether non-native species are more or less likely to become established in communities that host close relatives is debated. This global study shows that non-native fish species phylogenetically close to native species are more likely to establish in freshwater ecosystems.
- Meng Xu
- , Shao-peng Li
- & Xidong Mu
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Article
| Open AccessNatural selection and genetic diversity maintenance in a parasitic wasp during continuous biological control application
Parasitoid wasps are reared and released as biocontrol agents to manage aphids and protect crops. Here, the authors use genomes from 542 wasps to show that, in spite of wide scale release of low-diversity captive individuals, diversity in wild populations is maintained.
- Bingyan Li
- , Yuange Duan
- & Hu Li
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Article
| Open AccessPolar bear energetic and behavioral strategies on land with implications for surviving the ice-free period
Declining Arctic sea ice is increasing polar bear land use. Here, the authors follow 20 different polar bears on land over 3 years and measure daily energy expenditure finding that despite behavioural and diet plasticity the bears are at risk of starvation.
- Anthony M. Pagano
- , Karyn D. Rode
- & Charles T. Robbins
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Article
| Open AccessPlant invasion and naturalization are influenced by genome size, ecology and economic use globally
Plant invasion and naturalisation threaten native biodiversity. Here, the authors conduct a global multi-factor and multi-stage analysis, showing that genome size and economic factors influence plant invasion and naturalisation.
- Kun Guo
- , Petr Pyšek
- & Wen-Yong Guo
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Article
| Open AccessPredation and spatial connectivity interact to shape ecosystem resilience to an ongoing regime shift
This study finds that habitat connectivity can increase resilience to ecosystem regime shifts. The authors used >7,000 fish samplings from the Baltic Sea to study a spatially propagating shift from an ecosystem dominated by predatory fish to one dominated by their prey, also finding that fish-eating seals and cormorants increased the risk of a shift.
- Agnes B. Olin
- , Ulf Bergström
- & Johan S. Eklöf
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Article
| Open AccessA slow-fast trait continuum at the whole community level in relation to land-use intensification
Although co-occurring species may differ widely in their response traits, coordinated functional trait shifts may emerge at the community level in response to environmental factors. Here, the authors use data from 150 grassland sites to identify a coordinated slow-fast strategy response to land-use intensification across above- and belowground taxa.
- Margot Neyret
- , Gaëtane Le Provost
- & Peter Manning
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Article
| Open AccessEco-evolutionary dynamics of gut phageome in wild gibbons (Hoolock tianxing) with seasonal diet variations
The significance of gut phageome for wild animals with seasonal diets remains unexplored. Here, the authors use complementary metagenomics to analyze the phage-host dynamics and its implications for diet variations in wild skywalker hoolock gibbons.
- Shao-Ming Gao
- , Han-Lan Fei
- & Peng-Fei Fan
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Article
| Open AccessMapping the global distribution of C4 vegetation using observations and optimality theory
Due to fundamental anatomical and biochemical differences, C3 and C4 plant species tend to differ in their biogeography and response to climate change. Here, the authors use global observations and optimality theory to map patterns and temporal trends in C4 species distribution and the contribution of C4 plants to global photosynthesis.
- Xiangzhong Luo
- , Haoran Zhou
- & Christopher J. Still
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Article
| Open AccessConvergent evolutionary patterns of heterostyly across angiosperms support the pollination-precision hypothesis
Heterostylous plants have floral morphs bearing female and male sex organs at reciprocal heights. Here the authors show that, across angiosperms, heterostyly is associated with tubed flowers pollinated by long-tongued insects, supporting the Darwinian hypothesis about precise pollen transfer between heterostylous morphs.
- Violeta Simón-Porcar
- , Marcial Escudero
- & Juan Arroyo
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Article
| Open AccessExperimental warming accelerates positive soil priming in a temperate grassland ecosystem
Soil priming could release large amounts of soil C into the atmosphere. Here the authors show that experimental warming boosts soil priming and CO2 emissions in grasslands potentially due to microbial changes. Model accuracy could be improved by incorporating these mechanisms.
- Xuanyu Tao
- , Zhifeng Yang
- & Jizhong Zhou
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Article
| Open AccessContribution of climate change to the spatial expansion of West Nile virus in Europe
West Nile Virus is emerging as an important pathogen in Europe, likely driven by recent climate and land-use changes. Here, the authors estimate the extent of the climate change-driven impact by modelling the change in West Nile Virus ecological suitability across the continent in the absence of climate change.
- Diana Erazo
- , Luke Grant
- & Simon Dellicour
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Article
| Open AccessSynchrony of Bird Migration with Global Dispersal of Avian Influenza Reveals Exposed Bird Orders
Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus subtype H5 is an important pathogen of wild birds and poultry that has also caused infection in humans and other mammals. Here the authors use wild bird movement tracking data and virus genome sequences to quantify how seasonal bird migration facilitates global dispersal of the virus.
- Qiqi Yang
- , Ben Wang
- & Bryan Grenfell
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Article
| Open AccessEffects of climate and environmental heterogeneity on the phylogenetic structure of regional angiosperm floras worldwide
Using a dataset that included 341,846 species in 391 angiosperm floras worldwide, this study finds that the global phylogenetic structure of angiosperms shows clear and meaningful relationships with environmental factors and that current climatic variables have the highest predictive power for phylogenetic metrics reflecting recent evolutionary relationships.
- Hong Qian
- , Shenhua Qian
- & Michael Kessler
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Comment
| Open AccessOpening the door to multi-year marine habitat forecasts
Combining ocean predictions with physiological understanding yields the ability to forecast habitat multiple years into the future for a wide variety of marine organisms. However, several challenges remain before we see the regular production and use of marine habitat forecasts.
- Mark R. Payne
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Article
| Open AccessRisk of introduction and establishment of alien vertebrate species in transboundary neighboring areas
Controlling and preventing biological invasions requires transnational cooperation. This global study identifies land borders at higher risk of non-native vertebrate invasion and identifies human and environmental factors that predict risk hotspots.
- Qing Zhang
- , Yanping Wang
- & Xuan Liu
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Article
| Open AccessMicrobiome convergence enables siderophore-secreting-rhizobacteria to improve iron nutrition and yield of peanut intercropped with maize
Intercropping has the potential to improve plant nutrition and crop yield. Here, the authors intercrop peanut and maize and show that Pseudomonas secreted siderophore pyoverdine play an important role in plant iron nutrition.
- Nanqi Wang
- , Tianqi Wang
- & Yuanmei Zuo
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Article
| Open AccessConsistent stoichiometric long-term relationships between nutrients and chlorophyll-a across shallow lakes
Nutrient limitation is a well-known control of phytoplankton growth, but predicting specific responses in individual lakes based on nutrient data alone has proven challenging. Here, the authors show that long-term signals of chlorophyll-a dynamics in shallow lakes can be captured based on stoichiometric effects of N and P concentrations along a continuum of total N:total P ratios.
- Daniel Graeber
- , Mark J. McCarthy
- & Thomas A. Davidson
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Article
| Open AccessIntensifying rice production to reduce imports and land conversion in Africa
Here the authors demonstrate that cropland expansion following the historical trend together with closing the current exploitable yield gap by half or more across Africa reduces the continent’s reliance on land conversions and imports by 2050.
- Shen Yuan
- , Kazuki Saito
- & Patricio Grassini
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Article
| Open AccessHorizontal gene transfer is predicted to overcome the diversity limit of competing microbial species
Combining theoretical derivation and numerical simulations, this study predicts an ecological mechanism for maintaining microbial coexistence via dynamic neutrality enabled by horizontal gene transfer. This mechanism allows the emergence of microbial diversity beyond the limit predicted by previous theories.
- Shiben Zhu
- , Juken Hong
- & Teng Wang
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Article
| Open AccessPredatory protists reduce bacteria wilt disease incidence in tomato plants
Soil organisms are affected by the presence of predatory protists. Here, the authors predatory protists are negatively associated with bacteria wilt disease incidence in tomato plants and that fertilisation enhances the abundance of predatory protists
- Sai Guo
- , Zixuan Jiao
- & Stefan Geisen
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in food animals using priority drugs maps
Monitoring antimicrobial resistance in food animals is challenging due to limited surveillance systems. Here, the authors combine data from point prevalence surveys in lower- and middle-income settings to map resistance to seven antimicrobials and predict which are likely to exceed key resistance thresholds.
- Cheng Zhao
- , Yu Wang
- & Thomas P. Van Boeckel
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Article
| Open AccessRevealing the hidden carbon in forested wetland soils
A large proportion of wetland extent is not mapped in currently available national datasets. Incorporating newly revealed wetlands into soil carbon mapping methods increases estimates of wetland soil carbon stock by 482%.
- Anthony J. Stewart
- , Meghan Halabisky
- & L. Monika Moskal
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Article
| Open AccessSalinity causes widespread restriction of methane emissions from small inland waters
Small inland water bodies are widely seen as important sources of methane to the atmosphere. This study demonstrates that hardwater ecosystems emit less of this potent greenhouse gas than predicted due to complex biogeochemical controls
- Cynthia Soued
- , Matthew J. Bogard
- & Paige Kowal
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Article
| Open AccessPatterns of tropical forest understory temperatures
This study reveals the spatial and temporal patterns of temperature buffer inside the tropical forests. It provides insights into the forests’ microclimate that controls the functioning of living organisms residing under the forest canopy.
- Ali Ismaeel
- , Amos P. K. Tai
- & Eduardo Eiji Maeda
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Perspective
| Open AccessThe principles of natural climate solutions
Natural climate solutions can mitigate climate change but misunderstandings about what constitutes a natural climate solution generate unnecessary confusion and controversy. This Perspective distills five foundational principles of natural climate solutions and fifteen operational principles for practical implementation.
- Peter Woods Ellis
- , Aaron Marr Page
- & Susan C. Cook-Patton
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Article
| Open AccessGreenhouse gas emissions from US irrigation pumping and implications for climate-smart irrigation policy
This study demonstrates the energy use of US pump irrigation produced 12.6 million tonnes CO2e in 2018, with spatial variability modulated by water source and fuel choice. These county-level estimates can inform strategic irrigation expansion and emissions reduction efforts.
- Avery W. Driscoll
- , Richard T. Conant
- & Nathaniel D. Mueller
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Article
| Open AccessThe angiosperm radiation played a dual role in the diversification of insects and insect pollinators
Interactions with angiosperms are thought to have had a significant impact on insect diversification. Here, the authors use a Bayesian process-based approach to find that angiosperm radiation played a dual role that changed through time, mitigating insect extinction in the Cretaceous and promoting insect origination in the Cenozoic.
- David Peris
- & Fabien L. Condamine
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Article
| Open AccessScattered tree death contributes to substantial forest loss in California
Tree mortality due to climate change and other disturbances is on the rise. Here, the authors use high-resolution remote sensing data, ground observations and deep learning to quantify individual dead trees and potential drivers across California in the year 2020, encompassing 91.4 million dead trees.
- Yan Cheng
- , Stefan Oehmcke
- & Stéphanie Horion
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Article
| Open AccessShifting patterns of dengue three years after Zika virus emergence in Brazil
Dengue virus circulation was unusually low in Brazil in 2015-2018 following the emergence of Zika virus, but subsequently resurged causing large outbreaks with a lower mean age of infection. Here, the authors use mathematical modelling to investigate the links between dengue dynamics and prior Zika infection.
- Francesco Pinotti
- , Marta Giovanetti
- & José Lourenço
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Article
| Open AccessDrought may exacerbate dryland soil inorganic carbon loss under warming climate conditions
Drought is shown to enhance the temperature sensitivity of soil inorganic carbon dissolution but to weaken that of soil organic carbon decomposition, indicating that drought may exacerbate dryland soil carbon loss from inorganic carbon under warming.
- Jinquan Li
- , Junmin Pei
- & Ming Nie
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Article
| Open AccessMarkets as drivers of selection for highly virulent poultry pathogens
Live poultry markets in rural areas can be hotspots for transmission of pathogens, but the effects of markets on selection of viral virulence are not known. This study demonstrates through mathematical modelling that high turnover rate and persistence of viral particles can select for highly virulent pathogens in markets.
- Justin K. Sheen
- , Fidisoa Rasambainarivo
- & C. Jessica E. Metcalf
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Article
| Open AccessThermal responses of dissolved organic matter under global change
The response of organic molecules to climate change is linked to warming, nutrient loading, and greenhouse gas emissions, according to an indicator developed to quantify the aggregated thermal response of individual organic molecules.
- Ang Hu
- , Kyoung-Soon Jang
- & Jianjun Wang
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Article
| Open AccessMeta-analysis shows no consistent evidence for senescence in ejaculate traits across animals
A key assumption of ageing research is that old males are less fertile. A meta-analysis of ejaculate traits challenges this, by showing senescence is not consistently observed across 157 species of animals, but is specific to only certain taxa and ejaculate traits. The study also highlights methodological factors that might modulate the evidence for reproductive senescence.
- Krish Sanghvi
- , Regina Vega-Trejo
- & Irem Sepil
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Article
| Open AccessHost- plasmid network structure in wastewater is linked to antimicrobial resistance genes
Authors apply theory and microbial ecology modelling to a wastewater sample, and show that antimicrobial resistance carrying plasmids interact with a higher number and more diverse range of bacteria than plasmids that do not carry resistance genes.
- Alice Risely
- , Arthur Newbury
- & Dirk Sanders
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Article
| Open AccessTowards estimating the number of strains that make up a natural bacterial population
What a microbial strain is and how many strains make up a natural bacterial population remain elusive concepts. Here, Viver et al. analyse Salinibacter ruber isolates and metagenomes from two solar salterns, revealing gaps within the species sequence space that they use to define and quantify sub-species categories, such as genomovars and strains, that co-exist in a saltern pond.
- Tomeu Viver
- , Roth E. Conrad
- & Ramon Rossello-Mora
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Article
| Open AccessMapping the planet’s critical areas for biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people
This study shows that conserving approximately half of global land area through protection or sustainable management could provide 90% of ten of nature’s contributions to people and could meet representation targets for 26,709 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. This finding supports recent commitments to conserve at least 30% of global lands and waters by 2030.
- Rachel A. Neugarten
- , Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer
- & Amanda D. Rodewald
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