A transcriptomic analysis of 8 tissues across 20 bilaterian species reveals that ancestral gains of tissue-specific gene expression were closely associated with whole-genome duplications in vertebrates and the diversification of ancestral tissue types.

We evaluate the drivers of intensification traps — the combined loss of biodiversity and crop production that results from too-intensive agriculture. Our results reveal the conditions under which these lose–lose situations emerge and highlight the strong ramifications of disregarding biodiversity in agricultural management.

The Anthropocene has been rejected as a formal epoch by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Moving on and recognizing the deeper and more complex roots of human impacts on our planet will enable us to better, and more fairly, address them.

Sauropod specialist Verónica Díez Díaz retains a fondness for an armoured giant.

Niche contiguity occurs when only current climatic conditions are used to estimate the niche of a species, ignoring potential niche expansion under climate change. An assessment of 24,944 species shows that nearly half exhibit niche contiguity, which can lead to overestimates of biodiversity loss under climate change.

Analysing strontium isotope ratios for individuals of 18 bovid and equid species dating to the Last Glacial Period (115–11.7 ka), the authors find that 16 of these species lack definitive evidence of migration, even those species that are long-distance migrants today.

An analysis of fish and macroinvertebrate communities in European rivers over 32 years shows that inland ship traffic is associated with declining taxonomic richness, diversity and trait richness and with increased taxonomic evenness.

A survey of sharks and rays on coral reefs within 66 marine protected areas across 36 countries showcases that the conservation benefits of full MPA protection to sharks almost double when accompanied by effective fisheries management.

Long-term high-resolution data on social relationships, space use and microhabitat in a wild population of mice (Apodemus sylvaticus), accompanied by sampling of the gut microbiota, show that distinct sets of microorganisms dominate social and environmental transmission routes of microbiota. Microorganisms with low oxygen tolerance are more reliant on social transmission.

Isotope analysis of human and faunal remains dated to the Later Stone Age reveals a substantial plant-based component to hunter-gatherer diets at the site of Taforalt, several millennia prior to the development of agriculture in the Levant, renewing the question of why agriculture did not develop contemporaneously in North Africa.

Achieving inclusive and sustainable ocean economies, long-term climate resilience and effective biodiversity conservation requires urgent and strategic actions from local to global scales. We discuss fundamental changes that are needed to allow equitable policy across these three domains.

Sauropod specialist Verónica Díez Díaz retains a fondness for an armoured giant.

Pangenomics enables us to trace the evolutionary history of clades and offers new perspectives on sources of genomic variation and adaptation of organisms.

Quantitative field ecologist who contributed to the fundamentals of polar science and pelagic ecology.