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The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework envisages an increasing reliance on large-scale private finance to fund biodiversity targets. We warn that this may pose contradictions in delivering conservation outcomes and propose a critical ongoing role for direct public funding of conservation and public oversight of private nature-related financial mechanisms.
The authors report an oviparous new specimen of the choristodere Ikechosaurus sp. from the Lower Cretaceous of China, confirming the basal archosauromorph affiliation of choristoderes. Phylogenetic analyses of this specimen along with other extinct and extant amniotes suggest that the ancestral amniote displayed extended embryo retention, including viviparity.
Studying Drosophila melanogaster Y chromosomes with variable levels of heterochromatin generated using genome editing, the authors show that while different Y chromosomes could disrupt gene silencing on other chromosomes, they did not affect sexual dimorphism in longevity.
Analysis of whole genomes of four fox species shows that introgression facilitated adaptation to the hot arid environment of the Sahara Desert and suggests renal water homeostasis as a mechanism of adaptation in the extreme desert specialist species.
Analysing patterns of morphological disparity and the evolutionary rate of appendicular limbs across theropods, the authors show lower disparity and decelerated rates of forelimb size evolution, which may have been caused by restrictions on morphospace given the requirements for powered flight.
There is great interest in describing biodiversity change through time, but such analyses present various technical challenges. Here, using datasets for fish and birds, the authors show that a bias towards colonization over extinction can result in an increasing species richness over time, especially in short time series, and argue that studies should account for this bias.
An analysis of Y chromosomes from 29 primate species shows lineage-specific evolutionary strata as well as changes in the 3D structure, rearrangements and positive selection that have shaped the primate Y chromosome over the past 80 million years.
Plastic pollution has rapidly risen to the top of public and policy discourse on the environment. For World Environment Day on 5 June and World Oceans Day on 8 June, we reflect on its intersection with other ocean threats from biodiversity loss and climate change.
Comparative analysis of Y chromosomes across 29 primate species reveals rapid evolution and shows different patterns of evolution among regions of the Y chromosome during primate diversification.
A study from Belize demonstrates how to set targets for coastal ecosystem conservation and restoration, and to quantify the resulting suite of benefits for achieving climate change mitigation and adaptation goals under the Paris Agreement.
Across taxa, increased temperature has been reported to generally reduce individual body size and change the body size structure of wild communities. Our research reveals that the effects of climate warming on the body size structure of stream fishes are also dependent on the intensity of other human pressures.
The genetic basis of collective behaviour is complex. Single-cell transcriptomics of honeybee brains and gene regulatory network analysis showed differences in brain gene regulation and gene regulatory network plasticity between aggressive soldiers and non-aggressive foragers.
Analysing more than 20 years of data on stream fish communities in France, the authors show that streams facing high levels of human pressures have reversed effects of climate warming on fish body size spectrum slopes.
An assessment of blue carbon strategies in Belize shows how quantifying fisheries, tourism and coastal risk co-benefits alongside carbon benefits can inform spatial and temporal target setting for nationally determined climate contributions that simultaneously provide societal benefits.
Global biodiversity loss has been disproportionately driven by consumption of people in rich nations. The concept of ‘loss and damage’ — familiar from international agreements on climate change — should be considered for the effects of biodiversity loss in countries of the Global South.
