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A NutNet global grassland study finds that leaf N, P and K consistently respond to soil nutrient additions, but leaf morphological traits, such as specific leaf area, are inconsistent indicators of anthropogenic perturbations.
Experimental evolution in yeast using URA3 reporter assay shows that chromatin-based, epigenetically heritable gene silencing can drive adaptive evolution.
An expert elicitation survey estimates yield losses for the five major food crops worldwide, suggesting that the highest losses are associated with food-deficit regions with fast-growing populations and frequently with emerging or re-emerging pests and diseases.
A global map of the distribution of polyploidy plant species shows that their frequency increases with latitude and is also strongly, though indirectly, affected by climate.
Analysing the stability of model food webs against changes in environmental noise, the authors show that increasingly positive autocorrelation is a more important determinant of stability than intrinsic food web characteristics.
New 43–45 ka dates for stone tool assemblages associated with anatomically modern humans (AMHs) at the southern Spanish site of Bajondillo suggest an early AMH incursion and weaken the case for late Neanderthal persistence in the region.
Analysis of de novo mutations in sequences of great ape parent-offspring trios suggests that mutation rates slowed down in the recent human lineage, reconciling dates from the fossil record.
During the Carboniferous–Permian transition, reduction of tropical wetlands accommodated emerging dryland-adapted amniote faunas from a western Pangaean epicentre.
Developing a modelling approach based on evolutionary game theory, the authors are able to successfully predict global patterns in belowground plant–symbiont distributions across biomes, as well as major patterns in nutrient cycling, succession and stability.
Detailed information is already available on the genotypic and phenotypic variation of Arabidopsis. Here, extensive georeferenced environmental data from natural populations are compiled to identify adaptive variation.
Analysing plant–pollinator interactions across all major land use classes in four cities, the authors show that residential gardens and community gardens are urban pollinator hotspots, with pollinator abundance positively associated with household income.
Measuring microbial respiration in soils collected for three years along a latitudinal gradient, the authors find lower respiration rates and greater plasticity in responses at sites with higher mean annual temperatures, consistent with adaptation to thermal regimes.
Undertaking an incubation study on soil collected from 110 dryland sites across the world, the authors show that the response of soil microbial respiration to temperature is consistent with that of adaptation to the ambient thermal regime.
Comparison of nuclear and mitochondrial ancestry in admixed human populations from the Americas shows mitonuclear interactions with possible impacts on phenotypic variation in admixed individuals.