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Combining species range-shift estimates with population trends for 146 marine species reveals that population abundances tend to decline as the velocity with which the species’ range is shifting poleward increases. The findings suggest widespread transient population dynamics rather than a simple dichotomy between climate-change ‘winners’ and ‘losers’.
Abundance data for marine fish populations show that those shifting poleward rapidly due to climate change experience substantial population declines, suggesting that rapid range shifts are not sufficient to maintain stable populations.
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.
Conventional agricultural intensification can lead to ‘traps’ where production actually declines because of biodiversity loss. By integrating case study archetypes, literature review and simulations, the authors show what systems are at risk of traps and how these risks can be limited.
The authors analyse 8,790 prokaryotic pangenomes to identify the ecological variables associated with recent versus old horizontal gene transfer events, finding that gene transfers are more common among co-occurring, highly abundant or host-associated species.
In an analysis of forest edge-to-interior transects in Europe, the authors show that different facets of biodiversity and different types of ecosystem service are found in forest interiors versus edges, suggesting that both have a role to play in the provisioning of ecosystem services in landscapes.
Combining ecophysiological growth models of >135,000 vascular plant species and information on plant growth form, the authors show that 33–68% of the global land surface will experience a significant change in the next 50 years in how climate supports the plant growth forms that define terrestrial ecosystems.
Behavioural innovation provides a key adaptive advantage to wild populations, but it is unclear which experimental assay is the best predictor for innovation. The authors administered a battery of cognitive tests to 15 passerine species to show that performance in problem-solving tasks is most closely associated with innovations in the wild.
Using over 200 chromosomal genomes to reconstruct 250 million years of evolutionary history, we define the 32 linkage groups (Merian elements) that were present in the ancestor of Lepidoptera. We chart the dynamics of chromosome fusion and fission that accompanied the global diversification of Lepidoptera.
Analysis of 210 lepidopteran chromosome-level genomes reveals stability of the 32 ancestral chromosomes and extensive reorganization, including fusion and fission events, in eight lineages over 250 million years of evolution.
Genome analysis of modern and historical elephant seals reveals impacts of a severe bottleneck on the genomes and fitness of individual seals, and the implications for recovery.
Analysing biogeographic patterns in soil viromes based on 1,824 soil metagenomes from sites around the world, the authors show that viral diversity rarely corresponds to overall microbial diversity, with soil texture and moisture being closely associated with viral diversity.
Two centuries after the first non-avian dinosaur was announced, we celebrate this iconic clade with some specially commissioned content and a consideration of past and current research questions.