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Analysing seabed imagery data spanning 5,000 km and >50,000 megafaunal specimens across the Clarion–Clipperton Zone abyssal plain in the northeast Pacific, the authors identify two distinct biogeographical provinces in which taxa that are dependent on calcium carbonate structures are restricted to depths above 4,300–4,880 m.
Using high-throughput detection of prey DNA from spiders in a grassland ecosystem, the authors reconstruct interaction networks between 50 spider species and 974 prey species and strains, documenting shifting seasonal dynamics.
Antagonistic coevolution of plants and insects is hypothesized to promote biological diversity. This study shows convergent evolution of a gene that encodes the GABA receptor, a target of plant toxins, in herbivorous insects and their predators. It further demonstrates that the evolution of resistant GABA receptors is associated with insect diversification.
Correlations of mutation incidence and fitness changes with the impacts of mutations on immune evasion and ACE2 binding affinity across available SARS-CoV-2 genomes show that immune evasion and ACE2 binding affinity contributed to SARS-CoV-2 evolution.
The authors study social and mounting behaviours in male rhesus macaques across 3 yr, finding that same-sex sociosexual behaviour is both repeatable and heritable within this population.
A systematic assessment finds that at least 5.8% of threatened and near threatened species on the IUCN Red List are likely to be threatened by international trade but that only 59% of these species are currently listed for protection from such trade by CITES.
Camera-trap data for 159 mammalian species at 1,002 sites across 16 tropical-forest protected areas show how local survival and colonization probabilities of specialist and generalist species are differently affected by human-induced stressors at different spatial scales, such as human population density and forest fragmentation.
Fungi exhibit remarkable morphological and ecological diversity. An analysis of the genomes of 123 fungi and relatives shows gradual loss of protist genes, major gene turnover and duplication leading to the evolution of modern traits of filamentous fungi.
The authors report isotopic data from ravens from Pavlovian (29,000–25,000 yr bp) archaeological sites that indicate ravens were consuming the same range of foods as commensal humans at the sites, which the authors refer to as ‘incipient synanthropism’.
Atmospheric CO2 concentration measured across a network of towers in North America shows that continent- and biome-scale measurements of the temperature sensitivity of ecosystem respiration are lower than have previously been estimated from plot-level studies.
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.
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.
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.
Field survey data from 1,034 bird species worldwide are used to show that species’ sensitivities to habitat fragmentation are more strongly related to their dispersal ability than to latitude and past habitat disturbance, and that variation in dispersal ability is in turn strongly associated with climate.