Review Articles in 2022

Ecological syntheses are often assumed to identify generalities in effects, but this concept is rarely defined. Here, the authors review current practice in ecological synthesis and propose pathways to achieving generality.

Social cues are known to be involved in the timing of animal migrations. In this Review, the authors outline a framework for understanding the roles of different cues across temporal scales, and how these match with ecosystem dynamics.

Many viruses evolve quickly, leading to the coexistence of multiple strains within the same host and population. In this Review, the authors synthesize ecological and evolutionary approaches to studying the dynamics of multi-strain RNA virus infections and suggest opportunities for future work.

Transmissible cancers are governed by the same evolutionary processes as asexually reproducing, unicellular organisms. This Review discusses population genetics processes that determine the evolution of clonally transmissible cancers.

As extremely large microbial community datasets have proliferated, numerous approaches to studying their ecological properties have emerged. In this Review, the authors offer a guide to five ecological modelling techniques used to study complex microbial communities.

For decades, the origin of mitochondria during eukaryogenesis has been viewed as a response to Earth’s oxygenation, but this has been challenged by more recent research. Here, the authors review recent literature, concluding that eukaryogenesis and the rise of oxygen were decoupled, and obligate aerosis in eukaryotes has only become widespread in the past 1 billion years