Reviews & Analysis

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  • Floristic homogenization — an increase in plant similarity within a given region — threatens biodiversity. By studying the taxonomic similarity of the floras of South Pacific islands over the past 5,000 years, we find that initial human settlement was probably a major driver of floristic homogenization.

    Research Briefing
  • Sequencing of a hagfish genome — one of the two jawless vertebrate lineages (cyclostomes) — constrains the timing and nature of genome duplication events that characterize early vertebrate evolution. Genome duplications occurred among ancestral vertebrates and cyclostomes, but genome-doubling in ancestral jawed vertebrates was caused by hybridization, which resulted in an unparalleled morphological diversification.

    Research Briefing
  • Data that span 15 generations reveal how gene flow and selection in a subordinate mesopredator are affected by pathogen-driven declines in the population density of a top predator. This work highlights the evolutionary impacts of interspecific competition and elucidates landscape-scale effects of an indirect interaction between a pathogen and nonhost species.

    Research Briefing
  • Two recent studies come to different yet complementary conclusions about the factors — species traits, climate conditions and past disturbances — that determine the responses of bird species to forest loss and fragmentation.

    • Montague H. C. Neate-Clegg
    News & Views
  • Inferring the evolutionary history of prokaryotic pangenomes is complicated by the lack of a reference for neutral genetic variation. A study that uses pseudogenes as a neutral reference provides support for selection as a force that shapes pangenomes.

    • Maria Rosa Domingo-Sananes
    • Conor J. Meehan
    News & Views
  • Two decades of global satellite observations reveal enhanced greening in mangrove forests relative to adjacent evergreen forests, which highlights important differences in the response of coastal and terrestrial ecosystems to climate change.

    • Yaping Chen
    • Matthew L. Kirwan
    News & Views
  • Humans are considered to be altricial (strongly underdeveloped at birth) with respect to other primates, but this observation is driven by the strong postnatal enlargement of human brains. We inferred that the developmental stage of human brains at birth does not differ substantially from that of other fossil hominins.

    Research Briefing
  • Species co-occurrences have long been used as proxies for interactions, but not all co-occurring species interact. A study now reveals that super-generalist consumers realize a higher portion of their potential interactions in bipartite networks.

    • Kevin Cazelles
    News & Views