Reviews & Analysis

Gene–environment interactions have been found to shape ageing plasticity in the muscle tissue of migratory locusts through adaptive changes in lipid metabolic processes.

Machine-learning-based prediction of splicing in extinct hominin species highlights the effect of natural selection on splice-altering variants and reveals phenotypic differences with modern humans.

Efforts to document biodiversity have created large species datasets, but new research shows that field observations are biased towards particular regions, clades, traits and time periods, and do not accurately represent global biodiversity patterns. Although specimens are only infrequently preserved in natural history collections, they show relative congruence with expected biodiversity patterns and are vital for ecological research.

In cyanobacteria, the interaction between an orange carotenoid protein and its allosteric regulator evolved when a horizontal gene transfer event first brought the two proteins together. However, the surface compatibility between the proteins had already emerged. This finding implies that specific protein–protein interactions can evolve without the action of direct natural selection.

For a long time, the ecological niche concept was less popular for microbes than for other organisms. A new proxy for the ecological niche breadth of a microorganism, based on the variability of the communities with which it associates, enables investigation of the correlates of being a social generalist or social specialist.

Ensemble quotient optimization (EQO) uses patterns of variation in species abundance and ecosystem functions across microbial communities to identify microbial guilds in a systematic, objective manner. EQO is robust in recovering functional groups in soil, ocean and animal-gut microbial communities.

This Review discusses how sexual selection and sexual conflict shape genomes and transcriptomes and proposes an integrative approach combining behavioural ecology with developmental and genomic biology to answer open questions.

Unlike other North Pacific killer whales, Southern Resident killer whales have failed to thrive despite decades of conservation. Genomics combined with long-term observational records reveal inbreeding depression as a compelling explanation.

Using genome assemblies and comparative analyses, we identified evolutionary signatures of selection associated with repeated gains and losses of social behaviour in sweat bees. These signatures include changes in regulatory regions and young genes, as well as complementary patterns of positive and relaxed selection on proteins involved in juvenile hormone signalling.

This Review discusses challenges with detection and characterization of de novo genes and their mechanism of origin, and includes a curated list of de novo genes reported for humans.

A mathematical model of eco-evolutionary dynamics estimates different birth rates of cells at the periphery of a tumour versus its centre, giving insight into locally stable evolutionary mechanisms that arise as a result of boundary-driven growth.

A large-scale field study finds that different bee species experience different levels of risk from pesticides, depending on how much land is farmed within their foraging range. For bumblebees and solitary bees, more seminatural habitat means less risk from pesticides, but this is not true for honeybees.

In this Perspective, Karst et al. discuss how both the popular media and scientific literature have inflated the extent of evidence for various roles of mycorrhizal fungal networks in forests.

A study of plant–pollinator networks in a fragmented island landscape in China finds that habitat edges might not be bad for biodiversity.

The authors outline a framework for predicting animal population collapse under external stressors, based on a predictable sequence of observable changes through time.

In the period 1880 to 2020, intraspecific body-size variation increased in many mammal and bird species in North America, along with declines in average body size. These results suggest potential buffering effects against species downsizing and species capacity to cope with environmental change, but warn of an increasing possibility of maladaptation.

Laboratory-quantified spatial memory and subsequent free-ranging movements show how learning about space and establishing familiar areas increase fitness in pheasants.

This Review collates the current understanding of the innate immune systems in classic model and non-model organisms, highlighting ancestral complexity and lineage-specific adaptations and identifying targets for future comparative studies.