Volume 2 Issue 10, October 2018

Archaeologist who transformed our understanding of Neanderthals.

Analysis of data from weather radars across the continental United States shows that migratory birds flying further are more likely to survive the journey.

When ecological and evolutionary dynamics occur on similar timescales, otherwise inaccessible stable and diverse communities can spontaneously assemble.

Encapsulated synthetic RNA molecules can cooperate to replicate while avoiding parasites.

Asymptomatic wild populations of Arabidopsis thaliana have been found infected with genetically diverse pathogenic Pseudomonas strains. New research highlights how little we understand about the eco-evolutionary dynamics of bacterial pathogens in natural plant communities.

Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) are intended to provide standardized measurements for reporting biodiversity change. Here, the authors outline the conceptual and empirical basis for the use of EBVs based on species traits, and highlight tools necessary for creating comprehensive EBV data products.

Rank abundance distribution models reveal that Ediacaran ecological communities were highly complex, probably including species competing for different resources and/or creating niches for other species.

The teeth of Mesozoic marine reptiles are used to establish a dietary guild system for the species of the Jurassic Sub-Boreal Seaway over about 18 million years, revealing that niche partition and spatial distribution that varied following sea depth enabled species coexistence, as with marine faunas today.

Molecular clock analyses calibrated with fossil material reveal a new timescale of early life.

Palaeogenomic data from four Late Pleistocene cave bears reveals that cave bears admixed with brown bears in the Pleistocene epoch, and despite cave bears going extinct during the Last Glacial Maximum, extant brown bears maintain a genomic contribution from cave bears.

Daily location data on the individuals of 14 migratory marine species from 2000 to 2009 allow annual migratory cycles to be mapped to the time spent in the high seas and the exclusive economic zones of specific countries, providing a basis for international management strategies for these species.

Analysing data from 39 grassland biodiversity experiments, the authors uncover the direct and indirect contributions to ecosystem stability of taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional trait diversity.

A stoichiometric framework predicts the contrasting results of nutrient effects on primary production, with predicted responses supported by a meta-analysis of N–P fertilization experiments.

Using a model derived from metabolic theory, the authors identify the contributions of soil biota metabolism, community composition and heterotrophic activity to soil respiration. The approach accurately predicts variation in respiration with mean annual temperature (MAT) across five biomes.

Data from 143 weather radars provide an estimate of biomass flows from nocturnal migrating birds across the continental United States, providing a picture of survival rates for species with different life-history and migratory strategies.

Whether individual behaviours remain consistent across environments is unclear. Here the authors show that guppies translocated into different environments consistently differ in their ability to acquire food resources, which is also modified by sociality and sex.

Sexually selected traits primarily drive reproductive success, but their secondary functions are less well studied. Here, the authors show that antler retention among male elk involves a trade-off between predator deterrence and reproductive success in the next breeding season.

Growing evidence suggests that de novo genes originating from noncoding DNA are common. Here the authors show that while open reading frames pervasively emerge from noncoding sequences, most are lost; nevertheless a few can be translated and give rise to new protein-coding genes.

Gene regulatory networks evolve through changes in regulatory connections. Combining experiments and thermodynamic modelling, the authors show that intrinsic binding characteristics of repressors are important determinants for their evolutionary potential.

Most models for evolutionarily stable states assume that mutations are rare enough that ecological dynamics equilibrate between mutations. Here, it is shown that a higher mutation rate allows the system to tunnel to complex ESS that would otherwise be unreachable via single mutations.

Long-term replication experiments using two RNA molecules that must cooperate to replicate reveals a concentration range within which cooperation is maintained even in the presence of a parasitic RNA.

Genome sequence data from colorectal tumours show how adenomas progress to carcinomas on the fitness landscape.