Volume 2 Issue 5, May 2018

Aichi Target 11 has galvanized expansion of the global protected area network, but there is little evidence that this brings real biodiversity gains. We argue that area-based prioritization risks unintended perverse consequences and that the focus of protected area target development should shift from quantity to quality.

TreeDivNet is the largest network of biodiversity experiments worldwide, but needs to expand. We encourage colleagues to establish new experiments on the relation between tree species diversity and forest ecosystem functioning, and to make use of the platform for collaborative research.

An 85,000-year-old Homo sapiens finger bone in Saudi Arabia is the oldest directly dated fossil for our species outside Africa and the Levant. This suggests a more prolonged human expansion out of Africa, and along a different route, than previously thought.

An audit of recent research on the scales of data collection in ecology highlights the field’s data limitations, which may hinder progress in linking processes across scales.

Horizontal gene transfer events — the exchange of genetic material between organisms — can be used to date the timeline of evolution of microorganisms that lack a fossil record.

Human development is restricting animal movement within anthropogenic landscapes, with consequences for population- and ecosystem-level processes.

A conceptual model linking drivers of change to biodiversity loss identifies major gaps in the Aichi targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and provides a mechanism for developing new indicators.

How biotic interactions change across spatial scales is not well characterized. Here, the authors outline a theoretical framework to explore the spatial scaling of multitrophic communities, and present testable predictions on network-area relationships (NARs).

Palaeoproteomics is an emerging field at the intersection of evolutionary biology, archaeology and anthropology. This Perspective provides a best practice primer for researchers, reviewers and editors.

A directly dated Homo sapiens phalanx from the Nefud desert reveals human presence in the Arabian Peninsula before 85,000 years ago. This represents the earliest date for H. sapiens outside Africa and the Levant.

A high-resolution local palaeoclimatic archive is correlated to the early Holocene human behavioural record at the British Mesolithic site of Star Carr. Despite environmental stresses at this time, intensive human activity persisted over centuries, suggesting resilience to climate change.

Analysing the spatial and temporal extents of 348 ecological studies published between 2004 and 2014, the authors show that although the average study interval and extent has increased, resolution and duration have remained largely unchanged.

Low-frequency passive microwave data (L-VOD) allow quantification of biomass change in sub-Saharan Africa between 2010 and 2016, revealing climate-induced carbon losses, particularly in drylands.

An in situ mesocosm experiment finds enhanced survival of Atlantic herring larvae under projected end-of-century ocean-acidification conditions, which probably results from higher primary production in higher CO₂ levels.

A reconstruction of the colonization history of 1,311 Afro-Palaearctic songbird species, combined with comparisons of MHC-I genetic diversity, suggests that changes in pathogen pressure during colonization and migration have shaped immunity.

A phylogeny of nearly all extant amphibian species reveals biogeographic patterns of evolutionary distinctiveness and current threat exposure that will inform conservation strategies for these groups.

Hox genes play a fundamental role in vertebrate development. Here, the authors show that, like in jawed vertebrates, in cyclostomes the onset of Hox gene expression is determined by their position in the Hox gene cluster.

Many organisms can modify habitats for their own benefit, but some may also do so in non-beneficial ways. Here, the authors report an extreme example in soil bacteria in which modification of environmental pH at high population densities leads to population extinction.

Trade-offs are common during evolutionary innovation. Here, the authors show that multicopy plasmids allow coexistence of the ancestral and evolved alleles in the TEM-1 β-lactamase system, helping bacteria to escape evolutionary constraints imposed by trade-offs.

Adaptation in diploids is poorly understood. Here, the authors show a slower rate of adaptation and a shift towards adaptive dominant mutations in long-term experimental evolution of diploid strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Genes can originate de novo from random non-coding DNA. Here, the authors identify a pool of young proteins in mice that are translated at significant levels and evolved in a neutral manner, and are putative precursors of de novo genes.

Microbial methanogenesis during the Archaean eon may explain the high temperatures needed to support a liquid hydrosphere. Here, the authors find support for methanogenesis predating the Archaean by analysing horizontal gene transfer events between methanogenic Archaea and Cyanobacteria.

Inferring ages of microbial lineages is particularly challenging due to a lack of fossil records for these organisms. Here, the authors show that lateral gene transfer can be used to date the tree of life.