Biodiversity articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Human encroachment into nature alters species communities and can lead to changes in disease dynamics. Here, Meyer et al. find that coronavirus prevalence increased in less diverse bat communities, which were dominated by susceptible host species.

    • Magdalena Meyer
    • , Dominik W. Melville
    •  & Simone Sommer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nutrient enrichment is a major global change component. Here the authors show that soil acidification induced by nutrient enrichment, rather than changes in mineral nutrient and carbon availability, modulates soil biodiversity-function relationships

    • Zhengkun Hu
    • , Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo
    •  & Manqiang Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Climate change effects on animals are typically measured as decreases or increases in performance, compared to controls. Because both directions can have cascading effects at the ecosystem level, this study conducts a meta-analysis testing for deviations in biological responses using absolute rather than relative changes, showing that impacts on marine animals might have been largely underestimated.

    • Katharina Alter
    • , Juliette Jacquemont
    •  & Paolo Domenici

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Intraspecific trait variation could influence competitive interactions among species. Here, the authors show that higher intraspecific variation in seedling traits and performance may enable competitively inferior plant species to coexist with competitively superior species.

    • Jing Yang
    • , Xiya Wang
    •  & Guochun Shen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The effect of biogeographic isolation on biodiversity remains unclear. Assessing global mammal and bird assemblages, the authors show that long-term biogeographic barriers explain reduced species richness and divergent ecological function, while environment determines diversity in most of the world.

    • Peter J. Williams
    • , Elise F. Zipkin
    •  & Jedediah F. Brodie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Global biogeographic patterns have resulted from millions of years of evolution. Here, the authors show that the global dispersal of non-native ant species is rapidly redefining these biogeographic patterns by homogenizing species assemblages, disproportionally affecting tropical regions and islands.

    • Lucie Aulus-Giacosa
    • , Sébastien Ollier
    •  & Cleo Bertelsmeier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Species-rich plant communities often have higher productivity than monocultures. Here, the authors analyse biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiments in grasslands and forests and find that the biodiversity effects on community productivity strengthen over time thanks to shifts in contributions of species with different resource acquisition traits.

    • Liting Zheng
    • , Kathryn E. Barry
    •  & Yann Hautier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Extinction threatens to erode the Tree of Life. Here, the authors calculate extinction risk for jawed vertebrates, predicting a loss of 86–150 billion years (11–19%) of evolutionary history through the next 50–500 years and indicating that cartilaginous fish, ray-finned fish, and turtles are most at risk from a phylogenetic perspective.

    • Rikki Gumbs
    • , Oenone Scott
    •  & James Rosindell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Protected areas are meant to defend species from direct exploitation and habitat loss, but they might also reduce climate change impacts. Here, the authors show that marine protected areas mitigate the impacts of marine heatwaves on reef fish communities.

    • Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi
    • , Amanda E. Bates
    •  & Eneko Aspillaga

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study shows that conserving approximately half of global land area through protection or sustainable management could provide 90% of ten of nature’s contributions to people and could meet representation targets for 26,709 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. This finding supports recent commitments to conserve at least 30% of global lands and waters by 2030.

    • Rachel A. Neugarten
    • , Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer
    •  & Amanda D. Rodewald

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Body colour may be an important factor in insect phenology. Here, the authors show that colour lightness of dragonfly assemblages from the UK, collected between May and October from 1990-2020, varies in response to seasonal changes in solar radiation, suggesting a link between colour-based thermoregulation and insect phenology.

    • Roberto Novella-Fernandez
    • , Roland Brandl
    •  & Christian Hof

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Free-ranging domestic cats have major ecological impacts globally. Here, Lepczyk et al. compile records of the species consumed by cats, identifying thousands of species consumed, including hundreds of species that are of conservation concern.

    • Christopher A. Lepczyk
    • , Jean E. Fantle-Lepczyk
    •  & John C. Z. Woinarski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanisms generating montane biodiversity remain incompletely understood. Here, the authors study the passerine avifauna of Indo-Pacific island mountains, finding that Eurasian-origin species colonized directly from other mountains, while Australo-Papuan-origin species made upslope range shifts from the lowlands.

    • Andrew Hart Reeve
    • , Jonathan David Kennedy
    •  & Knud Andreas Jønsson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Factors behind interspecific variation in masting are unclear. Here, the authors show that, in 517 species of terrestrial perennial plants, masting is more frequent in species that have high stem tissue density, suggesting that stronger stress resistance may buffer against missed reproductive opportunities.

    • Valentin Journé
    • , Andrew Hacket-Pain
    •  & Michał Bogdziewicz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study relates 88,000 elevation range sizes of vascular plants in 44 mountains to short-term and long-term temperature variation. The authors finding of decreasing elevation range sizes with greater diurnal temperature range supports a novel biodiversity hypothesis and indicates increased extinction risk of continental species.

    • Arnaud Gallou
    • , Alistair S. Jump
    •  & John-Arvid Grytnes

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study compiled a comprehensive global database on live terrestrial vertebrate trade and used it to investigate traded alien species. The authors identify 7,780 species involved in trade globally and show that countries with greater trading power, higher incomes and larger human populations import more alien species, which emerge as hotspots for establishment richness of aliens.

    • Yiming Li
    • , Tim M. Blackburn
    •  & Siqi Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Global spatiotemporal patterns of plant diversification are unclear. Here, the authors use a genus-level phylogeny and global distribution data for 14,244 flowering plant genera, finding a negative correlation between spatial patterns of diversification and genus diversity.

    • Dimitar Dimitrov
    • , Xiaoting Xu
    •  & Zhiheng Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The potential of crop diversification to reduce pesticide use has not been quantified at large scales. Here, the authors use a national network of 1334 cropping system to identify the effect of increasing temporal crop diversity on pesticide use for 16 common crops.

    • Maé Guinet
    • , Guillaume Adeux
    •  & Nicolas Munier-Jolain

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Expanding protected areas to meet conservation goals requires careful consideration of potential trade-offs. Here, by simulating conservation scenarios for Canada, the authors report that 30×30 outcomes for biodiversity depend more on how protection is coordinated at different spatial scales than on which biodiversity metrics are prioritized.

    • Isaac Eckert
    • , Andrea Brown
    •  & Laura J. Pollock

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The contribution of adaptive radiation to species and phenotypic diversity within major clades is not clear. Here, the authors use morphological and phylogenetic data for 1226 species of frogs, finding that less than half of families resemble adaptive radiation, but that adaptive radiation contributed to 75% of diversity.

    • Gen Morinaga
    • , John J. Wiens
    •  & Daniel S. Moen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The relationship between stomatal traits and environmental drivers across plant communities has important implications for ecosystem fluxes. Here, the authors explore community-scale stomatal trait-environment relationships, which are important for predicting future water and carbon cycles.

    • Congcong Liu
    • , Lawren Sack
    •  & Guirui Yu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The largest increase in marine biodiversity in Earth’s history took place nearly 500 million years ago during a geological period called the Ordovician. This event is well documented based on paleontological data, but its causes are debated. This study uses a numerical model to demonstrate that global climate cooling may have triggered biodiversification at that time.

    • Daniel Eliahou Ontiveros
    • , Gregory Beaugrand
    •  & Alexandre Pohl

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mangroves provide ecosystem services but are threatened by anthropogenic activities. This study identifies priority areas that maximise the protection of mangrove biodiversity and ecosystem services. The authors show that biodiversity can be protected whilst maximising ecosystem benefits, with little or no increase in the protected area required.

    • Alvise Dabalà
    • , Farid Dahdouh-Guebas
    •  & Anthony J. Richardson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cetaceans such as dolphins and whales contribute to the cycling of essential nutrients in the surface ocean through defecation. Using a bioenergetic modelling approach, this study shows that the contribution of different cetaceans is heterogeneous both in terms of quantity and in quality, as the nutrient cocktails they release reflect the physiology and ecology of each species.

    • Lola Gilbert
    • , Tiphaine Jeanniard-du-Dot
    •  & Jérôme Spitz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Biodiversity is unevenly distributed across the tree of life, and theoretical work suggests that biological complexity may be influential in forming these patterns. Here, Brinkworth et al. have shown that bird clades with more complex appendicular skeletons tend to have lower extant species richness.

    • Andrew Brinkworth
    • , Emily Green
    •  & Matthew A. Wills

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Protected areas are vital for conserving biodiversity, but their effectiveness is often unknown. A study on 638 species in Finland’s protected and unprotected sites finds mixed impacts; only a subset of species benefit from protection, mainly experiencing slower declines within protected areas.

    • Andrea Santangeli
    • , Benjamin Weigel
    •  & Marjo Saastamoinen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Brachiopod-bivalve switch in diversity dominance after the Palaeozoic era is a textbook example of clade replacement, and its mechanism has long been debated. Here, new Bayesian analyses suggest that diversification turnover between the two was not driven by biotic competition but the end-Permian extinction.

    • Zhen Guo
    • , Joseph T. Flannery-Sutherland
    •  & Zhong-Qiang Chen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study presents a global map of predicted insect mitochondrial genetic diversity from cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 sequences. From over 2 million mtDNA sequences, they find a negative quadratic latitudinal gradient in genetic diversity evenness, peaking in the subtropics and correlating with hot, stable environments.

    • Connor M. French
    • , Laura D. Bertola
    •  & Michael J. Hickerson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Marine bivalves are important components of ecosystems and are exploited for food across the world. This study expands the list of marine bivalves known to be exploited worldwide and then uses a trait-based approach to identify intrinsically vulnerable species and to pinpoint regions with high levels of extinction-prone exploited species, helping to prioritize areas for conservation effort.

    • Shan Huang
    • , Stewart M. Edie
    •  & David Jablonski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cities may host surprisingly diverse and functionally distinct biological communities. This global analysis on 5302 vertebrate and invertebrate species finds evidence of 4 trait syndromes in urban animal assemblages, modulated by spatial and geographic factors.

    • Amy K. Hahs
    • , Bertrand Fournier
    •  & Marco Moretti

  • Article
    | Open Access

    common assumption of evolution is that of an ecological limit to species diversity. This study tests whether sympatry with closely-related species leads to decreasing speciation rates. They find that, for terrestrial vertebrates, the probability of speciation seems to be unaffected by the number of other species of that lineage already present

    • Marcio R. Pie
    • , Raquel Divieso
    •  & Fernanda S. Caron

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Corals living in naturally extreme environments such as mangrove lagoons have been considered as ‘super corals’ for reef conservation. However, this study shows that resistance in highly variable conditions comes with biological trade-offs that could compromise the suitability of these stress-tolerant corals for reef management under worsening climate change conditions.

    • Federica Scucchia
    • , Paul Zaslansky
    •  & Emma F. Camp

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Experimental evidence indicates that genetic diversity can promote biomass stability, but does this process occur in wild populations? Focusing on three freshwater fish species from two river basins in southwestern France, this study shows that the biomass of genetically diversified populations has been more stable in recent decades than populations that have suffered from genetic erosion.

    • Jérôme G. Prunier
    • , Mathieu Chevalier
    •  & Simon Blanchet

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Arctic tundra is a relatively young biome. Here, the authors sample 32 angiosperm clades encompassing 3600+ species and find that both long-term dispersal and in situ speciation may have contributed to Arctic flora assembly, in association with landscape, climate and sea-level changes since the early Late Miocene.

    • Jun Zhang
    • , Xiao-Qian Li
    •  & Wei Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Seed banks are reservoirs of plant diversity. This study shows that nutrient addition decreases diversity of grassland seed banks, increases their similarity to aboveground communities and interacts with aboveground herbivory to affect their abundance.

    • Anu Eskelinen
    • , Maria-Theresa Jessen
    •  & Lauren L. Sullivan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Functional trait data could guide predictions of species responses to environmental change. Here, the authors show that winner and loser shrub species in the warming tundra biome overlap in trait space and may therefore be difficult to predict based on commonly measured traits.

    • Mariana García Criado
    • , Isla H. Myers-Smith
    •  & Anna-Maria Virkkala

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Anaerobic gut fungi are a functionally important component of mammalian herbivores’ microbiomes. Here, the authors surveys anaerobic gut fungi in 34 species of ruminants and hindgut fermenters, assessing their patterns and identifying 56 novel genera.

    • Casey H. Meili
    • , Adrienne L. Jones
    •  & Mostafa S. Elshahed

  • Article
    | Open Access

    “Factors influencing soil microbiota functioning remain understudied. Here, the authors describe bacterial and fungal diversity across Europe and along a gradient of land-use perturbation, observing that the occurrence of pathogens, symbionts and saprotrophs varied among cropland, woodland and grassland.”

    • Maëva Labouyrie
    • , Cristiano Ballabio
    •  & Alberto Orgiazzi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Biodiversity often increases the functioning and productivity of ecosystems or communities. This work shows that such a positive diversity effect, namely overyielding in mixtures of two divergent Arabidopsis thaliana genotypes, can be genetically mapped and resolved to a single gene.

    • Samuel E. Wuest
    • , Lukas Schulz
    •  & Pascal A. Niklaus

  • Article
    | Open Access

    This study updates the floristic realms of the world by integrating global distributions and mega-phylogenies of 12,664 angiosperm genera. Eight realms and 16 sub-realms are identified, most of which have formed since the Paleogene, and their formation is dominated by geographic isolation induced by plate tectonics rather than current or historical climate.

    • Yunpeng Liu
    • , Xiaoting Xu
    •  & Zhiheng Wang

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