Ecology articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Warming is expected to increase C sink capacity in high-latitude ecosystems, but plant-herbivore interactions could moderate or offset this effect. Here, Silfver and colleagues test individual and interactive effects of warming and insect herbivory in a field experiment in Subarctic forest, showing that even low intensity insect herbivory strongly reduces C sink potential.

    • Tarja Silfver
    • , Lauri Heiskanen
    •  & Juha Mikola

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Lake fisheries are vulnerable to environmental changes. Here, Kao et al. develop a Bayesian networks model to analyze time-series data from 31 major fisheries lake across five continents, showing that fish catches can respond either positively or negatively to climate and land-use changes.

    • Yu-Chun Kao
    • , Mark W. Rogers
    •  & Joelle D. Young

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Snow algae bloom along the coast of Antarctica and are likely to be biogeochemically important. Here, the authors produced the first map of such blooms, show that they are driven by warmer temperatures and proximity to birds and mammals, and are likely to increase given projected climate changes.

    • Andrew Gray
    • , Monika Krolikowski
    •  & Matthew P. Davey

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Key events in human evolution are thought to have occurred between 3 and 2.5 Ma, but the fossil record of this period is sparse. Here, Alemseged et al. report a new fossil site from this period, Mille-Logya, Ethiopia, and characterize the geology, basin evolution and fauna, including specimens of Homo.

    • Zeresenay Alemseged
    • , Jonathan G. Wynn
    •  & Joseph Mohan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The causes of the Upper Pleistocene megafauna extinction in Australia and New Guinea are debated, but fossil data are lacking for much of this region. Here, Hocknull and colleagues report a new, diverse megafauna assemblage from north-eastern Australia that persisted until ~40,000 years ago.

    • Scott A. Hocknull
    • , Richard Lewis
    •  & Rochelle A. Lawrence

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In birds, the hand-wing index is a morphological trait that can be used as a proxy for flight efficiency. Here the authors examine variation of hand-wing index in over 10,000 bird species, finding that it is higher in migratory and non-territorial species, and lower in the tropics.

    • Catherine Sheard
    • , Montague H. C. Neate-Clegg
    •  & Joseph A. Tobias

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    Coastal systems are hotspots of ecological, geochemical and economic activity, yet their dynamics are not accurately represented in global models. In this Review, Ward and colleagues assess the current state of coastal science and recommend approaches for including the coastal interface in predictive models.

    • Nicholas D. Ward
    • , J. Patrick Megonigal
    •  & Lisamarie Windham-Myers

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fast metabolisms tend to shorten lifespans by increasing oxidative damage. This study identifies a gene mutation that keeps a key antioxidant response active, possibly allowing Neoaves bird species to avoid the tradeoff between rapid metabolism and longevity that challenges most mammals, including humans.

    • Gianni M. Castiglione
    • , Zhenhua Xu
    •  & Elia J. Duh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In contrast to bird plumage, little is known about the evolution of bird skin color. Here, Nicolaï et al. find that black skin has evolved over 100 times in birds and is associated with baldness and/or white feathers as well as with high irradiation habitats, suggesting a role in UV protection.

    • Michaël P. J. Nicolaï
    • , Matthew D. Shawkey
    •  & Liliana D’Alba

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The spatial organisation of microbial communities is caused by the interplay of biotic and abiotic factors. Here the authors design a microfluidic platform to quantify the spatiotemporal parameters influencing diffusion-mediated interactions, and use this device to investigate information transmission and metabolic cross-feeding in synthetic microbial consortia.

    • Sonali Gupta
    • , Tyler D. Ross
    •  & Ophelia S. Venturelli

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Developmental duration is a key life-history trait. Cooney et al. compile data on 3096 bird species to quantify the degree to which phylogenetic history, body size and ecological variables like predation risk or breeding phenology influence variation in developmental duration.

    • Christopher R. Cooney
    • , Catherine Sheard
    •  & Alison E. Wright

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Metagenome approaches can unravel relationships between environment, community composition, and ecological functions. Here, the authors show that bacterial communities sampled from rainwater pools can be clustered into few classes with distinct functional capacities and genetic repertoires, the assembly of which is likely driven by local conditions.

    • Alberto Pascual-García
    •  & Thomas Bell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is generally thought many microbes, owing to their ubiquity and dispersal capability, lack biogeographic structuring and clear speciation patterns compared to macroorganisms. However, Pinseel et al. demonstrate multiple cycles of colonization and diversification in Pinnularia borealis, a rare biosphere soil diatom.

    • Eveline Pinseel
    • , Steven B. Janssens
    •  & Wim Vyverman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plastic pollution has infiltrated every ecosystem, but few studies have quantified the biogeochemical or ecological effects of plastic. Here the authors show that microplastics in ocean sediment can significantly alter microbial community structure and nitrogen cycling.

    • Meredith E. Seeley
    • , Bongkeun Song
    •  & Robert C. Hale

  • Article
    | Open Access

    One-third of Earth’s carbon is sequestered in peatlands, and its stability in the face of climate change is unknown. Here the authors show that warming leads to the release of carbon as methane, but only the most prolonged warming leads to the breakdown and release of deep, old carbon.

    • A. M. Hopple
    • , R. M. Wilson
    •  & S. D. Bridgham

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Prior studies have investigated macroecological patterns of host sharing among viruses, although certain mammal clades have not been represented in these analyses, and the findings have not been used to predict the true network. Here the authors model the species level traits that predict viral sharing across all mammal clades and validate their predictions using an independent dataset.

    • Gregory F. Albery
    • , Evan A. Eskew
    •  & Kevin J. Olival

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Reactive iron minerals protect vast amounts of terrestrial carbon from decomposition and release as CO2. Here the authors show that reactive iron alone does not provide sufficient protection except under strict oxic conditions—instead, iron itself promotes carbon decomposition.

    • Chunmei Chen
    • , Steven J. Hall
    •  & Aaron Thompson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Numerous marine ecosystem models are used to project animal biomass over time but integrating them can be challenging. Here the authors develop a test for statistical significance in multi-model ensemble trends, and thus relate future biomass trends to current patterns of ecological and socioeconomic status.

    • Daniel G. Boyce
    • , Heike K. Lotze
    •  & Boris Worm

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sea-ice cover in Antarctica has increased over the last decades and reached a maximum in 2014. Here, the authors report strong declines in zoobenthic biomass and abundance and changes in community composition on the NE Weddell Sea shelf over 26 years, with implications for blue carbon and biochemistry in a globally important marine region.

    • Santiago E. A. Pineda-Metz
    • , Dieter Gerdes
    •  & Claudio Richter

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microbial plant-soil feedbacks (PSF) are fundamentally important for plant diversity. The authors present a spatially explicit dynamic model that separates the effects of microbial mutualists and pathogens, thereby presenting a testable mechanistic framework to reconcile previously puzzling observations of the strength and direction of PSF with diversity maintenance.

    • John W. Schroeder
    • , Andrew Dobson
    •  & Edward Allen Herre

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Models of the origin of life generally require a mechanism to structure emerging populations. Here, Krieger et al. develop spatial models showing that coherent structures arising in turbulent flows in aquatic environments could have provided compartments that facilitated the origin of life.

    • Madison S. Krieger
    • , Sam Sinai
    •  & Martin A. Nowak

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Aside from their pollination function, pollinators consume and are consumed by other members of ecological communities; these relationships could explain the controversial effects of pollinators on ecological networks. Here the authors show that when mutualists such as pollinators are introduced into food webs, they increase ecosystem biodiversity, stability, and function.

    • Kayla R. S. Hale
    • , Fernanda S. Valdovinos
    •  & Neo D. Martinez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding how life cycles of vectors respond to climatic factors is important to predict potential shifts in vector-borne disease risk in the coming decades. Here the authors develop a mechanistic phenological model for the invasive mosquito Aedes aegypti and apply it to project shifts under climate change scenarios.

    • Takuya Iwamura
    • , Adriana Guzman-Holst
    •  & Kris A. Murray

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A primary element of modern wildfire management is to aggressively suppress small fires before they become large, but benefits can be offset by the fact that these practices promote older forests that are more ‘flammable’. Here the authors show that this downside puts numerous human communities at elevated risk of fires in boreal Canada.

    • Marc-André Parisien
    • , Quinn E. Barber
    •  & Sean A. Parks

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Endemism is an important metric for conservation, but it may be sensitive to the measurement approach. Here Daru et al analyze global datasets of birds and amphibians and show that both weighted and phylogenetic endemism are scale dependent, across grain sizes, spatial extent and taxonomic treatment.

    • Barnabas H. Daru
    • , Harith Farooq
    •  & Søren Faurby

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Countries are adopting ecological compensation policies aimed at achieving no net loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Here, Sonter and colleagues apply spatial simulation models to case studies in Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mozambique to show that compensation alone is not sufficient to preserve biodiversity.

    • Laura J. Sonter
    • , Jeremy S. Simmonds
    •  & Martine Maron

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plants respond to increasing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere by stomatal closure which causes a reduction of evapotranspiration and thus latent heat flux. Here, the authors show that this CO2 physiological forcing strengthens Arctic warming through increasing sea ice loss and local feedbacks.

    • So-Won Park
    • , Jin-Soo Kim
    •  & Jong-Seong Kug

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How the development of human societies is influenced through their ecological environment and climatic conditions has been the subject of intensive debate. Here, the authors present multi-proxy data from southern Scandinavia which suggests that pre-agricultural population growth there was likely influenced by enhanced marine production.

    • J. P. Lewis
    • , D. B. Ryves
    •  & S. Juggins

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is unclear whether rapid climate change will alter the effectiveness of marine reserves. Here Graham et al. use a 20-year time-series from the Seychelles to show that marine reserves may not prevent climate-driven shifts in community composition, and that ecological responses to reserves are substantially altered.

    • Nicholas A. J. Graham
    • , James P. W. Robinson
    •  & Shaun K. Wilson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Europe hosts isolated remnants of the steppe belt that once covered much of Eurasia. Here the authors combine genomic data and ecological niche modelling on three plant and three insect species to show evolution independent of the zonal steppe and high conservation value of these extrazonal steppes.

    • Philipp Kirschner
    • , Eliška Záveská
    •  & Peter Schönswetter

  • Article
    | Open Access

    DMSP is a ubiquitous organosulfur compound in the ocean that, once degraded by bacteria, plays key roles in global biogeochemical cycles and climate regulation. Here, the authors use single-cell measurements of transcription to investigate the intricate dynamics of bacterial DMSP degradation.

    • Cherry Gao
    • , Vicente I. Fernandez
    •  & Roman Stocker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Invasive plants can adversely affect ecosystems and economic costs. Here, the authors quantify the impact of the invasive plant Ambrosia artemisiifolia on seasonal allergies and health costs across Europe, finding that the costs are considerably higher than what previously reported, and estimate also the reduction in the number of patients and health costs that may be obtained with biological control

    • Urs Schaffner
    • , Sandro Steinbach
    •  & Heinz Müller-Schärer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rice paddies are a major source of the Earth’s atmospheric methane, making these important food crops potent contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Here the authors show that inoculation of paddies with a particular bacterium could significantly curb methane production.

    • Vincent V. Scholz
    • , Rainer U. Meckenstock
    •  & Nils Risgaard-Petersen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How complex microbial communities assemble through the animal’s life, and how predictable the assembly process is, remains poorly understood. Here, the authors profile the cow gut microbiome from birth to adulthood in animals born in C-section or natural birth and show that chance events early in life have a strong impact on microbiome development.

    • Ori Furman
    • , Liat Shenhav
    •  & Itzhak Mizrahi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In recent history the amount of carbon captured by terrestrial systems has increased, but the processes driving this process has remained poorly constrained. Here the authors use a global carbon model to show that a decrease in wildfires has caused the land carbon sink to increase in the past few decades.

    • Yi Yin
    • , A. Anthony Bloom
    •  & David Schimel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Global environmental changes threaten many food-producing sectors, including aquaculture. Here the authors show that countries most vulnerable to climate change will probably face the highest antimicrobial resistance in aquaculture-related bacteria, and that infected aquatic animals have higher mortality at warmer temperatures.

    • Miriam Reverter
    • , Samira Sarter
    •  & Rodolphe E. Gozlan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    High latitude droughts are increasing, but their effects on freshwater systems are poorly understood. Here the authors investigate Sweden’s most severe drought in the last century and show that these dry conditions induce hypoxia and elevated methane production from streams.

    • Lluís Gómez-Gener
    • , Anna Lupon
    •  & Ryan A. Sponseller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Arctic plant growth is predominantly nitrogen limited, where the slow nitrogen turnover in the soil is commonly attributed to the cold arctic climate. Here the authors show that the arctic plant-soil nitrogen cycling is also constrained by the lack of larger detritivores like earthworms.

    • Gesche Blume-Werry
    • , Eveline J. Krab
    •  & Jonatan Klaminder

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDV) exhibit a large genomic repertoire and complex evolutionary history. Here, the authors generate 501 metagenome-assembled genomes from diverse environments and show NCLDVs to harbor a wide range of potential metabolic capabilities.

    • Mohammad Moniruzzaman
    • , Carolina A. Martinez-Gutierrez
    •  & Frank O. Aylward

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Measurement of species abundance is fundamental in ecology, yet challenging at large spatial scales. Here, the authors show estimates of abundance of 1248 woody plant species over the East Asian islands that highlight macroevolutionary processes of biodiversity and the status of the national red listing.

    • Keiichi Fukaya
    • , Buntarou Kusumoto
    •  & Yasuhiro Kubota

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Drained peatlands are sources of CO2, and though rewetting could curb emissions, this strategy results in elevated methane release. Here, the authors model peatland emissions scenarios and show that rewetting is a critical way to mitigate climate change despite potential methane increases.

    • Anke Günther
    • , Alexandra Barthelmes
    •  & John Couwenberg

  • Article
    | Open Access

    One hypothesis for the latitudinal diversity gradient is based on an assumption of stronger species interactions at lower latitudes. Here, Roesti et al. estimate pelagic fish predation from long-term fishing records and find evidence of stronger predation at higher latitudes and with lower fish species richness.

    • Marius Roesti
    • , Daniel N. Anstett
    •  & Roi Holzman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plastic pollution is an escalating problem and there is a need to predict the range of plastic sizes that an organism of interest could feasibly ingest. Here the authors use previously published data to develop an allometric equation for plastic size ingested as a function of animal body size, a relationship which could help predict risk of plastic introduction into food webs.

    • Ifan B. Jâms
    • , Fredric M. Windsor
    •  & Isabelle Durance

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Species loss from ecological networks can impair network stability and ecosystem function. Here the authors simulate animal extinctions in interaction networks between plants and avian frugivores, showing that frugivore extinctions have comparatively weak effects on network structure, but strongly reduce seed-dispersal distance.

    • Isabel Donoso
    • , Marjorie C. Sorensen
    •  & Matthias Schleuning

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