Ecology articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article |

    Organisms exhibit considerable variation in resource competitiveness. Here, the authors explain this variation by showing that competitiveness either evolves to a state where individuals with different competitive abilities coexist, or to oscillations between periods of high and low competitiveness.

    • Sebastian A. Baldauf
    • , Leif Engqvist
    •  & Franz J. Weissing

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transformation of natural ecosystems into agricultural land is usually accompanied by extensive biodiversity loss. Calculating multitrophic energy fluxes, Barnes et al.report severe reductions of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning from tropical rainforest to oil-palm plantations.

    • Andrew D. Barnes
    • , Malte Jochum
    •  & Ulrich Brose

  • Review Article |

    Patterns of genomic variation can be used to identify targets of positive selection but understanding their mode of evolution is challenging. This review discusses theory and empirical evidence regarding soft sweep models and concludes that the recent enthusiasm for soft sweeps is unfounded.

    • Jeffrey D Jensen

  • Article |

    Similar morphologies can evolve repeatedly in similar environments. Here, the authors show morphological, ecological and genetic differentiation between sympatric ecomorphs across two independent radiations of crater lake cichlids, but a different order of speciation events across radiations.

    • Kathryn R. Elmer
    • , Shaohua Fan
    •  & Axel Meyer

  • Article |

    Self-organized patterns at multiple spatial scales are widespread in nature, although little is known about their effect on ecosystem functioning. Here, Liu et al.show how two self-organization processes at individual and ecosystem scale interact to increase the resilience of intertidal mussel beds.

    • Quan-Xing Liu
    • , Peter M. J. Herman
    •  & Johan van de Koppel

  • Article |

    The role of predator evolution in eco-evolutionary dynamics has received less attention than that of prey. Here, Hiltunen and Becks show that prey anti-predator traits evolve faster and are more variable in the presence of co-evolved predators, resulting in altered community dynamics.

    • Teppo Hiltunen
    •  & Lutz Becks

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Excessive nutrient loading is a threat to aquatic ecosystems; however, denitrification may be key in removing large amounts of reactive nitrogen and, therefore, mitigating consequent eutrophication. Here, the authors explore how meiofauna may impact the rate of denitrification in sediments.

    • S. Bonaglia
    • , F. J. A Nascimento
    •  & V. Brüchert

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ocean circulations can strongly influence ecological dynamics in marine ecosystem over multiple spatial scales. Here, Bertrand et al.find that the majority of these interactions occur within small-scale hotspots that concentrate interactions across many trophic levels from zooplankton to seabirds.

    • Arnaud Bertrand
    • , Daniel Grados
    •  & Ronan Fablet

  • Article |

    Genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are crucial for immune response, yet it is unclear what shapes their diversity at a community level. Here, the authors show that indirect effects among rodent hosts and their helminth parasites can play a crucial role in shaping host MHC diversity.

    • Shai Pilosof
    • , Miguel A. Fortuna
    •  & Jordi Bascompte

  • Article |

    Methane is a significant contributor to greenhouse forcing, and determining its fluxes and reservoirs is important in understanding the methane cycle. Here, the authors investigate microbial methane oxidation in carbonates of the deep sea that represent a previously unrecognized biological sink for methane.

    • Jeffrey J. Marlow
    • , Joshua A. Steele
    •  & Victoria J. Orphan

  • Article |

    Climate change is causing many species to shift their distributional ranges. Here, Comte et al.show that, among stream fish, shifts at the leading edge and the trailing edge of the range are influenced by different mechanisms related to individual species traits and their phylogenetic history.

    • Lise Comte
    • , Jérôme Murienne
    •  & Gaël Grenouillet

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The coexistence of alternative antipredatory strategies is poorly understood. Here, the authors show that warning colours lose their effectiveness when passerine birds, their main predators, fledge their young, which suggests that predators’ learning impacts selection for conspicuous warning signals.

    • Johanna Mappes
    • , Hanna Kokko
    •  & Leena Lindström

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is unclear how herbivores determine community structure. Here the authors show how interactions between aboveground adults and belowground larvae of a tree flea beetle and multiple heterospecific aboveground species interact via plant defence responses to determine herbivore performance.

    • Wei Huang
    • , Evan Siemann
    •  & Jianqing Ding

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The evolution of social behaviour is usually explained by kin selection. Here, the authors show that mutual host exploitation by a parasitoid wasp maximizes the average reproductive success of individual females, which suggests that cooperative brood care does not rely on kin selection in these wasps.

    • Xiuyun Tang
    • , Ling Meng
    •  & Baoping Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The growth dynamics of forest ecosystems undergoing climatic change are not well understood. Here Pretzsch et al. show that two of the dominant tree species of Central Europe have undergone significantly accelerated growth dynamics during the past century.

    • Hans Pretzsch
    • , Peter Biber
    •  & Thomas Rötzer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Little is known about Mesozoic marine reptile dead-falls. Here, the authors reconstruct the ecological succession of a Late Jurassic shallow-water ichthyosaur fall community and show that it fulfilled ecological roles similar to shallow whale falls and did not support specialized chemosynthetic communities.

    • Silvia Danise
    • , Richard J. Twitchett
    •  & Katie Matts

  • Article |

    Phytoplankton blooms in the northern Arabian Sea have shifted from diatoms to green dinoflagellates in the last decade. Here, the authors show that influx of oxygen deficient waters, together with the ability of dinoflagellates’ endosymbionts to fix carbon under such conditions, facilitated the bloom shift.

    • Helga do Rosário Gomes
    • , Joaquim I. Goes
    •  & Prasad Thoppil

  • Article |

    To date, covariance of carbonate and organic carbon isotope records has been assumed to denote fidelity of the original signal. This study shows that post-depositional alteration can create strong correlations, raising doubts about the use of correlated records to imply important changes in past global carbon cycling.

    • Amanda M. Oehlert
    •  & Peter K. Swart

  • Article |

    Methyl iodide is a fumigant registered for use in many countries and its usage is increasing. Here, the authors identify a new pathway of mercury methylation via methyl iodide in sunlit water, suggesting the necessity for a more comprehensive risk assessment for the use of methyl iodide as a fumigant.

    • Yongguang Yin
    • , Yanbin Li
    •  & Guibin Jiang

  • Article |

    Identification of virus–host pairs requires cultivation, otherwise it is based on tentative assignment using genomic signatures. Here, the authors describe a method that can unambiguously assign viruses to hosts and does not require their cultivation.

    • Manuel Martínez-García
    • , Fernando Santos
    •  & Josefa Antón

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the factors determining pathogen host range is critical for human health. Here, the authors show that bacteria use cooperative secretions to modify their environment and to infect multiple host species, which suggests that cooperative secretions are key determinants of host range in bacteria.

    • Luke McNally
    • , Mafalda Viana
    •  & Sam P. Brown

  • Article |

    Assessing spatial patterns of biodiversity using phylogenetic methods is a promising approach for conservation planning. Here, Mishler et al. develop a method to distinguish between recent and old endemism and provide new insights about biodiversity across space and time for the Australian Acacia.

    • Brent D. Mishler
    • , Nunzio Knerr
    •  & Joseph T. Miller

  • Article |

    Modern arthropods present niche differentiation between larvae and adult stages. Here, Liu et al. describe a larval fossil of Leanchoilia illecebrosa, an early Cambrian arthropod from China, and show a feeding appendage, unknown in adults, that suggests that niche differentiation originated in the early Cambrian.

    • Yu Liu
    • , Joachim T. Haug
    •  & Xianguang Hou

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The earth’s electromagnetic field has a modest effect on the behaviour of Drosophila melanogaster. Here, Fedele et al. use an assessment of climbing behaviour to describe how the blue-light circadian photoreceptor cryptochrome mediates a negative movement response to gravity in flies.

    • Giorgio Fedele
    • , Edward W. Green
    •  & Charalambos P. Kyriacou

  • Article |

    Determining how pesticides found in nectar and pollen impair pollinator behaviour in the field requires setting standards for measuring effects in free-ranging insects. Here, Henry et al.show that sublethal effects of a neonicotinoid pesticide in bees depends on the landscape and time of exposure.

    • Mickaël Henry
    • , Colette Bertrand
    •  & Axel Decourtye

  • Article |

    The Western Antarctic Peninsular is subject to climate change, including increased winter temperatures and melting sea ice. In this study, the authors demonstrate that climate change in this area effects bacteria and phytoplankton levels, which culminates in an altered diet for the apex predator, the Adélie penguin.

    • Grace K. Saba
    • , William R. Fraser
    •  & Oscar M. Schofield

  • Article |

    Methane levels in the oceans’ surface waters are higher than those in the atmosphere, which is puzzling. Here the authors show that marine bacteria of the ubiquitous SAR11 group can release significant amounts of methane when feeding on phosphorus-containing compounds such as methylphosphonic acid.

    • Paul Carini
    • , Angelicque E. White
    •  & Stephen J. Giovannoni

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mechanisms that determine the relationship between diversity and productivity in marine phytoplankton remain unclear. Here, Vallina et al.show that selective predation and transient competitive exclusion determine phytoplankton community composition.

    • S. M. Vallina
    • , M. J. Follows
    •  & M. Loreau

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Many pelagic fishes and squids live at ocean depths below the euphotic zone but whether surface predators dive to these depths to feed on them is unclear. Here, the authors tag Chilean devil rays and demonstrate that they regularly make dives to at least 1,500 m, suggesting that the rays forage for food at these depths.

    • Simon R. Thorrold
    • , Pedro Afonso
    •  & Michael L. Berumen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) migrate from North America to central Mexico during the fall. Here, Guerra et al. show that, in addition to a sun compass orientation, monarch butterflies use a magnetic compass to help direct their flight towards the equator.

    • Patrick A Guerra
    • , Robert J Gegear
    •  & Steven M Reppert

  • Article |

    Cardiac function can limit high-temperature tolerance in fish. Here, Antilla et al.show similar cardiac responses to warming for two wild Atlantic salmon populations with different environmental temperatures, which suggests that cardiac plasticity is independent of natural habitat.

    • Katja Anttila
    • , Christine S. Couturier
    •  & Anthony P. Farrell

  • Article |

    It is unclear how birds differentiate their own eggs from cuckoo’s eggs that parasitize their nests. Here, the authors develop a computer vision tool that simulates how brains process pattern information and show that cuckoos’ hosts have evolved unique egg patterns to distinguish their own eggs from a cuckoo’s.

    • Mary Caswell Stoddard
    • , Rebecca M. Kilner
    •  & Christopher Town

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is under threat from rising ocean temperatures, yet its response to past temperature change is poorly known. Felis et al. show that the GBR experienced a much steeper temperature gradient during the last deglaciation, suggesting it may be more resilient than previously thought.

    • Thomas Felis
    • , Helen V. McGregor
    •  & Jody M. Webster

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The effects of fishing policies that adjust selectivity are unclear. Here, Svedäng and Hornborg show that fishing practices that increase selectivity of the Eastern Baltic cod have negatively affected its productivity, suggesting that fishing policies should prioritize catch rates over yield.

    • Henrik Svedäng
    •  & Sara Hornborg

  • Article |

    Available methods to randomize binary matrices with fixed row and column sums are computationally intensive and tend to generate matrix configurations with unequal frequency. Here, the authors introduce a fast and unbiased procedure that requires reduced computational effort and produces uniformly distributed null matrices.

    • Giovanni Strona
    • , Domenico Nappo
    •  & Jesus San-Miguel-Ayanz

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Vegetation close to streams and lakes provides organic matter to aquatic ecosystems. Here, the authors show that the dense forest cover around lakes feeds the near-shore lake food web through organic matter subsidies, leading to faster growth in planktivorous fish.

    • Andrew J. Tanentzap
    • , Erik J. Szkokan-Emilson
    •  & John M. Gunn

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