Featured
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Article
| Open AccessNiche availability and competitive loss by facilitation control proliferation of bacterial strains intended for soil microbiome interventions
Bioremediation via microbial inoculation often performs poorly in real-world conditions. Here, the authors show that bacterial inoculants may fail to establish in complex soil microbiomes because they open new niches that facilitate growth of resident microbes.
- Senka Čaušević
- , Manupriyam Dubey
- & Jan Roelof van der Meer
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Article
| Open AccessElevation-dependent pattern of net CO2 uptake across China
The authors employed 203 eddy covariance towers to reveal a negative and varying elevation dependent pattern of CO2 uptake, under changes in Earth’s climate and human activities.
- Da Wei
- , Jing Tao
- & Xiaodan Wang
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Article
| Open AccessHigh hydrostatic pressure stimulates microbial nitrate reduction in hadal trench sediments under oxic conditions
Hadal trenches are the deepest oceanic ecosystems, with water depth over 6000 m, and are among the least explored habitats on Earth. This research demonstrates that high hydrostatic pressure enhances denitrification activity under oxic conditions, potentially making hadal trenches fixed nitrogen loss hotpots.
- Na Yang
- , Yongxin Lv
- & Yu Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessFungal community composition predicts forest carbon storage at a continental scale
Soil microbial diversity and composition is thought to play a major role in elemental cycling. Here, the authors analyse a large dataset of soil microbiome and carbon data from European forests and find that soil fungal community composition is a strong predictor of carbon storage.
- Mark A. Anthony
- , Leho Tedersoo
- & Colin Averill
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Article
| Open AccessData-driven prediction of colonization outcomes for complex microbial communities
Predicting the colonization of exogenous species in complex communities is a challenge in ecology. Here, the authors propose a data-driven approach to predict colonization outcomes and perform validation experiments in human gut microbial communities.
- Lu Wu
- , Xu-Wen Wang
- & Lei Dai
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Article
| Open AccessNon-native ants are breaking down biogeographic boundaries and homogenizing community assemblages
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
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Article
| Open AccessIntranational synergies and trade-offs reveal common and differentiated priorities of sustainable development goals in China
The paper reveals areas of common and differentiated SDG priority at the national and subnational levels in China considering synergy and trade-off. The findings suggest that provincial governments should formulate more targeted policy aligning with national priority to achieve SDGs.
- Qiang Xing
- , Chaoyang Wu
- & Zhenci Xu
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Article
| Open AccessMarine heatwaves disrupt ecosystem structure and function via altered food webs and energy flux
This work leverages a new diet database and six long term monitoring efforts of 361 taxa to build comparable pre- and post-heatwave ecosystem models. The study provides empirical demonstration of changes in ecosystem-wide patterns of energy flux and biomass in response to marine heatwaves.
- Dylan G. E. Gomes
- , James J. Ruzicka
- & Joshua D. Stewart
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Article
| Open AccessDivergent dynamics of sexual and habitat isolation at the transition between stick insect populations and species
Speciation may not be a mechanistically or temporally uniform process. We show divergent evolution of sexual versus habitat isolation and flat versus linear accumulation of the latter for within- versus between-species comparisons, revealing a critical role for species.
- Patrik Nosil
- , Zachariah Gompert
- & Daniel J. Funk
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Article
| Open AccessSystematic review of the uncertainty of coral reef futures under climate change
Global warming targets are considered inadequate to protect coral reefs, but this prognosis is based on models with similar approaches. This systematic review of studies that project coral responses to climate change found that divergent modelling methodologies had discrepancies in coral reef outcomes, and that those used for climate change syntheses may project more severe consequences than other methods.
- Shannon G. Klein
- , Cassandra Roch
- & Carlos M. Duarte
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Article
| Open AccessCross-basin and cross-taxa patterns of marine community tropicalization and deborealization in warming European seas
Climate change is shifting species distribution globally. Here, the authors track four decades of changes in the thermal affinity of 1,817 marine species across European seas, showing that most communities have responded to ongoing ocean warming via increases of warm-water species or decreases of cold-water species.
- Guillem Chust
- , Ernesto Villarino
- & Martin Lindegren
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Article
| Open AccessEffects of plant diversity on productivity strengthen over time due to trait-dependent shifts in species overyielding
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
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Article
| Open AccessDisentangling top-down drivers of mortality underlying diel population dynamics of Prochlorococcus in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre
This study shows that a multitrophic community model jointly recapitulates diel rhythms in abundances of Prochlorococcus picocyanobacteria, as well as viral infection, viral abundances and grazer abundances. Model-data integration implies that grazing predominantly controls Prochlorococcus abundances in surface waters of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, despite high viral densities.
- Stephen J. Beckett
- , David Demory
- & Joshua S. Weitz
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Article
| Open AccessBet hedging in a unicellular microalga
Bet hedging is an evolutionary strategy facilitating survival in randomly fluctuating environments. Here, the authors report bet hedging in the unicellular microalga Haematococcus pluvialis, undergoing reversible diversification into mobile and non-mobile cells.
- Si Tang
- , Yaqing Liu
- & Zhonghua Cai
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Article
| Open AccessMating harassment may boost the effectiveness of the sterile insect technique for Aedes mosquitoes
The sterile insect technique involves the introduction of sterile males to induce sterility in females and reduce population size. Here, the authors show that sterile males may also reduce female density and inhibit female blood feeding through mating harassment.
- Dongjing Zhang
- , Hamidou Maiga
- & Jérémy Bouyer
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Article
| Open AccessDiverging effects of host density and richness across biological scales drive diversity-disease outcomes
A core challenge is to understand how biodiversity shapes infectious disease across scales. Here, infection assays combined with sampling of amphibian communities show that host richness consistently reduces transmission, but increases in density weaken the effect at the community scale.
- Pieter T. J. Johnson
- , Tara E. Stewart Merrill
- & Andy Fenton
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Article
| Open AccessWarming underpins community turnover in temperate freshwater and terrestrial communities
Predicting species responses to climate change may be complicated by the influence of other factors. Here, the authors report that warming is linked to terrestrial and freshwater community shifts towards warm-adapted species overall, but body size, thermal niche breadth, species richness and baseline temperature modulate the trends.
- Imran Khaliq
- , Christian Rixen
- & Anita Narwani
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Article
| Open AccessNonpathogenic Pseudomonas syringae derivatives and its metabolites trigger the plant “cry for help” response to assemble disease suppressing and growth promoting rhizomicrobiome
Upon pathogen attack, plants can trigger the “cry for help” response and assemble beneficial rhizobacteria. Here, the authors use nonpathogenic Pseudomonas syringae DC3000 derivatives to elicit a similar “cry for help” response as the wild-type pathogenic DC3000 in Arabidopsis.
- Yunpeng Liu
- , Huihui Zhang
- & Ruifu Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal conservation status of the jawed vertebrate Tree of Life
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
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Article
| Open AccessMarine protected areas promote stability of reef fish communities under climate warming
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
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Article
| Open AccessHerbicide leakage into seawater impacts primary productivity and zooplankton globally
Herbicides used in terrestrial environments pollute coastal ecosystems. Here, the authors analyse the presence of 32 herbicides at 661 bays and gulfs worldwide from 1990 to 2022, showing how under current herbicide stress, phytoplankton primary productivity was inhibited by more than 5% at 25%.
- Liqiang Yang
- , Xiaotong He
- & Yongyu Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessRemoval of detritivore sea cucumbers from reefs increases coral disease
Coral diseases are commonly sediment-associated. Here the authors conduct a field experiment in French Polynesia and Palmyra Atoll showing that removal of sea cucumbers that clean reef sediments while feeding increases coral disease.
- Cody S. Clements
- , Zoe A. Pratte
- & Mark E. Hay
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Article
| Open AccessEnhancing phosphate-solubilising microbial communities through artificial selection
Phosphate-solubilising microorganisms can contribute to reduce the use of P fertiliser. Here, the authors use two artificial selection methods, environmental perturbation and propagation, to build phosphate-solubilising communities that retain P-solubilising capacity in hydroponic systems.
- Lena Faller
- , Marcio F. A. Leite
- & Eiko E. Kuramae
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Article
| Open AccessPredator selection on phenotypic variability of cryptic and aposematic moths
Selection is expected to act differently on aposematic and cryptic species. Analysis of wing images revealed that camouflaged moths exhibit higher wing pattern variability than aposematic moths, supporting the theory that camouflaged species display more variability, consistent with anti-predator strategy.
- Ossi Nokelainen
- , Sanni A. Silvasti
- & Johanna Mappes
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Article
| Open AccessDynamic root microbiome sustains soybean productivity under unbalanced fertilization
Root-associated microbiomes contribute to plant growth and health. Here, the authors unveil the quantitative development of the root microbiome under unbalanced fertilization and highlight a key microbial cluster for soybean productivity.
- Mingxing Wang
- , An-Hui Ge
- & Ertao Wang
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Article
| Open AccessDipterocarpoidae genomics reveal their demography and adaptations to Asian rainforests
Dipterocarp trees are iconic but severely threatened species in Asian rainforests. This study assembles high-quality genomes of seven dipterocarp species to reveal the molecular basis of key adaptations and identifies a recent sharp population decline coinciding with local human activity.
- Rong Wang
- , Chao-Nan Liu
- & Xiao-Yong Chen
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Article
| Open AccessAn agricultural digital twin for mandarins demonstrates the potential for individualized agriculture
A digital twin represents a real world object using available data. Here, the authors develop a digital twin for mandaring orchards in Jeju island showing the value of individualized agriculture to predict fruit quality at tree level.
- Steven Kim
- & Seong Heo
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Article
| Open AccessEffects of human disturbances on wildlife behaviour and consequences for predator-prey overlap in Southeast Asia
Prior studies showed that humans are causing species to become more active at night. Here the authors show that this trend is not consistent across hyperdiverse wildlife communities, as camera trap surveys in Southeast Asia show that responses depend on species traits and do not affect the temporal overlap of biotic interactions.
- Samuel Xin Tham Lee
- , Zachary Amir
- & Matthew Scott Luskin
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Article
| Open AccessTransition from positive to negative indirect CO2 effects on the vegetation carbon uptake
It is unclear how indirect CO2 effect – via associated climate change – on vegetation carbon uptake changes globally. Here, the authors show that such initial positive effect has declined recently, shifting to negative in the early 21st century.
- Zefeng Chen
- , Weiguang Wang
- & Alessandro Cescatti
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Article
| Open AccessPatterns in the temporal complexity of global chlorophyll concentration
For satellite data, noisy observations can often be ignored in favour of smooth trends and signals. Here, the authors developed a method to quantify the complexity of chlorophyll-α time series on a global scale, which led to the discovery of greater differences among regions than previously recognized.
- Vitul Agarwal
- , Jonathan Chávez-Casillas
- & Colleen B. Mouw
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Article
| Open AccessA genome and gene catalog of the aquatic microbiomes of the Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau is the largest plateau in the world and hosts a variety of aquatic ecosystems. Here, the authors present a gene and genome catalogue of Tibetan Plateau aquatic microbiomes, greatly expanding known taxonomic and functional diversity for the region and giving insights into its microbial biogeography.
- Mingyue Cheng
- , Shuai Luo
- & Kang Ning
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Article
| Open AccessDuplicated antibiotic resistance genes reveal ongoing selection and horizontal gene transfer in bacteria
Mobile genetic elements can promote the duplication of antibiotic resistance genes which may in turn accelerate the evolution of resistance to new drugs. Here, the authors show that duplicated antibiotic resistance genes are enriched in bacterial isolates from environments associated with rampant antibiotic use.
- Rohan Maddamsetti
- , Yi Yao
- & Lingchong You
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal freshwater fish invasion linked to the presence of closely related species
Whether non-native species are more or less likely to become established in communities that host close relatives is debated. This global study shows that non-native fish species phylogenetically close to native species are more likely to establish in freshwater ecosystems.
- Meng Xu
- , Shao-peng Li
- & Xidong Mu
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Article
| Open AccessNatural selection and genetic diversity maintenance in a parasitic wasp during continuous biological control application
Parasitoid wasps are reared and released as biocontrol agents to manage aphids and protect crops. Here, the authors use genomes from 542 wasps to show that, in spite of wide scale release of low-diversity captive individuals, diversity in wild populations is maintained.
- Bingyan Li
- , Yuange Duan
- & Hu Li
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Article
| Open AccessPolar bear energetic and behavioral strategies on land with implications for surviving the ice-free period
Declining Arctic sea ice is increasing polar bear land use. Here, the authors follow 20 different polar bears on land over 3 years and measure daily energy expenditure finding that despite behavioural and diet plasticity the bears are at risk of starvation.
- Anthony M. Pagano
- , Karyn D. Rode
- & Charles T. Robbins
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Article
| Open AccessPlant invasion and naturalization are influenced by genome size, ecology and economic use globally
Plant invasion and naturalisation threaten native biodiversity. Here, the authors conduct a global multi-factor and multi-stage analysis, showing that genome size and economic factors influence plant invasion and naturalisation.
- Kun Guo
- , Petr Pyšek
- & Wen-Yong Guo
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Article
| Open AccessPredation and spatial connectivity interact to shape ecosystem resilience to an ongoing regime shift
This study finds that habitat connectivity can increase resilience to ecosystem regime shifts. The authors used >7,000 fish samplings from the Baltic Sea to study a spatially propagating shift from an ecosystem dominated by predatory fish to one dominated by their prey, also finding that fish-eating seals and cormorants increased the risk of a shift.
- Agnes B. Olin
- , Ulf Bergström
- & Johan S. Eklöf
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Article
| Open AccessA slow-fast trait continuum at the whole community level in relation to land-use intensification
Although co-occurring species may differ widely in their response traits, coordinated functional trait shifts may emerge at the community level in response to environmental factors. Here, the authors use data from 150 grassland sites to identify a coordinated slow-fast strategy response to land-use intensification across above- and belowground taxa.
- Margot Neyret
- , Gaëtane Le Provost
- & Peter Manning
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Article
| Open AccessEco-evolutionary dynamics of gut phageome in wild gibbons (Hoolock tianxing) with seasonal diet variations
The significance of gut phageome for wild animals with seasonal diets remains unexplored. Here, the authors use complementary metagenomics to analyze the phage-host dynamics and its implications for diet variations in wild skywalker hoolock gibbons.
- Shao-Ming Gao
- , Han-Lan Fei
- & Peng-Fei Fan
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Article
| Open AccessMapping the global distribution of C4 vegetation using observations and optimality theory
Due to fundamental anatomical and biochemical differences, C3 and C4 plant species tend to differ in their biogeography and response to climate change. Here, the authors use global observations and optimality theory to map patterns and temporal trends in C4 species distribution and the contribution of C4 plants to global photosynthesis.
- Xiangzhong Luo
- , Haoran Zhou
- & Christopher J. Still
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Article
| Open AccessConvergent evolutionary patterns of heterostyly across angiosperms support the pollination-precision hypothesis
Heterostylous plants have floral morphs bearing female and male sex organs at reciprocal heights. Here the authors show that, across angiosperms, heterostyly is associated with tubed flowers pollinated by long-tongued insects, supporting the Darwinian hypothesis about precise pollen transfer between heterostylous morphs.
- Violeta Simón-Porcar
- , Marcial Escudero
- & Juan Arroyo
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Article
| Open AccessExperimental warming accelerates positive soil priming in a temperate grassland ecosystem
Soil priming could release large amounts of soil C into the atmosphere. Here the authors show that experimental warming boosts soil priming and CO2 emissions in grasslands potentially due to microbial changes. Model accuracy could be improved by incorporating these mechanisms.
- Xuanyu Tao
- , Zhifeng Yang
- & Jizhong Zhou
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Article
| Open AccessContribution of climate change to the spatial expansion of West Nile virus in Europe
West Nile Virus is emerging as an important pathogen in Europe, likely driven by recent climate and land-use changes. Here, the authors estimate the extent of the climate change-driven impact by modelling the change in West Nile Virus ecological suitability across the continent in the absence of climate change.
- Diana Erazo
- , Luke Grant
- & Simon Dellicour
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Article
| Open AccessSynchrony of Bird Migration with Global Dispersal of Avian Influenza Reveals Exposed Bird Orders
Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus subtype H5 is an important pathogen of wild birds and poultry that has also caused infection in humans and other mammals. Here the authors use wild bird movement tracking data and virus genome sequences to quantify how seasonal bird migration facilitates global dispersal of the virus.
- Qiqi Yang
- , Ben Wang
- & Bryan Grenfell
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Article
| Open AccessEffects of climate and environmental heterogeneity on the phylogenetic structure of regional angiosperm floras worldwide
Using a dataset that included 341,846 species in 391 angiosperm floras worldwide, this study finds that the global phylogenetic structure of angiosperms shows clear and meaningful relationships with environmental factors and that current climatic variables have the highest predictive power for phylogenetic metrics reflecting recent evolutionary relationships.
- Hong Qian
- , Shenhua Qian
- & Michael Kessler
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Comment
| Open AccessOpening the door to multi-year marine habitat forecasts
Combining ocean predictions with physiological understanding yields the ability to forecast habitat multiple years into the future for a wide variety of marine organisms. However, several challenges remain before we see the regular production and use of marine habitat forecasts.
- Mark R. Payne
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Article
| Open AccessRisk of introduction and establishment of alien vertebrate species in transboundary neighboring areas
Controlling and preventing biological invasions requires transnational cooperation. This global study identifies land borders at higher risk of non-native vertebrate invasion and identifies human and environmental factors that predict risk hotspots.
- Qing Zhang
- , Yanping Wang
- & Xuan Liu
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Article
| Open AccessMicrobiome convergence enables siderophore-secreting-rhizobacteria to improve iron nutrition and yield of peanut intercropped with maize
Intercropping has the potential to improve plant nutrition and crop yield. Here, the authors intercrop peanut and maize and show that Pseudomonas secreted siderophore pyoverdine play an important role in plant iron nutrition.
- Nanqi Wang
- , Tianqi Wang
- & Yuanmei Zuo
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Article
| Open AccessConsistent stoichiometric long-term relationships between nutrients and chlorophyll-a across shallow lakes
Nutrient limitation is a well-known control of phytoplankton growth, but predicting specific responses in individual lakes based on nutrient data alone has proven challenging. Here, the authors show that long-term signals of chlorophyll-a dynamics in shallow lakes can be captured based on stoichiometric effects of N and P concentrations along a continuum of total N:total P ratios.
- Daniel Graeber
- , Mark J. McCarthy
- & Thomas A. Davidson
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