Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
This Review synthesizes global evidence on climate-change-driven spatial mismatch between predator and prey species in marine and terrestrial domains. The authors discuss ecosystem-level impacts of changes in predator–prey overlap and identify future research directions to understand the ecological consequences of these changes.
Using a combination of machine learning and playback experiments in the field, we find that African savannah elephants address members of their family with individually specific, name-like calls. These ‘names’ are probably not imitative of the receiver’s calls, which is similar to human naming but unlike known phenomena in other animals.
Estimating age in clonal populations is exceedingly challenging, but a study proposes a molecular clock based on genome-wide fixed somatic variations as a solution.
Marine microbes can form habitats for animals and protists to colonize, promoting novel ecological interactions and also providing food and refuge. This Review surveys the ecology and biogeography of marine microbes as ecosystem engineers, and discusses their role in management and conservation.
This Perspective argues that registration and registered reports are important tools for reducing research waste in ecology, and that this needs to be supported by coordinated efforts by funders, publishers and research institutions.
This Perspective highlights the global consensus on the urgency and growing threat of invasive alien species, and management needs, as found by the 2023 report on invasive alien species conducted by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Analysis of distributional data for 25,000 species challenges the assumption that species are bound to the climatic conditions that they inhabit today, and argues that many species may be able to venture into unoccupied areas of their fundamental niche.
A global survey using baited cameras on coral reefs demonstrates a near twofold increase in the relative abundance of reef sharks in marine protected areas that are also embedded within areas of effective fisheries management. However, such conservation benefits were not evident for wide-ranging sharks or rays found on the reef.
An analysis of nearly a quarter of a million forest plots finds that up to half of European forest biodiversity may be lost owing to climate change over the course of this century and provides tools to promote climate-resilient forests deep into the future.
Pollution in urban areas causes higher rates of mutation than in unpolluted areas. This Perspective discusses the effects of these mutations on the health, evolutionary fitness and ecology of urban organisms.
A comparative transcriptomic analysis of eight tissue types in twenty bilaterian species reveals the long-lasting effects of genome duplication on the evolution of novel tissue-specific gene-expression patterns.
A cell population in the neural plate border region of embryos of ascidians, the closest relatives of vertebrates, has properties similar to those of the neural crest cells and neuromesodermal cells of vertebrate embryos. The evolutionary origin of these multipotent cells may date back to the common ancestor of vertebrates and ascidians.
The volatile compound methyl jasmonate is emitted from plant roots and has been shown to trigger the formation of biofilms of beneficial bacteria in the rhizosphere, which suggests an active role of plants in luring microorganisms to aid them.
An analysis of publicly available viral genomes explores the evolutionary dynamics of host jumps and shows that humans are as much a source of viral spillover events to other animals as they are recipients.
Long-term experimental evolution in brewer’s yeast reveals how the transition to simple multicellularity can drive ecological divergence and maintain diversity.
Metatranscriptomic data from more than 2,000 mosquitoes of 81 species show that the composition of mosquito viral communities is determined more by host phylogeny than by climate and land-use factors, which will help to inform arbovirus surveillance.
This Review identifies and describes interactions and feedbacks between biodiversity and diversity of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, and uses case studies from South America to illustrate the conservation and human benefits that can arise from protecting both biological and cultural diversity.
Invasive species may have impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning beyond the ecosystem they directly invade, by altering flows of biotic or abiotic materials. In this Review, the authors synthesize current evidence showing how invasive species have cross-ecosystem effects in three ways: by introducing novel spatial flows between ecosystems, or altering the quality or magnitude of spatial flows.
Climate warming is triggering a steady increase in the mean thermal optimum of plant communities. We show that this increase reflects the dieback of cold-adapted species rather than the arrival of warmer-adapted species, with negative effects on local diversity and mutually cancelling effects on community heterogeneity.
