Nature Ecology & evolution
Volume 4 Issue 7, July 2020
Biodiversity under stress
A school of fish on a remote coral reef in the Indian Ocean. Biodiversity was found to be the primary driver of ecosystem functioning of coral-reef fishes. The positive biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships were robust to two human-caused stressors: climate change and invasive species.
See Benkwitt et al
Image: Kristina Tietjen. Cover Design: Lauren Heslop.
Editorial
Editorial | 23 June 2020
Black Lives Matter in ecology and evolution
Prompted by the Black Lives Matter and Shutdown STEM movements, Nature Ecology & Evolution acknowledges the systemic racism in scientific research, and the part we play in this. Here we outline our commitment to fight this racism.
Correspondence
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Correspondence | 23 April 2020
The need for an evolutionary approach to ecotoxicology
- Lars Straub
- Verena Strobl
- & Peter Neumann
Comment & Opinion
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World View | 11 May 2020
Pollinator protection strategies must be feasible for all nations
By focusing on farmers, policymakers and local communities, a new approach to protect pollinators can become scalable in low-income countries, argues Stefanie Christmann.
- Stefanie Christmann
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Comment | 05 May 2020
Recent Australian wildfires made worse by logging and associated forest management
The recent fires in southern Australia were unprecedented in scale and severity. Much commentary has rightly focused on the role of climate change in exacerbating the risk of fire. Here, we contend that policy makers must recognize that historical and contemporary logging of forests has had profound effects on these fires’ severity and frequency.
- David B. Lindenmayer
- Robert M. Kooyman
- & James E. M. Watson
News & Views
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News & Views | 04 May 2020
Decoupled land–sea biodiversity trends
A global analysis of biodiversity time series across temperate zones shows contrasting fingerprints of contemporary climate warming on species assemblages over land and sea. A net increase in the number of species is evident in the warmest temperate oceans but no systematic biodiversity trend is detected in the terrestrial realm.
- Lise Comte
- & Jonathan Lenoir
Reviews
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Perspective | 11 May 2020
Urban biodiversity management using evolutionary tools
Urbanization can cause rapid evolutionary responses among city-dwelling species but evolution is rarely accounted for in urban conservation efforts. Here, the authors outline a framework for integrating evolutionary principles into the management of urban biodiversity.
- Max R. Lambert
- & Colin M. Donihue
Research
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Article | 18 May 2020
The position of Australopithecus sediba within fossil hominin hand use diversity
Analysis of metacarpal trabecular and cortical bone reveals hand use diversity, including power and precision grips, among early hominins, and shows that Australopithecus sediba combined great ape-like arboreal grasping power with human-like manipulation ability.
- Christopher J. Dunmore
- Matthew M. Skinner
- & Tracy L. Kivell
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Article | 18 May 2020
Biodiversity increases ecosystem functions despite multiple stressors on coral reefs
Non-saturating relationships of biodiversity with biomass and productivity are shown in remote assemblages of coral reef fishes. These positive relationships were robust to both an extreme heatwave and invasive rats.
- Cassandra E. Benkwitt
- Shaun K. Wilson
- & Nicholas A. J. Graham
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Article | 04 May 2020
Temperature-related biodiversity change across temperate marine and terrestrial systems
Biodiversity time series from temperate regions reveal that marine communities in warmer places gain species but lose individuals with warming, but colder environments show weaker trends, whereas no systematic relationships between biodiversity and temperature change were detectable for terrestrial communities.
- Laura H. Antão
- Amanda E. Bates
- & Aafke M. Schipper
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Article | 27 April 2020
A competing-risks model explains hierarchical spatial coupling of measles epidemics en route to national elimination
Using historic measles epidemiological data from England and Wales in a competing-risks framework, the authors find that metapopulation aggregation in neighbouring towns and cities played an important role in driving national dynamics in the prevaccination era.
- Max S. Y. Lau
- Alexander D. Becker
- & Bryan T. Grenfell
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Article | 04 May 2020
The influence of feeding behaviour and temperature on the capacity of mosquitoes to transmit malaria
Laboratory and modelling studies show that temperature conditions can enhance the capacity of malaria to infect mosquitoes that feed in the evening compared with those that feed at midnight or in the morning.
- Eunho Suh
- Marissa K. Grossman
- & Matthew B. Thomas
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Article | 11 May 2020
Somatic genetic drift and multilevel selection in a clonal seagrass
The accumulation of somatic genetic variation in clonal species leads to heterogeneity among autonomous modules (ramets). Ultra-deep resequencing of single ramets in a clonal seagrass shows somatic genetic drift resulting in genetically differentiated ramets that are targets of selection.
- Lei Yu
- Christoffer Boström
- & Thorsten B. H. Reusch
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Article | 18 May 2020
Host use diversification during range shifts shapes global variation in Lepidopteran dietary breadth
Analysing a global dataset of almost 7,000 dietary records from >4,400 species of butterflies and moths, the author shows that latitudinal variation in diet breadth can be better explained by the relative position of a population within its geographic range, than by latitude per se.
- Lesley T. Lancaster
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Article | 18 May 2020
Nutrition-responsive gene expression and the developmental evolution of insect polyphenism
Comparative analysis of genome-wide transcription in three closely related species of horned beetles with diverse degrees of nutrition responsiveness in the development of male weaponry reveals mechanisms of nutrition-responsive growth and their evolution.
- Sofia Casasa
- Eduardo E. Zattara
- & Armin P. Moczek
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Article | 04 May 2020
Female-biased gene flow between two species of Darwin’s finches
By analysing pooled whole-genome sequences from two species of Darwin’s finches, both before and after interbreeding and back-crossing, the authors show that gene exchange between the two species is asymmetric and female biased.
- Sangeet Lamichhaney
- Fan Han
- […]
- & Leif Andersson
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Article | 11 May 2020
An age-dependent ovulatory strategy explains the evolution of dizygotic twinning in humans
Twin births are not frequent in human populations despite twin-bearing mothers having elevated fitness. Here, the authors show that dizygotic twinning is the outcome of an adaptive conditional ovulatory strategy of switching from single to double ovulation with increasing age.
- Wade N. Hazel
- Robert Black
- & Joseph L. Tomkins
Amendments & Corrections
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Publisher Correction | 26 May 2020
Publisher Correction: Global plant–symbiont organization and emergence of biogeochemical cycles resolved by evolution-based trait modelling
- Mingzhen Lu
- & Lars O. Hedin
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