Nature ecology & evolution, December 2020
Volume 4 Issue 12, December 2020
Wing origins
Wild-type (left) and CRISPR/Cas9-induced vestigial mutant (right) of the emerging model crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis. The vestigial mutant lacks both the edge of the dorsal body wall and structures associated with proximal leg segments, suggesting that both of these tissues qualify as crustacean tissues that could share ancestry with insect wings.
Image: Courtney Clark-Hachtel. Cover Design: Lauren Heslop.
Editorial
Editorial | 25 November 2020
Online meetings for the win
We welcome the move to virtual being the default for scientific interactions.
Correspondence
- Darío Fernández-Bellon
- Adam Kane
Correspondence | 10 September 2020
Unpaid ‘CV-boosting’ opportunities undermine efforts to reduce pressure and increase diversity of early-career researchers
Comment & Opinion
- Eleanor M. L. Scerri
- Denise Kühnert
- Nicholas C. Vella
- Théotime Colin
- Coline Monchanin
- Andrew B. Barron
Comment | 14 September 2020
Field-based sciences must transform in response to COVID-19
The pandemic will allow us to fundamentally remodel the way field-based sciences are taught, conducted and funded — but only if we stop waiting for a ‘return to normal’.
Comment | 07 September 2020
Pesticide dosing must be guided by ecological principles
Insecticide use could be reduced if dose recommendations move from a toxicological perspective (how much is needed to kill an insect pest) to an ecological perspective (how much is needed to protect a crop).
News & Views
- Lara M. Kueppers
- Frank W. Smith
- Elizabeth L. Jockusch
News & Views | 26 October 2020
Tree growth in sync
Global synchrony in tree growth shows a recent rapid rise tied to increasing temperature synchrony, which might alter global carbon sink dynamics.
News & Views | 01 December 2020
Into the body wall and back out again
Two analyses of developmental patterning functions of leg and wing genes in a crustacean provide complementary support for the incorporation of proximal leg components into the body wall during the crustacean–insect transition, but lead to duelling models for which portion(s) re-emerged from the body as wings.
Reviews
- Neal R. Haddaway
- Alison Bethel
- Gavin B. Stewart
Perspective | 12 October 2020
Eight problems with literature reviews and how to fix them
Systematic reviews are a powerful tool to synthesize large volumes of the published literature, but are susceptible to a number of methodological biases. Here, the authors outline mitigation strategies for improving the quality of evidence syntheses.
Research
- David M. Unwin
- David M. Martill
- Zixiao Yang
- Baoyu Jiang
- Michael J. Benton
- Lydia White
- Nessa E. O’Connor
- Ian Donohue
- Fons van der Plas
- Thomas Schröder-Georgi
- Christian Wirth
- Zhijie Zhang
- Yanjie Liu
- Mark van Kleunen
- Rubén Delgado Manzanedo
- Janneke HilleRisLambers
- Neil Pederson
- Tim Newbold
- Philippa Oppenheimer
- Jessica J. Williams
- Hisashi Endo
- Romain Blanc-Mathieu
- Hiroyuki Ogata
- Shai Pilosof
- Sergio A. Alcalá-Corona
- Mercedes Pascual
- Najwa Taib
- Daniela Megrian
- Simonetta Gribaldo
- Patrik Nosil
- Romain Villoutreix
- […]
- Zach Gompert
- Daniel M. Lyons
- Zhengting Zou
- Jianzhi Zhang
- Courtney M. Clark-Hachtel
- Yoshinori Tomoyasu
- Heather S. Bruce
- Nipam H. Patel
- Andrey Höglund
- Rie Henriksen
- Dominic Wright
Matters Arising | 28 September 2020
No protofeathers on pterosaurs
Matters Arising | 28 September 2020
Reply to: No protofeathers on pterosaurs
Article | 12 October 2020
Individual species provide multifaceted contributions to the stability of ecosystems
By simulating experimentally the extinction of three key grazer species from an intertidal community, the authors show that the contribution of individual species to different dimensions of ecological stability is highly context dependent, and may simultaneously be positive or negative.
Article | 05 October 2020
Plant traits alone are poor predictors of ecosystem properties and long-term ecosystem functioning
Analysing >40 plant traits and ecosystem properties over 10 years, the authors find moderate evidence for traits being predictors of ecosystem-level properties within years, but limited evidence for any effect across years.
Article | 05 October 2020
Soil-microorganism-mediated invasional meltdown in plants
On the basis of a soil-conditioning experiment, the authors show that while alien plant species are not more competitive than natives when growing in other native soil legacies or non-conditioned soils, they outcompete natives under soil legacies from other alien species, their growth being less negatively affected than those of native species. This points to an invasional meltdown as invasive species increase in presence and abundance.
Article | 26 October 2020
Evidence of unprecedented rise in growth synchrony from global tree ring records
Tree ring records reveal a global rise in the spatial synchrony of annual tree growth over the past 50 years coinciding with warming trends.
Article | 14 September 2020
Tropical and Mediterranean biodiversity is disproportionately sensitive to land-use and climate change
Analysing responses of biodiversity to changes in land use and climate across global ecoregions, the authors identify strong negative responses in both tropical and Mediterranean biomes, driven primarily by low climatic seasonality and the history of human disturbance.
Article | 07 September 2020
Biogeography of marine giant viruses reveals their interplay with eukaryotes and ecological functions
Analysing a global metagenomic data set from the Tara Oceans expeditions, the authors find that the distribution of marine giant virus communities is tightly coupled to that of eukaryotic microorganisms, that these communities are particularly distinct in polar biomes, and that they may sometimes be highly similar both on the surface and at depth.
Article | 19 October 2020
The network structure and eco-evolutionary dynamics of CRISPR-induced immune diversification
A combination of computational modelling and empirical data is used to explore the network structure of infection and immunity in CRISPR–Cas host–virus interactions.
Article | 19 October 2020
Genome-wide analysis of the Firmicutes illuminates the diderm/monoderm transition
Phylogenomic analysis supports a diderm ancestor of the Firmicutes and points to an early origin of two-membraned cells in Bacteria and the derived nature of the Gram-positive envelope following multiple outer membrane losses.
Article | 14 September 2020
Ecology shapes epistasis in a genotype–phenotype–fitness map for stick insect colour
The causes of epistasis in nature are poorly understood. Measuring the genetic basis of cryptic colouration and survival in a field experiment with stick insects, the authors show that epistasis results from ecological variation in natural selection.
Article | 07 September 2020
Idiosyncratic epistasis creates universals in mutational effects and evolutionary trajectories
Theory, simulations and empirical data are used to show that the phenotypic effect of a mutation varies substantially depending on the specific genetic background, thereby resolving an apparent contradiction between predictions of convex and concave fitness landscapes.
Article | 03 August 2020
Two sets of candidate crustacean wing homologues and their implication for the origin of insect wings
The evolutionary origin of insect wings is unclear. Gene expression and functional analyses show a gene network operating in the terga and proximal leg segments of the crustacean evo-devo model Parhyale hawaiensis, similar to the insect wing gene network.
Article | 01 December 2020
Knockout of crustacean leg patterning genes suggests that insect wings and body walls evolved from ancient leg segments
Comparing phenotypes for the knockout of five leg patterning genes in a crustacean with those of insects, the authors show that insect wings evolved from existing structures present in the common ancestor of crustaceans and insects.
Article | 21 September 2020
The methylation landscape and its role in domestication and gene regulation in the chicken
Quantitative trait loci mapping of a cross between red junglefowl and domestic chickens provides evidence for the role of methylation in regulating gene expression in the domestication process.
Amendments & Corrections
- Neal R. Haddaway
- Alison Bethel
- Gavin B. Stewart
Author Correction | 19 October 2020
No Comment