Nature Ecology & Evolution, January 2021
Volume 5 Issue 1, January 2021
Early hominin microevolution
Specimen DNH 155 from Drimolen, South Africa is the best-preserved cranium of Paranthropus robustus yet known, and its anatomy as well as its chronological and geographical provenance document microevolutionary change within the species.
See Martin et al.
Image: Jesse Martin and Angeline Leece. Cover Design: Bethany Vukomanovic.
Editorial
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Editorial | 15 December 2020
Structural revolution?
A potential breakthrough in our ability to predict protein structure from sequence could have a major impact on evolutionary biology.
Correspondence
- Douglas Zeppelini
- Ana Dal Molin
- […]
- & William C. Rodrigues
- Michael C. Orr
- Rafael R. Ferrari
- & Chao-Dong Zhu
- Amelia-Juliette Claire Demery
- & Monique Avery Pipkin
- Junze Zhang
- Bojie Fu
- & Wenwu Zhao
- Richard Potts
- John W. Williams
- Alejandro Ordonez
- & Jens-Christian Svenning
- Jeroen Ingels
- Ann Vanreusel
- & Daniela Zeppilli
- Roberto Danovaro
- Emanuela Fanelli
- & Moriaki Yasuhara
- Lucas N. Weaver
- David J. Varricchio
- & Gregory P. Wilson Mantilla
- Jesse M. Martin
- A. B. Leece
- & Andy I. R. Herries
- Laura J. Williams
- Jeannine Cavender-Bares
- & Peter B. Reich
- Tadzio Holtrop
- Jef Huisman
- & Hendrik Jan van der Woerd
- Martin Joseph Wassen
- Julian Schrader
- & Maarten Boudewijn Eppinga
- Dirk Sanders
- Enric Frago
- & Kevin J. Gaston
- Matthew J. Silk
- & David J. Hodgson
- Julian Vosseberg
- Jolien J. E. van Hooff
- & Berend Snel
- Christopher R. Cooney
- & Gavin H. Thomas
- Shani Levy
- Vera Brekhman
- & Tamar Lotan
- Jonathan Z. Shik
- Pepijn W. Kooij
- […]
- & Jacobus J. Boomsma
- Brian A. Lerch
- & Maria R. Servedio
Correspondence | 10 November 2020
The dilemma of self-citation in taxonomy
Correspondence | 10 November 2020
Taxonomy must engage with new technologies and evolve to face future challenges
Advertisement Feature
Scientists seek ways to enhance human immunity
One company’s innovation has transformed the health potential of a common food to boost immune defence
Comment & Opinion
Comment | 12 October 2020
Safe fieldwork strategies for at-risk individuals, their supervisors and institutions
As a result of identity prejudice, certain individuals are more vulnerable to conflict and violence when they are in the field. It is paramount that all fieldworkers be informed of the risks some colleagues may face, so that they can define best practice together: here we recommend strategies to minimize risk for all individuals conducting fieldwork.
Comment | 12 October 2020
Improve forest restoration initiatives to meet Sustainable Development Goal 15
Monoculture plantations have been promoted for the restoration of the world’s forested area, but these have not contained or reversed the loss of biodiversity. More innovative incentive policies should be implemented to shift the planet’s forest restoration policies from increasing the area of forests per se to improving their biodiversity.
News & Views
News & Views | 09 November 2020
Microevolution in our megadont relative
Cranial variation in South African specimens of Paranthropus robustus illustrate temporal changes that suggest how the morphology of this hominin fossil species related to its palaeoenvironment and microevolutionary processes.
Reviews
Perspective | 07 December 2020
A unifying framework for studying and managing climate-driven rates of ecological change
Outlining a conceptual framework of climate-driven fast, slow and abrupt ecological change that integrates palaeoecology, contemporary ecology and invasion biology, the authors argue that the focus of theory and practice needs to shift from managing states to managing rates of change.
Research
Matters Arising | 16 November 2020
Ecological variables for deep-ocean monitoring must include microbiota and meiofauna for effective conservation
Matters Arising | 16 November 2020
Reply to: Ecological variables for deep-ocean monitoring must include microbiota and meiofauna for effective conservation
Article | 02 November 2020
Early mammalian social behaviour revealed by multituberculates from a dinosaur nesting site
A monospecific aggregation of multituberculate mammals from the Late Cretaceous of Montana suggests an early origin for multigenerational group living and burrowing behaviour among mammals.
Article | 09 November 2020
Drimolen cranium DNH 155 documents microevolution in an early hominin species
An approximately 2-million-year-old male Paranthropus robustus cranium from Drimolen Main Quarry in South Africa refutes influential ideas of sexual dimorphism in this taxon and instead suggests local microevolution within robust australopiths.
Article | 02 November 2020
Remote spectral detection of biodiversity effects on forest biomass
Based on a tree-diversity experiment, the authors introduce and test an approach to quantify net biodiversity effects on stem biomass in young forests using airborne spectroscopic imaging.
Article | 09 November 2020
Vibrational modes of water predict spectral niches for photosynthesis in lakes and oceans
Starting from the vibrational modes of water molecules, the authors derive five major spectral niches in aquatic ecosystems using a radiative transfer model. They then predict the global distributions of these spectral niches using remote sensing and validate the predictions with metagenomic data on the distribution patterns of cyanobacterial pigments.
Article | 02 November 2020
Phosphorus fertilization is eradicating the niche of northern Eurasia’s threatened plant species
An analysis of plant diversity and stoichiometric niches in herbaceous ecosystems across northern Eurasia reveals that phosphorus fertilization and increases in relative phosphorus availability associated with current measures to reduce nitrogen deposition may seriously threaten plant species of high conservation concern.
Article | 02 November 2020
A meta-analysis of biological impacts of artificial light at night
A meta-analysis of 126 published studies shows that exposure to artificial light at night induces strong responses for physiological measures, daily activity patterns and life history traits.
Article | 09 November 2020
Life history and population regulation shape demographic competence and influence the maintenance of endemic disease
The authors introduce the term demographic competence to describe the ability of a host population to maintain endemic infections, and use models to explore the interaction between population regulation and host–pathogen life history traits.
Article | 26 October 2020
Timing the origin of eukaryotic cellular complexity with ancient duplications
Combining phylogenomics with analysis of gene duplication to reconstruct the steps during eukaryogenesis the authors show that the Asgard archaea-related host already had some eukaryote-like cellular complexity, which increased further upon mitochondrial acquisition.
Article | 26 October 2020
Heterogeneous relationships between rates of speciation and body size evolution across vertebrate clades
Phylogenetic comparative methods applied to datasets of body size in five major vertebrate clades show that rates of speciation and morphological evolution are positively related at broad macroevolutionary scales but with heterogeneity in the strength and direction of these associations at finer scales.
Article | 09 November 2020
Ectopic activation of GABAB receptors inhibits neurogenesis and metamorphosis in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis
The role of the metabotropic gamma-aminobutyric acid B receptor (GABABR) in neural differentiation is well known in vertebrates. Here, the authors show that GABABRs plays a role in neurogenesis and development in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis.
Article | 26 October 2020
Nutritional niches reveal fundamental domestication trade-offs in fungus-farming ants
Human farmers have traded greater productivity for higher crop vulnerability outside specialized cultivation conditions. This study shows a similar trade-off in fungus-farming ants.
Article | 09 November 2020
Same-sex sexual behaviour and selection for indiscriminate mating
A model of sexual reproduction creates a theoretical framework for the evolution of indiscriminate sexual behaviour, showing that it is the optimal strategy under a wide range of conditions, and supporting the hypothesis that same-sex sexual behaviour can be maintained by selection for indiscriminate sexual behaviour.
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