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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.
Most diversity–synchrony–stability studies are conducted on a single trophic level. A multitrophic assessment of algae–herbivore assemblages across five long-term tropical and temperate marine system datasets demonstrates the varied and complex nature of diversity–synchrony–stability relationships.
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.
The authors build recombination maps of marine, freshwater and hybrid sticklebacks at a scale of 3.8 kb, examining differences in recombination rates and evolutionary implications in populations undergoing adaptive divergence. They find evidence of recombination suppression in hybrids and reduced fitness of recombinants in a natural hybrid zone.
Recent media coverage gives the impression that the very idea of tackling climate change by slowing tropical deforestation is a scam — this is not true and the idea could harm forests.
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).
A 15-year experiment at rocky intertidal sites on the northwestern US coast documents kelp, barnacle and mussel abundances before, during and after a multi-year marine heatwave and an outbreak of sea star wasting disease, including changes to communities that did not recover after return to baseline conditions.
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.
Niche contiguity occurs when only current climatic conditions are used to estimate the niche of a species, ignoring potential niche expansion under climate change. An assessment of 24,944 species shows that nearly half exhibit niche contiguity, which can lead to overestimates of biodiversity loss under climate change.
Analysing strontium isotope ratios for individuals of 18 bovid and equid species dating to the Last Glacial Period (115–11.7 ka), the authors find that 16 of these species lack definitive evidence of migration, even those species that are long-distance migrants today.
An analysis of fish and macroinvertebrate communities in European rivers over 32 years shows that inland ship traffic is associated with declining taxonomic richness, diversity and trait richness and with increased taxonomic evenness.
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.
A survey of sharks and rays on coral reefs within 66 marine protected areas across 36 countries showcases that the conservation benefits of full MPA protection to sharks almost double when accompanied by effective fisheries management.
Achieving inclusive and sustainable ocean economies, long-term climate resilience and effective biodiversity conservation requires urgent and strategic actions from local to global scales. We discuss fundamental changes that are needed to allow equitable policy across these three domains.
Pangenomics enables us to trace the evolutionary history of clades and offers new perspectives on sources of genomic variation and adaptation of organisms.
