Volume 2 Issue 12, December 2018

Globally, flora, fauna and many indigenous cultures have evolved to coexist sustainably with fire. We argue that the key to sustainable contemporary human coexistence with wildfires is a form of biomimicry that draws on the evolutionary adaptations of organisms that survive (and flourish) in the fire regimes in which they reside.

Ensuring an environmentally friendly overhaul of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy will entail payments for environmental objectives, promoting High Nature Value Farmlands, improved flexibility and policy integration.

A coordinated distributed experiment, replicated across multiple labs and multiple taxa, reveals that both resources and predators govern dispersal between habitats, affecting local and regional stability of biological communities.

An intraspecific plant diversity experiment uncovers the mechanistic basis of a positive effect of biodiversity on biomass production, pinpointing it to a single genetic region.

Multiple lines of evidence reveal that annual maximum photosynthesis across the world has been increasing over the past 30 years, adding crucial new information on the processes influencing the land carbon sink and on vegetation’s key role in mitigating climate change.

Statistical modelling from an impressively large genetic dataset traces the historical origins and spread of China’s modern tuberculosis (TB) epidemic. But there is more scope in the future to harness the potential of ancient TB genomes to model its evolution.

Characteristics shared by different plant species can be used to decipher where they are found in nature. A new global analysis indicates that using this code to understand what shapes plant communities must consider spatial scale.

Migratory species are often exploited by resident predators. Here, the authors review the extent to which prey induce large-scale movements of predators, and outline a framework for the ecological consequences of coupled migrations.

In the Western Ghats of India, the presence of wind farms is found to reduce the abundance and activity of predatory birds, with the associated effect of increasing the density of lizard prey and altering lizard behaviour and physiology.

In a coordinated distributed dispersal experiment involving seven laboratories, the authors show that both top-down predation risk and bottom-up resource limitation increase emigration rates across 21 species ranging from protozoa to vertebrates.

Terrestrial mammalian fossils have previously reconstructed a single cohesive late Miocene savannah biome across Eurasia and Africa. Here, palaeobotanical data tell a different story, pointing instead to mixed forest biomes across the same region. The results emphasize the need to use both palaeofaunal and palaeobotanical data in reconstructing past environments.

Stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of mammal teeth associated with stone tools and cut-marked bone dated to between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago reveals that, at the time of the earliest-known hominin presence, the Arabian peninsula was home to productive grasslands similar to modern-day African savannahs.

Evidence from starch grains, theobromine residues and ancient DNA demonstrate cacao use in the upper Amazon circa 5,300 years ago. This is earlier than previous evidence for cacao domestication in Mesoamerica.

Data from more than 200 million observations of plants, animals and fungi provide support for the concept that terrestrial biodiversity patterns reflect distinct ecoregions.

Combining two global datasets, the authors show that peak vegetation growth has been increasing linearly for the past 30 years, with similar proportions of NDVI variation attributable to expanding croplands, rising CO₂ and intensifying nitrogen deposition.

Although plant functional trait combinations reflect ecological trade-offs at the species level, little is known about how this translates to whole communities. Here, the authors show that global trait composition is captured by two main dimensions that are only weakly related to macro-environmental drivers.

Tropical forest leaves are expected to absorb more of the Sun’s energy with climate warming, which could further increase global temperatures.

Evidence synthesized from 252 large-herbivore exclusion studies suggests that herbivore-induced change in dominance, independent of site productivity or precipitation, best predicts herbivore effects on biodiversity in grassland and savannah sites.

A major effect locus is identified that contributes to overyielding when two different accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana are grown together, suggesting a simple genetic basis for the positive effects of biodiversity on community functioning.

Genome-sequencing data of all major cichlid fish lineages in Lake Malawi show genomic footprints of rapid species diversification.

Genomes of three Tuberaceae species and two related truffle species reveal genetic similarities across symbiotic truffle-forming fungi, including high expression of genes involved in volatile organic compound metabolism.

Analysis of embryonic bird skulls reveals dinosaur-like modular ossification patterns, which underpins the re-organization of skull architecture during bird evolution.

Pseudomonas fluorescens is subjected to two stressors: the predatory thermophile Tetrahymena and sublethal antibiotic treatment. The interaction slows adaptation and destabilizes ecological dynamics.

Analysis of 4,578 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates reveals the evolutionary history of the four tuberculosis genotypes in China, from emergence 1,000 years ago to expansion, population peaks and, more recently, dominance of the indigenous sublineage L2.3.