Some microbes persist across diverse gut microbiomes, raising the question of what features define these core taxa and allow them to persist across hosts. Using the rumen microbiome as a model system, we show that core microbes exhibit distinct attributes of ecological generalists, including greater strain variability and broader functional capacity, linked to larger genome sizes...
While biological control (or biocontrol) is an established method for managing pest species in terrestrial systems, few successful applications have been reported for marine environments. Crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS, Acanthaster ssp.) are regarded as a pest species across the Indo-Pacific, where they are voracious predators of corals and represent one of the largest causes of...
Behavioural ecology research has explained traits from foraging and cooperation to mating strategies and sex allocation. However, the size and interdisciplinary nature of this research can obscure the broader contributions that behavioural ecology has made and the major tasks for the future. We first assess the contributions of behavioural ecology to fundamental science, for both...
After centuries of persecution in Europe, large carnivores are now recovering. Whether this conservation success continues depends in part on public support. Here we show, using a survey of 10,000 respondents across European Union Member States, that while support for the recovery of wolves, bears and lynx remains strong, most respondents oppose both further population growth and...
Human SAMD9 and SAMD9L are duplicated genes that encode innate immune proteins restricting poxviruses and lentiviruses, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Mutations in these genes are implicated in genetic diseases and cancer. Here we combined structural similarity searches, phylogenetics and population genomics with experimental assays of SAMD9/9L functions to resolve...
Freshwater ecosystems, particularly rivers, are experiencing the most rapid biodiversity declines of any biome, driven by several interacting stressors operating across local to global scales. Despite growing research on these interactions, the lack of systematic quantification of individual stressor gradients limits our ability to disentangle their cumulative effects. Here we...
Earth is teeming with life on the move, shaping ecosystems and human civilizations alike. However, the magnitude of movement by humans and other animals has yet to be assessed holistically. Here we quantify the movement of biomass across all animal life and in comparison to humanity. We show that the combined biomass movement of all wild birds, land arthropods and wild land...
The bilaterian through gut with an anal opening is a major evolutionary innovation in animals. It facilitates effective food processing, which allows animals to grow to a larger body size. However, because non-bilaterian animals (such as cnidarians) lack a through gut, the evolution of the anus in bilaterians (such as insects and humans) remains unresolved. The formation of the...
The last eukaryotic common ancestor primarily inherited its core genetic system from archaea. However, it remains unclear when and how these essential machineries expanded their compositional and regulatory sophistication during eukaryogenesis. Here we combine statistical, phylogenetic, structural and biochemical approaches to examine the compositional diversity of the DNA...
Deep-time palaeogenomics offers rare insights into macroevolutionary events for both extant and extinct species. Aside from a Middle Pleistocene genome from North American permafrost (780–560 ka) and a number of Late Pleistocene specimens, most ancient horse DNA studies have focused on tracing the origins of domestication and subsequent periods. Here we present mitochondrial...
Dating the tree of Fungi has been challenging due to a paucity of fossil calibrations and high taxonomic diversity of the group. Here we reconstructed and dated a comprehensive phylogeny comprising 110 fungal species, utilizing 225 phylogenetic markers and accounting for across-site compositional heterogeneity in amino acid sequences. To address uncertainties in fungal dating, we...
The Global Biodiversity Framework promotes agroecological farming approaches1, yet rigorous system-wide evaluations of agroecological programmes are urgently needed to balance the intertwined but partially competing Sustainable Development Goals of curbing food insecurity, improving human well-being and tackling biodiversity loss. Here we focus on the largest agroecological...
Because of widespread forest fragmentation, 70% of the world’s forest area lies within 1 km of an edge. Forest biomass density near edges often differs markedly from biomass density in the interior. In some biomes, these ‘edge effects’ are responsible for substantial reductions in forest carbon storage. However, there is little consensus on the direction and magnitude of edge...
Theory predicts that high population density leads to more strongly connected spatial and social networks, but how local density drives individuals’ positions within their networks is unclear. This gap reduces our ability to understand and predict density-dependent processes. Here we show that density drives greater network connectedness at the scale of individuals within wild...
Few high-latitude archaeological contexts are older than marine isotope stage (MIS) 15 and even fewer provide evidence of early human occupation during a glacial period. New discoveries at Old Park, Canterbury (UK), provide evidence of both the oldest accessible artefact-bearing sediment in northern Europe and cold-stage adaptation. Radiometric and palaeomagnetic dating places...
The partitioning of ecological niches is a fundamental component of species diversification in adaptive radiations. However, it is currently unknown if and how such bursts of organismal diversity are influenced by temporal niche partitioning, wherein species avoid competition by being active or sleeping during different time windows. Here we address this question through...
Research on the biology and evolution of sex chromosomes has primarily focused on diploid XX/XY and ZW/ZZ systems. In contrast, the rise, evolution and demise of U/V systems has remained an enigma. Here we analyse genomes of nine brown algal species with different sexual systems to determine the history of their sex determination. U/V sex chromosomes emerged between 450 and 224...