Biological Reviews最新文献

{"title":"Sentience in cephalopod molluscs: an updated assessment.","authors":"Alexandra K Schnell, Heather Browning, Andrew Crump, Charlotte C Burn, Jonathan Birch","doi":"10.1002/brv.70125","DOIUrl":"10.1002/brv.70125","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article evaluates the evidence for sentience - the capacity to have feelings - in cephalopod molluscs: octopus, cuttlefish, squid, and nautilus. Our framework includes eight criteria, covering both whether the animal's nervous system could support sentience and whether their behaviour indicates sentience. There is strong evidence of sentience in octopuses and cuttlefish, which are assessed with very high or high confidence in meeting six of eight criteria. There is also substantial evidence for squid (very high or high confidence in five of eight criteria). By contrast, whether nautiluses are sentient remains unknown (high confidence in only one of eight criteria), since this group of cephalopods have attracted little research. This reflects a general pattern: cases where a taxon did not satisfy a criterion were invariably due to insufficient evidence, rather than evidence that the criterion was not met. In no cases were we confident that a taxon failed a criterion. We explore the nuances of evidence for sentience, examining both neural and behavioural markers, drawing from and updating our previous review (Birch et al., 2021), and shedding light on the implications for ethical treatment and welfare within this class of animals while also revealing areas where further research is needed.</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":"1311-1333"},"PeriodicalIF":10.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146007982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Receiver psychology as a driver of communication network structure.","authors":"Michael S Reichert, Eleanor M Caves","doi":"10.1002/brv.70138","DOIUrl":"10.1002/brv.70138","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Communication and sociality are intimately related, as many important social processes are mediated by communication between signal senders and receivers. Despite recent advances in social network analysis, animal communication networks remain difficult to characterize because the interactions that comprise the network structure depend on receiver sensory, perceptual, and cognitive processes. Collectively, these receiver psychological traits process social information and lead to decisions regarding whether and how to interact with signallers, generating variation in social interactions and the structure of communication networks. Here, we review the evidence that variation in receiver psychology affects both individuals' positions within the communication network and the structure of the communication network as a whole. These effects range from limits on signal active space imposed by receiver sensory acuity and sensitivity, to facilitation of social connections by learning and memory of signal characteristics. Although we identify numerous receiver psychological traits that likely affect connections between receivers and signallers, few studies have explicitly examined the role of receiver psychology on variation in communication network structure. We therefore review recent methodological advances that could facilitate such studies. We then show that the effects of receiver psychology on communication networks could have strong impacts on ecological and evolutionary processes. In particular, we discuss the reciprocal links between receiver psychology and social structure, and how these individual-group feedbacks are expected to generate coevolution between communication and sociality. Our review synthesizes diverse evidence that receiver psychology can affect communication interactions and provides a path forward for integrating sensory, perceptual, and cognitive mechanisms of signal processing with individual behavioural variation and ecological and evolutionary consequences of variation in animal social behaviour.</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":"1606-1620"},"PeriodicalIF":10.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146111791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Early evolutionary history of the seed.","authors":"Richard M Bateman, Alan R T Spencer, Jason Hilton","doi":"10.1002/brv.70134","DOIUrl":"10.1002/brv.70134","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The seed is an essential stage in the life history of gymnospermous and angiospermous plants, facilitating both their survival and dispersal. We reappraise knowledge of the evolutionary history of the gymnospermous seed, from its origin in the late Devonian through to the well-known end-Permian extinctions - an interval encompassing the origins of most major lineages of seed-bearing plants. The framework for our broader discussions is a novel cladistic analysis of anatomically preserved Palaeozoic seeds, analysing 79 seed-species for 89 morphological characters in a matrix containing only 24% missing values. The resulting consensus tree is weakly but fully resolved and compatible with traditional division into three informal seed groups: paraphyletic lagenocarps, paraphyletic trigonocarps and monophyletic cardiocarps. Three seed-genera - Rhychosperma, Albertlongia and Muricosperma - are revealed as potential 'missing links' between groups, and modest re-circumscription of seed-genera is required. Although the value of single-organ phylogenies remains controversial, the present seed-tree topology receives general support from the dated sequence of first appearances of seed-species in the fossil record, and from the topologies of morphological cladistic studies that combined conceptually reconstructed fossil plants with primitive extant lineages, notably ginkgos and cycads. Branch lengths in the tree and phenetic distances in ordinations of the matrix indicate similar overall rates of character change through the Palaeozoic, rather than a fractal pattern reflecting progressively increasing constraint, although early changes in architectural and pollination-related characters gradually give way to greater experimentation with the internal layering and external topography of the testa. Our process-based evolutionary inferences are informed by extant gymnosperms, particularly Cycas and Ginkgo. The origin of the true seed is attributed primarily to (1) the complex biochemical signalling needed to allow the sperm to reach the archegonia through the megasporangium wall and (2) the localised apoptosis of the megasporangium hypothesised to have simultaneously allowed hollowing out of the nucellar apex to form a sophisticated pollen-receiving apparatus (the pollen chamber) and secretion of a pollination drop to capture air-borne (pre)pollen. Subsequent potential key innovations include transfer of function of both pollination-drop channelling and pollen chamber sealing from the nucellar salpinx to the integumentary micropyle, and introduction of a haustorial pollen tube to direct spermatozoa towards the archegonia. Assuming that the seed-plant megasporangium terminates an axis, synorganisation has played a key role in seed evolution, leaf-like lateral organs being repeatedly pulled towards the apex and incorporated into the terminal structure. Lateral webbing of integumentary lobes eventually almost fully enclosed the nucellus, while a similar synorga","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":"1511-1553"},"PeriodicalIF":10.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13149795/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146049601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Injuries in deep time: interpreting competitive behaviours in extinct reptiles via palaeopathology.","authors":"Maximilian Scott, Julia A Gamble, Caleb Marshall Brown, Kirstin S Brink","doi":"10.1002/brv.70116","DOIUrl":"10.1002/brv.70116","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>For over a century, palaeopathology has been used as a tool for understanding evolution, disease in past communities and populations, and to interpret behaviour of extinct taxa. Physical traumas in particular have frequently been the justification for interpretations about aggressive and even competitive behaviours in extinct taxa. However, the standards used in these interpretations have been inconsistent and occasionally questionable, and knowledge of extant reptile pathology is limited. Interpretations about the timelines and causes of unhealed bone damage are unreliable, and so behavioural implications from these marks are dubious. Even in the case of tooth marks, perimortem damage can be difficult to distinguish from postmortem alteration. In this review, methods from the anthropological sciences are adapted for the purposes of palaeontology, especially in establishing a new framework to distinguish antemortem traumatic damage from other similarly presenting features like sediment encrustation, postmortem damage/taphonomic features, variants of anatomical features, and non-traumatic palaeopathologies. Even in cases where traumatic palaeopathologies are accurately macroscopically identified, noting isolated incidences may not provide sufficient evidence to interpret behaviour at any taxonomic level. Future research directions in modern reptile pathology are proposed to improve the efficacy of traumatic palaeopathologies as a tool in interpreting extinct reptile behaviours.</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":"1073-1090"},"PeriodicalIF":10.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13149791/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145802661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The spread of non-native species.","authors":"Phillip J Haubrock, Ali Serhan Tarkan, Irene Martín-Forés, Stelios Katsanevakis, Ronaldo Sousa, Ismael Soto, Andy J Green, Antonín Kouba, Teun Everts, Victoria Dominguez Almela, Nadège Belouard, Cang Hui, Jamie Bojko, Victor Deklerck, Margaux Boeraeve, Franz Essl, J Robert Britton","doi":"10.1002/brv.70121","DOIUrl":"10.1002/brv.70121","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The global redistribution of species through human agency is one of the defining ecological signatures of the Anthropocene, with biological invasions reshaping biodiversity patterns, ecosystem processes and services, and species interactions globally. Here, we review the facets underlying the spread of non-native species - the key process by which introductions translate into large-scale invasions. In particular, we synthesise the ecological, evolutionary, and anthropogenic mechanisms underpinning the spread of non-native species, highlighting how dispersal, recruitment, and establishment interact across spatial and temporal scales. We examine the dynamics of non-native species spread in animals, plants, fungi, and pathogens, as well as across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine realms, with particular attention to the dynamics and processes modulating spread. We further evaluate essential phenomena of non-native species spread, such as the role of invasion fronts, Allee effects, propagule pressure, interactions with environmental change, landscape properties, and biotic interactions. We then outline how spread can be measured, modelled, and predicted using tools ranging from classical diffusion models to cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence and individual-based simulations. By offering a cross-system and cross-scale synthesis, this review advances the theoretical and practical understanding of non-native species spread for supporting policy and management.</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":"1197-1234"},"PeriodicalIF":10.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13149790/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145814880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impacts of biological invasions.","authors":"Phillip J Haubrock, Teun Everts, Neil Angelo S Abreo, Jamie Bojko, Victor Deklerck, James W E Dickey, Ana Clara S Franco, Emili García-Berthou, Stelios Katsanevakis, Natalia I Kirichenko, Stefano Mammola, Martin A Nuñez, Ben Parker, Riccardo Scalera, Ismael Soto, Diederik Strubbe, Ali Serhan Tarkan, Lorenzo Vilizzi, Tim Adriaens, Paride Balzani, Dagmara Błońska, Elizabeta Briski, Rein Brys, Amy L Burgess, James E Byers, Carlos Cano-Barbacil, Giuseppe Castaldelli, Jaimie T A Dick, Victoria Dominguez Almela, Romina D Dimarco, Margarita Florencio, Antonín Kouba, Melina Kourantidou, Irmak Kurtul, Irene Martín-Forés, Olivier Morissette, Julian D Olden, Bruno E Soares, Jakub Truszkowski, Hugo Verreycken, Marc Kenis, Ronaldo Sousa, J Robert Britton","doi":"10.1002/brv.70124","DOIUrl":"10.1002/brv.70124","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Anthropocene is characterised by a continuous human-mediated reshuffling of the distributions of species globally. Both intentional and unintentional introductions have resulted in numerous species being translocated beyond their native ranges, often leading to their establishment and subsequent spread - a process referred to as biological invasion. Biological invasions are associated with profound changes in the composition, structure, and functioning of recipient ecosystems, plus substantial financial losses and disruptions to society, culture, and human well-being. These ecological, economic, and socio-cultural impacts are interrelated, ubiquitous, and detrimental, yet they are often subjectively perceived or inaccurately quantified. Persistent knowledge gaps remain, however, which limit our understanding of the complex and multifaceted causes and mechanisms of invasion impacts. To overcome these gaps and comprehensively capture all related facets pertaining to the nature and diversity of invasion impact, this scoping review of academic studies, grey literature, and expert reports provides a conceptual model for interpreting invasion impacts, structured around three interrelated pillars: impact domains, challenges in the study of impacts, and available risk- and impact assessments. We initially explore the various mechanisms and consequences of ecological, economic, and socio-cultural invasion impacts and their temporal dynamics, substantiating these with relevant empirical examples. We then review common challenges and fallacies in studying invasion impacts, including context specificity and inter-comparability of impact magnitudes, challenges associated with quantifying non-ecological impacts, and research biases, before synthesising how risks are analysed and impacts assessed, and how these assessments ultimately inform management decisions. Our review underscores the multifaceted and complex nature of invasion impacts, and that effectively addressing biological invasions requires more than isolated, reactive interventions; it calls for globally coordinated, proactive action underpinned by reliable scientific knowledge, sincere political commitment, and broad public engagement. Drawing on nearly a century of literature and global expert contributions, this work offers a comprehensive, nuanced, and timely overview of the potential consequences of biological invasions, providing a valuable foundation for informing future research directions, management interventions, and policy development.</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":"1255-1310"},"PeriodicalIF":10.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13149820/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145852825","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A review of the historic and present ecological role of aquatic and shoreline wood, from forest to deep sea.","authors":"Jon Dickson, Ellen Wohl, Laura L Govers, Oscar Franken, Tjeerd J Bouma, Han Olff, Britas Klemens Eriksson, Maryann S Watson, Luísa M S Borges, Tjisse van der Heide","doi":"10.1002/brv.70117","DOIUrl":"10.1002/brv.70117","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The ecology of forests, their losses, and terrestrial wood decomposition dynamics have been intensively studied and reviewed. In the aquatic realm, reviews have concentrated on large wood (LW) in rivers and the transition from freshwater to marine environments in the Pacific Northwest of North America. However, a comprehensive global synthesis of LW dynamics, including decomposition processes and human influences across the freshwater-marine continuum, is lacking. Here, we review the role of LW and its fate across the entire freshwater-to-marine gradient and synthesise our findings in an integrative conceptual overview. LW has been exported by rivers to sea for hundreds of millions of years. During this journey, LW acts as an ecosystem engineer by modifying its environment and the landscape. In rivers, LW alters hydrodynamics, resulting in sediment retention and changes to riverbed and shoreline morphology. Along coastlines, driftwood initiates dunes, prevents erosion, retains moisture, and provides lignocellulose-based nutrients. Important habitats provided by floating rafts and sunken 'islands' of wood are found across estuarine, shelf and open/deep seas. Wood degradation gradually transitions from mechanical to biomechanical and chemotrophic. In rivers, degradation is primarily mechanical due to abrasion and impacts. In estuaries, salinity increases, allowing marine wood borers to begin biomechanical degradation; their activity remains the main degradation cause across marine environments. On the seafloor, chemotrophic micro-organisms finalise decomposition of small fragments. LW accumulations act as biodiversity hotspots across the freshwater-to-marine gradient. River communities rely on induced abiotic changes such as meanders, pools, and riffles, while log jams and dams serve as velocity and predation shelters, and create pools with cooler, deeper water. The wood itself acts as attachment substrate for eggs and larvae. From estuaries seaward, the focus fully shifts to LW itself: driftwood provides lignocellulose for wood-boring organisms and stable substrate for sessile animals and macroalgae. In shelf seas and open oceans, floating LW rafts provide shade, shelter, and attachment substrate. Humans have greatly decreased export of LW from river to sea by clearing forests for agriculture and urbanisation, damming rivers, and removing LW 'debris' that is often deemed a hazard or nuisance in developed areas. Indeed, the annual export of LW &gt;3 m long to marine environments has decreased by 5,000,000 m&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt; compared to the pre-landscape-domestication period. Any wood that reaches the sea washes up on shore or sinks, where it is often removed by bottom trawling. Restoring historic levels of LW is implausible, but reintroductions can restore ecosystem functions along the freshwater-to-marine gradient. Thus far, restoration research has focused on freshwater systems, while such work is in its infancy in coastal and marine environments. ","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":"1091-1119"},"PeriodicalIF":10.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13149766/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145802699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Subterranean environments contribute to three-quarters of classified ecosystem services.","authors":"Stefano Mammola, David Brankovits, Tiziana Di Lorenzo, Isabel R Amorim, Raluca Ioana Bancila, Adrià Bellvert, Enrico Bernard, Anna Blomberg, Paulo A V Borges, Martina Cappelletti, Rodrigo Lopes Ferreira, Rosalina Gabriel, Diana M P Galassi, Laura Garzoli, Vasilis Gerovasileiou, Grant C Hose, Kathryn L Korbel, Simone Martino, Ana Z Miller, Nataša Mori, Veronica Nanni, Giuseppe Nicolosi, Mattia Saccò, Troy S Sakihara, Marconi Souza Silva, Anne E Tamalavage, Maja Zagmajster, Efraín Chávez, Christian Griebler, Pedro Cardoso, Alejandro Martínez","doi":"10.1002/brv.70137","DOIUrl":"10.1002/brv.70137","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Beneath the Earth's surface lies a network of interconnected caves, voids, and systems of fissures forming in rocks of sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic origin. Although largely inaccessible to humans, this hidden realm supports and regulates services critical to ecological health and human well-being. Subterranean ecosystems are integral to major biogeochemical cycles, sustain diverse surface habitats, and serve as the primary source of irrigation and drinking water. They also offer non-material benefits, including scientific discovery, education, and cultural practices. Yet, these contributions often go unrecognised, partly due to the lack of a unified synthesis of ecosystem services across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine subterranean compartments. This gap limits effective communication of their value to scientists, practitioners, and the public. Through a systematic expert-based review, we show that subterranean ecosystems contribute to up to 75% of classified ecosystem services. Notably, many of these contributions are described only qualitatively, lacking numerical or economic quantification. Next, we list examples of the main ecosystem services provided by subterranean systems to offer a global overview of their multifaceted value and vulnerability to environmental change. We believe this synthesis provides researchers and practitioners with concrete examples to communicate more effectively the importance of subterranean ecosystems to diverse audiences.</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":"1582-1605"},"PeriodicalIF":10.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13149732/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146148522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Why are so few island bryophytes endemic?","authors":"Sébastien Mirolo, Alice Ledent, Juana M González-Mancebo, Rosalina Gabriel, Manuela Sim-Sim, Flavien Collart, Jairo Patiño, Alain Vanderpoorten","doi":"10.1002/brv.70127","DOIUrl":"10.1002/brv.70127","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Endemism, a hallmark of island biodiversity, reaches its lowest levels among bryophytes compared with other land plants. Whether this pattern reflects low diversification rates, and why, or whether it is a result of loss of endemicity due to extinctions or subsequent continental (back-)colonization, is examined here through a review of available evidence in the Macaronesian flora. Significant genetic differentiation (G_ST, based on allele frequencies) was consistently found between Macaronesian and continental populations, ruling out the hypothesis that intense migrations necessarily hamper differentiation. A significant phylogeographical signal in the data (N_ST > G_ST; where N_ST is a G_ST analog incorporating phylogenetic relationships among alleles), involving higher mutation rates than dispersal rates and evidencing incipient speciation, was further found in more than 1/3 of the species investigated. The significantly higher average N_ST between extra-European regions and Macaronesia compared to Europe and Macaronesia suggests, however, that incipient speciation is more likely to occur between distant (Macaronesian versus extra-European) than closer (Macaronesian versus European) populations. In line with this, ancestral area estimations in Macaronesian endemic bryophyte species revealed that at least 50% of them have an extra-European origin, in contrast with the almost exclusively (>90%) European/Mediterranean origin of Macaronesian endemic spermatophytes. Allopatric speciation via long-distance dispersal and subsequent divergence of a single endemic species prevails in island bryophytes, wherein sympatric radiations virtually never occur. Such a speciation mode does not trigger high rates of endemism, in contrast to radiations in Macaronesian spermatophytes, which contribute to 56% of the total number of endemics. Several mechanisms may explain the failure of island bryophytes to diversify in situ, including the fact that oceanic islands are too small or insufficiently isolated from each other or from continents to promote sympatric speciation, the lack of key innovations, and phylogenetic niche conservatism for stable habitats not prone to trigger radiations. In comparison with spermatophytes, continental (back-)colonization further largely prevails in bryophytes and, unlike in many instances in angiosperms, is not followed by in situ speciation on the mainland. The consequent loss of the endemic status of species that did speciate on islands but subsequently enlarged their range further accounts for the low rates of endemism among island bryophyte floras and invalidates the use of endemism rates as a proxy of speciation rates in this group.</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":"1358-1381"},"PeriodicalIF":10.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146045764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reading hominin life history in fossil bones and teeth: methods to test hypotheses regarding its evolution.","authors":"Paola Cerrito, Judith M Burkart, Carel van Schaik","doi":"10.1002/brv.70132","DOIUrl":"10.1002/brv.70132","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Human life history is derived compared to that of our closest living relatives, the great apes. It has been suggested that these derived traits are causally related to aspects of our ecology, social behaviour and cognitive abilities. However, resolving this requires that we know the evolutionary trajectory of our distinctive pattern of growth, development, and reproduction. Here, we (i) outline these derived features and the theories that have been proposed for their evolution; (ii) highlight the major gaps in our knowledge related to adult life history (reproduction and post-reproductive lifespan) with a review of our current knowledge, which is mainly based on information extracted from fossil teeth and bones; and (iii) provide an overview of novel analytical methods that leverage the biology of these hard tissues, to generate new information regarding the evolution of some of our peculiar life-history traits, such as short interbirth intervals (high reproductive frequency) and a prolonged female post-reproductive lifespan. Our review of tissue biology and analytical methods focuses on two tissues that are formed continuously during the entire lifespan of the individual and can therefore act as recording structures of adult life: dental cementum and lamellar bone. We conclude by providing specific guidelines for future research to help resolve the following long-standing question in human evolution: how and when did we switch from independent breeding to cooperative breeding, with its high reproductive frequency? Answering this question is crucial for understanding the evolutionary interplay between reproductive physiology and cooperation as well as for understanding how reproductive division of labour might shape societal structure.</p>","PeriodicalId":133,"journal":{"name":"Biological Reviews","volume":" ","pages":"1463-1478"},"PeriodicalIF":10.9,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13149746/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146007984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}