Nature ecology & evolution最新文献

{"title":"Plastic pollution has the potential to alter ecological and evolutionary processes in aquatic ecosystems","authors":"Jacob Haney, Chelsea M. Rochman","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02678-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02678-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We are beginning to understand the ecotoxicological effects of plastic pollution at the suborganismal, individual, population and community levels, but research has only just begun to explore the ecological and evolutionary impacts of plastic as a new habitat. The global introduction of plastic waste into aquatic environments introduces diverse and variable habitat modifications, altering ecosystems and potentially forming new ecological niches. This widespread habitat modification spans several aquatic ecosystems, including the pelagic ocean, deep-sea benthos, lakes and rivers. Recent studies suggest that habitat modification may interact with and alter ecological and evolutionary processes, affecting populations, communities and species, for example, through feeding ecology, mating behaviour and dispersal. However, further research is necessary to understand the potential long-term effects of plastic pollution on ecological and evolutionary processes across global aquatic ecosystems. Here, we review this emerging field of research and its trajectory.</p>","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143880365","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":"Repeated behavioural evolution is associated with convergence of gene expression in cavity-nesting songbirds","authors":"Sara E. Lipshutz, Mark S. Hibbins, Alexandra B. Bentz, Aaron M. Buechlein, Tara A. Empson, Elizabeth M. George, Mark E. Hauber, Douglas B. Rusch, Wendy M. Schelsky, Quinn K. Thomas, Samuel J. Torneo, Abbigail M. Turner, Sarah E. Wolf, Mary J. Woodruff, Matthew W. Hahn, Kimberly A. Rosvall","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02675-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02675-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Uncovering the genomic bases of phenotypic adaptation is a major goal in biology, but this has been hard to achieve for complex behavioural traits. Here we leverage the repeated, independent evolution of obligate cavity nesting in birds to test the hypothesis that pressure to compete for a limited breeding resource has facilitated convergent evolution in behaviour, hormones and gene expression. We used an integrative approach, combining aggression assays in the field, testosterone measures and transcriptome-wide analyses of the brain in wild-captured females and males. Our experimental design compared species pairs across five avian families, each including one obligate cavity-nesting species and a related species with a more flexible nest strategy. We find behavioural convergence, with higher levels of territorial aggression in obligate cavity nesters, particularly among females. Across species, levels of testosterone in circulation were not associated with nest strategy nor aggression. Phylogenetic analyses of individual genes and co-regulated gene networks revealed more shared patterns of brain gene expression than expected by drift, although the scope of convergent gene expression evolution was limited to a small percentage of the genome. When comparing our results to other studies that did not use phylogenetic methods, we suggest that accounting for shared evolutionary history may reduce the number of genes inferred as convergently evolving. Altogether, we find that behavioural convergence in response to shared ecological pressures is associated with largely independent evolution of gene expression across different avian families, punctuated by a narrow set of convergently evolving genes.</p>","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"80 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143880391","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":"Bat signals","authors":"Simon Harold","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02717-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02717-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Cave-dwelling bat species rely on echolocation to perceive their environment, but also experience high levels of acoustic interference from conspecific calls when flying at the same time (especially when emerging from the cave). Writing in <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA</i>, Goldshtein et al. explore how greater mouse-tailed bats (<i>Rhinopoma microphyllum</i>) cope with acoustic sensory overload, sometimes called the ‘cocktail party nightmare’. By combining high-resolution GPS tracking with individual-level acoustic data collected via miniature onboard microphones, they show that bats leaving their cave on collective foraging expeditions experience high levels of acoustic masking (weak echoes from nearby bats that are not detected). This occurs especially at the mouth of the cave, when thousands of individuals emerge within the space of a minute and the risk of collisions between individuals is high. However, the probability of masking decreased rapidly 25 m beyond the cave entrance, as does the proportion of echo-jamming by conspecifics (calls that overlap with echoes, but are louder). As a result, groups are able to still maintain collective movement over several kilometres, while avoiding collisions. Goldshtein et al. support these findings using a biologically plausible sensorimotor model that predicts a rapid decrease in bat collision rate beyond the cave entrance, as the probability of detecting echoes from conspecifics increases alongside reductions in the proportion of acoustic masking and echo-jamming.</p><p><b>Original reference:</b> <i>Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA</i> <b>122</b>, e2407810122 (2025)</p>","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"74 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143872523","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":"Disease-resistant sweet oranges","authors":"Vaishali Bhaumik","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02719-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02719-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Long-term selective breeding of crops can result in reduced genetic diversity and high sensitivity to pathogenic diseases. The de novo domestication of the wild relatives of such crops can facilitate the identification and breeding of disease-resistant variants, but this requires knowledge of the evolutionary origins of crop cultivars and specific metabolites or genomic regions that confer disease resistance. Writing in <i>Nature Genetics</i>, Liu and colleagues take on this challenge in sweet orange — an important fruit crop that is sensitive to a bacterial disease known as citrus canker. They assessed the nuclear and chloroplast genomes of 305 citrus accessions (plant materials from a single species collected at one time from a specific location) from southern China, including accessions of sweet orange, sour orange, pummelo and mandarin. Having inferred that sweet orange originated from hybridization between a sour orange accession (probably the maternal parent) and a mandarin, they confirmed it with artificial hybridization experiments between a canker-resistant sour orange and a mandarin. Using comparative metabolomic analysis and experiments with antibacterial agents, they also identified plant metabolites with broad antibacterial activity that confer resistance to citrus canker. Of 215 hybrids generated in the experiment, 3 had remarkable phenotypic similarity to commercial sweet oranges. One also accumulated higher levels of defense-related metabolites than its canker-resistant sour orange progenitor and was resistant to citrus canker when inoculated with the causative bacterium. These findings offer a feasible route to using sour oranges for the de novo domestication of disease-resistant sweet oranges.</p><p><b>Original reference:</b> <i>Nat. Genet</i>. <b>57</b>, 754–762 (2025)</p>","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"54 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143866688","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":"Coastal restoration policy needs to consider seaweed diversity","authors":"Guang Gao, Gang Li, Juntian Xu, Yuan Feng, Jason M. Hall-Spencer","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02693-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02693-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Seaweed diversity and biomass is in decline in many regions worldwide. In China, for example, 44% of seaweed species have become locally extinct around Yushan Island since 1989 (ref. ¹); 286 species have been lost from Hainan since the 1970s²; and natural seaweed beds of <i>Sargassum horneri</i> in Nanji Islands have almost disappeared since the 1980s. These losses are alarming. Seaweeds (macroalgae) underpin rocky coastal ecosystems, where they provide habitat, food and spawning grounds, and drive nutrient cycling³. Seaweed species also benefit people as a direct source of food, medicines and chemicals, in addition to improving water quality and buffering storm surges^4,5. Yet acknowledgement of the ecological and economic importance of diverse seaweeds is conspicuously lacking from high-level policy discussions. Specific attention to the sustainable use and safeguarding of seaweed resources and biodiversity is sorely needed.</p><p>There are several drivers of seaweed declines. Urbanization and coastal development (including construction of artificial structures such as seawalls, ports, piers, pontoons and mariculture rafts) have transformed natural habitats and environments (Fig. 1a). This sprawl of artificial shorelines is happening worldwide; in China, it has increased from 24% to 71% of the coast over the past four decades⁹. Many seaweed species do not survive in these artificial environments; this leads to diversity loss and macroalgal blooms — often of single species that can grow well in these altered habitats¹⁰. In addition, extreme weather events driven by climate change (such as marine heatwaves and storm surges) can decimate seaweeds by killing and removing them from hard substrata^11,12. Seaweed species that trap gas for flotation (for example, <i>Ulva</i> and <i>Sargassum</i> spp.) can survive and drift on the sea surface; sinking and decomposition of species without this flotation can cause harmful reductions in oxygen levels. The overharvesting of edible species has also contributed to the sharp reduction in seaweed diversity, particularly on the extensive rocky shores of China.</p>","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143862755","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":"Spillovers and legacies of land management on temperate woodland biodiversity","authors":"Tom Bradfer-Lawrence, Andrew D. M. Dobson, Tom Finch, Elisa Fuentes-Montemayor, Nick Hanley, Jason Matthiopoulos, Mary Nthambi, Katherine Simpson, Kevin Watts, Robin C. Whytock, Kirsty J. Park","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02688-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02688-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Species distributions are a product of both current spatial configuration of habitats and legacies of historical land use. Here we explore current and historical drivers of species distributions, considering combined effects of spatial spillovers and temporal legacies, both within and between habitat types. We fit Bayesian hierarchical occupancy models to data on 373 species from four taxa (ground beetles, birds, vascular plants and small terrestrial mammals) from a chronosequence of 134 woodlands (10 to &gt;250 years old) in temperate agricultural landscapes in the UK. Both spillovers and legacies affect species richness and community composition and, critically, these effects interact. Real-world combinations of spillovers and legacies result in different biodiversity responses compared with the individual factors in isolation. Woodland patches in landscapes with more old woodland and lower amounts of historical woodland loss tend to host more bird and plant but fewer beetle species. Failing to account for these drivers (in particular, legacy effects) gives a distorted view of habitat suitability. In consequence, the same management actions may result in unexpectedly different outcomes depending on the spatial and historical context within the landscape. A better understanding of spillovers and legacy effects on species distributions is required to design biodiversity-friendly, cost-effective land management.</p>","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"262 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143862756","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":"Global breeding programme benefits wild panda conservation","authors":"Hongbo Yang, Qiongyu Huang, Ruishan Chen, Weihua Xu, Desheng Li, Xiao Yan, Liangyu Liu, Annah Lake Zhu","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02703-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02703-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Giant panda conservation is often considered a global success story. Through habitat protection and a breeding programme that is bolstered by over 20 zoos worldwide, panda populations have been increasing and their extinction risk level was downgraded from ‘endangered’ to ‘vulnerable’ in 2016 (ref. ¹). However, a series of recent investigative reports published by the <i>New York Times</i>^2,3,4 raised doubts over the integrity of the global panda breeding programme. Although we commend the investigation for highlighting some issues that have previously been overlooked, we contend that this reporting misrepresents the breeding programme and its conservation effects. Indeed, most of the critiques of the reports were based on practices that were occurring more than two decades ago, despite being presented as the current situation.</p><p>Overall, the reports criticize the panda breeding programme as being primarily driven by financial gain and political leverage, and argue that the programme has failed to fulfil its commitments to panda reintroduction and uphold animal welfare during artificial breeding procedures. Although China has indeed leveraged the programme to foster international collaborations and participating zoos have benefited from increased visitations due to pandas, the programme has nonetheless made substantial contributions to the conservation of giant pandas in the wild. Here, we clarify three key points to rectify these misconceptions.</p>","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"63 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143857276","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":"Increasing severity of large-scale fires prolongs recovery time of forests globally since 2001","authors":"Qiancheng Lv, Ziyue Chen, Chaoyang Wu, Josep Peñuelas, Lei Fan, Yongxian Su, Zeyu Yang, Manchun Li, Bingbo Gao, Jianqiang Hu, Chaoqun Zhang, Yuheng Fu, Qiao Wang","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02683-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02683-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ongoing and sharply increased global forest fires, especially extreme large-scale fires (LFs) with their greater destructiveness, have significantly altered forest structures and functions. However, long-term variations in the severity of LFs and corresponding effects on the natural post-LF recovery time of global forests remain unclear. Here, we rigorously identified 3,281 global large-scale (&gt;10 km²) single-time fire events (LSFs) from 2001 to 2021, and used multiple indicators to understand the post-LSF recovery dynamics from different perspectives and comprehensively reveal major driving factors across regions and forests types based on multiple models. Compared with pre-2010, LSFs after 2010 caused greater forest damage, with the fire severity expanding further from low to high latitudes and from humid to arid regions, particularly affecting evergreen needleleaf forests. Fewer than one-third of the forests recovered successfully within 7 years, and most of these were tropical, moisture-rich broadleaf forests. The average time required for three indicators to recover to pre-fire conditions increased by 7.5% (vegetation density), 11.1% (canopy structure) and 27.3% (gross primary productivity). Moreover, the positive sensitivity of recovery time to increased fire severity was significantly intensified. Notably, more forests experienced recovery stagnation with increased severity, especially in boreal forests, further extending recovery time. The negative impact of the severity of LSFs on forest recovery was much stronger than that of post-LSF climate conditions. Soil moisture after LSFs was identified as the primary facilitating factor. Temperature generally had a positive role before 2010, but a strong negative influence on post-LSF forest recovery after 2010. These findings provide a useful reference for better understanding global forest recovery mechanisms, estimating forest carbon sinks and implementing post-LSF management accordingly.</p>","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143857277","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":"Functional redundancy compensates for decline of dominant ant species","authors":"Peter Yeeles, Lori Lach, Richard J. Hobbs, Raphael K. Didham","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02690-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02690-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Evidence is accumulating of declines in widespread, abundant insect species. The consequences of these losses for ecosystem functioning are predicted to be severe but remain poorly tested in real-world ecosystems. Here we tested the relative importance of functional redundancy versus complementarity in conferring stability of multifunctional performance in the face of dominant insect species decline. We conducted an experimental manipulation of functional trait-space occupancy within naturally occurring ant communities in Australia. Experimental suppression of dominant ant species in multiple trait groupings caused a counterintuitive increase in multifunctional performance, which was associated with an increase in species richness. The resident ant community had high functional redundancy, contributing to rapid compensatory dynamics following suppression. However, colonization by new species with increased trait complementarity drove higher multifunctional performance. This increased multifunctionality probably occurred via reduced interspecific competition but at the cost of increased sensitivity of ecosystem multifunctionality to further species loss. Our findings show that functional redundancy can buffer multifunctional performance of a community against decline of dominant insect species but suggest that future stability of ecosystem multifunctionality depends more on functional complementarity and altered competitive interactions.</p>","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143857278","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":"Deep-pelagic ecosystems should be considered as social–ecological systems","authors":"Leandro Nolé Eduardo, Arnaud Bertrand","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02692-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02692-w","url":null,"abstract":"Deep-pelagic ecosystems are critical for climate regulation, food security and global economic activities, yet the focus of deep-sea research and conservation remains on seafloor-associated ecosystems. We discuss the overlooked deep-pelagic ecosystems and call for their recognition as social–ecological systems.","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"38 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143846575","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}