Pedro Cardoso, Vasco Branco, Luís Correia, Brent C Emerson, Veronika N Laine, Manuel Lopes
{"title":"Automated biodiversity research critically requires multidisciplinary expertise.","authors":"Pedro Cardoso, Vasco Branco, Luís Correia, Brent C Emerson, Veronika N Laine, Manuel Lopes","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.05.003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2025.05.003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Data-driven computational methods in taxonomy, ecology, and conservation biology are revolutionising these disciplines, from data collection to analysis and interpretation. However, effective automation requires both critical thinking about the limitations of the data and methods, and thorough training and validation by experts, supported by strong interdisciplinary collaboration.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144161191","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}
Luke T Kelly, Ary A Hoffmann, Craig R Nitschke, Juli G Pausas
{"title":"Can plants keep up with fire regime changes through evolution?","authors":"Luke T Kelly, Ary A Hoffmann, Craig R Nitschke, Juli G Pausas","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.009","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Patterns of fire are rapidly changing across the globe and causing mismatches between plants and their environment. These mismatches have ecological and evolutionary consequences, but the latter are often overlooked. A critical question is whether plant populations can evolve quickly enough to keep up with changing fire regimes. Fire-related traits, such as canopy seed storage with fire-stimulated seed release, vary within species and can enhance fitness and be heritable - the preconditions for adaptive evolution. Here, we develop a framework that recognizes mismatches between traits and fire based on variation within and among conspecific populations and that opens new ways of forecasting environmental changes and conserving plants. Advances in genomics enable evolutionary potential to be estimated even in wild, long-lived plants.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144143064","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}
Christian Drerup, Elias Garcia-Pelegrin, Clive Wilkins, James E Herbert-Read, Nicola S Clayton
{"title":"Tactical deception in cephalopods: a new framework for understanding cognition.","authors":"Christian Drerup, Elias Garcia-Pelegrin, Clive Wilkins, James E Herbert-Read, Nicola S Clayton","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.016","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Many animals rely on deception, including signalling misinformation, to gain advantages over others. While many deceptive strategies rely on deterministic patterns or conditioning, some taxa can flexibly adapt their deceptive behaviour to the identity, perspective, or inferred goals of the observer. These context-dependent deceptive strategies could be considered 'tactical deception' if they rely on higher-level cognitive processes to execute. Here, we outline why cephalopods, such as octopus and cuttlefish, are ideal candidates to explore the link between deception and cognition. As tactical deception relies on understanding differences in one's own and another observer's perspective, we suggest tactical deception as a framework to study aspects of cognition in other animals.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144133213","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}
John R Stewart, Inger G Alsos, Antony G Brown, Love Dalén, Peter D Heintzman
{"title":"The progressive evolution of cold-adapted species.","authors":"John R Stewart, Inger G Alsos, Antony G Brown, Love Dalén, Peter D Heintzman","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.005","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The evolution of cold-adapted terrestrial species underwent two main phases. First, the genera of cold-adapted taxa appeared during the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene. The modern day and Late Pleistocene cold-adapted species then arose during and after the Middle Pleistocene Transition. These species evolved through one or more of the following processes: out of the temperate zone, evolving in situ, or through montane preadaptation. Palaeogenetic studies are greatly contributing to our understanding of the timings and modes of evolution of cold-adapted species as well as when their specialised traits evolved. The evolution of polar plant and beetle species is claimed to show greater stasis than that of vertebrates, but could instead reflect morphological conservatism that can be tested with palaeogenetics.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144112104","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}
Nianxun Xi, Jonathan R De Long, John Davison, Paul Kardol, Leslie E Forero, Martin Zobel, Marina Semchenko
{"title":"Plant-soil microbial interactions as modulators of species coexistence and productivity.","authors":"Nianxun Xi, Jonathan R De Long, John Davison, Paul Kardol, Leslie E Forero, Martin Zobel, Marina Semchenko","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plant coexistence and diversity-productivity relationships are often studied separately, yet both are shaped by the same biotic interactions. Here we focus on how host-specificity among soil pathogens and mutualists alters niche and fitness differences among plant species, subsequently modifying biodiversity effects on productivity. Specialist pathogens can generate niche differences through density-dependent processes, thereby stabilizing plant coexistence and enhancing complementarity effects. Specialist mutualists can instead destabilize coexistence and lead to variable effects on productivity. The effects of generalist microbes are less predictable, depending on relationships between plant traits determining microbial interactions (e.g., defense traits) and those determining competitive ability and biomass production. This review underscores the significance of plant-microbial interactions in bridging the mechanisms underlying species coexistence and biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144102755","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":"Fossil bamboos unlock paleoenvironmental and evolutionary secrets.","authors":"Eduardo Ruiz-Sanchez","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.014","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The early Miocene bamboo fossil Ventriculmus neyvelinensis described by Bhatia et al. represents the oldest evidence of Arundinarieae's historical distribution in India. As a member of the Bambusoideae subfamily (Indomalayan origin, ~54 Ma), this fossil documents the extinction of temperate bamboo in southern India during Miocene climate shifts.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144080571","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":"What can we learn from the loss of sharks?","authors":"Haojie Su, Libin Zhou, Ping Xie","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The decline of apex predators has cascading effects on ecosystem structure and function. Hammerschlag et al. reveal how the loss of white sharks in False Bay, South Africa triggered an increase in mesopredators and a decline in prey, underscoring the critical process of trophic cascades in shaping marine community structure.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144080575","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":"Biophilia without teeth: revisiting what we have already lost.","authors":"Andreas De Block, Yannick Joye","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.015","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144080569","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":"New twist to a fantastical distribution: Fiji-Tonga iguanas.","authors":"Jason R Ali, Uwe Fritz","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.011","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Over-water 'rafting' accounts for much of the biota on the 'oceanic' islands. Arguably, the most spectacular example concerns the iguanas on Fiji and Tonga. Scarpetta et al. have recently provided compelling evidence for them originating in western North America, with their trans-oceanic dispersal occurring within the past 33 million years.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144080573","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}
Alexa L Fredston, Morgan W Tingley, Montague H C Neate-Clegg, Luke J Evans, Laura H Antão, Natalie C Ban, I-Ching Chen, Yi-Wen Chen, Lise Comte, David P Edwards, Birgitta Evengard, Belen Fadrique, Sophie H Falkeis, Robert Guralnick, David H Klinges, Jonas J Lembrechts, Jonathan Lenoir, Juliano Palacios-Abrantes, Aníbal Pauchard, Gretta Pecl, Malin L Pinsky, Rebecca A Senior, Jennifer E Smith, Lydia G Soifer, Jennifer M Sunday, Ken D Tape, Peter Washam, Brett R Scheffers
{"title":"Reimagining species on the move across space and time.","authors":"Alexa L Fredston, Morgan W Tingley, Montague H C Neate-Clegg, Luke J Evans, Laura H Antão, Natalie C Ban, I-Ching Chen, Yi-Wen Chen, Lise Comte, David P Edwards, Birgitta Evengard, Belen Fadrique, Sophie H Falkeis, Robert Guralnick, David H Klinges, Jonas J Lembrechts, Jonathan Lenoir, Juliano Palacios-Abrantes, Aníbal Pauchard, Gretta Pecl, Malin L Pinsky, Rebecca A Senior, Jennifer E Smith, Lydia G Soifer, Jennifer M Sunday, Ken D Tape, Peter Washam, Brett R Scheffers","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.03.015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2025.03.015","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Climate change is already leaving a broad footprint of impacts on biodiversity, from an individual caterpillar emerging earlier in spring to dominant plant communities migrating poleward. Despite the various modes of how species are on the move, we primarily document shifting species along only one gradient (e.g., latitude or phenology) and along one dimension (space or time). In this opinion article we present a unifying framework for integrating the study of species on the move over space and time and from micro to macro scales. Future conservation planning and natural resource management will depend on our ability to use this framework to improve understanding, attribution, and prediction of species on the move.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144000455","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}