Vivienne P Groner, Jacob Cook, C David L Orme, Priyanga Amarasekare, Edward Comyn-Platt, Taran Rallings, Jaideep Joshi, Robert M Ewers
{"title":"Harmonizing nature's timescales in ecosystem models.","authors":"Vivienne P Groner, Jacob Cook, C David L Orme, Priyanga Amarasekare, Edward Comyn-Platt, Taran Rallings, Jaideep Joshi, Robert M Ewers","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.03.011","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.03.011","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Modeling complex, nonlinear ecosystem processes across different timescales presents a significant challenge. We identify two key issues: selecting a representative timestep that captures interconnected processes across various timescales, and simulating these processes in an appropriate sequence. By synthesizing existing ecosystem frameworks, we find shared compromises between biological realism and computational performance. For the representative timestep, these include 'selective elimination of timescales', 'biting the bullet', 'each in their own time', and 'capture the unseen'. For processing order, we identify hierarchical, logical, iterative, and random approaches. Similar challenges exist in other disciplines, and we show how transferring methods from multiple fields, along with smarter computing, can improve timescale integration. Overcoming these challenges requires innovative transdisciplinary solutions, and we outline directions for future research.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":"575-585"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144016861","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}
Stephen P Bonser, Violaine Gabriel, Karen Zeng, Angela T Moles
{"title":"The biocontrol paradox.","authors":"Stephen P Bonser, Violaine Gabriel, Karen Zeng, Angela T Moles","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.03.012","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.03.012","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Biocontrol agents can significantly reduce the growth and performance of individual invasive plants but often have limited success in controlling invasions. Here, we suggest that some biocontrol failures may be understood by distinguishing between individual plant performance and the performance of groups growing in monoculture. The success of a group growing in monoculture can be maximised if individual plants limit their allocation of limited resources to competition. However, individual performance can be maximised by acquiring resources at the expense of neighbouring plants. Enemies such as herbivores can reduce the dominance of individual plants and limit resource allocation to competition. Thus, biocontrol could have the unexpected effect of increasing the performance of groups of invaders.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":"586-592"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144019467","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}
Eleanor S Diamant, Krista N Oswald, Adewale G Awoyemi, Kevin J Gaston, Ian MacGregor-Fors, Oded Berger-Tal, Uri Roll
{"title":"The importance of biome in shaping urban biodiversity.","authors":"Eleanor S Diamant, Krista N Oswald, Adewale G Awoyemi, Kevin J Gaston, Ian MacGregor-Fors, Oded Berger-Tal, Uri Roll","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.03.014","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.03.014","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Humanity is urbanizing, with vast implications on natural systems. To date, most research on urban biodiversity has centered on temperate biomes. Conversely, drylands, collectively the largest terrestrial global biome, remain understudied. Here, we synthesize key mechanistic differences of urbanization's impacts on biodiversity across these biomes. Irrigation shapes dryland urban ecology, and can lead to greener, sometimes more biodiverse, landscapes than local wildlands. These green urban patches in drylands often have a different species composition, including many non-native and human-commensal species. Socioeconomic factors - locally and globally - can mediate how biomes shape urban biodiversity patterns through the effects of irrigation, greening, and invasive species. We advocate for more research in low-income dryland cities, and for implementing biome-specific, scientifically grounded management and policies.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":"601-612"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144050242","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}
Cristián Gutiérrez-Ibáñez, Pavel Němec, Martin Paré, Douglas R Wylie, Louis Lefebvre
{"title":"How do big brains evolve?","authors":"Cristián Gutiérrez-Ibáñez, Pavel Němec, Martin Paré, Douglas R Wylie, Louis Lefebvre","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.03.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.03.008","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In both birds and mammals, variation in brain size predominantly reflects variation in mass or volume of the pallium (neocortex) and, to a lesser extent, of the cerebellum, suggesting convergent coevolution of brains and cognition. When brain measures are based on neuron counts, however, a surprisingly different picture emerges: The number of neurons in the cerebellum surpasses those in the pallium of all mammals (including humans and other primates) and in many but not all birds studied to date. In particular, parrots and corvids, clades known for cognitive abilities that match those of primates, have brains that contain more pallial than cerebellar neurons. Birds and mammals may thus have followed different evolutionary routes of pallial-cerebellar coordination behind enhanced cognitive complexity.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":"554-562"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144028046","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}
Kate E Lynch, Benjamin L Allen, Oded Berger-Tal, Fiona Fidler, Georgia E Garrard, Jordan O Hampton, Christopher H Lean, Kirsten M Parris, Sally L Sherwen, Thomas E White, Bob B M Wong, Daniel T Blumstein
{"title":"Explicit value trade-offs in conservation: integrating animal welfare.","authors":"Kate E Lynch, Benjamin L Allen, Oded Berger-Tal, Fiona Fidler, Georgia E Garrard, Jordan O Hampton, Christopher H Lean, Kirsten M Parris, Sally L Sherwen, Thomas E White, Bob B M Wong, Daniel T Blumstein","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.03.013","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.03.013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Conservation is an evolving discipline, with its values changing over time. Animal welfare is gaining attention, but can conflict with other conservation values. We illustrate how different management decisions arise from prioritizing different values, and show how these conflicts can depend on value prioritization, as well as how values such as animal welfare are defined. This includes the limits (type of welfare states), scope (range of species), and timescales considered. Since small changes in value articulation and prioritization can lead to major changes in management decisions, we argue for making values and trade-offs explicit. An established structured decision-making (SDM) framework can enhance transparency, reducing misunderstanding in conservation controversies and helping maintain public trust in science.</p>","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":"593-600"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144014576","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":"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":"534-535"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","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":"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":"531-533"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","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":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.015","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":"529-530"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","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":"Disability in ecology and evolution.","authors":"Kelsey J R P Byers, Denis Meuthen, Hella Péter","doi":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.006","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":23274,"journal":{"name":"Trends in ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":"517-522"},"PeriodicalIF":16.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144014487","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}