Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Vanessa Polet Carrillo-Carrasco, Jorge Hernandez-Garcia, Sumanth K. Mutte, Dolf Weijers
Summary: The signaling molecule auxin is found in various life kingdoms. It has primarily been studied as a phytohormone regulating growth and development in land plants. Recent advancements in genomic and transcriptomic data, along with phylogenetic inference, have allowed us to trace the evolutionary history of auxin biology in bryophytes and streptophyte algae. This review examines auxin biosynthesis, transport, physiological and molecular responses, as well as its role as a chemical messenger in ecological communication. Validating predicted orthologs will further our understanding of the conserved properties of auxin biology among streptophytes.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Daniel M. Griffith, Kristin B. Byrd, Leander D. L. Anderegg, Elijah Allan, Demetrios Gatziolis, Dar Roberts, Rosie Yacoub, Ramakrishna R. Nemani
Summary: The biogeographic history of vegetation communities can determine their climate responses, and these responses can be captured by the reflectance properties of vegetation in the visible-to-short wavelength infrared range. This study investigates the potential of incorporating evolutionary thinking into landcover classification using airborne hyperspectral data and vegetation plot data. The results show that lineage-based methods can be a promising way to leverage new-generation hyperspectral data with existing ground-based ecological data.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Benjamin D. Golas, Brandon Goodell, Colleen T. Webb
Summary: Novel pathogen introductions can have severe consequences for naive host populations and evolutionary rescue (ER) theory is essential for understanding whether hosts survive through adaptation. By expanding ER theory to include biological selective agents like pathogens, researchers are able to identify system characteristics that make ER possible, shifting from retrospective observation to a predictive mindset. Birth processes play a more significant role in determining ER potential than previously theorized.
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Robert Nasi
Summary: The cultivation of oil palm is a permanent practice, but a five-year study shows that incorporating native trees into the monoculture can enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functioning without significantly reducing crop yields. The presence of native trees benefits the plantation ecosystem while maintaining crop productivity.
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Eric Allan
Summary: A field experiment offers a new approach to explore the mechanisms through which grazing, fertilizer use, and light availability can influence the biodiversity of a grassland plant community.
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ana S. L. Rodrigues, Marie-Morgane Rouyer
Summary: A global analysis provides evidence that protected areas are slowing down global biodiversity declines, although the effects vary across different groups of species, and what happens outside protected areas also matters.
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Virginia M. Weis
Summary: Biologists have found through careful analysis of nutrient cycling that corals can rely on an unexpected food source to survive in times of food scarcity.
Article
Biology
Zachary T. Wood, Eric P. Palkovacs, Brian J. Olsen, Michael T. Kinnison
Summary: Humans are dominant global drivers of ecological and evolutionary change, affecting the reshaping of ecosystems and natural selection. Human activities play a crucial role in shaping eco-evolutionary potential, influencing the stability and resilience of populations, communities, and ecosystems. Proper management of anthropogenic effects requires a science of human effects on eco-evolutionary potential.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Emmanuel Defossez, Camille Pitteloud, Patrice Descombes, Gaetan Glauser, Pierre-Marie Allard, Tom W. N. Walker, Pilar Fernandez-Conradi, Jean-Luc Wolfender, Loic Pellissier, Sergio Rasmann
Summary: Plants produce a wide diversity of phytochemicals to cope with environmental challenges, which are also sources of numerous medicines. Research suggests that plant chemical diversity is related to species diversity and constrained by trophic, climatic, and topographical factors. By combining phylogenetic information, topographic, edaphic, and climatic variables, phytochemical diversity and its composition of plant communities across landscapes can be predicted.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Review
Biology
Zachary M. Laubach, Kay E. Holekamp, Izzuddin M. Aris, Natalie Slopen, Wei Perng
Summary: The study of developmental plasticity in ecology and evolutionary biology aims to understand the ontogenetic processes underlying phenotypes that are subject to natural selection. This article discusses the challenges of determining causality between exposure and later-life phenotype, and presents six conceptual models from lifecourse epidemiology that can be applied to research on developmental plasticity in EEB.
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Tim Caro
Summary: Bright and toxic colours are effective in deterring predators, but the evolution of such colours without endangering conspicuous organisms has been a controversial topic. Analyzing amphibians provides an answer to this puzzle.
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mark R. Payne
Summary: A recent analysis of fish population data in Europe and North America has revealed an alarming increase in the occurrence of marine heatwaves, challenging our previous understanding of their ecological implications.
News Item
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sara Phillips
Summary: By assessing the unique traits of traded animals and their role in ecosystems, researchers can evaluate the potential impact of losses.
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Emiliano Donadio, Sebastian Di Martino, Sofia Heinonen
Summary: A foundation is reintroducing native species to restore ecosystems and develop ecotourism.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Renata Siqueira Melo, Eduardo Roberto Alexandrino, Felipe Rossetti de Paula, Danilo Boscolo, Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz
Summary: Promoting the diversity of biological communities in agricultural areas is crucial for biodiversity conservation, especially for bird populations which show rapid responses to landscape changes. This study reveals that the composition and configuration of planted Eucalyptus spp. forests have significant effects on the functional diversity of bird assemblages. Factors such as tree age, land cover, and clone types influence functional divergence, functional evenness, and species richness of bird populations. These findings highlight the importance of good management practices in maintaining bird diversity and suggest that associating Eucalyptus trees with other cover types in the landscape can increase bird functional diversity.
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Letter
Entomology
Hui Zhang, Qian Liu, Kexue Chen, Xueqi Ni, Zhentao Cheng, Gexia Qiao, Xiaolei Huang
Article
Ecology
Qian Liu, Hui Zhang, Xiaolei Huang
Summary: The study assessed the symbiotic bacterial communities of Pseudoregma bambucicola, a social aphid, at different morphs or developmental stages using high-throughput 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing. The results showed significant differences in bacterial composition based on morphs and developmental stages. Male aphids were found to have a different symbiotic composition with low abundance of dominant symbionts but high diversity of total symbionts.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Congcong Lu, Xiaolei Huang, Jun Deng
Summary: In this study, three new mitogenomes of scale insects were annotated and compared with other hemipteran species for the first time. It was found that soft scales have high A + T content, gene rearrangement, and truncated tRNAs. The A + T content and codon usage bias of scale insects are higher and stronger than other hemipteran insects. The atp8 gene of Hemiptera and nine other protein-coding genes of scale insects are under positive selection with higher evolutionary rates.
Article
Ecology
Shinichi Nakagawa, Daniel W. A. Noble, Malgorzata Lagisz, Rebecca Spake, Wolfgang Viechtbauer, Alistair M. Senior
Summary: The log response ratio (lnRR) is commonly used in ecology meta-analysis, but missing standard deviations (SDs) pose a challenge in estimating the sampling variance. We propose a new method using weighted average coefficient of variation (CV) from studies reporting SDs to address this issue. Our results show that using the average CV to estimate sampling variances for all observations, regardless of missingness, performs better than the conventional approach using individual study-specific CV with complete data. This approach is broadly applicable and can be implemented in all lnRR meta-analyses.
Article
Ecology
Benjamin S. Halpern, Carl Boettiger, Michael C. Dietze, Jessica A. Gephart, Patrick Gonzalez, Nancy B. Grimm, Peter M. Groffman, Jessica Gurevitch, Sarah E. Hobbie, Kimberly J. Komatsu, Kristy J. Kroeker, Heather J. Lahr, David M. Lodge, Christopher J. Lortie, Julie S. S. Lowndes, Fiorenza Micheli, Hugh P. Possingham, Mary H. Ruckelshaus, Courtney Scarborough, Chelsea L. Wood, Grace C. Wu, Lina Aoyama, Eva E. Arroyo, Christie A. Bahlai, Erin E. Beller, Rachael E. Blake, Karrigan S. Bork, Trevor A. Branch, Norah E. M. Brown, Julien Brun, Emilio M. Bruna, Lauren B. Buckley, Jessica L. Burnett, Max C. N. Castorani, Samantha H. Cheng, Sarah C. Cohen, Jessica L. Couture, Larry B. Crowder, Laura E. Dee, Arildo S. Dias, Ignacio J. Diaz-Maroto, Martha R. Downs, Joan C. Dudney, Erle C. Ellis, Kyle A. Emery, Jacob G. Eurich, Bridget E. Ferriss, Alexa Fredston, Hikaru Furukawa, Sara A. Gagne, Sarah R. Garlick, Colin J. Garroway, Kaitlyn M. Gaynor, Angelica L. Gonzalez, Eliza M. Grames, Tamar Guy-Haim, Ed Hackett, Lauren M. Hallett, Tamara K. Harms, Danielle E. Haulsee, Kyle J. Haynes, Elliott L. Hazen, Rebecca M. Jarvis, Kristal Jones, Gaurav S. Kandlikar, Dustin W. Kincaid, Matthew L. Knope, Anil Koirala, Jurek Kolasa, John S. Kominoski, Julia Koricheva, Lesley T. Lancaster, Jake A. Lawlor, Heili E. Lowman, Frank E. Muller-Karger, Kari E. A. Norman, Nan Nourn, Casey C. O'Hara, Suzanne X. Ou, Jacqueline L. Padilla-Gamino, Paula Pappalardo, Ryan A. Peek, Dominique Pelletier, Stephen Plont, Lauren C. Ponisio, Cristina Portales-Reyes, Diogo B. Provete, Eric J. Raes, Carlos Ramirez-Reyes, Irene Ramos, Sydne Record, Anthony J. Richardson, Roberto Salguero-Gomez, Erin Satterthwaite, Chloe Schmidt, Aaron J. Schwartz, Craig R. See, Brendan D. Shea, Rachel S. Smith, Eric R. Sokol, Christopher T. Solomon, Trisha Spanbauer, Paris Stefanoudis, Beckett W. Sterner, Vitor Sudbrack, Jonathan D. Tonkin, Ashley R. Townes, Mireia Valle, Jonathan A. Walter, Kathryn Wheeler, William R. Wieder, David R. Williams, Marten Winter, Barbora Winterova, Lucy C. Woodall, Adam S. Wymore, Casey Youngflesh
Summary: Synthesis research in ecology and environmental science is important for improving understanding, advancing theory, identifying research priorities, and supporting management strategies. A virtual workshop with participants from different countries and disciplines was held to discuss how synthesis can address key questions and themes in the field in the next decade. Seven priority research topics and two issues regarding synthesis practices were identified, providing a strategic vision for future synthesis in ecology and environmental science.
Article
Ecology
Xin Peng, Qiang Li, Zhentao Cheng, Xiaolei Huang
Summary: The growth and implementation of genetic data in the field of biogeography has significantly benefited the discipline. Scientists have perceived an imbalance of genetic data among different regions and taxonomic groups, but lack empirical evidence to understand the current situation. By constructing a dataset consisting of millions of nucleotide sequences and specific sequences from different kingdoms and taxonomic groups, this study provides evidence of the geographical and taxonomical imbalance of genetic data. It also identifies major gaps and inappropriate practices in the production, application, and sharing of genetic data, and discusses perspectives on improving the quantity and quality of genetic data.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Biology
Rebecca Spake, Diana E. Bowler, Corey T. Callaghan, Shane A. Blowes, C. Patrick Doncaster, Laura H. Antao, Shinichi Nakagawa, Richard McElreath, Jonathan M. Chase
Summary: Ecologists often use statistical models to detect and explain interactions among ecological drivers, but overlook two fundamental properties: the measurement scale and symmetry. Overlooking these properties can lead to three types of inferential errors: misinterpretation of detection and magnitude, misinterpretation of the sign of effect modification, and misidentification of underlying processes. We illustrate these errors using various ecological questions and propose guidelines to improve the study of interactions in ecology.
BIOLOGICAL REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Biology
Yefeng Yang, Alfredo Sanchez-Tojar, Rose E. O'Dea, Daniel W. A. Noble, Julia Koricheva, Michael D. Jennions, Timothy H. Parker, Malgorzata Lagisz, Shinichi Nakagawa
Summary: Collaborative efforts have revealed a replication crisis in medical and social sciences, prompting cultural changes to improve reliability. This study retrospectively assesses replicability in ecology and evolutionary biology, finding widespread small-study and decline effects, as well as publication bias distorting meta-analytic results. Low statistical power and inflated effect sizes are also observed. The research emphasizes the importance of high-power empirical studies, replication, correcting for publication bias, and transparent research practices.
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Qiang Li, Qian Liu, Yuhua Yu, Xiaolan Lin, Xueyou He, Xiaolei Huang
Summary: This study demonstrates that subtropical regions are likely to have a higher diversity of aphids, including the presence of cryptic species. The DNA barcode reference library constructed in this study provides a robust baseline dataset for future research in aphid taxonomy, phylogenetics, ecology, and evolution.
Article
Entomology
Jianjun Lu, Hui Zhang, Qing Wang, Xiaolei Huang
Summary: We identified 43 P450 genes in the social aphid Pseudoregma bambucicola and inferred their possible function based on phylogenetic analysis. Several P450 genes, such as CYP18A1, CYP4G332, and CYP4G333, were found to be expressed at higher levels in soldiers compared to normal nymphs and adult aphids. This study provides a foundation for further exploring the function of P450 genes in this social insect.
Article
Entomology
Jun Deng, Junjie Li, Xinrui Zhang, Lingda Zeng, Yanqing Guo, Xu Wang, Zijing Chen, Jiali Zhou, Xiaolei Huang
Summary: In this study, the global distribution of 2486 species of scale insects in 157 countries was analyzed using self-organizing map (SOM) method. The establishment risk of potential invasive species was assessed and a risk list of scale insects for each country was generated based on similarities in species assemblages. The countries were divided into five clusters with high similarities, and the uncertainty of the SOM output was measured using normalized & zeta;(i) values.
Article
Ecology
Zhentao Cheng, Qiang Li, Jun Deng, Qian Liu, Xiaolei Huang
Summary: DNA barcoding has been developed as a powerful tool in taxonomy, but the accuracy of sequences and related raw information in public repositories is often questionable. In this study, the genetic differences within and between species in 68,089 Hemiptera COI barcode sequences were analyzed, revealing that errors in the barcode data are not rare and mostly due to human errors. Suggestions are provided to improve the practical operations and workflow of DNA barcoding to reduce human errors.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Zoology
Pengxu Mu, Xiaolei Huang
Summary: Regulaneuria Zhou, an endemic genus to China in the Ecdyonurinae subfamily, is revised. A new species, Regulaneuria chongchongae sp. nov., from Hainan Island in southern China, is described and illustrated at all stages. The distinguishing characters between Regulaneuria and its closely related genus Asionurus are also clarified.
Editorial Material
Ecology
Timothy H. Parker, Yefeng Yang
Summary: A study analyzing over 18,000 effect sizes from 350 published studies in ecology reveals significant instances of selective reporting and overestimation of effect sizes.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Fonti Kar, Shinichi Nakagawa, Daniel W. A. Noble
Summary: Selective processes influence phenotypic variation, but the evolutionary potential relies on heritable variation. Developmental plasticity is an important source of phenotypic variation, but its relationship with genetic variation is not well understood. In this study, we used an animal model and a genomic relatedness matrix to investigate the impact of developmental temperature on growth in lizards. We found that developmental temperature influenced the mass of lizards but not their growth rate. Additionally, we observed changes in the heritability and maternal effects of growth over time.
