| 11. |
|
|
| 12. |
- Bellot, S., et al.
(författare)
-
The likely extinction of hundreds of palm species threatens their contributions to people and ecosystems
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Nature Ecology and Evolution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2397-334X. ; 6
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Protecting nature’s contributions to people requires accelerating extinction risk assessment and better integrating evolutionary, functional and used diversity with conservation planning. Here, we report machine learning extinction risk predictions for 1,381 palm species (Arecaceae), a plant family of high socio-economic and ecological importance. We integrate these predictions with published assessments for 508 species (covering 75% of all palm species) and we identify top-priority regions for palm conservation on the basis of their proportion of threatened evolutionarily distinct, functionally distinct and used species. Finally, we explore palm use resilience to identify non-threatened species that could potentially serve as substitutes for threatened used species by providing similar products. We estimate that over a thousand palms (56%) are probably threatened, including 185 species with documented uses. Some regions (New Guinea, Vanuatu and Vietnam) emerge as top ten priorities for conservation only after incorporating machine learning extinction risk predictions. Potential substitutes are identified for 91% of the threatened used species and regional use resilience increases with total palm richness. However, 16 threatened used species lack potential substitutes and 30 regions lack substitutes for at least one of their threatened used palm species. Overall, we show that hundreds of species of this keystone family face extinction, some of them probably irreplaceable, at least locally. This highlights the need for urgent actions to avoid major repercussions on palm-associated ecosystem processes and human livelihoods in the coming decades. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
|
|
| 13. |
- Bengtson, Stefan, 1947-, et al.
(författare)
-
Fungus-like mycelial fossils in 2.4-billion-year-old vesicular basalt.
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Nature Ecology & Evolution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2397-334X. ; 1:6, s. 1-6
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Fungi have recently been found to comprise a significant part of the deep biosphere in oceanic sediments and crustal rocks. Fossils occupying fractures and pores in Phanerozoic volcanics indicate that this habitat is at least 400 million years old, but its origin may be considerably older. A 2.4-billion-year-old basalt from the Palaeoproterozoic Ongeluk Formation in South Africa contains filamentous fossils in vesicles and fractures. The filaments form mycelium-like structures growing from a basal film attached to the internal rock surfaces. Filaments branch and anastomose, touch and entangle each other. They are indistinguishable from mycelial fossils found in similar deep-biosphere habitats in the Phanerozoic, where they are attributed to fungi on the basis of chemical and morphological similarities to living fungi. The Ongeluk fossils, however, are two to three times older than current age estimates of the fungal clade. Unless they represent an unknown branch of fungus-like organisms, the fossils imply that the fungal clade is considerably older than previously thought, and that fungal origin and early evolution may lie in the oceanic deep biosphere rather than on land. The Ongeluk discovery suggests that life has inhabited submarine volcanics for more than 2.4 billion years.
|
|
| 14. |
- Bloch, Natasha, I, et al.
(författare)
-
Early neurogenomic response associated with variation in guppy female mate preference
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Nature Ecology & Evolution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2397-334X. ; 2:11, s. 1772-1781
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding the evolution of mate choice requires dissecting the mechanisms of female preference, particularly how these differ among social contexts and preference phenotypes. Here, we studied the female neurogenomic response after only 10 min of mate exposure in both a sensory component (optic tectum) and a decision-making component (telencephalon) of the brain. By comparing the transcriptional response between females with and without preferences for colourful males, we identified unique neurogenomic elements associated with the female preference phenotype that are not present in females without preference. A network analysis revealed different properties for this response at the sensory-processing and the decision-making levels, and we show that this response is highly centralized in the telencephalon. Furthermore, we identified an additional set of genes that vary in expression across social contexts, beyond mate evaluation. We show that transcription factors among these loci are predicted to regulate the transcriptional response of the genes we found to be associated with female preference.
|
|
| 15. |
|
|
| 16. |
- Botting, Joseph P., et al.
(författare)
-
A Middle Ordovician Burgess Shale-type fauna from Castle Bank, Wales (UK)
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Nature Ecology & Evolution. - : Springer Nature. - 2397-334X. ; 7:5, s. 666-674
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Burgess Shale-type faunas are critical to our understanding of animal evolution during the Cambrian, giving an unrivalled view of the morphology of ancient organisms and the ecology of the earliest animal-dominated communities. Rare examples in Lower Ordovician strata such as the Fezouata Biota illustrate the subsequent evolution of ecosystems but only from before the main phase of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. Later Ordovician Konservat-Lagerstätten are not directly comparable with the Burgess Shale-type faunas as they do not represent diverse, open-shelf communities, limiting our ability to track ecological development through the critical Ordovician biodiversification interval. Here we present the Castle Bank fauna: a highly diverse Middle Ordovician Burgess Shale-type fauna from Wales (UK) that is directly comparable with the Burgess Shale and Chengjiang biotas in palaeoenvironment and preservational style. The deposit includes animals with morphologies similar to the iconic Cambrian taxa Opabinia, Yohoia and Wiwaxia, combined with early examples of more derived groups such as barnacles. Many taxa such as kinorhynchs show the small sizes typical of modern faunas, illustrating post-Cambrian miniaturization. Castle Bank provides a new perspective on early animal evolution, revealing the next chapter in ecosystem development following the Chengjiang, Burgess Shale and Fezouata biotas.
|
|
| 17. |
- Brazeau, Martin D., et al.
(författare)
-
Endochondral bone in an Early Devonian 'placoderm' from Mongolia
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Nature Ecology & Evolution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2397-334X. ; 4:11, s. 1477-1484
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Endochondral bone is the main internal skeletal tissue of nearly all osteichthyans—the group comprising more than 60,000 living species of bony fishes and tetrapods. Chondrichthyans (sharks and their kin) are the living sister group of osteichthyans and have primarily cartilaginous endoskeletons, long considered the ancestral condition for all jawed vertebrates (gnathostomes). The absence of bone in modern jawless fishes and the absence of endochondral ossification in early fossil gnathostomes appear to lend support to this conclusion. Here we report the discovery of extensive endochondral bone in Minjinia turgenensis, a new genus and species of ‘placoderm’-like fish from the Early Devonian (Pragian) of western Mongolia described using X-ray computed microtomography. The fossil consists of a partial skull roof and braincase with anatomical details providing strong evidence of placement in the gnathostome stem group. However, its endochondral space is filled with an extensive network of fine trabeculae resembling the endochondral bone of osteichthyans. Phylogenetic analyses place this new taxon as a proximate sister group of the gnathostome crown. These results provide direct support for theories of generalized bone loss in chondrichthyans. Furthermore, they revive theories of a phylogenetically deeper origin of endochondral bone and its absence in chondrichthyans as a secondary condition.
|
|
| 18. |
- Burdon, Francis
(författare)
-
A meeting framework for inclusive and sustainable science
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Nature ecology & evolution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2397-334X. ; 4, s. 668-671
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ABCD conference format (All continents, Balanced gender, low Carbon transport, Diverse backgrounds) mixes live-streamed and pre-recorded talks with in-person ones to reflect a diverse range of viewpoints and reduce the environmental footprint of meetings while also lowering barriers to inclusiveness.
|
|
| 19. |
- Buschke, F. T., et al.
(författare)
-
Random population fluctuations bias the Living Planet Index
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Nature Ecology and Evolution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2397-334X. ; 5:8, s. 1145-1152
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Living Planet Index (LPI) is a standardized indicator for tracking population trends through time. Due to its ability to aggregate many time series in a single metric, the LPI has been proposed as an indicator for the Convention on Biological Diversity’s post-2020 Global Biodiversity Strategy. However, here we show that random population fluctuations introduce biases when calculating the LPI. By combining simulated and empirical data, we show how random fluctuations lead to a declining LPI even when overall population trends are stable and imprecise estimates of the LPI when populations increase or decrease nonlinearly. We applied randomization null models that demonstrate how random fluctuations exaggerate declines in the global LPI by 9.6%. Our results confirm substantial declines in the LPI but highlight sources of uncertainty in quantitative estimates. Randomization null models are useful for presenting uncertainty around indicators of progress towards international biodiversity targets. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
|
|
| 20. |
- Calatayud, Joaquín, et al.
(författare)
-
Positive associations among rare species and their persistence in ecological assemblages
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Nature Ecology & Evolution. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2397-334X. ; 4:1, s. 40-45
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- According to the competitive exclusion principle, species with low competitive abilities should be excluded by more efficient competitors; yet, they generally remain as rare species. Here, we describe the positive and negative spatial association networks of 326 disparate assemblages, showing a general organization pattern that simultaneously supports the primacy of competition and the persistence of rare species. Abundant species monopolize negative associations in about 90% of the assemblages. On the other hand, rare species are mostly involved in positive associations, forming small network modules. Simulations suggest that positive interactions among rare species and microhabitat preferences are the most probable mechanisms underpinning this pattern and rare species persistence. The consistent results across taxa and geography suggest a general explanation for the maintenance of biodiversity in competitive environments. Analysing spatial association networks among >300 terrestrial and aquatic assemblages, the authors find that the majority of negative associations involve abundant species. In contrast, rare species form mostly positive associations, potentially explaining their persistence in natural communities.
|
|
