Ecology articles within Nature Communications

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• Article
  10 February 2025 | Open Access

  A fire deficit persists across diverse North American forests despite recent increases in area burned

  Across many North American forests, recent years with exceptional area burned are not unprecedented when considering the multi-century perspective offered by fire-scarred trees. Nevertheless, abundant evidence suggests that the severity of contemporary wildfire is unprecedented in its adverse impacts on forests and humans.

  • Sean A. Parks
  • , Christopher H. Guiterman
  •  & Larissa L. Yocom

• Article
  10 February 2025 | Open Access

  Yeast-derived volatiles orchestrate an insect-yeast mutualism with oriental armyworm moths

  Interactions among insects, plants, and microorganisms are fundamental for ecosystem function. This study focuses on the attraction of oriental armyworm moths to yeast-fermented nectar and finds that isoamyl alcohol, a yeast-derived compound, activates specific olfactory neurons in the moths, enhancing yeast dispersal and moth reproduction.

  • Baiwei Ma
  • , Hetan Chang
  •  & Guirong Wang

• Article
  05 February 2025 | Open Access

  Marine species and assemblage change foreshadowed by their thermal bias over Early Jurassic warming

  Thermal bias may predict the impact of climate change. Looking at regional warming and marine bivalves, brachiopods, and gastropods in the early Jurassic, the authors find that species with cooler temperature preferences than local conditions were more likely to become extirpated or extinct.

  • Carl J. Reddin
  • , Jan P. Landwehrs
  •  & Martin Aberhan

• Article
  03 February 2025 | Open Access

  Seasonal recurrence and modular assembly of an Arctic pelagic marine microbiome

  Microbial communities are shaped by their environment. Here, the authors demonstrate temporal structuring of microbial communities in the pelagic Arctic Ocean, using remote, long-term sampling with long-read metagenomics and SSU ribosomal metabarcoding.

  • Taylor Priest
  • , Ellen Oldenburg
  •  & Matthias Wietz

• Article
  03 February 2025 | Open Access

  Getting the best of carbon bang for mangrove restoration buck

  Potential mangrove restoration would necessitate an investment of $40.0–52.1 billion, yielding net gains in ESV of $231–725 billion. An estimated of 19.4 Tg C can be sequestrated in mangrove soils, generating $68.6–$236 million via blue C trading.

  • Jingfan Zhang
  • , Zhe Lu
  •  & Faming Wang

• Article
  01 February 2025 | Open Access

  Predicting climate-change impacts on the global glacier-fed stream microbiome

  Little is known about how climate change impacts glacier-fed streams (GFSs) microbiomes. Here, using a modelling framework based on global GFS metagenomic, climatic and environmental data the authors predict future increases in GFS bacterial biomass and diversity, but potential loss of clades adapted to extreme conditions.

  • Massimo Bourquin
  • , Hannes Peter
  •  & Tom J. Battin

• Article
  01 February 2025 | Open Access

  An atlas of metabolites driving chemotaxis in prokaryotes

  In this meta-analysis, the authors compile results from 60 years of chemotaxis research into a database of prokaryotic chemoeffectors that compares and analyses their effects as attractant, repellent or neutral compounds, as well as the chemotactic behaviour of responding microorganisms.

  • Maéva Brunet
  • , Shady A. Amin
  •  & Jean-Baptiste Raina

• Article
  31 January 2025 | Open Access

  Versatile nitrate-respiring heterotrophs are previously concealed contributors to sulfur cycle

  Beyond the long-established chemolithoautotrophs, a new study by Shao et al. uncovers heterotrophic denitrifiers as previously concealed contributors to sulfur cycling, with profound implications for greenhouse gas mitigation.

  • Bo Shao
  • , Yuan-Guo Xie
  •  & Chuan Chen

• Article
  30 January 2025 | Open Access

  Fire-driven disruptions of global soil biochemical relationships

  Wildfires are intensifying as a result of rapid climate change. By integrating experimental observations with random forest model, the authors discovered that fires decouple soil biogeochemistry worldwide, providing critical insights for ecosystem management.

  • Guiyao Zhou
  • , Nico Eisenhauer
  •  & Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo

• Article
  29 January 2025 | Open Access

  Convergent evidence for the temperature-dependent emergence of silicification in terrestrial plants

  The evolutionary reasons for the variation in silicon concentrations across plant families remain unclear. This paper provides new evidence that silicon variation is closely linked to global and long-term climate change, suggesting temperature could have driven the evolution of plant silicification.

  • Zhihao Pang
  • , Félix de Tombeur
  •  & Yongchao Liang

• Article
  28 January 2025 | Open Access

  Plant interactions associated with a directional shift in the richness range size relationship during the Glacial-Holocene transition in the Arctic

  Plant taxonomic richness and average range-size commonly exhibit a negative relationship, though the mechanisms are still debated. Liu et al. reveal that in northeast Siberia and Alaska, this relationship shifted from positive to negative at the glacial to Holocene transition, associated with changing plant interactions.

  • Ying Liu
  • , Simeon Lisovski
  •  & Ulrike Herzschuh

• Article
  28 January 2025 | Open Access

  Temperature-dependent variations in under-canopy herbaceous foliar diseases following shrub encroachment in grasslands

  Shrub encroachment into grasslands affects species biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, but its impact on herbaceous diseases and the role of climatic factors remain unclear. This study finds that shrubs reduce pathogen load in colder regions but may increase it in warmer regions, with temperature being the primary driver of these variations.

  • Yilin Dang
  • , Peng Zhang
  •  & Xiang Liu

• Article
  28 January 2025 | Open Access

  Half of land use carbon emissions in Southeast Asia can be mitigated through peat swamp forest and mangrove conservation and restoration

  New study report that conserving and restoring peatlands and mangroves in Southeast Asia can offer annual climate mitigation potentials of 770 ± 97 TgCO₂e. These carbon-dense wetlands are thus key nature-based climate solutions for ASEAN countries.

  • Sigit D. Sasmito
  • , Pierre Taillardat
  •  & Massimo Lupascu

• Article
  27 January 2025 | Open Access

  Simultaneous aerobic and anaerobic respiration in hot spring chemolithotrophic bacteria

  Anaerobic and aerobic metabolisms are considered to be spatially or temporally segregated. Here, the authors provide evidence for co-occurring aerobic and anaerobic respiration in a chemolithotrophic bacterium isolated from a hot spring in Yellowstone, challenging the existing paradigm.

  • Lisa M. Keller
  • , Daniel R. Colman
  •  & Eric S. Boyd

• Article
  27 January 2025 | Open Access

  Short-term evolutionary implications of an introgressed size-determining supergene in a vulnerable population

  The thorny skate is a vulnerable species in the northwest Atlantic ocean with a discreet size polymorphism. Here, the authors have sequenced 49 thorny skate individuals, finding a supergene locus that is associated with skate size.

  • Pierre Lesturgie
  • , John S. S. Denton
  •  & Gavin J. P. Naylor

• Article
  24 January 2025 | Open Access

  A dynamic optimization of soil phosphorus status approach could reduce phosphorus fertilizer use by half in China

  Sustainable phosphorus management is crucial for crop production and environmental protection, yet smallholder farmers face challenges in adopting efficient practices. The study shows that the Dynamic Optimization of Soil Phosphorus approach can reduce fertilizer use by 47.4% without impacting yields.

  • Haiqing Gong
  • , Yulong Yin
  •  & Zhenling Cui

• Article
  23 January 2025 | Open Access

  Deep soil contributions to global nitrogen budgets

  Researchers estimate that deep soils contain 15.2 Pg of nitrogen, increasing global soil nitrogen budgets by 16%. These deep soil reservoirs could play a crucial role in nutrient cycling and environmental processes.

  • Maya Almaraz
  • , Chao Wang
  •  & Michelle Y. Wong

• Article
  21 January 2025 | Open Access

  Declining precipitation frequency may drive earlier leaf senescence by intensifying drought stress and enhancing drought acclimation

  Precipitation impacts leaf senescence. Here, the authors use carbon flux and satellite data to demonstrate that reduced precipitation frequency is associated with a faster drought response in trees and show that Earth system models don’t capture the impact of reduced precipitation.

  • Xinyi Zhang
  • , Xiaoyue Wang
  •  & Chaoyang Wu

• Article
  20 January 2025 | Open Access

  Unveiling pelagic-benthic coupling associated with the biological carbon pump in the Fram Strait (Arctic Ocean)

  Examining 15 years of data in the Arctic, this study shows that plankton, including diatoms and parasites, play key roles in exporting carbon to the seafloor. Species like Chaetoceros socialis are crucial for carbon flux and pelagic-benthic coupling.

  • Simon Ramondenc
  • , Damien Eveillard
  •  & Thomas Soltwedel

• Article
  18 January 2025 | Open Access

  Life-history adaptation under climate warming magnifies the agricultural footprint of a cosmopolitan insect pest

  Current statistical projections of pest impact under climate change neglect the role of rapid genetic adaptation. Here the authors show that evolutionary responses in pest life history traits in response to temperature can offset current projections and magnify agricultural loss under future climate change.

  • Estelle Burc
  • , Camille Girard-Tercieux
  •  & David Berger

• Article
  17 January 2025 | Open Access

  Preference for and resistance to a toxic sulfur volatile opens up a unique niche in Drosophila busckii

  How animals adapt to toxic ecological niches is poorly understood. This study shows that Drosophila busckii has evolved a tolerance to DMDS, a potent insecticide, likely due to an insensitivity in its cytochrome c oxidase (COX) enzyme complex.

  • Venkatesh Pal Mahadevan
  • , Diego Galagovsky
  •  & Bill S. Hansson

• Article
  17 January 2025 | Open Access

  Microbial biogeography along a 2578 km transect on the East Antarctic Plateau

  WindSled, a zero-emission mobile science platform, is capable of traveling thousands of kilometers and doing valuable science on the Antarctic Plateau. Wind-driven aerosols condition the biogeographic distribution of bioburden from air to 4 m depth.

  • Victor Parro
  • , María Ángeles Lezcano
  •  & Antonio Quesada

• Article
  14 January 2025 | Open Access

  Potential plant extinctions with the loss of the Pleistocene mammoth steppe

  Plant extinctions during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition are poorly documented in the fossil record. Here, the authors present a method to detect plant taxa loss from sedaDNA and demonstrate that herbaceous taxa and taxa contributing less to beta diversity are less vulnerable.

  • Jérémy Courtin
  • , Kathleen R. Stoof-Leichsenring
  •  & Ulrike Herzschuh

• Article
  14 January 2025 | Open Access

  Increased but not pristine soil organic carbon stocks in restored ecosystems

  Ecosystem restoration boosts soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, but not to pristine levels. Our global second-order meta-analysis shows that restoration increases SOC across different contexts, yet reveals a SOC deficit compared to natural ecosystems.

  • Irene Ascenzi
  • , Jelle P. Hilbers
  •  & Steef V. Hanssen

• Article
  13 January 2025 | Open Access

  Emergent patterns of reef fish diversity correlate with coral assemblage shifts along the Great Barrier Reef

  Coral reefs have been severely affected by anthropogenic stress. Using long term data from the Great Barrier Reef, this study found temporal changes in the latitudinal diversity gradient, and stronger correlations between coral assemblage changes and fish diversity than with coral cover fluctuations.

  • F. Javier González-Barrios
  • , Sally A. Keith
  •  & Nicholas A. J. Graham

• Perspective
  10 January 2025 | Open Access

  Governance of Indigenous data in open earth systems science

  Using the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) as an example, this perspective discusses actions that recognize the sovereign rights of Indigenous Peoples and support better research across all Earth Sciences.

  • Lydia Jennings
  • , Katherine Jones
  •  & Stephanie Russo Carroll

• Review Article
  07 January 2025 | Open Access

  Embracing plant plasticity or robustness as a means of ensuring food security

  Breeding environmental adaptive crop cultivars under the climate changing scenario is anything but easy. Here, the authors review the concepts of plasticity and canalization and their integration with contemporary studies of genotype-environmental interactions with the objective to facilitate crop breeding.

  • Saleh Alseekh
  • , Annabella Klemmer
  •  & Alisdair R. Fernie

• Article
  07 January 2025 | Open Access

  Speciation and historical invasions of the Asian black-spined toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus)

  The Asian black-spined toad is a widespread, poisonous, invasive amphibian. Here, the authors use genomic and DNA-barcoding data from this toad to document its complex evolutionary history, two distinct species, and potential historic dispersal assisted by humans.

  • Christophe Dufresnes
  • , Daniel Jablonski
  •  & Nikolay A. Poyarkov

• Article
  05 January 2025 | Open Access

  The optimum nitrogen fertilizer rate for maize in the US Midwest is increasing

  Maize production is dependent on Nitrogen fertilizer input. Here, the authors use long-term and short-term experiments to demonstrate that economic and environmental optimum nitrogen fertilization rates have increased between 1991 and 2021.

  • Mitchell E. Baum
  • , John E. Sawyer
  •  & Sotirios V. Archontoulis

• Article
  02 January 2025 | Open Access

  Surface remodeling and inversion of cell-matrix interactions underlie community recognition and dispersal in Vibrio cholerae biofilms

  It is commonly assumed that bacterial cells within biofilms are glued together by matrix components, but the details are poorly understood. Here, Moreau et al. show how dynamic changes in attractive and repulsive interactions between cells and various matrix components drive biofilm growth and disassembly in Vibrio cholerae.

  • Alexis Moreau
  • , Danh T. Nguyen
  •  & Jing Yan

• Article
  02 January 2025 | Open Access

  Genomic signatures of adaptation in native lizards exposed to human-introduced fire ants

  Red imported fire ants were accidently introduced to North America in the 1930s, since then imposing novel selective pressures on native ecosystems. This study identifies genomic signatures of recent adaptation in native eastern fence lizards potentially linked to exposure to these ants.

  • Braulio A. Assis
  • , Alexis P. Sullivan
  •  & George H. Perry

• Article
  02 January 2025 | Open Access

  Parameters for one health genomic surveillance of Escherichia coli from Australia

  Methods to demonstrate genomic linkages between pathogens across One Health compartments have not been established. Here, the authors compile a collection of E coli genomes from humans, animals, and the environment in Australia and investigate genomic evidence of cross-source clusters.

  • Anne E. Watt
  • , Max L. Cummins
  •  & Benjamin P. Howden

• Article
  30 December 2024 | Open Access

  Floristic classifications and bioregionalizations are not predictors of intra-specific evolutionary patterns

  Proxies for evolutionary processes are widely employed to inform environmental management, conservation, and ecological restoration. This study shows that as proxies, bioregionalisations and floristic classification, do not reflect intraspecific evolutionary patterns observed in targeted genetic studies.

  • Patrick S. Fahey
  • , Richard J. Dimon
  •  & Maurizio Rossetto

• Article
  30 December 2024 | Open Access

  Host dispersal relaxes selective pressures in rafting microbiomes and triggers successional changes

  The microbiomes of dispersing organisms are understudied. Here, the authors examine rafting seaweed microbiomes, using oceanographic modelling to demonstrate significant community changes associated with water temperature.

  • William S. Pearman
  • , Grant A. Duffy
  •  & Ceridwen I. Fraser

• Article
  30 December 2024 | Open Access

  Combining genomics and epidemiology to investigate a zoonotic outbreak of rabies in Romblon Province, Philippines

  Dog-mediated rabies is endemic in parts of Asia and Africa including the Philippines. Here, the authors report investigation of an outbreak of rabies in Romblon, a previously rabies-free island province in the Philippines, using a One Health approach.

  • Mirava Yuson
  • , Criselda T. Bautista
  •  & Katie Hampson

• Article
  30 December 2024 | Open Access

  Future increase in compound soil drought-heat extremes exacerbated by vegetation greening

  This study finds that vegetation greening is expected to exacerbate compound soil drought-heat extreme events, as enhanced transpiration during the early growing season depletes soil moisture leading to deficits in the subsequent warm season.

  • Jun Li
  • , Yao Zhang
  •  & Shilong Piao

• Article
  30 December 2024 | Open Access

  Genome-scale metabolic modelling reveals interactions and key roles of symbiont clades in a sponge holobiont

  Sponges live in symbiosis with diverse microorganisms. This study uses metabolic modelling to show that the microbial symbionts rely on sponge-derived metabolites to maintain community stability and facilitate elemental cycling, and identifies a key microbial clade that drives cross-feeding processes.

  • Shan Zhang
  • , Weizhi Song
  •  & Torsten Thomas

• Article
  23 December 2024 | Open Access

  Evolution of fast-growing piscivorous herring in the young Baltic Sea

  The Atlantic herring is one of the world’s most abundant vertebrates and a typical plankton feeder of major ecological importance. This study shows that a piscivorous (fish-eating) ecotype of herring has evolved after the colonization of the brackish Baltic Sea within the last 8,000 years.

  • Jake Goodall
  • , Mats E. Pettersson
  •  & Leif Andersson

• Review Article
  19 December 2024 | Open Access

  Challenges in data-driven geospatial modeling for environmental research and practice

  In this scoping review, the authors explore the challenges and opportunities of implementing data-driven geospatial models—namely machine learning and deep learning algorithms—in environmental research.

  • Diana Koldasbayeva
  • , Polina Tregubova
  •  & Evgeny Burnaev

• Article
  17 December 2024 | Open Access

  Early–middle Permian Mediterranean gorgonopsian suggests an equatorial origin of therapsids

  Gorgonopsians were sabre toothed therapsids, a group that is ancestral to mammals. The authors here describe a gorgonopsian from the early–middle Permian of Mallorca, suggesting that therapsids originated in tropical regions and diversified quickly over 10 million years.

  • Rafel Matamales-Andreu
  • , Christian F. Kammerer
  •  & Josep Fortuny

• Article
  12 December 2024 | Open Access

  Increased diversity of beneficial rhizobia enhances faba bean growth

  Optimising plant-rhizobium interactions can enhance nitrogen fixation, improving sustainability in agriculture. This study identified four groups of faba bean symbionts that show growth-promoting characteristics and whose diversity across root nodules is under plant genetic control.

  • Marcela Mendoza-Suárez
  • , Turgut Yigit Akyol
  •  & Stig U. Andersen

• Article
  05 December 2024 | Open Access

  Optimizing cover crop practices as a sustainable solution for global agroecosystem services

  Cover crops can improve agricultural sustainability. In this meta-analysis, the authors find that a biculture of legume and non-legume cover crops is optimal and may promote multiple agroecosystem services while mitigating climate-related yield losses by 2100.

  • Tianyi Qiu
  • , Yu Shi
  •  & Linchuan Fang

• Article
  03 December 2024 | Open Access

  A systematic review of using population-level human mobility data to understand SARS-CoV-2 transmission

  Large-scale data on human mobility metrics have been used to gain insights into COVID-19 transmission dynamics, but best practices for use of these datasets have not been established. Here, the authors perform a systematic review to describe the sources of mobility data and methods used for analysis in the early COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Natalya Kostandova
  • , Catherine Schluth
  •  & Amy Wesolowski

• Article
  03 December 2024 | Open Access

  Human interventions have enhanced the net ecosystem productivity of farmland in China

  Farmland ecosystems are influenced by human interventions. Here, the authors assess the relationship of farmland management to net ecosystem productivity of farmland, finding a positive impact of 17.02% in major grain-producing areas of China.

  • Sun Zhang
  • , Wei Chen
  •  & Gezahegne Seyoum

• Article
  29 November 2024 | Open Access

  Ontogeny shapes individual dietary specialization in female European brown bears (Ursus arctos)

  Individual dietary specialization is impacted by development, social learning, genetics, and environment. Here, the authors document European brown bear diet in a multigenerational female sample, finding that social learning during rearing was the most important contributor to dietary specialization.

  • Anne G. Hertel
  • , Jörg Albrecht
  •  & Thomas Mueller

• Article
  29 November 2024 | Open Access

  Soil fungi remain active and invest in storage compounds during drought independent of future climate conditions

  How climate change will impact microbial community growth is unclear. Here, the authors use a field experiment with varying global change factors, finding fungal growth more drought-resistant than microbial growth and overall changes in bacterial growth strategies.

  • Alberto Canarini
  • , Lucia Fuchslueger
  •  & Andreas Richter

• Article
  29 November 2024 | Open Access

  Decoupled responses of plants and soil biota to global change across the world’s land ecosystems

  Understanding how global changes affect both aboveground plants and belowground soil organisms is essential for preserving ecosystem functions and biodiversity. This study synthesizes extensive data, revealing decoupled responses in plant and soil biota to global changes across different biomes.

  • Qingshui Yu
  • , Chenqi He
  •  & Jingyun Fang

• Article
  28 November 2024 | Open Access

  Variability of functional and biodiversity responses to perturbations is predictable and informative

  Measures of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning show variable responses to perturbations, complicating the prediction of responses to global change. This study shows that the variability of community-level responses itself is predictable and can be used to study species’ responses to perturbations and contributions to functions.

  • James A. Orr
  • , Jeremy J. Piggott
  •  & Jean-François Arnoldi

• Article
  28 November 2024 | Open Access

  Important role of Fe oxides in global soil carbon stabilization and stocks

  Iron oxides stabilize soil organic carbon globally, with OC-Fe accounting for 33 ± 15% of SOC in topsoil (233 PgC). A global OC-Fe deficit is evident at the equator and mid-latitudes, highlighting opportunities for carbon sequestration strategies

  • Nan Jia
  • , Lei Li
  •  & Mingyu Xie

• Article
  28 November 2024 | Open Access

  The macroevolutionary dynamics of pharyngognathy in fishes fail to support the key innovation hypothesis

  Key innovations are traits that trigger the rapid evolution of new species occupying novel niches. Fresh genetic evidence reveals that the modified throat jaws of some fishes, thought to be a textbook example of key innovation, have a complex history that does not fit the classic definition.

  • Samuel R. Borstein
  • , Michael P. Hammer
  •  & Matthew D. McGee