Pub Date : 2026-02-10DOI: 10.1038/s41559-026-02992-9
As with plants and animals, microorganisms are affected by climate change. This could destabilize mutualisms that are key to species’ survival and ecosystem resilience.
{"title":"Climate change breakups","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41559-026-02992-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41559-026-02992-9","url":null,"abstract":"As with plants and animals, microorganisms are affected by climate change. This could destabilize mutualisms that are key to species’ survival and ecosystem resilience.","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"10 2","pages":"157-157"},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-026-02992-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146148359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-02-10DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02929-8
Arjan Mann, Zifang Xiong, Ami S. Calthorpe, Hans-Dieter Sues, Hillary C. Maddin
The evolution of herbivory is one of the most important ecological events in the evolution of terrestrial vertebrates and impacted the ecosystems they inhabited. Herbivory independently developed in a number of tetrapod clades during the Late Carboniferous and Permian, eventually leading to the establishment of the basic structure of modern terrestrial ecosystems. Here we describe a Late Carboniferous pantylid ‘microsaur’, Tyrannoroter heberti gen. et sp. nov., with expansive occluding palatal and coronoid dental batteries. The shape of the teeth, as revealed by high-resolution micro-computed tomography data, indicates wear from both shearing and grinding motions consistent with herbivory. New data from historical pantylid fossils show that similar adaptations can be traced back as far as the Bashkirian (~318 million years ago), indicating that terrestrial herbivory was already widespread within this group, and originated rapidly following the terrestrialization of tetrapods. The placement of recumbirostran ‘microsaurs’ on the amniote stem suggests that terrestrial herbivory is not an amniote innovation, although the phylogenetic position of ‘microsaurian’ tetrapods remains uncertain. Under any phylogenetic scenario, the data presented here reveal that pantylids acquired adaptations to herbivory independently, probably via durophagous omnivory, feeding on insects, shelled animals and tough plant material. A new species of pantylid microsaur from the Late Carboniferous of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, has teeth with dental occlusion consistent with herbivory, indicating an early transition to this condition among terrestrial tetrapods.
食草动物的进化是陆生脊椎动物进化过程中最重要的生态事件之一，影响着陆生脊椎动物赖以生存的生态系统。在晚石炭世和二叠纪期间，食草动物在许多四足动物分支中独立发展，最终导致了现代陆地生态系统的基本结构的建立。在这里，我们描述了一种晚石炭纪的“微型恐龙”，Tyrannoroter heberti gen. et sp. nov.，具有膨胀的咬合腭和冠状牙电池。高分辨率微计算机断层扫描数据显示，牙齿的形状表明，剪切和研磨运动造成的磨损与食草运动一致。来自历史上四足动物化石的新数据表明，类似的适应性可以追溯到巴什基里安人（约3.18亿年前），这表明陆生食草动物在这个群体中已经广泛存在，并且在四足动物陆地化之后迅速起源。虽然“小龙”四足动物的系统发育位置仍不确定，但卧铺类“微龙”在羊膜茎上的位置表明陆生食草动物不是羊膜的创新。在任何系统发育情景下，本文提供的数据表明，panylids可能通过硬食性杂食性，以昆虫、有壳动物和坚韧的植物材料为食，独立地获得了对草食的适应。来自新斯科舍省布雷顿角岛晚石炭世的一种新物种，其牙齿咬合与食草动物一致，表明陆生四足动物早期过渡到这种状态。
{"title":"Carboniferous recumbirostran elucidates the origins of terrestrial herbivory","authors":"Arjan Mann, Zifang Xiong, Ami S. Calthorpe, Hans-Dieter Sues, Hillary C. Maddin","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02929-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41559-025-02929-8","url":null,"abstract":"The evolution of herbivory is one of the most important ecological events in the evolution of terrestrial vertebrates and impacted the ecosystems they inhabited. Herbivory independently developed in a number of tetrapod clades during the Late Carboniferous and Permian, eventually leading to the establishment of the basic structure of modern terrestrial ecosystems. Here we describe a Late Carboniferous pantylid ‘microsaur’, Tyrannoroter heberti gen. et sp. nov., with expansive occluding palatal and coronoid dental batteries. The shape of the teeth, as revealed by high-resolution micro-computed tomography data, indicates wear from both shearing and grinding motions consistent with herbivory. New data from historical pantylid fossils show that similar adaptations can be traced back as far as the Bashkirian (~318 million years ago), indicating that terrestrial herbivory was already widespread within this group, and originated rapidly following the terrestrialization of tetrapods. The placement of recumbirostran ‘microsaurs’ on the amniote stem suggests that terrestrial herbivory is not an amniote innovation, although the phylogenetic position of ‘microsaurian’ tetrapods remains uncertain. Under any phylogenetic scenario, the data presented here reveal that pantylids acquired adaptations to herbivory independently, probably via durophagous omnivory, feeding on insects, shelled animals and tough plant material. A new species of pantylid microsaur from the Late Carboniferous of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, has teeth with dental occlusion consistent with herbivory, indicating an early transition to this condition among terrestrial tetrapods.","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"10 2","pages":"193-202"},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146148353","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}
Pub Date : 2026-02-09DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02968-1
Robert M Hechler, Martin Krkosek
Nonlinear dynamics readily occur in natural ecosystems and can drive irregular population fluctuations through oscillations, chaos and alternative stable states. However, the effects of anthropogenic changes, such as to demography and the climate, on nonlinearity of population fluctuations are unknown. We evaluated the extent and magnitude of nonlinearity and its environmental and life history correlates in 243 recruitment and 266 spawner time series of 143 marine fish species, worldwide. Here we show that temperature variation amplifies nonlinearity in recruitment and spawner biomass, while life history mediates the degree of nonlinearity for the latter, dampening it in slow-lived species. Nonlinearity was shown by 81% of populations and correlated with the magnitude of fluctuations. These nonlinear dynamics were low dimensional and causally forced by temperature in 69% of populations with the probability of forcing increasing for recruits in variable-temperature environments and fast-lived spawners. Our results challenge assumptions of stable dynamics and sustainable yield common to fisheries management, and suggest that nonlinear fluctuations of fish populations are magnified by size-selective fisheries and environmental variability from global climate change.
{"title":"Temperature variation and life history mediate nonlinearity in fluctuations of marine fish populations worldwide.","authors":"Robert M Hechler, Martin Krkosek","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02968-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02968-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Nonlinear dynamics readily occur in natural ecosystems and can drive irregular population fluctuations through oscillations, chaos and alternative stable states. However, the effects of anthropogenic changes, such as to demography and the climate, on nonlinearity of population fluctuations are unknown. We evaluated the extent and magnitude of nonlinearity and its environmental and life history correlates in 243 recruitment and 266 spawner time series of 143 marine fish species, worldwide. Here we show that temperature variation amplifies nonlinearity in recruitment and spawner biomass, while life history mediates the degree of nonlinearity for the latter, dampening it in slow-lived species. Nonlinearity was shown by 81% of populations and correlated with the magnitude of fluctuations. These nonlinear dynamics were low dimensional and causally forced by temperature in 69% of populations with the probability of forcing increasing for recruits in variable-temperature environments and fast-lived spawners. Our results challenge assumptions of stable dynamics and sustainable yield common to fisheries management, and suggest that nonlinear fluctuations of fish populations are magnified by size-selective fisheries and environmental variability from global climate change.</p>","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146150180","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}
Pub Date : 2026-02-09DOI: 10.1038/s41559-026-03002-8
Oleksandr M Maistrenko, Natalia Volkova, Vladyslav Mirutenko, Walter Wolfsberger, Yaroslava Hasynets, Tetiana Barannik, Serhii Sydorovskyi, Yurii Gamulya, Taras K Oleksyk, Svitlana Serga
{"title":"Rebuilding Ukraine's capacity for fundamental research in evolutionary biology.","authors":"Oleksandr M Maistrenko, Natalia Volkova, Vladyslav Mirutenko, Walter Wolfsberger, Yaroslava Hasynets, Tetiana Barannik, Serhii Sydorovskyi, Yurii Gamulya, Taras K Oleksyk, Svitlana Serga","doi":"10.1038/s41559-026-03002-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-026-03002-8","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146150106","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}
Pub Date : 2026-02-09DOI: 10.1038/s41559-026-03001-9
Marian Turner, James C Russell, Margaret Nichols
{"title":"Eliminating invasive predators.","authors":"Marian Turner, James C Russell, Margaret Nichols","doi":"10.1038/s41559-026-03001-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-026-03001-9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146150099","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}
Pub Date : 2026-02-09DOI: 10.1038/s41559-026-02982-x
Yunpeng Zhao, Xiaojuan Feng, Mari Pihlatie, Anuliina Putkinen, Milja Männikkö, Houquan Wang, Chengzhu Liu, Mika Aurela, Xuefei Li
Boreal ecosystems store twice as much carbon as the atmosphere and warm faster than the global average. The current paradigm based on boreal forests and tundra considers that warming will accelerate boreal carbon loss. However, the warming response of Sphagnum peatlands, storing ~40% of boreal carbon stocks, remains under-investigated. Here by coupling meta-analysis of 735 paired observations from 93 boreal warming studies with mechanistic investigations into two long-term warming experiments in Finnish peatlands, we demonstrate that warming enhances soil carbon accumulation in boreal Sphagnum peatlands. This result sharply contrasts with warming-induced carbon loss from boreal forests and tundra, owing to the unique metabolic response of Sphagnum, leading to increased plant productivity, reduced microbial decomposition and enhanced iron-mediated protection of soil organic matter. Our estimates suggest that warming-induced increase of soil carbon in boreal Sphagnum peatlands (assuming no hydrological changes or plant species shifts) may offset nearly half the boreal forest carbon-sink decline or heterotrophic respiration increases in Arctic tundra under warming. These findings highlight the vital but overlooked role of Sphagnum peatlands in counteracting boreal carbon loss under future warming.
{"title":"Warming enhances soil carbon accumulation in boreal Sphagnum peatlands.","authors":"Yunpeng Zhao, Xiaojuan Feng, Mari Pihlatie, Anuliina Putkinen, Milja Männikkö, Houquan Wang, Chengzhu Liu, Mika Aurela, Xuefei Li","doi":"10.1038/s41559-026-02982-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-026-02982-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Boreal ecosystems store twice as much carbon as the atmosphere and warm faster than the global average. The current paradigm based on boreal forests and tundra considers that warming will accelerate boreal carbon loss. However, the warming response of Sphagnum peatlands, storing ~40% of boreal carbon stocks, remains under-investigated. Here by coupling meta-analysis of 735 paired observations from 93 boreal warming studies with mechanistic investigations into two long-term warming experiments in Finnish peatlands, we demonstrate that warming enhances soil carbon accumulation in boreal Sphagnum peatlands. This result sharply contrasts with warming-induced carbon loss from boreal forests and tundra, owing to the unique metabolic response of Sphagnum, leading to increased plant productivity, reduced microbial decomposition and enhanced iron-mediated protection of soil organic matter. Our estimates suggest that warming-induced increase of soil carbon in boreal Sphagnum peatlands (assuming no hydrological changes or plant species shifts) may offset nearly half the boreal forest carbon-sink decline or heterotrophic respiration increases in Arctic tundra under warming. These findings highlight the vital but overlooked role of Sphagnum peatlands in counteracting boreal carbon loss under future warming.</p>","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146150153","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}
Pub Date : 2026-02-09DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02962-7
{"title":"Nonlinearity in marine fish populations is amplified by temperature variation and fast life histories.","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02962-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02962-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146150177","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}
Pub Date : 2026-02-09DOI: 10.1038/s41559-026-02986-7
{"title":"Boreal Sphagnum peatlands may counteract carbon loss under warming.","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41559-026-02986-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-026-02986-7","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146150122","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}
Pub Date : 2026-02-06DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02971-6
Soroor Rahmanian, Nico Eisenhauer, Yuanyuan Huang, Martin Hejda, Petr Pyšek, Hannes Feilhauer, David J Eldridge, Nicolas Gross, Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Hugo Saiz, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Miguel Berdugo, Victoria Ochoa, Beatriz Gozalo, Sergio Asensio, Emilio Guirado, Enrique Valencia, Miguel García-Gómez, Juan J Gaitán, Betty Mendoza, César Plaza, Paloma Díaz-Martínez, Jaime Martínez-Valderrama, Mehdi Abedi, Negar Ahmadian, Rodrigo J Ahumada, Fateh Amghar, Thiago Araújo, Antonio I Arroyo, Farah Ben Salem, Niels Blaum, Enkhjargal Boldbat, Bazartseren Boldgiv, Matthew Bowker, Liesbeth van den Brink, Chongfeng Bu, Rafaella Canessa, Andrea P Castillo-Monroy, Helena Castro, Patricio Castro-Quezada, Ghassen Chaieb, Roukaya Chibani, Abel A Conceição, Yvonne C Davila, Balázs Deák, David A Donoso, Andrew Dougill, Carlos Iván Espinosa, Alex Fajardo, Mohammad Farzam, Daniela Ferrante, Jorgelina Franzese, Lauchlan H Fraser, Erika Geiger, Sofia Laura Gonzalez, Elizabeth Gusman Montalván, Robert Hering, Eugene Marais, Rosa Mary Hernández Hernández, Sandra Daniela Hernández-Valdez, Norbert Hölzel, Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald, Oswaldo Jadán, Anke Jentsch, Liana Kindermann, Melanie Köbel, Peter C le Roux, Cintia V Leder, Xinhao Li, Pierre Liancourt, Anja Linstädter, Jushan Liu, Michelle A Louw, Gillian Maggs-Kölling, Thulani P Makhalanyane, Oumarou Malam Issa, Antonio J Manzaneda, Pierre Margerie, Raphaël Martin, Mitchel P McClaran, João Vitor S Messeder, Juan P Mora, Gerardo Moreno, Seth M Munson, Girish R Nair, Alice Nunes, Gabriel Oliva, Salza Palpurina, Guadalupe Peter, Yolanda Pueyo, Emiliano Quiroga, Sasha C Reed, Pedro J Rey, Alexandra Rodríguez, Victor Rolo, Jan C Ruppert, Ayman Salah, Shlomo Sarig, Brajesh K Singh, Anthony Swemmer, Alberto L Teixido, Andrew D Thomas, Katja Tielbörger, Samantha Travers, Orsolya Valkó, Wanyoike Wamiti, Deli Wang, Lixin Wang, Glenda M Wardle, Peter Wolff, Laura Yahdjian, Gastón R Oñatibia, Reza Yari, Eli Zaady, Yuanming Zhang, Xiaobing Zhou, Fernando T Maestre
Drivers of non-native plant success in drylands are poorly understood. Here we identify functional differences between dryland native and non-native perennial plants and assess how biotic, abiotic and anthropogenic factors shape the success of the latter. On the basis of plant community and functional trait data from 98 sites across 25 countries, we report a total of 41 non-native plant species at 31 sites. Non-natives tend towards faster growth strategies than natives. Non-native plant richness is higher at sites with greater grazing pressure and under environmental conditions associated with higher soil fertility, decomposition and fungal richness-conditions that tend to occur in less arid regions-and lower where native plant and herbivore richness are greater. Non-native plant cover correlates positively with grazing pressure and negatively with native plant richness. Taken together, our results suggest that non-native plant success in drylands is facilitated when high grazing pressure coincides with elevated resource availability. Such context-dependence of non-native plant success and linkages with native plant and herbivore diversity highlight the need for managing grazing and conserving biodiversity across the world's drylands.
{"title":"Abiotic and biotic controls of non-native perennial plant success in drylands.","authors":"Soroor Rahmanian, Nico Eisenhauer, Yuanyuan Huang, Martin Hejda, Petr Pyšek, Hannes Feilhauer, David J Eldridge, Nicolas Gross, Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Hugo Saiz, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Miguel Berdugo, Victoria Ochoa, Beatriz Gozalo, Sergio Asensio, Emilio Guirado, Enrique Valencia, Miguel García-Gómez, Juan J Gaitán, Betty Mendoza, César Plaza, Paloma Díaz-Martínez, Jaime Martínez-Valderrama, Mehdi Abedi, Negar Ahmadian, Rodrigo J Ahumada, Fateh Amghar, Thiago Araújo, Antonio I Arroyo, Farah Ben Salem, Niels Blaum, Enkhjargal Boldbat, Bazartseren Boldgiv, Matthew Bowker, Liesbeth van den Brink, Chongfeng Bu, Rafaella Canessa, Andrea P Castillo-Monroy, Helena Castro, Patricio Castro-Quezada, Ghassen Chaieb, Roukaya Chibani, Abel A Conceição, Yvonne C Davila, Balázs Deák, David A Donoso, Andrew Dougill, Carlos Iván Espinosa, Alex Fajardo, Mohammad Farzam, Daniela Ferrante, Jorgelina Franzese, Lauchlan H Fraser, Erika Geiger, Sofia Laura Gonzalez, Elizabeth Gusman Montalván, Robert Hering, Eugene Marais, Rosa Mary Hernández Hernández, Sandra Daniela Hernández-Valdez, Norbert Hölzel, Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald, Oswaldo Jadán, Anke Jentsch, Liana Kindermann, Melanie Köbel, Peter C le Roux, Cintia V Leder, Xinhao Li, Pierre Liancourt, Anja Linstädter, Jushan Liu, Michelle A Louw, Gillian Maggs-Kölling, Thulani P Makhalanyane, Oumarou Malam Issa, Antonio J Manzaneda, Pierre Margerie, Raphaël Martin, Mitchel P McClaran, João Vitor S Messeder, Juan P Mora, Gerardo Moreno, Seth M Munson, Girish R Nair, Alice Nunes, Gabriel Oliva, Salza Palpurina, Guadalupe Peter, Yolanda Pueyo, Emiliano Quiroga, Sasha C Reed, Pedro J Rey, Alexandra Rodríguez, Victor Rolo, Jan C Ruppert, Ayman Salah, Shlomo Sarig, Brajesh K Singh, Anthony Swemmer, Alberto L Teixido, Andrew D Thomas, Katja Tielbörger, Samantha Travers, Orsolya Valkó, Wanyoike Wamiti, Deli Wang, Lixin Wang, Glenda M Wardle, Peter Wolff, Laura Yahdjian, Gastón R Oñatibia, Reza Yari, Eli Zaady, Yuanming Zhang, Xiaobing Zhou, Fernando T Maestre","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02971-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02971-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Drivers of non-native plant success in drylands are poorly understood. Here we identify functional differences between dryland native and non-native perennial plants and assess how biotic, abiotic and anthropogenic factors shape the success of the latter. On the basis of plant community and functional trait data from 98 sites across 25 countries, we report a total of 41 non-native plant species at 31 sites. Non-natives tend towards faster growth strategies than natives. Non-native plant richness is higher at sites with greater grazing pressure and under environmental conditions associated with higher soil fertility, decomposition and fungal richness-conditions that tend to occur in less arid regions-and lower where native plant and herbivore richness are greater. Non-native plant cover correlates positively with grazing pressure and negatively with native plant richness. Taken together, our results suggest that non-native plant success in drylands is facilitated when high grazing pressure coincides with elevated resource availability. Such context-dependence of non-native plant success and linkages with native plant and herbivore diversity highlight the need for managing grazing and conserving biodiversity across the world's drylands.</p>","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146132569","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}
Pub Date : 2026-02-06DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02960-9
Jiandong Huang, Wenhao Wu, Lei Mao, Filippo Bertozzo, Danielle Dhouailly, Ninon Robin, Michael Pittman, Thomas G. Kaye, Fabio Manucci, Xuezhi He, Xuri Wang, Pascal Godefroit
The near-complete and articulated skeleton of a new iguanodontian dinosaur, Haolong dongi gen. et sp. nov., from the Lower Cretaceous of northeastern China, preserves exquisitely fossilized skin. The integument includes large overlapping scutate scales along the tail and tuberculate scales around the neck and thorax markedly different from the scale pattern described in other iguanodontians. Remarkably, these scales are interspersed with cutaneous spikes preserved at the cellular level. Tomographic and histological analyses reveal a hollow, cylindrical structure composed of a cornified stratum corneum overlying a pluristratified epidermis with keratinocytes preserved to the level of nuclei, surrounding a porous central dermal pulp. These spikes differ structurally from known protofeathers in non-avian dinosaurs and scaly spines in extant squamates, suggesting a distinct evolutionary origin. Their morphology and distribution imply a primary role in predator deterrence, with potential secondary functions in thermoregulation or mechanoreception. This discovery provides unprecedented insight into the microanatomy of non-avian dinosaur skin and highlights the complexity of skin evolution in ornithischian dinosaurs. A juvenile iguanodontian from the Lower Cretaceous of China preserves both spikes and scales in its skin that are different from integumentary structures in either non-avian dinosaurs or extant squamates and may have had a defensive function.
来自中国东北下白垩纪的一种新的禽龙类恐龙，浩龙东i gen. et sp. nov.，其近乎完整且关节清晰的骨架保存了精致的皮肤化石。被毛包括沿尾巴重叠的大鳞片和颈部和胸部周围的结核状鳞片，与其他禽龙的鳞片模式明显不同。值得注意的是，这些鳞片散布着保存在细胞水平的皮刺。断层扫描和组织学分析显示一个中空的圆柱形结构，由角质层组成，角质层覆盖在多层表皮上，角质形成细胞保存到细胞核的水平，围绕着多孔的中央真皮髓。这些尖刺在结构上不同于已知的非鸟类恐龙的原羽毛和现存鳞片动物的鳞状刺，这表明它们有不同的进化起源。它们的形态和分布暗示了它们在捕食者威慑中的主要作用，在温度调节或机械接收中具有潜在的次要功能。这一发现为非鸟类恐龙皮肤的微观解剖提供了前所未有的见解，并突出了鸟颈目恐龙皮肤进化的复杂性。
{"title":"Cellular-level preservation of cutaneous spikes in an Early Cretaceous iguanodontian dinosaur","authors":"Jiandong Huang, Wenhao Wu, Lei Mao, Filippo Bertozzo, Danielle Dhouailly, Ninon Robin, Michael Pittman, Thomas G. Kaye, Fabio Manucci, Xuezhi He, Xuri Wang, Pascal Godefroit","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02960-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41559-025-02960-9","url":null,"abstract":"The near-complete and articulated skeleton of a new iguanodontian dinosaur, Haolong dongi gen. et sp. nov., from the Lower Cretaceous of northeastern China, preserves exquisitely fossilized skin. The integument includes large overlapping scutate scales along the tail and tuberculate scales around the neck and thorax markedly different from the scale pattern described in other iguanodontians. Remarkably, these scales are interspersed with cutaneous spikes preserved at the cellular level. Tomographic and histological analyses reveal a hollow, cylindrical structure composed of a cornified stratum corneum overlying a pluristratified epidermis with keratinocytes preserved to the level of nuclei, surrounding a porous central dermal pulp. These spikes differ structurally from known protofeathers in non-avian dinosaurs and scaly spines in extant squamates, suggesting a distinct evolutionary origin. Their morphology and distribution imply a primary role in predator deterrence, with potential secondary functions in thermoregulation or mechanoreception. This discovery provides unprecedented insight into the microanatomy of non-avian dinosaur skin and highlights the complexity of skin evolution in ornithischian dinosaurs. A juvenile iguanodontian from the Lower Cretaceous of China preserves both spikes and scales in its skin that are different from integumentary structures in either non-avian dinosaurs or extant squamates and may have had a defensive function.","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"10 2","pages":"203-210"},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146132547","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}
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