Pub Date : 2025-12-05DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02926-x
Alexander J. Robertson, Benjamin Kerr, Alison F. Feder
{"title":"Intracellular interactions shape antiviral resistance outcomes in poliovirus via eco-evolutionary feedback","authors":"Alexander J. Robertson, Benjamin Kerr, Alison F. Feder","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02926-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02926-x","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145680436","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 : 2025-12-05DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02911-4
Eva C. D. Stewart, Helena Wiklund, Lenka Neal, Guadalupe Bribiesca-Contreras, Regan Drennan, Corie M. B. Boolukos, Lucas D. King, Muriel Rabone, Georgina Valls Domedel, Amanda Serpell-Stevens, Maria B. Arias, Thomas G. Dahlgren, Tammy Horton, Adrian G. Glover
In 2022 a large-scale test of a commercial deep-sea mining machine was undertaken on the abyssal plain of the eastern Pacific Ocean at a depth of 4,280 m, recovering over 3,000 t of polymetallic nodules. Here, using a quantitative species-level sediment-dwelling macrofaunal dataset, we investigated spatio-temporal variation in faunal abundance and biodiversity for 2 years before and 2 months after test mining. This allowed for the separation of direct mining impacts from natural background variation, which we found to be significant over the 2-year sampling period. Macrofaunal density decreased by 37% directly within the mining tracks, alongside a 32% reduction in species richness, and significantly increased community multivariate dispersion. While species richness and diversity indices within the tracks were reduced compared with controls, diversity was not impacted when measured by sample-size independent measures of accumulation. We found no evidence for change in faunal abundance in an area affected by sediment plumes from the test mining; however, species dominance relationships were altered in these communities reducing their overall biodiversity. These results provide critical data on the effective design of abyssal baseline and impact surveys and highlight the value of integrated species-level taxonomic work in assessing the risks of biodiversity loss. A species-level dataset of sediment-dwelling macrofauna, sampled 2 years before and 2 months after a test of a commercial deep-sea mining machine, reveals losses of macrofaunal density and species richness within the machine’s tracks and community-level effects in both the tracks and an area impacted by sediment plumes.
{"title":"Impacts of an industrial deep-sea mining trial on macrofaunal biodiversity","authors":"Eva C. D. Stewart, Helena Wiklund, Lenka Neal, Guadalupe Bribiesca-Contreras, Regan Drennan, Corie M. B. Boolukos, Lucas D. King, Muriel Rabone, Georgina Valls Domedel, Amanda Serpell-Stevens, Maria B. Arias, Thomas G. Dahlgren, Tammy Horton, Adrian G. Glover","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02911-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41559-025-02911-4","url":null,"abstract":"In 2022 a large-scale test of a commercial deep-sea mining machine was undertaken on the abyssal plain of the eastern Pacific Ocean at a depth of 4,280 m, recovering over 3,000 t of polymetallic nodules. Here, using a quantitative species-level sediment-dwelling macrofaunal dataset, we investigated spatio-temporal variation in faunal abundance and biodiversity for 2 years before and 2 months after test mining. This allowed for the separation of direct mining impacts from natural background variation, which we found to be significant over the 2-year sampling period. Macrofaunal density decreased by 37% directly within the mining tracks, alongside a 32% reduction in species richness, and significantly increased community multivariate dispersion. While species richness and diversity indices within the tracks were reduced compared with controls, diversity was not impacted when measured by sample-size independent measures of accumulation. We found no evidence for change in faunal abundance in an area affected by sediment plumes from the test mining; however, species dominance relationships were altered in these communities reducing their overall biodiversity. These results provide critical data on the effective design of abyssal baseline and impact surveys and highlight the value of integrated species-level taxonomic work in assessing the risks of biodiversity loss. A species-level dataset of sediment-dwelling macrofauna, sampled 2 years before and 2 months after a test of a commercial deep-sea mining machine, reveals losses of macrofaunal density and species richness within the machine’s tracks and community-level effects in both the tracks and an area impacted by sediment plumes.","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"10 2","pages":"318-329"},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02911-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145680435","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 : 2025-12-05DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02913-2
Wenmin Zhang, Martin Brandt, Chi Xu, Xiaowei Tong, Yanbiao Xi, Zhongxiang Fang, Rasmus Fensholt
Canopy height is an important aspect of forest structure and functioning. Although water availability is important for canopy height growth, the climatic niche for tall trees remains poorly understood. Here we use global spaceborne lidar-derived canopy height to study its dependence on climate variables. We find that vapour pressure deficit (VPD) strongly controls geographical patterns of canopy height, observing a negative association also in tropical regions where water limitations are modest. Taller trees are prevalent in humid tropical regions, but canopy height decreases sharply as mean annual VPD surpasses 0.68 kPa. By 2100, projected increases in VPD under a warming climate could enhance limitations to canopy height growth, resulting in height losses in 87% of the humid tropical regions. Conversely, we project a widespread increase in canopy height across drylands, linked primarily to changing precipitation regimes. These results suggest that limitations on height growth driven by shifts in atmospheric dryness could lead to reduced future forest carbon sequestration. Rising atmospheric aridity may be an important driver of tree growth. Here the authors present analyse the global relationship between tree canopy height and vapour pressure deficit, and its potential shifts under future climate change.
{"title":"Global dependency of canopy height on vapour pressure deficit and its projections under climate change","authors":"Wenmin Zhang, Martin Brandt, Chi Xu, Xiaowei Tong, Yanbiao Xi, Zhongxiang Fang, Rasmus Fensholt","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02913-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41559-025-02913-2","url":null,"abstract":"Canopy height is an important aspect of forest structure and functioning. Although water availability is important for canopy height growth, the climatic niche for tall trees remains poorly understood. Here we use global spaceborne lidar-derived canopy height to study its dependence on climate variables. We find that vapour pressure deficit (VPD) strongly controls geographical patterns of canopy height, observing a negative association also in tropical regions where water limitations are modest. Taller trees are prevalent in humid tropical regions, but canopy height decreases sharply as mean annual VPD surpasses 0.68 kPa. By 2100, projected increases in VPD under a warming climate could enhance limitations to canopy height growth, resulting in height losses in 87% of the humid tropical regions. Conversely, we project a widespread increase in canopy height across drylands, linked primarily to changing precipitation regimes. These results suggest that limitations on height growth driven by shifts in atmospheric dryness could lead to reduced future forest carbon sequestration. Rising atmospheric aridity may be an important driver of tree growth. Here the authors present analyse the global relationship between tree canopy height and vapour pressure deficit, and its potential shifts under future climate change.","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"10 1","pages":"59-69"},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145680117","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 : 2025-12-02DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02909-y
Benjamin Wildermuth, Maximilian Bröcher, Emma Ladouceur, Sebastian T. Meyer, Holger Schielzeth, Michael Staab, Rafael Achury, Nico Blüthgen, Lionel Hertzog, Jes Hines, Christiane Roscher, Oliver Schweiger, Wolfgang W. Weisser, Anne Ebeling
Recent declines in arthropod diversity, abundance and biomass are central to the global biodiversity crisis. Yet, we lack a mechanistic understanding of the respective contributions of species richness, species identity and abundance to overall biomass change, and how the environment filters these processes. Synthesizing 11 years of data from a biodiversity experiment and from farmed grasslands in central Europe across a gradient of plant species richness and land-use intensity, we show that local arthropod biomass declines were predominantly (>90%) linked to species richness losses. Abundance declines among persisting species accounted for only 5–8% of lost biomass. The role of species identity depended on the environment and diminished over time: especially under high plant diversity and low land-use intensity, arthropod species with both below-average total biomass and above-average individual biomass (large, rare species) contributed disproportionately to species turnover—but this was only detectable in early years when the communities were still relatively abundant. We conclude that arthropod communities are currently homogenizing towards few common species of similar biomass, probably reducing their adaptability to future environmental change. Increasing the diversity and reducing the land-use intensity of grasslands may mitigate ongoing community simplification and loss of arthropod diversity and functioning. Insects are declining in many regions. Here the authors show that arthropod biomass losses in Jena Experiment and Biodiversity Exploratories time series are driven more by species loss than by species identity and abundance declines, and are mitigated by high plant diversity and low land-use intensity.
{"title":"Arthropod species loss underpins biomass declines","authors":"Benjamin Wildermuth, Maximilian Bröcher, Emma Ladouceur, Sebastian T. Meyer, Holger Schielzeth, Michael Staab, Rafael Achury, Nico Blüthgen, Lionel Hertzog, Jes Hines, Christiane Roscher, Oliver Schweiger, Wolfgang W. Weisser, Anne Ebeling","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02909-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41559-025-02909-y","url":null,"abstract":"Recent declines in arthropod diversity, abundance and biomass are central to the global biodiversity crisis. Yet, we lack a mechanistic understanding of the respective contributions of species richness, species identity and abundance to overall biomass change, and how the environment filters these processes. Synthesizing 11 years of data from a biodiversity experiment and from farmed grasslands in central Europe across a gradient of plant species richness and land-use intensity, we show that local arthropod biomass declines were predominantly (>90%) linked to species richness losses. Abundance declines among persisting species accounted for only 5–8% of lost biomass. The role of species identity depended on the environment and diminished over time: especially under high plant diversity and low land-use intensity, arthropod species with both below-average total biomass and above-average individual biomass (large, rare species) contributed disproportionately to species turnover—but this was only detectable in early years when the communities were still relatively abundant. We conclude that arthropod communities are currently homogenizing towards few common species of similar biomass, probably reducing their adaptability to future environmental change. Increasing the diversity and reducing the land-use intensity of grasslands may mitigate ongoing community simplification and loss of arthropod diversity and functioning. Insects are declining in many regions. Here the authors show that arthropod biomass losses in Jena Experiment and Biodiversity Exploratories time series are driven more by species loss than by species identity and abundance declines, and are mitigated by high plant diversity and low land-use intensity.","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"10 1","pages":"83-94"},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02909-y.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145657031","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}
Two fundamental aspects that characterize the diversity of natural forests are species richness and structural diversity. Our understanding of the fine-grained patterns and drivers of tree species richness and structural diversity in many regions has been limited by lack of spatially representative vegetation-plot data. Here we use data on 314,613 trees from 3,396 plots to elucidate spatial patterns, determinants and future potential of tree species richness and structural diversity in natural forests across China. We find that the patterns and their dominant drivers differed between tree species richness and structural diversity. Precipitation seasonality is the foremost predictor of species richness, whereas forest age is the leading predictor of structural diversity. Projections based on future climate scenarios SSP126 and SSP245 highlight the potential for substantial increases in fine-grained species richness (~36%) and structural diversity (~27%) by 2100. While this increase in diversity could enhance carbon sequestration, it may also pose threats to endangered species due to intensified competition for limited ecological niches. Multiple diversity facets contribute to forest ecosystem functioning. Here the authors investigate spatial patterns and predictors of forest tree species richness and structural diversity across China and project potential trends under future climate scenarios.
{"title":"Spatial patterns and future potential of tree species richness and structural diversity in China’s forests","authors":"Changjin Cheng, Guoyi Zhou, Xuli Tang, Shaopeng Wang, Yanjun Su, Jin Wu, Xiangtao Xu, Wenfang Xu, Fangmei Lin, Yongshi Zhou, Genxu Wang, Junhua Yan, Keping Ma, Sheng Du, Shenggong Li, Shijie Han, Youxin Ma, Juxiu Liu, Donghai Wu","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02922-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41559-025-02922-1","url":null,"abstract":"Two fundamental aspects that characterize the diversity of natural forests are species richness and structural diversity. Our understanding of the fine-grained patterns and drivers of tree species richness and structural diversity in many regions has been limited by lack of spatially representative vegetation-plot data. Here we use data on 314,613 trees from 3,396 plots to elucidate spatial patterns, determinants and future potential of tree species richness and structural diversity in natural forests across China. We find that the patterns and their dominant drivers differed between tree species richness and structural diversity. Precipitation seasonality is the foremost predictor of species richness, whereas forest age is the leading predictor of structural diversity. Projections based on future climate scenarios SSP126 and SSP245 highlight the potential for substantial increases in fine-grained species richness (~36%) and structural diversity (~27%) by 2100. While this increase in diversity could enhance carbon sequestration, it may also pose threats to endangered species due to intensified competition for limited ecological niches. Multiple diversity facets contribute to forest ecosystem functioning. Here the authors investigate spatial patterns and predictors of forest tree species richness and structural diversity across China and project potential trends under future climate scenarios.","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"10 1","pages":"70-82"},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145657033","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 : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02904-3
Omar E. Tovar-Herrera, Ido Grinshpan, Gil Sorek, Ido Lybovits, Liron Levin, Sarah Moraïs, Itzhak Mizrahi
Some microbes persist across diverse gut microbiomes, raising the question of what features define these core taxa and allow them to persist across hosts. Using the rumen microbiome as a model system, we show that core microbes exhibit distinct attributes of ecological generalists, including greater strain variability and broader functional capacity, linked to larger genome sizes. By analysing ~3,000 genomes of core and non-core microbes and metabolically measuring their functional attributes with both biochemical assays and untargeted/targeted metabolomics, we find that these traits enable core microbes to be metabolically independent while also supporting non-core microbes and the host. Core taxa produce essential metabolites, such as amino acids and vitamins, and encode fibre-degrading enzymes crucial for host nutrition. Additionally, they engage in cross-feeding, providing non-core microbes with vital nutrients. This independence positions core microbes as foundational pillars of gut ecosystem stability, and influencing these microbes could modulate microbiome functionality and ruminant host metabolism, with possible downstream consequences for food security and environmental sustainability. This study uses the rumen gut microbiome to show that core microbes exhibit attributes of ecological generalists with broad functional capacity and traits that enable them to be metabolically independent while also supporting non-core microbes and the host.
{"title":"Core rumen microbes are functional generalists that sustain host metabolism and gut ecosystem function","authors":"Omar E. Tovar-Herrera, Ido Grinshpan, Gil Sorek, Ido Lybovits, Liron Levin, Sarah Moraïs, Itzhak Mizrahi","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02904-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41559-025-02904-3","url":null,"abstract":"Some microbes persist across diverse gut microbiomes, raising the question of what features define these core taxa and allow them to persist across hosts. Using the rumen microbiome as a model system, we show that core microbes exhibit distinct attributes of ecological generalists, including greater strain variability and broader functional capacity, linked to larger genome sizes. By analysing ~3,000 genomes of core and non-core microbes and metabolically measuring their functional attributes with both biochemical assays and untargeted/targeted metabolomics, we find that these traits enable core microbes to be metabolically independent while also supporting non-core microbes and the host. Core taxa produce essential metabolites, such as amino acids and vitamins, and encode fibre-degrading enzymes crucial for host nutrition. Additionally, they engage in cross-feeding, providing non-core microbes with vital nutrients. This independence positions core microbes as foundational pillars of gut ecosystem stability, and influencing these microbes could modulate microbiome functionality and ruminant host metabolism, with possible downstream consequences for food security and environmental sustainability. This study uses the rumen gut microbiome to show that core microbes exhibit attributes of ecological generalists with broad functional capacity and traits that enable them to be metabolically independent while also supporting non-core microbes and the host.","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"10 1","pages":"44-58"},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02904-3.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145645173","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 : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02895-1
Timothy C. Yu, Caroline Kikawa, Bernadeta Dadonaite, Andrea N. Loes, Janet A. Englund, Jesse D. Bloom
The evolution of human influenza virus haemagglutinin (HA) involves simultaneous selection to acquire antigenic mutations that escape population immunity while preserving protein function and stability. Epistasis shapes this evolution, as an antigenic mutation that is deleterious in one genetic background may become tolerated in another. However, the extent to which epistasis can alleviate pleiotropic conflicts between immune escape and protein function/stability is unclear. Here we measure how all amino acid mutations in the HA of a recent human H3N2 influenza strain affect its cell entry function, acid stability and neutralization by human serum antibodies. We find that epistasis has entrenched certain mutations so that reverting to the ancestral amino acid identity in earlier strains is no longer tolerated. Epistasis has also enabled the emergence of antigenic mutations that were detrimental to the cell entry function of HA in earlier strains. However, epistasis appears insufficient to overcome the pleiotropic costs of antigenic mutations that impair the stability of HA, explaining why some mutations that strongly escape human antibodies never fix in nature. Our results refine our understanding of the mutational constraints that shape recent H3N2 influenza evolution: epistasis can enable antigenic change, but pleiotropic effects can restrict its trajectory.
{"title":"Pleiotropic mutational effects on function and stability constrain the antigenic evolution of influenza haemagglutinin","authors":"Timothy C. Yu, Caroline Kikawa, Bernadeta Dadonaite, Andrea N. Loes, Janet A. Englund, Jesse D. Bloom","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02895-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02895-1","url":null,"abstract":"The evolution of human influenza virus haemagglutinin (HA) involves simultaneous selection to acquire antigenic mutations that escape population immunity while preserving protein function and stability. Epistasis shapes this evolution, as an antigenic mutation that is deleterious in one genetic background may become tolerated in another. However, the extent to which epistasis can alleviate pleiotropic conflicts between immune escape and protein function/stability is unclear. Here we measure how all amino acid mutations in the HA of a recent human H3N2 influenza strain affect its cell entry function, acid stability and neutralization by human serum antibodies. We find that epistasis has entrenched certain mutations so that reverting to the ancestral amino acid identity in earlier strains is no longer tolerated. Epistasis has also enabled the emergence of antigenic mutations that were detrimental to the cell entry function of HA in earlier strains. However, epistasis appears insufficient to overcome the pleiotropic costs of antigenic mutations that impair the stability of HA, explaining why some mutations that strongly escape human antibodies never fix in nature. Our results refine our understanding of the mutational constraints that shape recent H3N2 influenza evolution: epistasis can enable antigenic change, but pleiotropic effects can restrict its trajectory.","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":16.8,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145645170","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 : 2025-11-28DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02916-z
Scott A. Condie, Diego R. Barneche, Leanne M. Currey-Randall, Frederieke J. Kroon, Javier Porobic, Daniela M. Ceccarelli
While biological control (or biocontrol) is an established method for managing pest species in terrestrial systems, few successful applications have been reported for marine environments. Crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS, Acanthaster ssp.) are regarded as a pest species across the Indo-Pacific, where they are voracious predators of corals and represent one of the largest causes of coral mortality on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The role of reef fish in moderating outbreaks of CoTS through biocontrol has recently become more widely recognized. Here we have incorporated reef fish into a meta-community model of the GBR to demonstrate the critical role that marine reserves and other fisheries regulations have had in limiting the prevalence of CoTS outbreaks and maintaining the resilience of the GBR ecosystem. Our results suggest that without these interventions, the GBR would have already passed a major tipping point to a new state characterized by few predatory fish, continuous CoTS outbreaks and substantially lower coral cover. Model projections to 2050 demonstrate the importance of maintaining protection into the future and suggest that additional gains can be made over the next decade by continuing to manually control CoTS numbers. However, beyond 2040, the escalating impacts of climate change and the underlying resilience of CoTS populations will limit the effectiveness of interventions based on biocontrol. Incorporating reef fish into a meta-community model of the Great Barrier Reef suggests that fish-protecting interventions, including marine protected areas, have prevented the reef from already passing a tipping-point transition to a state of continual outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish and reduced coral cover.
{"title":"Protection of coral reef fish delivers ecosystem-critical biocontrol of coral-eating starfish across the Great Barrier Reef","authors":"Scott A. Condie, Diego R. Barneche, Leanne M. Currey-Randall, Frederieke J. Kroon, Javier Porobic, Daniela M. Ceccarelli","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02916-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41559-025-02916-z","url":null,"abstract":"While biological control (or biocontrol) is an established method for managing pest species in terrestrial systems, few successful applications have been reported for marine environments. Crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS, Acanthaster ssp.) are regarded as a pest species across the Indo-Pacific, where they are voracious predators of corals and represent one of the largest causes of coral mortality on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The role of reef fish in moderating outbreaks of CoTS through biocontrol has recently become more widely recognized. Here we have incorporated reef fish into a meta-community model of the GBR to demonstrate the critical role that marine reserves and other fisheries regulations have had in limiting the prevalence of CoTS outbreaks and maintaining the resilience of the GBR ecosystem. Our results suggest that without these interventions, the GBR would have already passed a major tipping point to a new state characterized by few predatory fish, continuous CoTS outbreaks and substantially lower coral cover. Model projections to 2050 demonstrate the importance of maintaining protection into the future and suggest that additional gains can be made over the next decade by continuing to manually control CoTS numbers. However, beyond 2040, the escalating impacts of climate change and the underlying resilience of CoTS populations will limit the effectiveness of interventions based on biocontrol. Incorporating reef fish into a meta-community model of the Great Barrier Reef suggests that fish-protecting interventions, including marine protected areas, have prevented the reef from already passing a tipping-point transition to a state of continual outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish and reduced coral cover.","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"10 1","pages":"117-127"},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02916-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145611190","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 : 2025-11-25DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02912-3
Stuart A. West, Sasha R. X. Dall, J. Paul Cunningham, Suzanne H. Alonzo, Ashleigh S. Griffin
Behavioural ecology research has explained traits from foraging and cooperation to mating strategies and sex allocation. However, the size and interdisciplinary nature of this research can obscure the broader contributions that behavioural ecology has made and the major tasks for the future. We first assess the contributions of behavioural ecology to fundamental science, for both understanding nature and the scientific method. Second, we explore the application of behavioural ecology research to global challenges, from pests and pathogens to conservation and mitigating human impact. In all cases, progress has relied on a hypothesis-driven approach that combines mathematical modelling with empirical testing and the strategic choice of simplifying assumptions. This Perspective discusses how the field of behavioural ecology has contributed to fundamental science and tackling global challenges, ranging from understanding how natural selection leads to adaptation to optimizing the biocontrol of pest species.
{"title":"Behavioural ecology in the twenty-first century","authors":"Stuart A. West, Sasha R. X. Dall, J. Paul Cunningham, Suzanne H. Alonzo, Ashleigh S. Griffin","doi":"10.1038/s41559-025-02912-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41559-025-02912-3","url":null,"abstract":"Behavioural ecology research has explained traits from foraging and cooperation to mating strategies and sex allocation. However, the size and interdisciplinary nature of this research can obscure the broader contributions that behavioural ecology has made and the major tasks for the future. We first assess the contributions of behavioural ecology to fundamental science, for both understanding nature and the scientific method. Second, we explore the application of behavioural ecology research to global challenges, from pests and pathogens to conservation and mitigating human impact. In all cases, progress has relied on a hypothesis-driven approach that combines mathematical modelling with empirical testing and the strategic choice of simplifying assumptions. This Perspective discusses how the field of behavioural ecology has contributed to fundamental science and tackling global challenges, ranging from understanding how natural selection leads to adaptation to optimizing the biocontrol of pest species.","PeriodicalId":18835,"journal":{"name":"Nature ecology & evolution","volume":"9 12","pages":"2193-2205"},"PeriodicalIF":13.9,"publicationDate":"2025-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02912-3.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145593756","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}
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