Global Ecology 🌐

Scheme of our conceptual framework. Starting with data on release sites from Transloc database, and land system data – both baseline and Nature Futures Framework (NFF) scenarios (NAC, NFN, NFS) – we delineated circular landscapes centred on each release site (1). Land cover classes within these landscapes were then translated into species-specific resistance-to-movement values: green represents low resistance, yellow indicates moderate resistance, and white denotes high resistance (2). Using these cost surfaces, we modelled current flow from each release site (source point) to multiple surrounding target locations. This process generates a layer of current density (2), with warmer colours standing for higher current values. From this, we calculate the effective resistance between the release site and its surrounding landscape. Our experimental design included simulations over 57 release sites, 2 spatial extents, 4 land use scenarios, and 3 values for intermediate resistance, totalling 1368 simulations in Circuitscape (3).

Nature Futures Framework scenarios reveal contrasting landscape connectivity for European mammal translocations
Ascensão+
doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...

analyzing connectivity using circuitscape on Dou+ (doi.org/10.1016/j.gl...)
land-use scenarios

Revamping the ecosystem research agenda to tackle the challenges of the Anthropocene First defined by Arthur Tansley approximately 90 years ago, ecosystems arguably remain less monitored and understood than other dimensions of biodiversity. While our characterisation and understanding of ecosystems has improved, many of the issues pointed out by Tansley remain unresolved. We highlight how combining geodiversity research and complex system science, while better integrating cultural diversity and research outcomes across biodiversity dimensions, could help to address these issues and rapidly improve our ability to predict long-term ecosystem behaviour and dynamics. As ecosystems continue to gain traction in policy spheres, such knowledge will be key to strengthening the legal framing for biodiversity conservation, use, and management.

Online now: Revamping the ecosystem research agenda to tackle the challenges of the Anthropocene

This is figure 1 from “Human biomass movement exceeds the biomass movement of all land animals combined.” It shows total biomass movement of land animals and birds.

Human biomass movement may be up to 40 times greater than that of all land animals combined, according to research in Nature Ecology & Evolution. A second Nature Communications paper finds that wild mammal biomass has more than halved since 1850. go.nature.com/4oID33i go.nature.com/3LhSD7n 🧪

The global biomass of mammals since 1850 - Nature Communications Here, the authors estimate mammalian biomass from the 1850’s to today, tracking an increase of over five-fold in human and domesticated mammal biomass and a two-fold decrease in wild mammal biomass. R...

Check this out: the global biomass of mammals since 1850
just out in @natcomms.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🌐

The circular seabird economy is critical for oceans, islands and people - Nature Reviews Biodiversity Seabirds are top predators and nutrient cyclers in marine island ecosystems, but are threatened by risk of extinction. This Review explores the circular seabird economy around islands and discusses ho...

Our new review on the “circular seabird economy”
- how seabirds circulate nutrients betwem ocean and land, supporting ecosystems and livelihoods …https://www.nature.com/articles/s44358-025-00099-w

Unpacking the extinction crisis: rates, patterns and causes of recent extinctions in plants and animals | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Biodiversity loss is one of the greatest challenges facing Earth today. The most direct information on species losses comes from recent extinctions. However, our understanding of these recent, human-r...

🌎🌐🫎🌵Extinctions:
⬆️ last 500 years! 👎
...but...
⬇️ last 100 years! 👍 (in general)
Unpacking the extinction crisis: rates, patterns and causes of recent extinctions in plants and animals @royalsociety royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Rigorous validation of ecological models against empirical time series - Nature Ecology & Evolution Validating theoretical models against empirical data presents challenges. Here the authors present an assumption-light method to validate ecological models against time series data, along with a dedic...

Ecology faces an accumulation of models but not an accumulation of confidence. Our new paper w/ Jonathan Levine www.nature.com/articles/s41... in @natecoevo.nature.com introduces a rigorous test rooted in queueing theory to falsify inadequate models and build confidence in useful ones.

🚨🎉 Check out our new paper assessing the impacts of fishing (🎣) and climate change (🌡️) on carbon export and sequestration by commercial fish! 🐟
🔗 rdcu.be/eMTU6
🔽 Here are some key results! 🔽

@oceanicu.bsky.social
@natcomms.nature.com
🌐🦑🦈🌊

1/9

How can we explore the future of the world's forests? Understanding the demography of their trees is key. In We took the new gen of global demographic vegetation models and held their roots to the observations. Thanks @annemarie-es.bsky.social for leading! nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Heartbreaking truth: At just 1.5°C of #warming (where we already are), 70–90% of #CoralReefs could vanish. At 2.0°C, almost all (>99%) are gone. We’re watching a living wonder cross a #TippingPoint.
#MarineEcology 🧪🌍🌐🌊🔥

Sources of confusion in global biodiversity trends Populations and ecological communities are changing worldwide, and empirical studies exhibit a mixture of either declining or mixed trends. Confusion in global biodiversity trends thus remains, while....

Sources of confusion in global biodiversity trends 🌎🌐🧪 nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Will biodiversity actions yield healthy places? A systematic review of human health outcomes associated with biodiversity‐focused urban greening Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Yes, solutions for nature are also solutions for health!

This new analysis finds urban greening is "associated with a wide range of positive health outcomes including improved physical and mental health, increased physical activity, improved childhood development, and reduced exposure to harms."

Green pathways to mental health: Relationships between treescapes and well‐being and distress Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Green pathways to mental health: relationships between treescapes and well-being and distress @peopleandnature.bsky.social besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Just launched the Island Ecology & Evolution Network 🏝️ Starter Pack!

Discover scientists, conservation managers and local experts exploring and protecting life on islands.

🌋 Follow to connect & bridge science and practice!
#IslandEcology #IslandConservation #IslandEvolution

go.bsky.app/FrLJh4F

Disproportionate regulation of wildlife trade An increasing number of countries in the Global North have enacted, or are considering, import bans on hunting trophies to protect wildlife. We interrogate arguments used to characterize trophy huntin...

Disproportionate regulation of wildlife trade 🌎🧪🌐
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🔄Metacommunity connectance and emergent patterns drive diversity via spatial eco-evolutionary feedback

vist.ly/4bnfb

#EcoEvolutionaryFeedback #FunctionalDiversity #HabitatChange #Metacommunity #NetworkSize #Connectance #SelfOrganisedPatternFormation

Co‐Extinctions and Co‐Compensatory Species Responses to Climate Change Moderate Ecosystem Futures

🔗 buff.ly/wy7LahH
@tjw97.bsky.social @profbenthos.bsky.social @jagodbold.bsky.social @clem2012garcia.bsky.social @philarchambault.bksy.social @sotonoceanearth.bsky.social @unisouthampton.bsky.social

New research paper: Future #climatechange will force cold-water #corals to shift poleward and deeper, causing significant #biodiversity loss in shallow, low-latitude regions unless global emissions are drastically reduced.

www.biodiversitydatascience.com/coral-redist...

(a) A visual representation of spatial model transfer, where a model is fitted to occurrence records at a training site and predicted to a projection site where there are few or no records. (b, c) Representations of two key challenges often associated with model transfer: Environmental dissimilarity of the training and projection sites and unaccounted for spatial autocorrelation of the species distribution that can operate across different autocorrelation ranges and levels of variance.

📖Published📖

Patterson et al. evaluate the potential for integrated species distribution models to predict species distributions at remote, understudied locations, focusing on scenarios where no species observations are available at the projection site 🐾

🌍 🧪

buff.ly/TOVl3L1

How can issues of classifications and mapping scales for defining native vegetation have significant implications for #biodiversity conservation?

This Report in the latest issue of #EnvironmentalConservation considers Mato Grosso, #Brazil

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
#conservationscience🌎

What if we could chart all cell types across the tree of life?
In @nature.com, @arnausebe.bsky.social and colls launch the Biodiversity Cell Atlas, a global effort to map eukaryotic cell diversity using single-cell & genomic data.
drive.google.com/file/d/1G4zZ... @crg.eu @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social

This is extended data figure 1, which shows photographs of different families of scleractinians.

Some ancient stony corals were able to survive extreme environmental changes, which suggests that some modern species could possess some resilience to the effects of climate change, according to research in Nature. go.nature.com/4hrpLpi 🌊 🧪

PHOREAU v1.0: a new process-based model to predict forest functioning, from tree ecophysiology to forest dynamics and biogeography Abstract. Climate change impacts forest functioning and dynamics, but large uncertainties remain regarding the interactions between species composition, demographic processes and environmental drivers...

📣So happy to share the PhorEau model, combining models of forest dynamics, plant water relations, and process-based SDM = linking ecophysiology, ecology & biogeography 🌳📈💻
gmd.copernicus.org/articles/18/...
➡️ from Tanguy Postic's PhD, with many perspectives to simulate forests under CC

🌵 Across 9,158 site-level observations, climate modulates leaf trait trade-offs: C4 plants, forbs, and annuals adopt acquisitive strategies, while temperate species favour conservative ones. Global axes of grass trait coordination emerge🌡️

🔎 Read the full article: buff.ly/0Fe0fcJ

A global coral phylogeny reveals resilience and vulnerability through deep time - Nature The most recent common ancestor of the stony coral Scleractinia dates to about 460 million years ago and was probably a solitary, heterotrophic and free-living organism.

This is an INCREDIBLE advance in our understanding of coral diversification. 🪸🎉 Fantastic new work led by @claudiavaga.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Global loss of mountain vegetated landscapes and its impact on biodiversity conservation - Nature Communications This study reports widespread loss of mountain vegetation worldwide from 2000 to 2020, with ∼89% attributable to human expansion, primarily agriculture. Over half of this loss occurred within protecte...

Widespread #MountainEcosystem loss (2000-2020) is driven by human expansion ( #agriculture approx. 89% and #NaturalDisasters approx 11%)

Over half (approx 56%) occurred in #ProtectedAreas or #biodiversity hotspots, demanding urgent #conservation action 🌍

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Creating woodland through natural processes: Current understanding and knowledge gaps in Great Britain

Great to contribute to this #OpenAccess paper published in Ecological Solutions & Evidence: doi.org/10.1002/2688... #rewilding #forests #trees #nature @ukceh.bsky.social

I cannot believe our work is finally out there and in @journal-evo.bsky.social ! This was an enormous group effort!

We provide an updated estimate of the number of buzz pollinated angiosperm species, genera, and families, look at consequences for diversification, number of transitions, and more!

the galaxias hex logo showing a fun-coloured illustration of a green galaxias fish. The head, gills and fin in the centre with light green on the underside, green lips and wavy shades of green on its back, with blue and orange markings by its eye and gills. The background is light orangey-salmony colour in a sunburst style

🚨Our new package {galaxias} is released in R & Python today! 🚨

📦 galaxias makes it easy to standardise data to Darwin Core, the accepted format for sharing ecological data with infrastructures like @gbif.org and the Atlas of Living Australia

galaxias.ala.org.au

#rstats #python 🧪🌏🐟

A thread 🧵👇

Understanding the Response of Ecosystems to Increasing Human Pressures and Climate Change – Management Options The human footprint on the world's oceans has grown significantly in recent years, exerting immense pressure on marine ecosystems and leading to a decline in ocean health. The cumulative impacts of hu...

🌍 Excited to share our new e-book: Understanding the Response of Ecosystems to Increasing Human Pressures and #ClimateChange – #Management Options! 🚀
Explore its 27 papers:
🔗 www.frontiersin.org/research-top...
🌐🌍 #MarineEcology #GES4SEAS #Conservation #EcosystemBasedManagement #NatureBasedSolutions