Simon Harold

Combining science and policy for a unified global soil biodiversity observatory - Nature Ecology & Evolution The effective conservation of soil biodiversity and ecosystem services in the face of global-change threats requires improvements in national monitoring. We outline the Global Soil Biodiversity Observ...

New Comment 👇

Combining science and policy for a unified global soil biodiversity observatory www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Parnell et al. outline the Global Soil Biodiversity Observatory, an initiative that aims to develop standardized indicators to support evidence-based policymaking

Cover of the July issue of Nature Ecology & Evolution showing an image of an orchid mantis. The headline reads "Mechanisms of mimicry and camouflage"

Our July issue is now live! www.nature.com/natecolevol/...

🧪Featuring research on:

🌴Regenerating tropical forests
🐊Early archosauromorph reptiles
🦑Bobtail squid visual and nervous systems

Cover shows an orchid mantis, from Pei et al. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

US federal cuts threaten international ocean science and diplomacy - Nature Ecology & Evolution Nature Ecology & Evolution - US federal cuts threaten international ocean science and diplomacy

"We urge delegates to the third United Nations Ocean Conference to recognize that these critical risks require responses that move beyond symbolic commitments"

As the UN Ocean Conference #UNOC3 begins, Gattuso et al argue that US federal science cuts pose a profound global challenge rdcu.be/ep896 🌊

News coverage on this article over in @science.org : www.science.org/content/arti...

Precision ecology for targeted conservation action - Nature Ecology & Evolution The fields of medicine and marketing use large data volumes and computational power to target individuals. This Perspective argues that applied ecologists should draw on such approaches to provide dec...

New Perspective 👇

Precision ecology for targeted conservation action www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Spake et al. argue that applied ecologists should draw on insight from medicine and marketing to provide decision-makers with specific, site-level intervention strategies

Cover image of the May 2025 issue of Nature Ecology & Evolution showing a a prothonotary warbler at the entrance of a nest cavity. The cover caption reads "Cavity convergence"

Our May issue is now live! www.nature.com/natecolevol/...

Featuring research on:

🦠 Primordial metabolism
🦋 Butterfly diversity
🪸 Reef restoration

Cover shows a prothonotary warbler at the entrance of a nest cavity. From Lipshutz et al. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

In honour of David Attenborough's 99th birthday, why not revisit our series of tv reviews of Blue Planet II way back in 2017 (that's nothing in Attenborough years...). The links to the individual posts are threaded below : communities.springernature.com/posts/circum...

Plastic pollution has the potential to alter ecological and evolutionary processes in aquatic ecosystems - Nature Ecology & Evolution Plastic waste in the environment can modify habitats and change the mating, feeding and dispersal behaviours of organisms. This Progress discusses the emerging understanding of the ecological and evol...

New Progress article 👇

Plastic waste in the environment can modify habitats and change the mating, feeding and dispersal behaviours of organisms. Haney & Rochman discuss the emerging understanding of the ecological and evolutionary consequences of these effects www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Scientific naming conventions should keep in step with contemporary science A three-part Nature Podcast series explores the importance of scientific naming conventions — and talks to researchers looking at how to make them more inclusive.

Great @nature.com editorial and @naturepodcast.bsky.social series referencing ongoing coverage in @natureecoevo.bsky.social of the taxonomic furore regarding eponyms www.nature.com/articles/d41... (Check out rdcu.be/eja4P for the most recent NEE piece following last year's IBC votes)

Genomic and genetic insights into Mendel’s pea genes - Nature Characterization of the genetic architecture underlying the 7 pairs of contrasting traits studied by Mendel and the over 70 additional agronomic traits in pea (Pisum sativum) reveals their m...

New genomic & genetic insights into Mendel’s pea genes, including previously uncharacterised alleles

159 years after Mendel published his work, this is a real delight (especially for a geneticist)

🧪
@nature.com

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

Cover image of the April 2025 issue of Nature Ecology & Evolution showing an aerial photo of a smouldering boreal fire in Canada . The cover headline reads "Zombie fires"

Our April issue is now live! www.nature.com/natecolevol/...

Featuring research on:

🐟 mariculture impacts on biodiversity
🌿 genetics of plant camouflage
🫁 lung evolution

Cover shows an overwintering boreal fire in the Northwest Territories, Canada from Baltzer et al www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Seafood for thought - Nature Ecology & Evolution There is hope that sustainable mariculture can have a major role in helping to meet future global food demands, but this will require strategic planning to reduce its effects on marine biodiversity.

Our latest Editorial discusses the impact of mariculture on biodiversity, and its role in sustainably meeting future food demands 🐟🦐 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Embedding information flows within ecological networks - Nature Ecology & Evolution Ecological network research has typically focused on flows of matter and energy, but species also exchange information signals and cues that influence behaviour and movement. This Perspective argues t...

New Perspective:

Ecological network research typically focuses on flows of matter and energy, but species also exchange information signals and cues that influence behaviour and movement. Here, Brose et al argue that the information network of nature is a crucial aspect of community organization.

Check out our March issue: nature.com/nrbd/volumes...
Review and opinion topics this month include:
🦴 Digitizing natural history collections
🌊 Seagrass ecosystems
💻 AI as a way to fill biodiversity gaps
🍃 Biodiversity offsets
🔁 Conservation translocations
🌎🧪

Long-term studies provide unique insights into evolution - Nature Long-term studies provide insights into the complex interplay between evolutionary process and pattern across multiple systems and timescales.

Nature review article: Long-term studies provide unique insights into evolution

https://go.nature.com/3Rjd1ol

These frustrated scientists want to leave the United States – do you? Take Nature’s poll In the wake of the Trump administration’s funding freezes and job cuts, some researchers are planning their next move.

Some scientists in the United States have told Nature that they are considering leaving the country in the wake of widespread disruption to research brought in by the Trump administration

Are you thinking about leaving?

https://go.nature.com/424ejK8

A reminder that IPBES is seeking experts for the 2nd global assessment on biodiversity. This will be a hugely important report for the future of biodiversity. Experts are needed, especially, interdisciplinary experts and those from the Global South.

Glasswing butterfly (Mechanitis messenoides) Nature Ecology & Evolution - Joana Meier is fascinated by the diversity and mimetic colour patterns of glasswing butterflies.

New Species Spotlight 🦋

Joana Meier @joanameier.bsky.social is fascinated by the diversity and mimetic colour patterns of glasswing butterflies rdcu.be/edgxh

A collage of four images: Left: The world's largest fish, a slow-moving whale shark, feeds on snipefish herded into bait balls by agile tuna in the Azores Top Middle: The Story of a Conquest Bottom Middle: A bird in flight, holding red berries in its beak, with a snowy background Right: Fieldwork with masks, rain, and tadpoles

The BMC Ecology and Evolution & BMC #Zoology annual image competition is now open! Submit your best photos for a chance to see your work featured in BMC Ecology and Evolution: https://go.sn.pub/ceq0z7

@biomedcentral.bsky.social #ecoevo #evosky 🌏

Love this month’s cover

Quantifying disturbance effects on ecosystem services in a changing climate Nature Ecology & Evolution - A generalizable, functional-trait-based approach for quantifying the effects of disturbances to ecosystem services and economic outcomes, including under climate...

A generalizable, functional-trait-based approach for quantifying the effects of disturbances to ecosystem services and economic outcomes, including under climate change, highlights the need for incorporating disturbances in ecosystem services assessments rdcu.be/ecSjg

Six coloured illustrations of brightly coloured moths with black, yellow, orange and blue striped wings in different variations, numbered 1-6 with a reference showing that they are all different species of the milionia moth.

Meet Maud Horman-Fisher.

We don’t know what she looks like, or very much about her life. ❓

Still - we’d like to turn the spotlight on this former employee this #InternationalWomensDay, for a few particular reasons.

My heart goes out to all researchers impacted by this assault on US science, these impacts will be felt around the world

‘About time they got some credit’: why hoverflies are an underappreciated insect Prof Dave Goulson is one of the world’s foremost experts on insects. But there’s a special place in his heart for hoverflies, one of the prettiest flies around. Here he explains why we should nominate hoverflies as invertebrate of the year

‘About time they got some credit’: why hoverflies are an underappreciated insect

Revealing how fungi build planet-altering ‘road’ networks Imaging study reveals how fungal networks are constructed.

Fungi made Earth’s land liveable by building networks that released nutrients locked in primordial rock and supplied those nutrients to plant roots

https://go.nature.com/41lvtBg

Even faced with the same data, ecologists sometimes come to opposite conclusions Study highlights powerful role subjective choices can play in research, though some critics urge caution about applying findings too broadly

Give a group of scientists the same data and the same research question, and they should come up with similar answers—in theory. But they don’t.
www.science.org/content/arti... (by @cathleenogrady.bsky.social)

Really good to see this message out from @nature this week “We at Nature denounce this assault on science. And we encourage the global research community, wherever they can, to voice their opposition.”

Trump 2.0: an assault on science anywhere is an assault on science everywhere US President Donald Trump is taking a wrecking ball to science and to international institutions. The global research community must take a stand against these attacks.

Inexplicably, US administration has launched an unprecedented assault on science, on research institutions & on vital international organizations & initiatives.

An assault on science anywhere is an assault on science everywhere; the global community must unite
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www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Geoscience Job Title: Associate or Senior Editor, Nature Geoscience Locations: New York, Philadelphia, Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing (Hybrid Working) Application Deadline: March 10th, 2025 About Springer Nature Gro...

Are you an expert in an area of modern climate (including cryosphere) science looking to change to an editorial career? We're hiring (in the USA or China)! *Closing date 10 March*

springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatu...