-
Nature Jun 2012The most unique feature of Earth is the existence of life, and the most extraordinary feature of life is its diversity. Approximately 9 million types of plants, animals,... (Review)
Review
The most unique feature of Earth is the existence of life, and the most extraordinary feature of life is its diversity. Approximately 9 million types of plants, animals, protists and fungi inhabit the Earth. So, too, do 7 billion people. Two decades ago, at the first Earth Summit, the vast majority of the world's nations declared that human actions were dismantling the Earth's ecosystems, eliminating genes, species and biological traits at an alarming rate. This observation led to the question of how such loss of biological diversity will alter the functioning of ecosystems and their ability to provide society with the goods and services needed to prosper.
Topics: Animals; Biodiversity; Climate Change; Consensus; Ecology; Extinction, Biological; Human Activities; Humans
PubMed: 22678280
DOI: 10.1038/nature11148 -
Trends in Ecology & Evolution Dec 2018The field of ecology has focused on understanding characteristics of natural systems in a manner as free as possible from biases of human observers. However, demand is...
The field of ecology has focused on understanding characteristics of natural systems in a manner as free as possible from biases of human observers. However, demand is growing for knowledge of human-nature interactions at the level of individual people. This is particularly driven by concerns around human health consequences due to changes in positive and negative interactions. This requires attention to the biased ways in which people encounter and experience other organisms. Here we define such a 'personalised ecology', and discuss its connections to other aspects of the field. We propose a framework of focal research topics, shaped by whether the unit of analysis is a single person, a single population, or multiple populations, and whether a human or nature perspective is foremost.
Topics: Ecology; Ecosystem; Humans
PubMed: 30449304
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2018.09.012 -
Heredity Oct 2016
Topics: Animals; Ecology; Evolution, Molecular; Genetics, Population; Linkage Disequilibrium; Models, Genetic; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Population Density
PubMed: 27553454
DOI: 10.1038/hdy.2016.75 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Jun 2009Evolutionary ecologists and population biologists have recently considered that ecological and evolutionary changes are intimately linked and can occur on the same...
Evolutionary ecologists and population biologists have recently considered that ecological and evolutionary changes are intimately linked and can occur on the same time-scale. Recent theoretical developments have shown how the feedback between ecological and evolutionary dynamics can be linked, and there are now empirical demonstrations showing that ecological change can lead to rapid evolutionary change. We also have evidence that microevolutionary change can leave an ecological signature. We are at a stage where the integration of ecology and evolution is a necessary step towards major advances in our understanding of the processes that shape and maintain biodiversity. This special feature about 'eco-evolutionary dynamics' brings together biologists from empirical and theoretical backgrounds to bridge the gap between ecology and evolution and provide a series of contributions aimed at quantifying the interactions between these fundamental processes.
Topics: Biological Evolution; Ecology; Ecosystem; Environment; Genotype; Population Dynamics; Selection, Genetic
PubMed: 19414463
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2009.0027 -
Current Biology : CB Nov 2021Interview with Shinichi Nakagawa, who uses behavioural observations as well as molecular and physiological tools, combined with statistical methodologies, to answer...
Interview with Shinichi Nakagawa, who uses behavioural observations as well as molecular and physiological tools, combined with statistical methodologies, to answer inter-disciplinary questions on evolution, ecology, social behaviour and (bio)medicine at the University of New South Wales.
Topics: Ecology
PubMed: 34813744
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.10.037 -
Trends in Ecology & Evolution Oct 2022Insects are the most diverse group of animals on Earth, but their small size and high diversity have always made them challenging to study. Recent technological advances... (Review)
Review
Insects are the most diverse group of animals on Earth, but their small size and high diversity have always made them challenging to study. Recent technological advances have the potential to revolutionise insect ecology and monitoring. We describe the state of the art of four technologies (computer vision, acoustic monitoring, radar, and molecular methods), and assess their advantages, current limitations, and future potential. We discuss how these technologies can adhere to modern standards of data curation and transparency, their implications for citizen science, and their potential for integration among different monitoring programmes and technologies. We argue that they provide unprecedented possibilities for insect ecology and monitoring, but it will be important to foster international standards via collaboration.
Topics: Animals; Ecology; Insecta
PubMed: 35811172
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.06.001 -
Nature Communications Nov 2022is now welcoming Registered Report submissions from all fields of research (read our editorial here), and we want to encourage submissions from the ecology and...
is now welcoming Registered Report submissions from all fields of research (read our editorial here), and we want to encourage submissions from the ecology and evolutionary biology fields. To introduce this format to researchers in those fields, we interviewed two founding members of the Society for Open, Reliable, and Transparent Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (SORTEE), a network of researchers aimed at improving research practices in ecology, evolutionary biology, and related fields: (Professor of Evolutionary Ecology and Synthesis at the University of New South Wales, UNSW) and (Secretary of SORTEE, postdoctoral researcher and fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin). Below, they share their thoughts on how the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology can advance in reproducibility and transparency.
Topics: Ecology
PubMed: 36443298
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32900-1 -
Science Advances Jun 2023Ecological systems are quintessentially complex systems. Understanding and being able to predict phenomena typical of complex systems is, therefore, critical to progress... (Review)
Review
Ecological systems are quintessentially complex systems. Understanding and being able to predict phenomena typical of complex systems is, therefore, critical to progress in ecology and conservation amidst escalating global environmental change. However, myriad definitions of complexity and excessive reliance on conventional scientific approaches hamper conceptual advances and synthesis. Ecological complexity may be better understood by following the solid theoretical basis of complex system science (CSS). We review features of ecological systems described within CSS and conduct bibliometric and text mining analyses to characterize articles that refer to ecological complexity. Our analyses demonstrate that the study of complexity in ecology is a highly heterogeneous, global endeavor that is only weakly related to CSS. Current research trends are typically organized around basic theory, scaling, and macroecology. We leverage our review and the generalities identified in our analyses to suggest a more coherent and cohesive way forward in the study of complexity in ecology.
Topics: Ecology; Ecosystem; Data Mining; Bibliometrics; Animals; Human Activities
PubMed: 37343095
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abq4207 -
Journal of the Royal Society, Interface Jun 2017Scientists are always on the lookout for new modalities of information which could reveal new biological features that are useful for deciphering the complexity of... (Review)
Review
Scientists are always on the lookout for new modalities of information which could reveal new biological features that are useful for deciphering the complexity of biological systems. Here, we introduce Raman spectroscopy as a prime candidate for ecology and evolution. To encourage the integration of this microscopy technique in the field of ecology and evolution, it is crucial to discuss first how Raman spectroscopy fits within the conceptual, technical and pragmatic considerations of ecology and evolution. In this paper, we show that the spectral information holds reliable indicators of intra- and interspecies variations, which can be related to the environment, selective pressures and fitness. Moreover, we show how the technical and pragmatic aspects of this modality (non-destructive, non-labelling, speed, relative low cost, etc.) enable it to be combined with more conventional methodologies. With this paper, we hope to open new avenues of research and extend the scope of available methodologies used in ecology and evolution.
Topics: Animals; Biological Evolution; Ecology; Ecosystem; Species Specificity; Spectrum Analysis, Raman
PubMed: 28592661
DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2017.0174 -
Current Opinion in Genetics &... Aug 2022Improved and more accessible genome-sequencing approaches have allowed the analysis of large sets of natural yeast isolates. As a consequence, this unprecedented level... (Review)
Review
Improved and more accessible genome-sequencing approaches have allowed the analysis of large sets of natural yeast isolates. As a consequence, this unprecedented level of description of yeast-genome characteristics and variations in natural environments has provided crucial insights on yeast ecology and evolution. Here, we review some of the most relevant and intriguing aspects of yeast evolution pointed out, thanks to the combination of yeast ecology and genomics, and critically examine the resulting improvement of our knowledge on this field. Only integrated approaches, taking into consideration not only the characteristics of the microbe but also those of the hosting environment, will significantly move forward the exploration of yeast diversity, ecology, and evolution.
Topics: Ecology; Environment; Genome; Genomics; Saccharomyces cerevisiae
PubMed: 35691146
DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2022.101922