Many biotic interactions occur via chemical compounds released in the environment. Here the authors review the field of chemical ecology and discuss the importance of investigating landscape-scale chemodiversity as an emergent, dynamic property of biological communities.

Experiments in Nematostella vectensis identify CARDIB as an anthozoan-specific antiviral mediator with sequence and structural homology to the mammalian immune-activating MAVS protein but with opposing, immune-repressing functions.

The appearance of the first animals in the late Ediacaran period was followed by a period of relatively slow diversification. Here the authors show that asexual stoloniferous reproduction would have enabled co-existence of suboptimal interspecific competitors and constrained diversification.

The relative importance of biotic and abiotic factors in clade extinction is unclear. Here the authors identify 2 extinction phases in 12 extinct marine clades, an initial, gradual decline reflecting biotic factors and a second, faster decline reflecting abiotic, environmental factors.

This analysis shows that a widely used satellite-based ecosystem resilience indicator is a real signal linked to plant physiological responses to water deficit, provided that the estimation is based on appropriate methodological choice.

Despite their detrimental health effects, disease loci persist in human populations. This study shows that disease-risk alleles are generally associated with reduced longevity and increased fertility, while alleles that increase both fertility and disease risk have been favoured by natural selection.

A reconstruction of the evolutionary history of passerine body plans over the past ~50 Myr shows rare bursts of phenotypic innovation near the origin of major taxonomic groups that are temporally aligned with periods of increased climatic instability. Similar patterns are reflected in contemporary spatial gradients, where higher-latitude and more seasonal environments show elevated phenotypic rates.

Increasing nutrient diversity is expected to promote microbial diversity. This study shows that more complex environments can enhance resource uptake, intensify competition and lead to microbial biodiversity loss, challenging a central ecological assumption.

Using five years of daily lake plankton monitoring data and empirical dynamic modelling, this study shows that grazing, competition and facilitation reshape the temperature and nutrient conditions required for toxic cyanobacterial blooms.

Ignacio Lazagabaster’s finding of the bones of this poisonous mammal in a desert cave suggested a far greener history of the Judean Desert.

Visionary comparative biomechanist and physiologist who pioneered experimental methods for laboratory and field research into large-mammal locomotor performance and ecology.

Europe’s habitats are changing and so too are its nature laws, and people’s attitudes to biodiversity.