Volume 10 Issue 4, April 2026

Recent expanded Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) listings for sharks and rays are welcome — yet seizing this opportunity requires that international trade policy is treated not as an end point, but as a catalyst for wider regulatory and market-based reforms.

Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP) is a New Zealand company working together with the New Zealand Department of Conservation and other organizations, community groups and Māori groups towards eradicating invasive predator species from the country. We spoke to James Russell, a professor at the University of Auckland and chief scientist at ZIP, and Maggie Nichols, a predator ecologist at ZIP, about the company’s work.

Innovative marine ecologist, passionate science communicator and visionary leader in higher education.

Speciation genomics researcher, author of the combinatorial theory of speciation and passionate birder

An analysis of sediment chemical ratios suggests that the terrestrialization of plants occurred by the Late Ordovician epoch, an event that had profound consequences for Earth’s biogeochemical cycling.

Were there catastrophic population collapses across Europe in the late Neolithic and, if so, what factors were responsible? Ancient DNA from 133 people whose remains were interred in a megalithic gallery grave may shed light on this question.

Brown algae independently evolved complex multicellularity with an atypical chromatin toolkit, including early loss of DNA methylation and PRC2-mediated gene silencing. By profiling histone modifications across five brown algal species, we highlight the emergence of H3K79 methylation as a conserved compensatory repressive system, uncover sex-associated chromatin dynamics, and reconstruct their ancestral epigenetic landscape.

Using a dated phylogeny of 16,585 species, we map floristic endemism patterns in China and identify Central China as a critical, overlooked conservation priority. We advocate for the designation of this area as a global biodiversity hotspot to safeguard its unique flora and high endemism from further habitat loss.

The authors review recent archaeological and palaeoanthropological discoveries from China and discuss how they change our understanding of human evolution.

This Review discusses recent advances in the molecular evolution of vertebrate organs, including rates of evolution of organs and cell types, molecular mechanisms of organ evolution and how complex traits contributed to the diversification of vertebrates.

A shift in organic carbon to total phosphorus (C_org/P_total) ratios in marine siliciclastic strata from approximately 455 million years ago suggests an earlier-than-previously-thought spread of land plants and their impact on the Earth system, based on analogy with extant C/P ratios of terrestrial and marine organic matter.

Phylogenomic analyses of newly sequenced and published decapodiform cephalopods separate open-ocean and coastal shallow-water clades, following rapid cladogenesis from the mid-Cretaceous.

Analysis of ancient human genomes from a Neolithic collective gallery grave in northern France points to population discontinuity and turnover between the third and fourth millennium BC.

Over the past 40 years, 42% of tropical and subtropical ecosystems have experienced an increase in plant reliance on past precipitation, consistent with greening during the late growing season in drylands and drying during the wet-to-dry period in non-drylands.

Soil fauna is an important but often neglected component of terrestrial food webs. Here the authors use a large dataset of stable isotope observations to analyse how soil animal trophic diversity varies across climates and land-use types and identify potential biotic mechanisms.

Using phylogenetic comparative methods across 237 species from disparate phyla, the authors show that species with fast-paced ecologies have higher temporal resolution of perception.

By collating molecular, serological and population data from multiple wildlife surveillance schemes, this paper demonstrates that host species other than the most-affected and sentinel blackbird species must be involved in the transmission of Usutu virus in the Netherlands

The effectiveness of marine protected areas remains uncertain. Studying 2,800 tropical reefs, the authors of this study show that marine protected areas have compensated for only a small portion of human impacts on fish contributions to people and nature, particularly in terms of biomass and biodiversity.

This paper conducted a priority-setting exercise to identify ten questions that define the future direction of blue carbon science. It highlights key gaps, emerging challenges and opportunities for advancing climate mitigation, ecosystem management and evidence-based policy.

Experimental evolution of fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe) in the same environment as a previous experiment with budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) reveals parallel evolution but distinct molecular mechanisms and targets of adaptation in the two species.

Chromatin plays a central role in gene regulation, but chromatin systems are only known for a few model species. This study analyses chromatin regulatory landscapes in brown algal lineages to elucidate the structural organization and evolution of chromatin in these multicellular eukaryotes.

A dated phylogeny of 16,585 vascular plant species native to China reveals three major centres of endemism, including a potential new global biodiversity hotspot.

Phylogenetic and functional analyses across 34 Lepidoptera and 183 plant species show that hexenal isomerases found in Lepidoptera exhibit functional convergence with those found in plants despite having evolved independently from unrelated enzyme families.

Hafiz Muhammed Wariss and Wenjun Li are captivated by a pungent but threatened medicinal plant.