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Polyploidy and subsequent post-polyploid diploidization (PPD) contribute to evolutionary success of plant species. Here, using 11 genomes from all nine subfamilies of Malvaceae as an example, the authors provide evidence to support the “polyploidy for survival and PPD for success” hypothesis.

Climate change can alter when and how animals grow, breed, and migrate, but it is unclear whether this allows populations to persist. This global study shows that shifts in seasonal timing are key to helping vertebrate species maintain population growth under global warming.

Wetlands dominated by larger, slower-growing and highly hydrophytic plants, rather than those with higher functional diversity, tend to store more soil organic carbon.

The hypothesis that species are most abundant at the centre of their geographic range has been widely debated. Here, by analysing over 3,600 species, the authors find that this pattern is generally not true for animals but does occur in some plant groups, being influenced by dispersal traits and evolution.

This study finds that native tree extinctions and alien naturalizations are pushing forests towards fast-growing, resource-demanding species. This global shift could affect carbon storage and ecosystem stability, highlighting the need to protect slow-growing trees.

Tree longevity is thought to increase in harsh environments, but global evidence of drivers is lacking. Here, the authors find two different pathways for tree longevity: slow growth in resource limited environments and increasing tree stature and/or slow growth in competitive environments.

This study reveals that the varying responses of plant biomass to phosphorus addition across plant functional groups align with the leaf economics spectrum, with plants characterized by more acquisitive traits exhibiting stronger responses to phosphorus addition.

An investigation of the subpectoral diverticulum—an inflatable air sac structure between the major flight muscles—in 68 avian species reveals that the respiratory system has a role in the mechanics of flight in soaring birds.

Trees come in all shapes and size, but what drives this incredible variation in tree form remains poorly understood. Using a global dataset, the authors show that a combination of climate, competition, disturbance and evolutionary history shape the crown architecture of the world’s trees and thereby constrain the 3D structure of woody ecosystems.

The relationships between ecosystem productivity and plant diversity are complex. Here, the authors show that sites with high productivity typically have reduced species diversity but high functional and phylogenetic diversity, potentially owing to the creation of additional niche space.

A comprehensive phylogeny and taxonomy for the medically and ecologically important genus Artemisia remain unavailable. Here, the authors combine genomic data with morphological analyses to reconstruct the most comprehensive phylogeny and taxonomy of global Artemisia.

To elucidate the relationship between sociality and longevity, the authors perform phylogenetic and transcriptomic comparative analysis of mammals. They find that group-living species lived longer than solitary species and identify 31 genes, hormones, and immunity-related pathways involved in this connection.

Using a globally distributed standardized aerial sampling of fungal spores, we show that the hyperdiverse kingdom of fungi follows globally highly predictable spatial and temporal dynamics, with seasonality in both species richness and community composition increasing with latitude.

Cratonavis zhui, a bird from the Early Cretaceous of China, preserves a combination of non-avialan theropod skull features and a bird-like post-cranial skeleton.

By analysing phenological shifts among > 2,000 insect pollinator species in Europe, the authors show that flight dates have become earlier and flight lengths shorter over the past 60 years, potentially altering continental-scale pollinator function.

Despite the profound knowledge of sex pheromones, little is known about the coevolutionary mechanisms and constraints on their production and detection. Whole-genome sequences from 99 drosophilids, with chemical and behavioural data, show that sex pheromones and their cognate olfactory channels evolve rapidly and independently.

Heterostylous plants have floral morphs bearing female and male sex organs at reciprocal heights. Here the authors show that, across angiosperms, heterostyly is associated with tubed flowers pollinated by long-tongued insects, supporting the Darwinian hypothesis about precise pollen transfer between heterostylous morphs.

Epiphytes have larger ranges than closely related terrestrial species. However, a large proportion of species in epiphyte-rich clades are rare with small range sizes, regardless of their lifeform.

Wood density is an important plant trait. Data from 1.1 million forest inventory plots and 10,703 tree species show a latitudinal gradient in wood density, with temperature and soil moisture explaining variation at the global scale and disturbance also having a role at the local level.

Niche conservatism may link community assembly to biogeographic history. Seido et al.find that the geographic origins of locally co-occurring trees explain 50% of the variation in species’ hydraulic niches, linking local community structure to species distributions millions of years before dispersal.

Neural architecture may be shaped by selection, but is likely also constrained by development. Here, Keesey and colleagues find an inverse relationship between allocation towards visual and olfactory sensory systems across the genus Drosophila, which may reflect a developmental trade-off.

Many species of reptiles are threatened with extinction. This analysis on 259 species of turtles, tortoises and crocodilians identifies anthropogenic threats that disproportionally affect species with certain life history strategies and others that affect all species similarly.

Garden bird feeding is a prolific human activity that provides a reliable foraging opportunity to wild birds. Here the authors use a 40-year data set to show that large-scale restructuring of garden bird communities and growth in urban bird populations can be linked to changing feeding practices.

The relationships that control seed production in trees are key to understand evolutionary pressures that have shaped forests. A global synthesis of fecundity data reveals that while seed production is not constrained by a strict size-number trade-off, it is influenced by taxonomy and nutrient allocation.

An analysis of behavioural, eco-morphological and genomic data in 60 species of Lake Tanganyika cichlids reveals a remarkable diversity of temporal activity patterns across species, suggesting that temporal niche partitioning may have played a role in the adaptive diversification of this group.

A new method to quantify three masting components from individual tree-years has revealed that globally, masting is uncommon in tree species that depend on mutualist dispersers, with its distribution further mediated by climate and nutrient availability.

A phylogenetic analysis reveals the evolutionary history of 5mC methyltransferases in fungi and finds that fungi lack the canonical gene-body methylation seen in other taxa.

The relative importance of evolutionary history and ecology for traits that drive ecosystem processes is poorly understood. Analyzing nine traits associated with fish stoichiometry from 1,572 individuals yields multiple lines of evidence that phylogeny is a critical determinant of nutrient cycling in coral reefs.

The virulence of extra-intestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli is associated with multiple different genes in different lineages. Here, Royer et al. show that the emergence of virulence is associated with acquisition of the siderophore-encoding high-pathogenicity island (HPI), and full virulence is associated with the additional presence of the aer or sit operons.

There is mixed evidence for how temperature affects diversification rates. Here, authors use a supermatrix of nearly 20,000 rosid species, comprising almost a quarter of flowering plants, to show that tropical groups are older and speciated twice as slowly as their counterparts from cooler climates.

The functions of color in fungi are not well characterized. Here, Krah and colleagues investigate the color of mushroom assemblages across Europe and show relationships with climate, nutritional mode (saprotrophic and ectomycorrhizal) and seasonality.

A 4 °C global temperature increase would push 7.5% of amphibian species beyond their physiological limits.

Fire has shaped plant life for millions of years, but flammability as an inherited trait has been difficult to discern. This Letter reveals several predictors in the evolution of plant flammability.

Microbial maximum growth rates vary widely across species, and their measurement is challenging, especially for uncultivated organisms. Here, Xu, Zakem & Weissman present Phydon, a framework for genome-based maximum growth rate prediction that combines codon statistics and phylogenetic information to enhance the precision of the estimates.

An interrogation of almost 2 billion occurrence records for terrestrial plants and animals derived from either primary voucher specimens or direct observations, including citizen-science data, reveals differences in their coverage of global biodiversity patterns.

Thousands of plants are known to be edible, yet we lack nutritional data for many of them. This study predicts the B-vitamin profiles for edible plants and finds many have the potential to help alleviate deficiencies and should be conservation priorities.

Over 20 species of geographically and phylogenetically diverse bird species produce convergent whining vocalizations towards their respective brood parasites. Model presentation and playback experiments across multiple continents suggest that these learned calls provoke an innate response even among allopatric species.

Although common in ants and termites, worker differentiation into physical castes is rare in social bees and unknown in wasps. Here, Grüter and colleagues find a guard caste in ten species of stingless bees and show that the evolution of the guard caste is associated with parasitization by robber bees.

Understanding patterns in woody plant trait relationships and trade-offs is challenging. Here, by applying machine learning and data imputation methods to a global database of georeferenced trait measurements, the authors unravel key relationships in tree functional traits at the global scale.

Stomata enable gas exchange for photosynthesis but close to promote survival during drought. Here, Henry et al. provide evidence for a safety-efficiency trade-off whereby plants with greater stomatal conductance under well-watered conditions are more sensitive to stomatal closure during dehydration.

Traits that facilitate adaptive responses to novel environments may facilitate global radiations. Here, the authors describe diversification dynamics of crows, finding that their global radiation coincides with high rates of phenotypic and climatic niche evolution.

The authors examine life-history differences between terrestrial versus aquatic vertebrates and their mode of reproduction. They find that land vertebrate life histories are more constrained than aquatic ones. In particular, the results suggest a wider diversity of reproductive strategies in aquatic habitats than in terrestrial ones.

Developmental duration is a key life-history trait. Cooney et al. compile data on 3096 bird species to quantify the degree to which phylogenetic history, body size and ecological variables like predation risk or breeding phenology influence variation in developmental duration.