Search

An analysis of the impact of logging intensity on biodiversity in tropical forests in Sabah, Malaysia, identifies a threshold of tree biomass removal below which logged forests still have conservation value.

Citizen science data are increasingly used in biodiversity monitoring. This study applies a digital twin approach to biodiversity monitoring using a large citizen science dataset on birds from Finland, demonstrating its potential for ecological forecasting.

Camera-trap images of 55 mammal species in 14 logging concessions in western equatorial Africa reveal greater animal encounter rates in FSC-certified than in non-certified forests, especially for large mammals and species of high conservation priority.

An analysis of 24,202 critical cases of COVID-19 identifies potentially druggable targets in inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

While conservation biologists debate whether to move organisms threatened by the warming climate, one forester in British Columbia is already doing it. Emma Marris reports.

Enhanced tropical forest productivity, facilitated by increasing carbon dioxide concentrations, could act as a substantial carbon sink. However, a long-term field experiment shows that increased leaf-litter inputs to the soil as productivity rises could stimulate the release of significant amounts of soil carbon, partially offsetting predicted gains in carbon storage.

Vassy, Dornisch and colleagues developed a genomics-based prostate cancer risk model to support a randomized clinical trial of precision screening in a national healthcare system.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

Analysis of changes in functional groups of species and potential drivers of environmental change for protected areas across the world’s major tropical regions reveals large variation between reserves that have been effective and those experiencing an erosion of biodiversity, and shows that environmental changes immediately outside reserves are nearly as important as those inside in determining their ecological fate.

Studies of in situ woody surface methane exchange in upland tropical, temperate and boreal forest trees find that methane uptake can result in a net tree methane sink that is globally significant and demonstrates an additional climate benefit provided by trees.

A high-resolution transcriptomic and epigenomic cell-type atlas of the developing mouse visual cortex from embryonic to postnatal development is presented, providing a real-time dynamic molecular map associated with individual cell types and specific developmental events.

In a combined analysis of two large patient cohorts, three peripheral consensus transcriptomic subtypes of sepsis are identified, which can be linked to an 18-gene classifier associated with different odds of mortality and may offer a way to tailor care for patients with sepsis.

Cancer detection is challenging, especially in patients with diffuse symptoms that overlap with non-malignant conditions. Here, the authors develop a proteomics- and minimally invasive blood sampling-based classification model as a triage tool to identify and prioritize individuals at high cancer risk that would benefit the most from rapid and highly sensitive diagnostic modalities.

Białowieża is one of the best-preserved woodlands in Europe. But is it a good reference point for what Europe looked like 5,000 years ago? Emma Marris goes deep into the forest to find out.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

Environmental variability is one potential driver of behavioural and cultural diversity in humans and other animals. Here, the authors show that chimpanzee behavioural diversity is higher in habitats that are more seasonal and historically unstable, and in savannah woodland relative to forested sites.

The Sun’s fiery surface, a tattooed tardigrade, rare red lightning and more.

Data collected from more than 2,000 taxa provide an unparalleled opportunity to quantify how extreme wildfires affect biodiversity, revealing that the largest effects on plants and animals were in areas with frequent or recent past fires and within extensively burnt areas.

‘Safe and sustainable by design’ is a framework to guide innovations for chemicals and materials. Here the authors apply this approach for the synthesis of a polyester with desirable mechanical and thermal properties from a non-oestrogenic bisphenol.

It is not well understood why in resource-poor settings some children fail to gain weight and stunting increases following hospital discharge. Here, the authors show inflammation driven by illness, enteropathy and social factors redirects recovery away from linear growth and limits weight gain.

Oxygen in shallow shelf waters rose linearly with atmospheric oxygen in the Neoproterozoic era, potentially driving the first radiation of marine animals, but widespread ocean oxygenation came later, according to reconstructions of oxygen levels and marine productivity.

Aqueduct-supported cultivation of rice resulted in liquefaction of the alluvial soils that led to the landslides triggered by the Palu 2018 earthquake, according to satellite analyses.

Keeping it real.

A 50 microRNA-based dynamic risk score for stratifying individuals with and without type 1 diabetes was developed using samples obtained from multicenter and multiethnic cohorts.

An expert-elicitation process identifies current methodological barriers for monitoring terrestrial biodiversity, and how technological and procedural development of robotic and autonomous systems may contribute to overcoming these challenges.

Insects are declining in many regions. Here the authors show that arthropod biomass losses in Jena Experiment and Biodiversity Exploratories time series are driven more by species loss than by species identity and abundance declines, and are mitigated by high plant diversity and low land-use intensity.

The authors combine fossil occurrence data, phylogenies and climatic niche modelling to explore the palaeobiogeography of early pterosaurs and their non-flying close relatives, the lagerpetids.

An analysis involving the shotgun sequencing of more than 300 ancient genomes from Eurasia reveals a deep east–west genetic divide from the Black Sea to the Baltic, and provides insight into the distinct effects of the Neolithic transition on either side of this boundary.

Openshaw and colleagues find myeloid inflammation and complement activation signatures in patients with long COVID who were previously hospitalized.

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 decision-makers with specific, site-level intervention strategies.

Transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) have identified colorectal cancer (CRC) susceptibility genes. Here, the authors combine two multi-tissue TWAS methods, Mendelian randomisation, and genetic colocalization to identify 37 likely causal CRC susceptibility genes.

The gut microbiota can influence the severity of pneumonia through the production of metabolites. In this translational study, the authors investigate the effects of tryptophan metabolites, specifically indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), on pneumonia.

Polygenic scores for body mass index and obesity constructed using data from 5 million people with different ancestries were associated with distinct weight gain trajectories from early childhood to adulthood.

Childhood mortality is a global health problem. Plasma lipopolysaccharide levels, inflammatory stool biomarkers and proteomics were used in a nested case-cohort in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to predict mortality and decode immune mechanisms.

We typically assume that we lose the ability to react to the outside world when sleeping. Oudiette et al. show that, in most sleep stages, humans can use their facial muscles to respond to spoken words during transient ‘connected’ periods.

Early detection could improve prognosis for preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction, major causes of maternal/fetal morbidity and mortality. Here they show that Leptin and Pappalysin2 cell free RNAs are elevated in maternal plasma in cases of PE + FGR.

Analysis of soundscape data from 139 globally distributed sites reveals that sounds of biological origin exhibit predictable rhythms depending on location and season, whereas sounds of anthropogenic origin are less predictable. Comparisons between paired urban–rural sites show that urban green spaces are noisier and dominated by sounds of technological origin.

Observational studies have found overlap between Alzheimer’s disease and other diseases and phenotypes, although the causal relationships are unclear. Here, the authors perform an age-stratified phenome-wide association study of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) genetic liability and follow-up Mendelian randomization analyses to examine whether these phenotypes have a causal effect on AD.

Transcriptomic, proteomic and immune repertoire profiling reveals distinct peripheral features of MIS-C and pediatric COVID-19, including elevated soluble spike protein levels, more pronounced type II IFN-dependent gene expression and a higher B cell mutation rate in patients with MIS-C.

Contemporary fires are less frequent than those occurring in the past, but their severity results in higher tree mortality, based on a comparison of historical and contemporary fire severity using dendrochronology, satellite, and field-derived data from forests in Arizona and New Mexico, USA.