Journal•ISSN: 2397-334X
Nature Ecology and Evolution
Nature Portfolio
About: Nature Ecology and Evolution is an academic journal published by Nature Portfolio. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Medicine & Biology. It has an ISSN identifier of 2397-334X. Over the lifetime, 1860 publications have been published receiving 79333 citations. The journal is also known as: Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Topics: Medicine, Biology, Biodiversity, Population, Gene
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TL;DR: An expert elicitation survey estimates yield losses for the five major food crops worldwide, suggesting that the highest losses are associated with food-deficit regions with fast-growing populations and frequently with emerging or re-emerging pests and diseases.
Abstract: Crop pathogens and pests reduce the yield and quality of agricultural production. They cause substantial economic losses and reduce food security at household, national and global levels. Quantitative, standardized information on crop losses is difficult to compile and compare across crops, agroecosystems and regions. Here, we report on an expert-based assessment of crop health, and provide numerical estimates of yield losses on an individual pathogen and pest basis for five major crops globally and in food security hotspots. Our results document losses associated with 137 pathogens and pests associated with wheat, rice, maize, potato and soybean worldwide. Our yield loss (range) estimates at a global level and per hotspot for wheat (21.5% (10.1–28.1%)), rice (30.0% (24.6–40.9%)), maize (22.5% (19.5–41.1%)), potato (17.2% (8.1–21.0%)) and soybean (21.4% (11.0–32.4%)) suggest that the highest losses are associated with food-deficit regions with fast-growing populations, and frequently with emerging or re-emerging pests and diseases. Our assessment highlights differences in impacts among crop pathogens and pests and among food security hotspots. This analysis contributes critical information to prioritize crop health management to improve the sustainability of agroecosystems in delivering services to societies. An expert elicitation survey estimates yield losses for the five major food crops worldwide, suggesting that the highest losses are associated with food-deficit regions with fast-growing populations and frequently with emerging or re-emerging pests and diseases.
1,376 citations
TL;DR: The concept of microplastic as a complex, dynamic mixture of polymers and additives, to which organic material and contaminants can successively bind to form an ‘ecocorona’, increasing the density and surface charge of particles and changing their bioavailability and toxicity is developed.
Abstract: Marine microscopic plastic (microplastic) debris is a modern societal issue, illustrating the challenge of balancing the convenience of plastic in daily life with the prospect of causing ecological harm by careless disposal. Here we develop the concept of microplastic as a complex, dynamic mixture of polymers and additives, to which organic material and contaminants can successively bind to form an 'ecocorona', increasing the density and surface charge of particles and changing their bioavailability and toxicity. Chronic exposure to microplastic is rarely lethal, but can adversely affect individual animals, reducing feeding and depleting energy stores, with knock-on effects for fecundity and growth. We explore the extent to which ecological processes could be impacted, including altered behaviours, bioturbation and impacts on carbon flux to the deep ocean. We discuss how microplastic compares with other anthropogenic pollutants in terms of ecological risk, and consider the role of science and society in tackling this global issue in the future.
1,089 citations
TL;DR: Both patterns are unlikely to be the result of ecological drift, but are inevitable emergent properties of open microbial systems resulting mainly from biotic interactions and environmental and spatial processes.
Abstract: Microbial communities often exhibit incredible taxonomic diversity, raising questions regarding the mechanisms enabling species coexistence and the role of this diversity in community functioning. On the one hand, many coexisting but taxonomically distinct microorganisms can encode the same energy-yielding metabolic functions, and this functional redundancy contrasts with the expectation that species should occupy distinct metabolic niches. On the other hand, the identity of taxa encoding each function can vary substantially across space or time with little effect on the function, and this taxonomic variability is frequently thought to result from ecological drift between equivalent organisms. Here, we synthesize the powerful paradigm emerging from these two patterns, connecting the roles of function, functional redundancy and taxonomy in microbial systems. We conclude that both patterns are unlikely to be the result of ecological drift, but are inevitable emergent properties of open microbial systems resulting mainly from biotic interactions and environmental and spatial processes.
790 citations
Oklahoma State University–Stillwater1, University of Sydney2, Macquarie University3, University of Utah4, Max Planck Society5, University of Alberta6, University of California, Irvine7, University of New Mexico8, University of Nebraska–Lincoln9, United States Geological Survey10, University of Washington11, University of Arizona12, University of Sheffield13, University of Tasmania14, ETH Zurich15, University of California, Davis16, Los Alamos National Laboratory17, Nanchang Institute of Technology18, University of Wyoming19, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences20, University of Coimbra21, Northern Arizona University22, United States Forest Service23, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research24, University of São Paulo25, University of Oxford26, University of California, Santa Cruz27, Humboldt State University28, Fordham University29, Centre national de la recherche scientifique30, University of Edinburgh31, Hobart Corporation32, Spanish National Research Council33, University of Chile34, Idaho State University35, University of Basilicata36, Colorado State University37, United States Department of Agriculture38, University of Montana39, University of Delaware40, Duke University41, University of Western Ontario42, Sonora Institute of Technology43, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory44
TL;DR: It is shown that, across multiple tree species, loss of xylem conductivity above 60% is associated with mortality, while carbon starvation is not universal, indicating that evidence supporting carbon starvation was not universal.
Abstract: Widespread tree mortality associated with drought has been observed on all forested continents and global change is expected to exacerbate vegetation vulnerability. Forest mortality has implications for future biosphere-atmosphere interactions of carbon, water and energy balance, and is poorly represented in dynamic vegetation models. Reducing uncertainty requires improved mortality projections founded on robust physiological processes. However, the proposed mechanisms of drought-induced mortality, including hydraulic failure and carbon starvation, are unresolved. A growing number of empirical studies have investigated these mechanisms, but data have not been consistently analysed across species and biomes using a standardized physiological framework. Here, we show that xylem hydraulic failure was ubiquitous across multiple tree taxa at drought-induced mortality. All species assessed had 60% or higher loss of xylem hydraulic conductivity, consistent with proposed theoretical and modelled survival thresholds. We found diverse responses in non-structural carbohydrate reserves at mortality, indicating that evidence supporting carbon starvation was not universal. Reduced non-structural carbohydrates were more common for gymnosperms than angiosperms, associated with xylem hydraulic vulnerability, and may have a role in reducing hydraulic function. Our finding that hydraulic failure at drought-induced mortality was persistent across species indicates that substantial improvement in vegetation modelling can be achieved using thresholds in hydraulic function.
651 citations
Wildlife Conservation Society1, University of Queensland2, University of Northern British Columbia3, Canadian Forest Service4, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada5, Imperial College London6, University of Maryland, College Park7, American Museum of Natural History8, James Cook University9, Woods Hole Research Center10, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences11, Forest Trends12, United Nations Development Programme13, Australian National University14
TL;DR: It is argued that maintaining and, where possible, restoring the integrity of dwindling intact forests is an urgent priority for current global efforts to halt the ongoing biodiversity crisis, slow rapid climate change and achieve sustainability goals.
Abstract: As the terrestrial human footprint continues to expand, the amount of native forest that is free from significant damaging human activities is in precipitous decline. There is emerging evidence that the remaining intact forest supports an exceptional confluence of globally significant environmental values relative to degraded forests, including imperilled biodiversity, carbon sequestration and storage, water provision, indigenous culture and the maintenance of human health. Here we argue that maintaining and, where possible, restoring the integrity of dwindling intact forests is an urgent priority for current global efforts to halt the ongoing biodiversity crisis, slow rapid climate change and achieve sustainability goals. Retaining the integrity of intact forest ecosystems should be a central component of proactive global and national environmental strategies, alongside current efforts aimed at halting deforestation and promoting reforestation.
597 citations