Aug 2025

• Advisory Board and Contents

TrendsTalk

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  Disability in ecology and evolution

  • Anne Charmantier,
  • Jennifer Lavers,
  • Skye Austin

  In this TrendsTalk series 'Disability in ecology and evolution' in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, we will be hearing from people about their experiences being disabled in ecology and evolution. We are asking ecologists and evolutionary biologists with disabilities what the community could do to make our field more inclusive – these changes can be very practical things (e.g., large fonts), they could be institutional, or involve people’s attitudes and beliefs. If you identify as disabled or have a chronic condition and would like to share your thoughts, please get in touch – [email protected] , we would love to hear from you.

Science & Society

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  Aquatic biological invasions exacerbate nutritional and health inequities

  • Josie South,
  • Luca Sabini,
  • Zarah Pattison,
  • Jordan P. Cuff

  Open Access

  Fish are a critical source of accessible nutrition. However, when non-native species introduced through aquaculture establish in the wild, they inevitably alter the structure of ecological networks. This could have unprecedented outcomes for nutrient and toxin accumulation when aquatic food is consumed by humans, with socioeconomically variable impacts.

Letters

• Denying that we may be experiencing the start of the Sixth Mass Extinction paves the way for it to happen

  • Robert H. Cowie,
  • Philippe Bouchet,
  • Benoît Fontaine

  Arguing that we are not currently experiencing a Sixth Mass Extinction, or at least playing down its possibility, gives support to those who would happily allow it to happen. Wiens and Saban [1], in a critique of the notion that we are already enmeshed in the Sixth Mass Extinction, cited a number of publications that have appeared over the last decade or more, including one of our own [2]. However, in that paper, we were careful not to state that we are witnessing the Sixth Mass Extinction, since, as Wiens and Saban [1] emphasized, we are not near the traditional, admittedly overly simplistic, though perhaps usefully heuristic, threshold for the definition of a mass extinction: 75% of all species going extinct in a short timeframe [3].
• Proponents of the Sixth Mass Extinction admit it is unsupported

  • John J. Wiens,
  • Kristen E. Saban

  We respond here to the criticism of our recent paper in TREE [1] by Cowie et al. [2]. We start by noting our great appreciation for the work by those authors in documenting the current extinction crisis in snails. However, vehemently arguing for a Sixth Mass Extinction (6ME), without adequate scientific evidence, may damage the credibility of conservation biology and science in general.
• A process-based understanding of ecosystem buffering against stressors: response to Kong et al.

  • Pablo Villalva,
  • Jeppe Aagaard Kristensen,
  • Signe Normand

  Understanding how ecosystems function, and how they respond to multiple, interacting stressors, is a core challenge in earth system science (ESS). Recent advances have emphasized the importance of not only identifying stressors [1,2], but also exploring how certain processes may buffer against their effects [3,4]. In this context, the recent article in TREE by Kong et al. [5] provides a timely and valuable synthesis, illustrating how networks of interactions and feedbacks between biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems can increase their resistance to anthropogenic stressors.

Spotlight

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  Sex chromosome evolution in action in fourspine sticklebacks

  • Beatriz Vicoso

  Open Access

  The suppression of recombination between young X and Y chromosomes is a crucial step in their evolution, but why it occurs is not known. The detailed characterization of the polymorphic sex chromosomes of the fourspine stickleback by Liu et al. promises to shed new light on this longstanding question.

Forums

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  Defining biodiversity data

  • Eric Garnier,
  • Dominique Pelletier,
  • Philip Roche,
  • Rodolphe Rougerie,
  • contributing members of the SC PNDB (Scientific Council of the Pôle National des Données de la Biodiversité),
  • Sandrine Pavoine

  It is crucial to document biodiversity data and to take actions to halt the ongoing massive loss of biodiversity. Yet, these data are poorly defined. We propose a definition of biodiversity data and discuss its implications for data management, enabling enhanced data mobilization for integrated research and efficient conservation strategies.
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  Nocturnal pandas: conservation umbrellas protecting nocturnal biodiversity

  • Gregor Kalinkat,
  • Andreas Jechow,
  • Sibylle Schroer,
  • Franz Hölker

  Open Access

  Light pollution is an emerging ecological threat. To mitigate its negative consequences, creative inter- and transdisciplinary solutions and societal interactions are needed. To this end, we introduce nocturnal umbrella species representative of light-sensitive biodiversity whose protection will safeguard vital ecosystem services and a wide range of co-occurring species.

Opinions

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  Tactical deception in cephalopods: a new framework for understanding cognition

  • Christian Drerup,
  • Elias Garcia-Pelegrin,
  • Clive Wilkins,
  • James E. Herbert-Read,
  • Nicola S. Clayton

  Open Access

  Many animals rely on deception, including signalling misinformation, to gain advantages over others. While many deceptive strategies rely on deterministic patterns or conditioning, some taxa can flexibly adapt their deceptive behaviour to the identity, perspective, or inferred goals of the observer. These context-dependent deceptive strategies could be considered ‘tactical deception’ if they rely on higher-level cognitive processes to execute. Here, we outline why cephalopods, such as octopus and cuttlefish, are ideal candidates to explore the link between deception and cognition. As tactical deception relies on understanding differences in one’s own and another observer’s perspective, we suggest tactical deception as a framework to study aspects of cognition in other animals.
• Featured Article
  

  Integration of plant–soil feedbacks with resilience theory for climate change

  • Jennifer A. Rudgers,
  • Catherine A. Gehring,
  • D. Lee Taylor,
  • M. Dylan Taylor,
  • Y. Anny Chung

  The resilience of ecosystems to climate disruption requires internal feedbacks that support the stability of ecosystem structure and function. Such feedbacks may include sustained interactions between plants and soil [plant–soil feedback (PSF)]. Theoretically, PSF could either boost or degrade ecosystem resilience. Three criteria must be met to attribute resilience to PSF: (i) The presence or amount of PSF must be manipulated; (ii) the ecosystem must face climate disruption after PSF is manipulated; and (iii) PSF must alter the resistance or recovery of ecosystem structure or function to disruption. Several case studies suggest that PSF may support (or degrade) resilience, but no study has yet met all criteria. Doing so could yield novel insights into how aboveground–belowground interactions shape ecosystem resilience to climate change.
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  Using wild-animal tracking for detecting and managing disease outbreaks

  • Idan Talmon,
  • Sasha Pekarsky,
  • Yoav Bartan,
  • Nikki Thie,
  • Wayne M. Getz,
  • Pauline L. Kamath,
  • Rauri C.K. Bowie,
  • Ran Nathan

  Zoonotic diseases increasingly threaten human and wildlife populations, driving a global rise in mass-mortality outbreaks, including the ongoing avian influenza panzootic in wildlife and zoonotic spillovers such as the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic in humans. We introduce a new general framework for detecting and managing pathogen outbreaks using animal movement and sensory biologging data to enhance early outbreak detection, provide near-real-time updates on sentinel host health and mortality, and reveal infection-induced behavioral changes. Integrating past and near-real-time biologging with disease surveillance data also enables prospective assessments of spatiotemporal outbreak dynamics, informs management decisions, helps to mitigate spillover risks, and supports both disease control and wildlife conservation.
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  Ecologically representative Marine Protected Area planning can think globally and act locally

  • Qianshuo Zhao,
  • Mark John Costello

  Open Access

  To date, Marine Protected Area (MPA) planning has been regional. Over half of the current MPA are outside the areas identified as a priority for the protection of global biodiversity in all global and High Seas studies. Using systematic planning, an MPA network could be representative of all marine biodiversity in half of the ocean area and could be representative of between 70% and 90% of biodiversity in 30% of the ocean area. We found that 1% of the ocean was overlapped by the global studies. This 1% should be prioritised internationally and nationally as fully protected MPA which prohibit people from killing wildlife and damaging habitats. Species range maps suggest this 1% may include up to half of some groups of marine species.
• Featured Article
  

  What we (don’t) know about costs in animal contests

  • Paulo Enrique Cardoso Peixoto,
  • Glauco Machado

  Animal contests are central to understanding the evolution of aggressive behaviors and the strategic decisions that shape survival and reproductive success across species. A key aspect of contests is the role of individual costs in determining the outcome. However, despite its obvious meaning, a clear definition of contest costs is lacking. We argue that contest costs have both short- and long-term effects that affect how aggressive behaviors evolve and show that empirical studies rarely connect these two types of cost. To address this gap, we propose methodological approaches that integrate both cost perspectives. As a result, new research integrating short- and long-term contest costs can substantially advance our understanding of strategic decision-making evolution in animal contests.

Reviews

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  The ecology of the oxyscape in coastal ecosystems

  • Marco Fusi,
  • Fabrice Stephenson,
  • Sergio A. Navarrete,
  • Fabian J. Tapia,
  • John L. Largier,
  • Ramona Marasco,
  • Theresa Rueger,
  • Chancey MacDonald,
  • Daniele Daffonchio,
  • Miriam Fernandez,
  • Evie A. Wieters,
  • Jenny Booth,
  • Matteo Daghio,
  • Heather Sugden,
  • Katarina Scaife,
  • Darren M. Evans,
  • Pippa Moore,
  • Simone Baldanzi

  Open Access

  Oxygen is vital for marine life. Despite global ocean deoxygenation, coastal oxygen dynamics are poorly understood. We synthesise the biological and mechanical processes that shape the coastal oxyscape and how organisms respond to it. Oxygen availability can determine species ecophysiology and affect population dynamics and ecological interactions. We propose a novel conceptual framework to reassess oxygen as a resource that is both density-independent and density-dependent, and identify spatial and temporal patterns of competition in coastal ecosystems. Our framework aims to (i) advance eco-evolutionary theory, (ii) improve species distribution models, (iii) inform effective conservation strategies, and (iv) enhance insight into coastal ecosystem-level responses to oxygen fluctuations, thereby advancing our understanding of environmental complexity under climate change, which in turn can guide management.
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  Linking individual animal behavior to species range shifts under climate change

  • Kwasi C. Wrensford,
  • Amy L. Angert,
  • Kaitlyn M. Gaynor

  Climate change has led animal species to shift their ranges to greater elevations, latitudes, and depths, tracking their preferred abiotic niche. However, there is extensive variation in these shifts, and some species have not shifted their ranges at all. Some of this variation arises because species’ distributions not only align with the abiotic environment but are also shaped by biotic factors and movement. Through facilitating rapid adaptive responses to climate-mediated changes to abiotic, biotic, and movement factors, behavioral plasticity allows populations to survive environmental change by persisting in place, while also enabling successful establishment in novel habitats when shifting in space.

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