Organisms are facing multiple, potentially interacting stressors in natural populations. The ability of populations coping with combined stressors depends on their tolerance to individual stressors and how stressors interact, which may not be correctly captured in controlled laboratory settings. One reason for this is that the microbial communities in laboratory settings often differ from the natural

Anthropogenic perturbations to the nitrogen cycle, primarily through use of synthetic fertilizers, is driving an unprecedented increase in the emission of nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas and an ozone depleting substance, causing urgency in identifying the sources and sinks of N2O. Microbial denitrification is a primary contributor to biotic production of N2O in anoxic regions of soil,

Plasmids are a ubiquitous feature of bacterial genomes, but the forces driving genes and phenotypes to become associated with plasmids are poorly understood. To address this problem, we compared the fitness effects of chromosomal and plasmid genes in the plant symbiont Rhizobium leguminosarum. The relative abundance of beneficial genes on plasmids was very low compared to the chromosome across niches

Microbes inhabit natural environments that are remarkably dynamic. Therefore, microbes harbor regulated genetic mechanisms to sense shifts in conditions and induce the appropriate responses. Recent studies suggest that the initial evolution of microbes occupying new niches favors mutations in regulatory pathways. However, it is not clear how this evolution is affected by how quickly conditions change

In their study, Andrew Hoffman from Columbia University in the USA and colleagues from the GHOST project team used satellite data in combination with image segmentation methods and crevasse modelling to quantify changes in surface crevasses in the Amundsen Sea embayment between 2015 and 2022. They find that crevasses have grown on Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers and now extend further inland than

Understanding citizens’ views on who is responsible for climate action helps clarify their expectations around climate commitments and responses. However, little is known about how responsibility is perceived across low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Africa. Without clear attribution of responsibility, growing climate vulnerability and risk cannot be effectively or equitably addressed

Ariel Ortiz-Bobea of Cornell University, USA, and colleagues quantified the public R&D growth needed to compensate for the future climate change impacts on US agricultural productivity. First, based on historical data, they used econometric models to quantify the effect of R&D spending and weather fluctuations on national agricultural total factor productivity (TFP). Then they estimated that, to offset

Rivers play an important role in the transport and alteration of sediment and organic carbon. Yet, the role of floodplains in terrestrial carbon storage is poorly quantified as rivers vary in their erosion rates, transport and deposition of sediment, influenced by meanders, width and depth, among others. To better understand what controls the timescales for carbon and sediment storage in river floodplains

Many voices are needed in the climate change discussion to reach across society. Pope Francis is one example who offered his voice and support, in the conversation that needs to continue.

It has long been recognized that the highest-emitting regions should bear disproportionate responsibility for climate action. Now, a study shows how the highest-income individuals have specifically contributed to climate impacts worldwide.

Correction to: Nature Climate Change https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02294-1, published online 24 March 2025.

Correction to: Nature Ecology & Evolution https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02683-x, published online 22 April 2025.

Wetlands can be a significant source of N2O under current global climate change regime with the soil-water interface representing a biogeochemical hotspot for microbial activity. However, the role of soil-water interface in controlling N2O emissions remains poorly understood. We hypothesized that the millimeter-scale redox gradient across the soil-water interface generates corresponding distinct niche

Studies of microbial interactions often emphasize interactions with large, easily measurable growth differences and short-term ecological outcomes spanning just a few generations. However, more subtle interactions, such as those without obvious phenotypes, may play a significant role in shaping both the short-term ecological dynamics and the long-term evolutionary trajectories of microbial species

The presence of fungi in the coral microbiome is increasingly recognized, yet their potential impact on the holobiont’s health, particularly under stress conditions, remains underexplored. To address this gap, we isolated over 200 strains (predominantly Ascomycota) from the common scleractinian Red Sea coral, Stylophora pistillata. Using conidia from a rare (Stachybotrys chlorohalonata) and a common

The desirability of demand-side options depends on their mitigation potential and well-being implications. Work from the IPCC suggests that demand-side mitigation is estimated to reduce emissions by 40–70% in end-use sectors while being consistent with similar or increased levels of human well-being1. Based on a cost–benefit case study from Beijing, China, Tan-Soo et al.2 show that eight out of 12

replying to S. Berger & F. Creutzig Nature Climate Change https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02330-0 (2025) We are deeply grateful to Berger and Creutzig1 for their thorough review of our study and for providing insightful critiques. Upon careful consideration of their comments, we identify two primary criticisms, which we address individually below.

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Instream structures such as dams and weirs create artificial barriers to the passage of riverine fish, fragmenting their communities and contributing to global declines in freshwater fish biodiversity. Preventing further declines requires the remediation of barriers to restore fish passage, but analysis of fragmented fish communities is necessary to prioritize locations and fish taxa for remediation

Wind is the primary dispersal mechanism of most fungal spores but is rarely considered in studies of fungal communities, limiting inference of assembly mechanisms and forecasting responses to climate change. We compiled wind-connectivity models-'windscapes'-to model potential dispersal of fungal spores at the continental scale and linked them with a molecular dataset of North American soil fungi. Our

Sea cucumbers have been overharvested world-wide, making assessments of their ecological effects challenging, but recent research demonstrated that sea cucumbers increase coral survival via disease suppression and were therefore important for facilitating reef health. The mechanisms underpinning the sea cucumber-coral interaction therefore are not well understood but are likely mediated through sea

Despite abundant literature on pathogenicity and virulence of the opportunistic pathogen Escherichia coli, much less is known about its ecological and evolutionary dynamics as a commensal. Based on two detailed longitudinal datasets on the gut microbiota of healthy adults followed for months to years in France and the USA, we identified a robust trade-off between the ability to establish in a new host

SAR11 bacteria (order Pelagibacterales) are oligotrophs and often the most abundant bacterioplankton in aquatic environments. A subset of sequenced SAR11 genomes, predominantly in the brackish and freshwater SAR11 subclades, contain homologs of pha genes, which in other organisms confer the ability to store carbon and energy via polyhydroxyalkanoate polymers. Here, we investigated the relevance of

Host-associated microbiomes often promote host health, yet the key drivers of microbiome assembly and its consequences for host fitness remain unclear. We aimed to determine the relative roles of host identity versus the environment in driving host-microbiome assembly and the consequences of this variation in assembly for host fitness, which may help predict the resilience of host-associated microbiomes

Unicellular plankton form the foundation of the marine food web, driving carbon fixation and cycling essential biogeochemical elements in marine ecosystems. Carbon biomass, often measured as a bulk property, serves as a common “currency” for ecologists. The increasing availability of metatranscriptomic data presents an opportunity to add taxonomic and functional resolution to ecological models and

The development of ecologically based in vivo microecological formulations for treating Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is a current research focus. Here, we selected three microorganisms—Akkermansia muciniphila (AM), Bacteroides ovatus (BO), and Bifidobacterium breve (BB)—to formulate a mixed bacterial formulation (ABB). Subsequently, we evaluated the ecological interactions among these three

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Dysbiosis of gut microbiota plays a crucial role in acute radiation-induced intestinal injury. However, studies on the influence of gut microbiota on acute radiation-induced intestinal injury are inconsistent. In this study, we established an acute radiation-induced intestinal injury mouse model and performed fecal microbiota transplantation to explore the role of the gut microbiota in acute radiation-induced

DisabledInSTEM is a platform that offers support, mentorship opportunities and shared resources for persons who are navigating science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields with disabilities. We talked to Alyssa Paparella, a PhD candidate at the Baylor College of Medicine, Howard Hughes Medical Institute 2023 Gilliam Fellow, and founder of DisabledInSTEM, about her background and experiences

Relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF) are typically investigated separately in different ecosystem types, often neglecting connections across ecosystem boundaries. Here, we examined the cross‐boundary relationships between terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem function (here productivity in terms of biomass). We collected a dataset from

Cave-dwelling bat species rely on echolocation to perceive their environment, but also experience high levels of acoustic interference from conspecific calls when flying at the same time (especially when emerging from the cave). Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, Goldshtein et al. explore how greater mouse-tailed bats (Rhinopoma microphyllum) cope with acoustic sensory

Long-term selective breeding of crops can result in reduced genetic diversity and high sensitivity to pathogenic diseases. The de novo domestication of the wild relatives of such crops can facilitate the identification and breeding of disease-resistant variants, but this requires knowledge of the evolutionary origins of crop cultivars and specific metabolites or genomic regions that confer disease