ALBERT

Description: How much of something do we need to keep people safe and well? This question is frequently asked by those working in risk management. Across diverse sectors from flood protection to health care, practitioners assess risk as the product of the impact of a given event and the probability of its occurrence. Although these estimates are often uncertain, policy-makers must ultimately make spending decisions aimed at averting these risks, because the costs of inaction to society can be substantial. Biodiversity loss is a similarly critical, yet uncertain, issue. On page 288 of this issue, Newbold et al. (1) quantify global biodiversity losses, providing much-needed information on the encroachment of proposed “safe limits.” Author: Tom H. Oliver

Description: Butterflies are better documented and monitored worldwide than any other nonpest taxon of insects (1). In the United Kingdom alone, volunteer recorders have sampled more than 750,000 km of repeat transects since 1976, equivalent to walking to the Moon and back counting butterflies (2). Such programs are revealing regional extinctions and population declines that began before 1900 (3, 4). In a recent study, Habel et al. report a similar story based on inventories of butterflies and burnet moths since 1840 in a protected area in Bavaria, Germany (5). The results reveal severe species losses: Scarce, specialized butterflies have largely disappeared, leaving ecosystems dominated by common generalist ones. Similar trends are seen across Europe (6) and beyond, with protected areas failing to conserve many species for which they were once famed. Author: Jeremy A. Thomas

Description: Author: Kristen L. Mueller

Description: Author: Valda Vinson

Description: Author: Julia Fahrenkamp-Uppenbrink

Description: On 21 October 2013, the Italian phytosanitary service notified the European Commission (EC) that the plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa had been detected in olive trees near Gallipoli, a tourist destination in Italy's southern region of Apulia (1). This xylem-limited bacterium is spread by insect vectors and causes disease in crops such as grapevines, citrus, coffee, and almond; various ornamentals; and trees such as oaks, elms, and sycamores. Because of the risks of X. fastidiosa being introduced, established, and spread throughout Europe, this species is a regulated quarantine pest. Yet, X. fastidiosa has been left unchecked and has marched northward, leaving destruction in its wake (see the photo) (2). The establishment of X. fastidiosa in Italy has been an agricultural, environmental, political, and cultural disaster. Author: Rodrigo P. P. Almeida

Description: Author: Julia Fahrenkamp-Uppenbrink

Description: Author: Guy Riddihough

Description: Recent dives into Colombia's Cartagena Bay have revealed an unusually resilient coral reef thriving in the polluted waters. But the reef faces a threat: an end to Colombia's decades-long guerrilla war. The government is on the verge of inking a peace deal with its main adversary, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Experts expect peace to lead to a development boom, threatening ecosystems all over the country with deforestation and runoff. A new shipping lane is planned for Cartagena Bay, and construction will mean dredging right through the reef. Researchers believe studying the reef's resiliency could help struggling corals around the world and are racing to collect samples before it's too late. Author: Lizzie Wade

Description: Author: Guy Riddihough

Description: Early Victorian naturalists marveled at the profusion of diversity they encountered as they traveled from temperate to tropical latitudes. The inverse relationship between latitude and species richness that these naturalists first observed is now referred to as the latitudinal diversity gradient. Various ecological and evolutionary explanations have been proposed for the latitudinal diversity gradient. Of these, perhaps none are more relevant to contemporary conservation issues than Janzen's hypothesis of latitudinal differences in species' climatic tolerances and thermal selectivity (1). On page 1437 of this issue, Chan et al. (2) advance Janzen's early theories by elucidating some of the potential selective pressures imposed by climate and climate variability. Authors: Timothy M. Perez, James T. Stroud, Kenneth J. Feeley

Description: In 1492, Columbus encountered frigate birds while en route to the New World and noted that the bird “does not alight on the sea nor depart from land 20 leagues” (1). Columbus observed correctly that frigate birds do not land on the sea, but he severely underestimated how far some frigate birds fly from land. On page 74 of this issue, Weimerskirch et al. (2) show that great frigate birds (Fregata minor) reduce transit costs by riding strong thermal updrafts beneath or inside cumulus clouds and then gliding long distances to another thermal, searching for food along the way. By exploiting cumulus clouds and trade winds in the Indian Ocean, the birds forage around the doldrums, a largely windless zone. Authors: Raymond B. Huey, Curtis Deutsch

Description: Climate change affects wild plant species across their geographical ranges. Studies at the margins of species' ranges reveal upslope expansion, low-elevation range contraction, and, in some cases, a lack of geographic response to climate change (1). However, all populations, including those in the core of species' ranges, are subject to climate-driven natural selection that promotes adaptation to a warmer world (2). Theoretical models show that coupled spatial and temporal responses of populations can mediate the negative effects of climate change (3, 4), but it remains unclear whether these processes can occur fast enough to rescue populations from extinction (5). On page 69 of this issue, Petry et al. (6) report rapid spatial and temporal change in plant sex ratios in response to changing climatic conditions. These changes could facilitate geographic range shifts in the montane perennial herb valerian (Valeriana edulis). Authors: Julie R. Etterson, Susan J. Mazer

Description: New rules governing 1 million hectares of federal forestland in the Pacific Northwest are rekindling a bit of the old-growth timber wars of the late 20th century. The changes announced by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on 5 August have environmentalists charging that it rolls back important habitat protections contained in the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan. That plan severely curtailed logging on 10 million hectares of federal lands in the name of protecting forests and species, including the northern spotted owl. Meanwhile, Oregon counties that get timber revenue from BLM land charge that the agency is still restricting logging too much. Some scientists are siding with the environmental groups, whereas others say the new approach is an advance that rests on science that has emerged over the last 2 decades. The outcome of this debate could set the stage for changes by the U.S. Forest Service, which controls most of the land covered by the 1994 plan. Author: Warren Cornwall

Description: Degenerated retinas, globs of liver fat, wildly fluctuating blood sugar and insulin levels—all can spell trouble for people. But they are a way of life for Astyanax mexicanus, better known as the blind cave fish or Mexican tetra. For decades, biologists have studied these pale 6-centimeter-long fish to understand the ecological and evolutionary effects of subterranean life. Now, some researchers argue that the fishes' adaptations can shed light on human diseases including retinal degeneration and diabetes. And results presented last week at the 2016 International Conference on Subterranean Biology back up that view. The U.S. National Institutes of Health sees promise in cave fish as well, having agreed to fund the work of several cave fish biologists. Author: Elizabeth Pennisi

Description: Author: Valda Vinson

Description: Author: Stella M. Hurtley

Description: Author: Stella M. Hurtley

Description: Concerns over deforestation have led to attempts to identify suitable areas for reforestation around the world (1). The most ambitious effort to date is the World Resources Institute (WRI) Atlas of Forest and Landscape Restoration Opportunities (1). This map is linked to a global plan to reforest degraded lands to offset anthropogenic CO2 emissions. The immediate target is the reforestation of 1.5 million km2 by 2020 (2, 3). Vast areas of open grassy vegetation have been identified as suitable for reforestation. But are all these grasslands secondary products of deforestations? Recent research shows that grasslands are often ancient and highly biodiverse, but it remains difficult to distinguish between primary and secondary grasslands on a large scale. Reforestation efforts thus risk converting ancient tropical grasslands to plantations. Author: William J. Bond

Description: The major human neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases, are associated with accumulation and aggregation of misfolded proteins. In most cases, the majority of aberrantly aggregated proteins are found in the cell cytoplasm. However, in disorders caused by the expansion of a trinucleotide repeat, including Huntington's disease and spinocerebellar ataxia, the corresponding aggregates of proteins containing the encoded polyglutamine expansions are predominantly nuclear. Whether differences in intracellular location matter for the toxicity generated by such proteins has not been determined. On page 173 of this issue, Woerner et al. (1) report that the location does indeed matter, with toxicity arising from the cytoplasmic accumulation of a pair of artificial proteins designed to mimic the properties of amyloid aggregates. Surprisingly, forcing the same artificial proteins into the nucleus substantially reduces their toxicity. Authors: Sandrine Da Cruz, Don W. Cleveland

Description: Author: Julia Fahrenkamp-Uppenbrink

Description: Soil microorganisms are central to the provision of food, feed, fiber, and medicine. Engineering of soil microbiomes may promote plant growth and plant health, thus contributing to food security and agricultural sustainability (1, 2). However, little is known about most soil microorganisms and their impact on plant health. Disease-suppressive soils offer microbiome-mediated protection of crop plants against infections by soil-borne pathogens. Understanding of the microbial consortia and mechanisms involved in disease suppression may help to better manage plants while reducing fertilizer and pesticide inputs. Authors: Jos M. Raaijmakers, Mark Mazzola

Description: Author: Julia Fahrenkamp-Uppenbrink

Description: History tells us that the motivation for new environmental policy is much stronger when there is demonstrated ecological impact. Multinational agreements to stop the use of DDT followed the precipitous decline of predatory bird populations. Similarly, decisions to regulate emissions to prevent acid rain followed widespread degradation of aquatic habitats. Ideally, environmental policy should be catalyzed by scientific evidence rather than environmental catastrophe. As scientists, we can do our part by providing evidence that is relevant to the natural environment. On page 1213 of this issue, Lönnstedt and Eklöv (1) take an important step forward in this regard by reporting ecologically relevant evidence on a growing environmental issue: microplastic pollution. Author: Chelsea M. Rochman

Description: Author: Guy Riddihough

Description: Author: Valda Vinson

Description: Author: Stella M. Hurtley

Description: Author: Nicholas S. Wigginton

Description: Author: Valda Vinson

Description: Author: Valda Vinson

Description: Imagine a chain of uninterrupted wild landscapes spanning the savannas and forests of southern and central Africa, the woodlands of Poland and Belarus, and the tropical forests of Central and South America. By committing half of the planet's terrestrial and marine surface to nature, Edward O. Wilson believes that we can save millions of species, as well as humanity. This is Wilson's audacious proposal to stave off the coming biological apocalypse, the sixth mass extinction event, which he outlines in Half-Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life. Author: Christine J. Griffiths

Description: Author: Wei Wong

Description: Author: Kristen L. Mueller

Description: Author: Stella M. Hurtley

Description: Humans have long used animals as sentinels for threats to their own well-being. Canaries in coal mines are a classic example. On a global scale, studies of birds were key to detecting environmental problems caused by the excessive use of pesticides (1, 2). The recent loss of up to 98% of some vulture populations highlights the widespread dangerous effects of diclofenac use in cattle (3). Bee populations, sentinels for global insect losses, are also declining owing to the combined stress from pesticides and other environmental changes caused by humans, resulting in a widespread loss of pollination services (4). On page 819 of this issue, van Gils et al. (5) highlight another global ecological warning sign, this time linked to Arctic warming. They show that long-term changes in the body architecture of Arctic wading birds can affect their survival in their tropical wintering range. Authors: Martin Wikelski, Grigori Tertitski

Description: Cells of all kingdoms form a rigid but dynamic cytoskeleton that is essential for cell shape and growth. Microtubules and actin filaments build the eukaryotic cytoskeleton, and although they serve distinct functions, cooperation and indirect connections between these systems exist (1). On page 1004 of this issue, Henty-Ridilla et al. (2) report how a protein that accumulates at the growing tips of microtubules also elongates actin filaments, revealing an unexpected interaction between the two cytoskeletal systems. Author: Klemens Rottner

Description: Even as recently as early March, Australian coral reef scientists still hoped that the legendary Great Barrier Reef (GBR) would get off lightly in the current El Niño, the climate phenomenon that brings unusually warm water to the equatorial Pacific, stressing and often killing corals. No such luck. On 20 March, the GBR Marine Park Authority in Townsville, Australia, reported that divers were finding extensive coral bleaching—the loss of symbiotic algae—in remote northern areas of the reef. Many sections were already dead. Subsequent flyover surveys have confirmed an unfolding disaster, with only four of 520 reefs appearing unscathed. The GBR joins a lengthening list of reefs bleached because of the El Niño that started in late 2014. It is now the longest bleaching event ever, and many more corals worldwide will likely die. Author: Dennis Normile

Description: Almost all land plants, including most trees, shrubs, and herbs, form symbiotic associations with mycorrhizal fungi (1). These soil fungi acquire nutrients that they transfer to their plant hosts in exchange for carbon (see the photo). Plants in natural vegetation can acquire up to 80% of nitrogen and phosphorus from their mycorrhizal associates (2). Individual mycorrhizal fungi can simultaneously colonize many plant hosts of the same species or different species. As a result, plants in natural communities are interconnected by mycorrhizal networks. Earlier studies with small tree seedlings revealed that carbon is transferred from one plant to another through these underground mycorrhizal pipelines (3). On page 342 of this issue, Klein et al. (4) show that interplant carbon transfer is not confined to tree seedlings. Author: Marcel G. A. van der Heijden

Description: By enclosing chromosomes within a nuclear envelope (NE), eukaryotic cells are able to segregate transcription and translation, key activities involved in gene expression (1). The implication is that maintenance of the NE as a selective barrier represents an essential aspect of normal cellular physiology. However, it also presents the cell with the predicament of how to accommodate a membrane-limited organelle that might occupy a substantial portion of the cell volume. On pages 353 and 359 of this issue, Denais et al. (2) and Raab et al. (3), respectively, report that the physical size and mechanical properties of the nucleus may have dramatic effects on the behavior of motile cells. Author: Brian Burke

Description: Author: Stella M. Hurtley

Description: Author: Valda Vinson

Description: Author: Valda Vinson

Description: Author: Valda Vinson

Description: Paradigms of sustainable exploitation focus on population dynamics of prey and yields to humanity but ignore the behavior of humans as predators. We compared patterns of predation by contemporary hunters and fishers with those of other predators that compete over shared prey (terrestrial mammals and marine fishes). Our global survey (2125 estimates of annual finite exploitation rate) revealed that humans kill adult prey, the reproductive capital of populations, at much higher median rates than other predators (up to 14 times higher), with particularly intense exploitation of terrestrial carnivores and fishes. Given this competitive dominance, impacts on predators, and other unique predatory behavior, we suggest that humans function as an unsustainable "super predator," which-unless additionally constrained by managers-will continue to alter ecological and evolutionary processes globally.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Darimont, Chris T -- Fox, Caroline H -- Bryan, Heather M -- Reimchen, Thomas E -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Aug 21;349(6250):858-60. doi: 10.1126/science.aac4249.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Post Office Box 1700, Station CSC, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 2Y2, Canada. Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Post Office Box 2429, Sidney, British Columbia V8L 3Y3, Canada. Hakai Institute, Post Office Box 309, Heriot Bay, British Columbia V0P 1H0, Canada. darimont@uvic.ca. ; Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Post Office Box 1700, Station CSC, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 2Y2, Canada. Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Post Office Box 2429, Sidney, British Columbia V8L 3Y3, Canada. ; Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Post Office Box 1700, Station CSC, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 2Y2, Canada. Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Post Office Box 2429, Sidney, British Columbia V8L 3Y3, Canada. Hakai Institute, Post Office Box 309, Heriot Bay, British Columbia V0P 1H0, Canada. ; Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Post Office Box 3060, Station CSC, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 2Y2, Canada.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26293961" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Climate change impacts on vertebrates have consequences for marine ecosystem structures and services. We review marine fish, mammal, turtle, and seabird responses to climate change and discuss their potential for adaptation. Direct and indirect responses are demonstrated from every ocean. Because of variation in research foci, observed responses differ among taxonomic groups (redistributions for fish, phenology for seabirds). Mechanisms of change are (i) direct physiological responses and (ii) climate-mediated predator-prey interactions. Regional-scale variation in climate-demographic functions makes range-wide population dynamics challenging to predict. The nexus of metabolism relative to ecosystem productivity and food webs appears key to predicting future effects on marine vertebrates. Integration of climate, oceanographic, ecosystem, and population models that incorporate evolutionary processes is needed to prioritize the climate-related conservation needs for these species.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Sydeman, William J -- Poloczanska, Elvira -- Reed, Thomas E -- Thompson, Sarah Ann -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Nov 13;350(6262):772-7. doi: 10.1126/science.aac9874.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Farallon Institute for Advanced Ecosystem Research, Petaluma, CA 94952, USA. Bodega Marine Laboratory/University of California Davis, Bodega Bay, CA 94923, USA. wsydeman@faralloninstitute.org. ; Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Ecosciences Precinct, Brisbane QLD 4102, Australia. Global Change Institute, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia. ; School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. ; Farallon Institute for Advanced Ecosystem Research, Petaluma, CA 94952, USA. Climate Impacts Group, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26564847" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Warming of the oceans and consequent loss of dissolved oxygen (O2) will alter marine ecosystems, but a mechanistic framework to predict the impact of multiple stressors on viable habitat is lacking. Here, we integrate physiological, climatic, and biogeographic data to calibrate and then map a key metabolic index-the ratio of O2 supply to resting metabolic O2 demand-across geographic ranges of several marine ectotherms. These species differ in thermal and hypoxic tolerances, but their contemporary distributions are all bounded at the equatorward edge by a minimum metabolic index of ~2 to 5, indicative of a critical energetic requirement for organismal activity. The combined effects of warming and O2 loss this century are projected to reduce the upper ocean's metabolic index by ~20% globally and by ~50% in northern high-latitude regions, forcing poleward and vertical contraction of metabolically viable habitats and species ranges.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Deutsch, Curtis -- Ferrel, Aaron -- Seibel, Brad -- Portner, Hans-Otto -- Huey, Raymond B -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jun 5;348(6239):1132-5. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa1605.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. cdeutsch@uw.edu. ; Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. ; Biological Sciences Department, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA. ; Alfred Wegener Institute, D-27570 Bremerhaven, Germany. ; Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26045435" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Although disturbances such as fire and native insects can contribute to natural dynamics of forest health, exceptional droughts, directly and in combination with other disturbance factors, are pushing some temperate forests beyond thresholds of sustainability. Interactions from increasing temperatures, drought, native insects and pathogens, and uncharacteristically severe wildfire are resulting in forest mortality beyond the levels of 20th-century experience. Additional anthropogenic stressors, such as atmospheric pollution and invasive species, further weaken trees in some regions. Although continuing climate change will likely drive many areas of temperate forest toward large-scale transformations, management actions can help ease transitions and minimize losses of socially valued ecosystem services.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Millar, Constance I -- Stephenson, Nathan L -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Aug 21;349(6250):823-6. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa9933.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Albany, CA 94710, USA. cmillar@fs.fed.us. ; U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Three Rivers, CA 93271, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26293954" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Self-organized spatial vegetation patterning is widespread and has been described using models of scale-dependent feedback between plants and water on homogeneous substrates. As rainfall decreases, these models yield a characteristic sequence of patterns with increasingly sparse vegetation, followed by sudden collapse to desert. Thus, the final, spot-like pattern may provide early warning for such catastrophic shifts. In many arid ecosystems, however, termite nests impart substrate heterogeneity by altering soil properties, thereby enhancing plant growth. We show that termite-induced heterogeneity interacts with scale-dependent feedbacks to produce vegetation patterns at different spatial grains. Although the coarse-grained patterning resembles that created by scale-dependent feedback alone, it does not indicate imminent desertification. Rather, mound-field landscapes are more robust to aridity, suggesting that termites may help stabilize ecosystems under global change.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Bonachela, Juan A -- Pringle, Robert M -- Sheffer, Efrat -- Coverdale, Tyler C -- Guyton, Jennifer A -- Caylor, Kelly K -- Levin, Simon A -- Tarnita, Corina E -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Feb 6;347(6222):651-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1261487.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. Mpala Research Centre, Post Office Box 555, Nanyuki, Kenya. ; Mpala Research Centre, Post Office Box 555, Nanyuki, Kenya. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. Mpala Research Centre, Post Office Box 555, Nanyuki, Kenya. ctarnita@princeton.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25657247" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Ecological partnerships, or mutualisms, are globally widespread, sustaining agriculture and biodiversity. Mutualisms evolve through the matching of functional traits between partners, such as tongue length of pollinators and flower tube depth of plants. Long-tongued pollinators specialize on flowers with deep corolla tubes, whereas shorter-tongued pollinators generalize across tube lengths. Losses of functional guilds because of shifts in global climate may disrupt mutualisms and threaten partner species. We found that in two alpine bumble bee species, decreases in tongue length have evolved over 40 years. Co-occurring flowers have not become shallower, nor are small-flowered plants more prolific. We argue that declining floral resources because of warmer summers have favored generalist foraging, leading to a mismatch between shorter-tongued bees and the longer-tubed plants they once pollinated.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Miller-Struttmann, Nicole E -- Geib, Jennifer C -- Franklin, James D -- Kevan, Peter G -- Holdo, Ricardo M -- Ebert-May, Diane -- Lynn, Austin M -- Kettenbach, Jessica A -- Hedrick, Elizabeth -- Galen, Candace -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Sep 25;349(6255):1541-4. doi: 10.1126/science.aab0868. Epub 2015 Sep 24.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Biological Sciences Department, Natural Sciences Building Rm NS247, SUNY College at Old Westbury, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA. Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. nmillstrutt@gmail.com. ; Department of Biology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608, USA. ; Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. ; School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada N1G 2W1. ; Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. ; Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. Department of Biological Sciences, Zoology Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA. ; Department of Life and Physical Sciences, Lincoln University, Jefferson City, MO 65101, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26404836" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Lambertucci, Sergio A -- Shepard, Emily L C -- Wilson, Rory P -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 May 1;348(6234):502-4. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa6743. Epub 2015 Apr 30.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA (CONICET-Universidad Nacional del Comahue), Bariloche, 8400, Argentina. slambertucci@comahue-conicet.gob.ar. ; Swansea Lab for Animal Movement, Biosciences, Swansea University, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25931541" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Vegetation structure is a key determinant of ecosystems and ecosystem function, but paleoecological techniques to quantify it are lacking. We present a method for reconstructing leaf area index (LAI) based on light-dependent morphology of leaf epidermal cells and phytoliths derived from them. Using this proxy, we reconstruct LAI for the Cenozoic (49 million to 11 million years ago) of middle-latitude Patagonia. Our record shows that dense forests opened up by the late Eocene; open forests and shrubland habitats then fluctuated, with a brief middle-Miocene regreening period. Furthermore, endemic herbivorous mammals show accelerated tooth crown height evolution during open, yet relatively grass-free, shrubland habitat intervals. Our Patagonian LAI record provides a high-resolution, sensitive tool with which to dissect terrestrial ecosystem response to changing Southern Ocean conditions during the Cenozoic.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Dunn, Regan E -- Stromberg, Caroline A E -- Madden, Richard H -- Kohn, Matthew J -- Carlini, Alfredo A -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jan 16;347(6219):258-61. doi: 10.1126/science.1260947.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. dunnr@u.washington.edu. ; Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. ; Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. ; Department of Geosciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID 83725, USA. ; Paleontologia de Vertebrados, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET), La Plata, Argentina.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25593182" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Larson, Christina -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 May 29;348(6238):954. doi: 10.1126/science.348.6238.954-a.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26023113" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Larson, Christina -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 May 29;348(6238):953-4. doi: 10.1126/science.348.6238.953.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26023112" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Buck, Stuart -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jun 26;348(6242):1403. doi: 10.1126/science.aac8041.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Stuart Buck is vice president of research integrity at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Houston, TX. sbuck@arnoldfoundation.org.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26113692" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Escobar, Herton -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Feb 20;347(6224):812. doi: 10.1126/science.347.6224.812.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25700493" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Nazareno, Alison G -- Laurance, William F -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Mar 27;347(6229):1427. doi: 10.1126/science.347.6229.1427-a. Epub 2015 Mar 26.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo State, 05508-900, Brazil. alisongn@pg.ffclrp.usp.br. ; Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science (TESS) and College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, 4878, Australia.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25814573" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Fadri-Moskwik, Maria -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Apr 10;348(6231):254. doi: 10.1126/science.348.6231.254.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Maria Fadri-Moskwik is a cellular and molecular biologist and most recently a clinical assistant professor at Washington State University, Spokane. For more on life and careers, visit ScienceCareers.org. Send your story to SciCareerEditor@aaas.org.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25859047" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Tropical forests house over half of Earth's biodiversity and are an important influence on the climate system. These forests are experiencing escalating human influence, altering their health and the provision of important ecosystem functions and services. Impacts started with hunting and millennia-old megafaunal extinctions (phase I), continuing via low-intensity shifting cultivation (phase II), to today's global integration, dominated by intensive permanent agriculture, industrial logging, and attendant fires and fragmentation (phase III). Such ongoing pressures, together with an intensification of global environmental change, may severely degrade forests in the future (phase IV, global simplification) unless new "development without destruction" pathways are established alongside climate change-resilient landscape designs.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Lewis, Simon L -- Edwards, David P -- Galbraith, David -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Aug 21;349(6250):827-32. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa9932.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Geography, University College London, London, UK. School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK. s.l.lewis@leeds.ac.uk. ; Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. ; School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26293955" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Vitule, Jean Ricardo Simoes -- Azevedo-Santos, Valter M -- Daga, Vanessa Salete -- Lima-Junior, Dilermando Pereira -- de Magalhaes, Andre Lincoln Barroso -- Orsi, Mario Luis -- Pelicice, Fernando Mayer -- Agostinho, Angelo Antonio -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Mar 27;347(6229):1427-8. doi: 10.1126/science.347.6229.1427-b. Epub 2015 Mar 26.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratorio de Ecologia e Conservacao (LEC), Universidade Federal do Parana, Curitiba, PR, 81531-970, Brazil. biovitule@gmail.com. ; Laboratorio de Ictiologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista "Julio de Mesquita Filho," Campus de Botucatu, SP, 18618-970, Brazil. ; Laboratorio de Ecologia e Conservacao (LEC), Universidade Federal do Parana, Curitiba, PR, 81531-970, Brazil. ; Departamento de Ciencias Biologicas e da Saude, Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso, Campus Medio Araguaia, Pontal do Araguaia, MT, 78698-000, Brazil. ; Universidade Federal de Sao Joao Del Rei, Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Tecnologias para o Desenvolvimento Sustentavel, Ouro Branco, MG, 36420-000, Brazil. ; Museu de Zoologia, Departamento de Biologia Animal e Vegetal, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Londrina, PR, 86051-990, Brazil. ; Nucleo de Estudos Ambientais, Universidade Federal de Tocantins, Porto Nacional, TO, 77500-000, Brazil. ; Nucleo de Pesquisas em Limnologia, Ictiologia e Aquicultura (NUPELIA)/DBI, UEM, Maringa, PR, 87020-900, Brazil.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25814574" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Normile, Dennis -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Sep 4;349(6252):1037. doi: 10.1126/science.349.6252.1037.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26339006" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Marine taxa are threatened by anthropogenic impacts, but knowledge of their extinction vulnerabilities is limited. The fossil record provides rich information on past extinctions that can help predict biotic responses. We show that over 23 million years, taxonomic membership and geographic range size consistently explain a large proportion of extinction risk variation in six major taxonomic groups. We assess intrinsic risk-extinction risk predicted by paleontologically calibrated models-for modern genera in these groups. Mapping the geographic distribution of these genera identifies coastal biogeographic provinces where fauna with high intrinsic risk are strongly affected by human activity or climate change. Such regions are disproportionately in the tropics, raising the possibility that these ecosystems may be particularly vulnerable to future extinctions. Intrinsic risk provides a prehuman baseline for considering current threats to marine biodiversity.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Finnegan, Seth -- Anderson, Sean C -- Harnik, Paul G -- Simpson, Carl -- Tittensor, Derek P -- Byrnes, Jarrett E -- Finkel, Zoe V -- Lindberg, David R -- Liow, Lee Hsiang -- Lockwood, Rowan -- Lotze, Heike K -- McClain, Craig R -- McGuire, Jenny L -- O'Dea, Aaron -- Pandolfi, John M -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 May 1;348(6234):567-70. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa6635.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. sethf@berkeley.edu. ; Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada. ; Department of Earth and Environment, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA 17604, USA. ; Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20013, USA. ; United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge CB3 0DL, UK. Computational Science Laboratory, Microsoft Research, Cambridge CB1 2FB, UK. Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada. ; Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA 02125, USA. ; Environmental Science Program, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick E4L 1A5, Canada. ; Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. ; Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway. ; Department of Geology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187, USA. ; Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4R2, Canada. ; National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, Durham, NC 27705, USA. ; School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. ; Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, 0843-03092, Balboa, Republic of Panama. ; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25931558" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Vogt, Meike -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Dec 18;350(6267):1466-8. doi: 10.1126/science.aad6946.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Institute for Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. meike.vogt@env.ethz.ch.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26680177" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Waller, Donald -- Ash, Jeremy -- Paulson, Alison -- Sonnier, Gregory -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Nov 13;350(6262):747-8. doi: 10.1126/science.350.6262.747-b.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA. dmwaller@wisc.edu. ; Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26564838" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Steffen et al. (Research Articles, 13 February 2015, p. 736) recently assessed current global freshwater use, finding it to be well below a corresponding planetary boundary. However, they ignored recent scientific advances implying that the global consumptive use of freshwater may have already crossed the associated planetary boundary.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Jaramillo, Fernando -- Destouni, Georgia -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jun 12;348(6240):1217. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa9629. Epub 2015 Jun 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden. Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden. fernando.jaramillo@natgeo.su.se. ; Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden. Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26068843" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The boreal forest, one of the largest biomes on Earth, provides ecosystem services that benefit society at levels ranging from local to global. Currently, about two-thirds of the area covered by this biome is under some form of management, mostly for wood production. Services such as climate regulation are also provided by both the unmanaged and managed boreal forests. Although most of the boreal forests have retained the resilience to cope with current disturbances, projected environmental changes of unprecedented speed and amplitude pose a substantial threat to their health. Management options to reduce these threats are available and could be implemented, but economic incentives and a greater focus on the boreal biome in international fora are needed to support further adaptation and mitigation actions.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gauthier, S -- Bernier, P -- Kuuluvainen, T -- Shvidenko, A Z -- Schepaschenko, D G -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Aug 21;349(6250):819-22. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa9092.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Laurentian Forestry Centre, Quebec, Quebec G1V 4C7, Canada. sylvie.gauthier@rncan.gc.ca. ; Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Laurentian Forestry Centre, Quebec, Quebec G1V 4C7, Canada. ; Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, 00014 Helsinki, Finland. ; Ecosystems Services and Management Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26293953" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Lozier, Jeffrey D -- Cameron, Sydney A -- Duennes, Michelle A -- Strange, James P -- Williams, Paul H -- Goulson, David -- Brown, Mark J F -- Morales, Carolina -- Jepsen, Sarina -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Oct 16;350(6258):286-7. doi: 10.1126/science.350.6258.286-b.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA. jlozier@ua.edu. ; Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. ; USDA-ARS, Pollinating Insect Research Unit, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA. ; Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK. ; Evolution, Behaviour, and Environment, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, East Sussex, BN1 9QG, UK. ; School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK. ; Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA (Universidad Nacional del Comahue-CONICET), Bariloche, Rio Negro, Argentina. ; The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, Portland, OR 97232, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26472900" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Although it has far-reaching consequences for humanity, attention to climate change impacts on the ocean lags behind concern for impacts on the atmosphere and land. Understanding these impacts, as well as society's diverse perspectives and multiscale responses to the changing oceans, requires a correspondingly diverse body of scholarship in the physical, biological, and social sciences and humanities. This can ensure that a plurality of values and viewpoints is reflected in the research that informs climate policy and may enable the concerns of maritime societies and economic sectors to be heard in key adaptation and mitigation discussions.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Allison, Edward H -- Bassett, Hannah R -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Nov 13;350(6262):778-82. doi: 10.1126/science.aac8721.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26564848" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) summer on the sea ice or, where it melts, on shore. Although the physiology of "ice" bears in summer is unknown, "shore" bears purportedly minimize energy losses by entering a hibernation-like state when deprived of food. Such a strategy could partially compensate for the loss of on-ice foraging opportunities caused by climate change. However, here we report gradual, moderate declines in activity and body temperature of both shore and ice bears in summer, resembling energy expenditures typical of fasting, nonhibernating mammals. Also, we found that to avoid unsustainable heat loss while swimming, bears employed unusual heterothermy of the body core. Thus, although well adapted to seasonal ice melt, polar bears appear susceptible to deleterious declines in body condition during the lengthening period of summer food deprivation.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Whiteman, J P -- Harlow, H J -- Durner, G M -- Anderson-Sprecher, R -- Albeke, S E -- Regehr, E V -- Amstrup, S C -- Ben-David, M -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jul 17;349(6245):295-8. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa8623. Epub 2015 Jul 16.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA. Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA. ; Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA. ; U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, AK 99508, USA. ; Department of Statistics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA. ; Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA. ; Marine Mammals Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, AK 99503, USA. ; Polar Bears International, Bozeman, MT 59772, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26185248" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Jaramillo and Destouni claim that freshwater consumption is beyond the planetary boundary, based on high estimates of water cycle components, different definitions of water consumption, and extrapolation from a single case study. The difference from our analysis, based on mainstream assessments of global water consumption, highlights the need for clearer definitions of water cycle components and improved models and databases.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gerten, Dieter -- Rockstrom, Johan -- Heinke, Jens -- Steffen, Will -- Richardson, Katherine -- Cornell, Sarah -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jun 12;348(6240):1217. doi: 10.1126/science.aab0031. Epub 2015 Jun 11.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Research Domain of Earth System Analysis, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 14473 Potsdam, Germany. gerten@pik-potsdam.de. ; Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden. ; Research Domain of Earth System Analysis, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 14473 Potsdam, Germany. International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, 00100 Kenya. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, St. Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia. ; Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden. Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. ; Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, University of Copenhagen, Natural History Museum of Denmark, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26068844" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The impacts of climate extremes on terrestrial ecosystems are poorly understood but important for predicting carbon cycle feedbacks to climate change. Coupled climate-carbon cycle models typically assume that vegetation recovery from extreme drought is immediate and complete, which conflicts with the understanding of basic plant physiology. We examined the recovery of stem growth in trees after severe drought at 1338 forest sites across the globe, comprising 49,339 site-years, and compared the results with simulated recovery in climate-vegetation models. We found pervasive and substantial "legacy effects" of reduced growth and incomplete recovery for 1 to 4 years after severe drought. Legacy effects were most prevalent in dry ecosystems, among Pinaceae, and among species with low hydraulic safety margins. In contrast, limited or no legacy effects after drought were simulated by current climate-vegetation models. Our results highlight hysteresis in ecosystem-level carbon cycling and delayed recovery from climate extremes.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Anderegg, W R L -- Schwalm, C -- Biondi, F -- Camarero, J J -- Koch, G -- Litvak, M -- Ogle, K -- Shaw, J D -- Shevliakova, E -- Williams, A P -- Wolf, A -- Ziaco, E -- Pacala, S -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jul 31;349(6247):528-32. doi: 10.1126/science.aab1833.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. ; Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA. School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA. ; DendroLab and Graduate Program of Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, NV 89557, USA. ; Instituto Pirenaico de Ecologia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Avda. Montanana 1005, 50192 Zaragoza, Spain. ; Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA. ; Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA. ; School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-4501, USA. ; Rocky Mountain Research Station, U.S. Forest Service, Ogden, UT 84401, USA. ; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA. ; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964, USA. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26228147" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Pennisi, Elizabeth -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jul 24;349(6246):369. doi: 10.1126/science.349.6246.369.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26206912" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Pennisi, Elizabeth -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jul 24;349(6246):367-9. doi: 10.1126/science.349.6246.367.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26206911" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Appenzeller, Tim -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Aug 21;349(6250):806-9. doi: 10.1126/science.349.6250.806.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26293950" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Solow, Andrew R -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Sep 25;349(6255):1444-5. doi: 10.1126/science.aad2132. Epub 2015 Sep 24.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA. asolow@whoi.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26404810" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The planetary boundaries framework defines a safe operating space for humanity based on the intrinsic biophysical processes that regulate the stability of the Earth system. Here, we revise and update the planetary boundary framework, with a focus on the underpinning biophysical science, based on targeted input from expert research communities and on more general scientific advances over the past 5 years. Several of the boundaries now have a two-tier approach, reflecting the importance of cross-scale interactions and the regional-level heterogeneity of the processes that underpin the boundaries. Two core boundaries-climate change and biosphere integrity-have been identified, each of which has the potential on its own to drive the Earth system into a new state should they be substantially and persistently transgressed.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Steffen, Will -- Richardson, Katherine -- Rockstrom, Johan -- Cornell, Sarah E -- Fetzer, Ingo -- Bennett, Elena M -- Biggs, Reinette -- Carpenter, Stephen R -- de Vries, Wim -- de Wit, Cynthia A -- Folke, Carl -- Gerten, Dieter -- Heinke, Jens -- Mace, Georgina M -- Persson, Linn M -- Ramanathan, Veerabhadran -- Reyers, Belinda -- Sorlin, Sverker -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Feb 13;347(6223):1259855. doi: 10.1126/science.1259855. Epub 2015 Jan 15.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden. Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. will.steffen@anu.edu.au. ; Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, University of Copenhagen, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Universitetsparken 15, Building 3, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. ; Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden. ; Department of Natural Resource Sciences and McGill School of Environment, McGill University, 21, 111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9, Canada. ; Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden. Centre for Studies in Complexity, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa. ; Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin, 680 North Park Street, Madison WI 53706 USA. ; Alterra Wageningen University and Research Centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700AA Wageningen, Netherlands. Environmental Systems Analysis Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, Netherlands. ; Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden. ; Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden. Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, SE-10405 Stockholm, Sweden. ; Research Domain Earth System Analysis, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Telegraphenberg A62, 14473 Potsdam, Germany. ; Research Domain Earth System Analysis, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Telegraphenberg A62, 14473 Potsdam, Germany. International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi, 00100 Kenya. CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization), St. Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia. ; Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research (CBER), Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK. ; Stockholm Environment Institute, Linnegatan 87D, SE-10451 Stockholm, Sweden. ; Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, 8622 Kennel Way, La Jolla, CA 92037 USA. TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) University, 10 Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, Delhi 110070, India. ; Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden. Natural Resources and the Environment, CSIR, P.O. Box 320, Stellenbosch 7599, South Africa. ; Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25592418" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The most recent comprehensive assessment carried out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded that "Human influence on the climate system is clear," a headline statement that was approved by all governments in consensus. This influence will have long-lasting consequences for ecosystems, and the resulting impacts will continue to be felt millennia from now. Although the terrestrial impacts of climate change are readily apparent now and have received widespread public attention, the effects of climate change on the oceans have been relatively invisible. However, the world ocean provides a number of crucial services that are of global significance, all of which come with an increasing price caused by human activities. This needs to be taken into account when considering adaptation to and mitigation of anthropogenic climate change.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Stocker, Thomas F -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Nov 13;350(6262):764-5. doi: 10.1126/science.aac8720.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute and Oeschger Centre of Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. E-mail: stocker@climate.unibe.ch.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26564844" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kerr, Jeremy T -- Pindar, Alana -- Galpern, Paul -- Packer, Laurence -- Potts, Simon G -- Roberts, Stuart M -- Rasmont, Pierre -- Schweiger, Oliver -- Colla, Sheila R -- Richardson, Leif L -- Wagner, David L -- Gall, Lawrence F -- Sikes, Derek S -- Pantoja, Alberto -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Oct 16;350(6258):287. doi: 10.1126/science.350.6258.287.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, K1N6N5, Canada. jkerr@uottawa.ca. ; Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, K1N6N5, Canada. ; Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N, Canada. ; Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada. ; School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, The University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6AR, UK. ; Department of Zoology, Universite de Mons, Mons, 7000, Belgium. ; Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Halle, 06120, Germany. ; Wildlife Preservation Canada, Guelph, ON, N1H 6J2, Canada. ; Gund Institute, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA. ; Peabody Museum of Natural History, Entomology Division, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA. ; University of Alaska Museum, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA. ; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Subarctic Agricultural Research Unit, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26472901" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: For many species, geographical ranges are expanding toward the poles in response to climate change, while remaining stable along range edges nearest the equator. Using long-term observations across Europe and North America over 110 years, we tested for climate change-related range shifts in bumblebee species across the full extents of their latitudinal and thermal limits and movements along elevation gradients. We found cross-continentally consistent trends in failures to track warming through time at species' northern range limits, range losses from southern range limits, and shifts to higher elevations among southern species. These effects are independent of changing land uses or pesticide applications and underscore the need to test for climate impacts at both leading and trailing latitudinal and thermal limits for species.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kerr, Jeremy T -- Pindar, Alana -- Galpern, Paul -- Packer, Laurence -- Potts, Simon G -- Roberts, Stuart M -- Rasmont, Pierre -- Schweiger, Oliver -- Colla, Sheila R -- Richardson, Leif L -- Wagner, David L -- Gall, Lawrence F -- Sikes, Derek S -- Pantoja, Alberto -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jul 10;349(6244):177-80. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa7031.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1N6N5. jkerr@uottawa.ca. ; Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1N6N5. ; Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. ; Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ; School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, The University of Reading, Reading, UK. ; Department of Zoology, Universite de Mons, Mons, Belgium. ; Department of Community Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Halle, Germany. ; Wildlife Preservation Canada, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. ; Gund Institute, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA. ; Peabody Museum of Natural History, Entomology Division, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. ; University of Alaska Museum, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA. ; United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Subarctic Agricultural Research Unit, Fairbanks, AK, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26160945" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gramling, Carolyn -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Feb 20;347(6224):821. doi: 10.1126/science.347.6224.821.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25700498" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Gramling, Carolyn -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Feb 20;347(6224):818-21. doi: 10.1126/science.347.6224.818. Epub 2015 Feb 19.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25700497" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Pulla, Priyanka -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Nov 27;350(6264):1024-7. doi: 10.1126/science.350.6264.1024.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26612933" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Qiu, Jane -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Mar 27;347(6229):1404-5. doi: 10.1126/science.347.6229.1404.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25814562" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Climate change is predicted to alter marine phytoplankton communities and affect productivity, biogeochemistry, and the efficacy of the biological pump. We reconstructed high-resolution records of changing plankton community composition in the North Pacific Ocean over the past millennium. Amino acid-specific delta(13)C records preserved in long-lived deep-sea corals revealed three major plankton regimes corresponding to Northern Hemisphere climate periods. Non-dinitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria dominated during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (950-1250 Common Era) before giving way to a new regime in which eukaryotic microalgae contributed nearly half of all export production during the Little Ice Age (~1400-1850 Common Era). The third regime, unprecedented in the past millennium, began in the industrial era and is characterized by increasing production by dinitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria. This picoplankton community shift may provide a negative feedback to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉McMahon, Kelton W -- McCarthy, Matthew D -- Sherwood, Owen A -- Larsen, Thomas -- Guilderson, Thomas P -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Dec 18;350(6267):1530-3. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa9942. Epub 2015 Nov 26.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. Institute for Marine Sciences, University of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. ; Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. ; Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA. ; Leibniz Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Stable Isotope Research, Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel, 24118 Kiel, Germany. ; Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. Institute for Marine Sciences, University of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26612834" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉McNutt, Marcia -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jul 3;349(6243):7. doi: 10.1126/science.aac8698. Epub 2015 Jul 2.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Marcia McNutt Editor-in-Chief Science Journals.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26138952" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kleypas, Joan -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Jun 5;348(6239):1086-7. doi: 10.1126/science.aab4122.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Climate and Global Dynamics, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80307, USA. kleypas@ucar.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26045419" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Global climate change is a major threat to biodiversity. Large-scale analyses have generally focused on the impacts of climate change on the geographic ranges of species and on phenology, the timing of ecological phenomena. We used long-term monitoring of the abundance of breeding birds across Europe and the United States to produce, for both regions, composite population indices for two groups of species: those for which climate suitability has been either improving or declining since 1980. The ratio of these composite indices, the climate impact indicator (CII), reflects the divergent fates of species favored or disadvantaged by climate change. The trend in CII is positive and similar in the two regions. On both continents, interspecific and spatial variation in population abundance trends are well predicted by climate suitability trends.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Stephens, Philip A -- Mason, Lucy R -- Green, Rhys E -- Gregory, Richard D -- Sauer, John R -- Alison, Jamie -- Aunins, Ainars -- Brotons, Lluis -- Butchart, Stuart H M -- Campedelli, Tommaso -- Chodkiewicz, Tomasz -- Chylarecki, Przemyslaw -- Crowe, Olivia -- Elts, Jaanus -- Escandell, Virginia -- Foppen, Ruud P B -- Heldbjerg, Henning -- Herrando, Sergi -- Husby, Magne -- Jiguet, Frederic -- Lehikoinen, Aleksi -- Lindstrom, Ake -- Noble, David G -- Paquet, Jean-Yves -- Reif, Jiri -- Sattler, Thomas -- Szep, Tibor -- Teufelbauer, Norbert -- Trautmann, Sven -- van Strien, Arco J -- van Turnhout, Chris A M -- Vorisek, Petr -- Willis, Stephen G -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2016 Apr 1;352(6281):84-7. doi: 10.1126/science.aac4858.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Conservation Ecology Group, School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK. ; Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Centre for Conservation Science, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL, UK. ; Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Centre for Conservation Science, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL, UK. Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK. ; United States Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, 12100 Beech Forest Road, Laurel, MD 20708, USA. ; Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 3BX, UK. ; Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, Jelgavas iela 1, Riga, LV-1004, Latvia. ; Center for Mediterranean Forest Research, Centre Tecnologic Forestal de Catalunya, InForest JRU, Solsona 25280, Spain. REAF, Cerdanyola del Valles 08193, Catalonia, Spain. CSIC, Cerdanyola del Valles 08193, Catalonia, Spain. ; Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK. BirdLife International, The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, UK. ; MITO2000 National Committee; c/o Dream Italia, Via Garibaldi 3, 52015, Pratovecchio-Stia, Arezzo, Italy. ; Ogolnopolskie Towarzystwo Ochrony Ptakow, Odrowaza 24,05-270 Marki, Poland. ; Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wilcza 64, 00-679 Warszawa, Poland. ; BirdWatch Ireland, Unit 20 Block D Bullford Business Campus, Kilcoole, County Wicklow, Ireland. ; Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Vanemuise Street 46, 51014 Tartu, Estonia. Estonian Ornithological Society, Veski 4, 51005 Tartu, Estonia. ; Sociedad Espanola de Ornitologia/BirdLife Melquiades Biencinto, 34, 28053 Madrid. Spain. ; European Bird Census Council, Post Office Box 6521, 6503 GA Nijmegen, Netherlands. Sovon Dutch Centre for Field Ornithology, Post Office Box 6521, 6503 GA Nijmegen, Netherlands. Department of Animal Ecology and Ecophysiology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University, Post Office Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, Netherlands. ; Dansk Ornitologisk Forening-BirdLife Denmark and University of Aarhus, Vesterbrogade 140, 1620 Kobenhavn V, Denmark. ; European Bird Census Council-Catalan Ornithological Institute, Natural History Museum of Barcelona, Placa Leonardo da Vinci 4-5, 08019 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. ; Section for Science, Nord University, 7600 Levanger, Norway. ; UMR7204 Sorbonne Universites-MNHN-CNRS-UPMC, CESCO, CRBPO, CP 135, 43 Rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France. ; The Helsinki Lab of Ornithology, Finnish Museum of Natural History, Post Office Box 17, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. ; Biodiversity Unit, Department of Biology, Lund University, Ecology Building, S-223 62 Lund, Sweden. ; The British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU, UK. ; Natagora, Departement Etudes, Rue Nanon 98, B-5000 Namur, Belgium. ; Institute for Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. Department of Zoology and Laboratory of Ornithology, Faculty of Science, Palacky University Olomouc, 17 Listopadu 50, 771 43 Olomouc, Czech Republic. ; Swiss Ornithological Institute, Seerose 1, 6204 Sempach, Switzerland. ; Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Nyiregyhaza, Sostoi ut 31/b, 4400 Nyiregyhaza, Hungary. ; BirdLife Austria, Museumsplatz 1/10/8, A-1070 Vienna, Austria. ; Dachverband Deutscher Avifaunisten e.V. (Federation of German Avifaunists), An den Speichern 6, D-48157 Munster, Germany. ; Statistics Netherlands, Post Office Box 24500, 2490 HA The Hague, Netherlands. ; Sovon Dutch Centre for Field Ornithology, Post Office Box 6521, 6503 GA Nijmegen, Netherlands. Department of Animal Ecology and Ecophysiology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University, Post Office Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, Netherlands. ; Department of Zoology and Laboratory of Ornithology, Faculty of Science, Palacky University Olomouc, 17 Listopadu 50, 771 43 Olomouc, Czech Republic. Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme, Czech Society for Ornithology, Na Belidle 252/34, CZ-15000 Prague 5, Czech Republic.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27034371" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Magurran, Anne E -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2016 Jan 29;351(6272):448-9. doi: 10.1126/science.aad6758.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland, UK. aem1@st-andrews.ac.uk.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26823412" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Farrell, Anthony P -- Franklin, Craig E -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2016 Jan 8;351(6269):132-3. doi: 10.1126/science.351.6269.132-b.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z4, Canada. farrellt@mail.ubc.ca. ; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26744399" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Atmospheric monitoring of high northern latitudes (above 40 degrees N) has shown an enhanced seasonal cycle of carbon dioxide (CO2) since the 1960s, but the underlying mechanisms are not yet fully understood. The much stronger increase in high latitudes relative to low ones suggests that northern ecosystems are experiencing large changes in vegetation and carbon cycle dynamics. We found that the latitudinal gradient of the increasing CO2 amplitude is mainly driven by positive trends in photosynthetic carbon uptake caused by recent climate change and mediated by changing vegetation cover in northern ecosystems. Our results underscore the importance of climate-vegetation-carbon cycle feedbacks at high latitudes; moreover, they indicate that in recent decades, photosynthetic carbon uptake has reacted much more strongly to warming than have carbon release processes.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Forkel, Matthias -- Carvalhais, Nuno -- Rodenbeck, Christian -- Keeling, Ralph -- Heimann, Martin -- Thonicke, Kirsten -- Zaehle, Sonke -- Reichstein, Markus -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2016 Feb 12;351(6274):696-9. doi: 10.1126/science.aac4971. Epub 2016 Jan 21.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, 07745 Jena, Germany. matthias.forkel@geo.tuwien.ac.at ncarval@bgc-jena.mpg.de. ; Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, 07745 Jena, Germany. CENSE, Departamento de Ciencias e Engenharia do Ambiente, Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal. matthias.forkel@geo.tuwien.ac.at ncarval@bgc-jena.mpg.de. ; Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, 07745 Jena, Germany. ; Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. ; Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, 07745 Jena, Germany. Department of Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. ; Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 14473 Potsdam, Germany. ; Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, 07745 Jena, Germany. Michael-Stifel-Center Jena for Data-driven and Simulation Science, 07743 Jena, Germany.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26797146" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Coral bleaching events threaten the sustainability of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Here we show that bleaching events of the past three decades have been mitigated by induced thermal tolerance of reef-building corals, and this protective mechanism is likely to be lost under near-future climate change scenarios. We show that 75% of past thermal stress events have been characterized by a temperature trajectory that subjects corals to a protective, sub-bleaching stress, before reaching temperatures that cause bleaching. Such conditions confer thermal tolerance, decreasing coral cell mortality and symbiont loss during bleaching by over 50%. We find that near-future increases in local temperature of as little as 0.5 degrees C result in this protective mechanism being lost, which may increase the rate of degradation of the GBR.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Ainsworth, Tracy D -- Heron, Scott F -- Ortiz, Juan Carlos -- Mumby, Peter J -- Grech, Alana -- Ogawa, Daisie -- Eakin, C Mark -- Leggat, William -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2016 Apr 15;352(6283):338-42. doi: 10.1126/science.aac7125.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville 4810, Australia. ; Coral Reef Watch, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), College Park, MD 20740, USA. Marine Geophysical Laboratory, College of Science, Technology and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville 4811, Australia. ; Marine Spatial Ecology Lab, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia. ; Department of Environmental Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney 2109, Australia. ; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville 4810, Australia. The College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville 4810, Australia. ; Coral Reef Watch, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), College Park, MD 20740, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27081069" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: 〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Alley, Richard B -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2016 Apr 8;352(6282):151-2. doi: 10.1126/science.aaf4837.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA. rba6@psu.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27124443" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Author: Valda Vinson

Description: In 1963, the term autophagy was coined by Christian de Duve (Nobel Laureate, 1974) to denote the degradation of cellular self-constituents by the lysosome (1). In 2016, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi for “his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy” (2). Such discoveries led to the unveiling of autophagy as an evolutionarily conserved pathway that functions in differentiation and development, physiology, and protection against aging and many diseases (3). On page 1036 of this issue, Tsuboyama et al. (4) uncover a surprising twist to the mechanism in mammalian cells for forming the autophagosomal membrane, the structure that engulfs unwanted cellular cargo for delivery to the lysosome. These findings have implications for understanding the various roles of autophagy-related genes (ATGs) in membrane-trafficking and mammalian health and disease. Author: Beth Levine

Description: The tropics have by far the highest species diversity on Earth. Over two-thirds of terrestrial vertebrates occur in tropical moist forests (1). The species diversity is also highest in the tropics for several other taxa, such as vascular plants and arthropods, and in other realms, including freshwater and marine ecosystems. These latitudinal gradients were described decades ago (2), but recent work has yielded detailed knowledge of species-richness patterns. For example, Hurlbert and Jetz suggest that global maps of terrestrial vertebrate species richness are now accurate at resolutions of 100 to 200 km (3). Yet, little is known about the global patterns of genetic diversity. On page 1532 of this issue, Miraldo et al. help to fill this gap by presenting a global map of intraspecific (within-species) genetic diversity of amphibians and terrestrial mammals (4). Author: Henrique M. Pereira

Description: Author: Valda Vinson

Description: Author: Julia Fahrenkamp-Uppenbrink

Description: Students learning about the eukaryotic cell are taught that mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell, the nucleus is the information storehouse, and lysosomes are the garbage disposal. Summing up the role of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is more problematic, even for professional cell biologists. Classically, the ER is where membrane proteins, secreted proteins, and most lipids are synthesized. It is also the site of calcium regulation. More recent work shows that it is the site of antigen presentation by major histocompatibility complex class I molecules, and the location of the unfolded protein response, now thought to be central to several major diseases. A new frontier is its relationships with other organelles (1). On page 433 of this issue, Nixon-Abell et al. (2) describe how an armamentarium of superresolution imaging techniques reveals new aspects of the ER's very heterogeneous morphology. Indeed, the “form follows function” adage may help to make sense of this organelle's functional issues. Author: Mark Terasaki