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Cumulative impacts increasingly threaten marine and coastal ecosystems. To address this issue, the research community has invested efforts on designing and testing different methodological approaches and tools that apply cumulative impact appraisal schemes for a sound evaluation of the complex interactions and dynamics among multiple pressures affecting marine and coastal ecosystems. Through an it
Explaining the maintenance of genetic variation in fitness-related traits within populations is a fundamental challenge in ecology and evolutionary biology. Frequency-dependent selection (FDS) is one mechanism that can maintain such variation, especially when selection favours rare variants (negative FDS). However, our general knowledge about the occurrence of FDS, its strength and direction remai
Biomass residues are often considered key in a reorientation towards circular bioeconomies, both by returning organic matter and nutrients to soils and by expanding the feedstock base for fossil-free products. Different indicators are available to assess progress towards circularity, but many available indicators and assessments seem to focus on product or material circularity, and lack in coverag
A long-standing question in evolutionary biology is how historical biogeographic processes have shaped the current diversity of organisms, especially for highly diverse groups. We study the diversification dynamics and biogeographic processes of one of the most diverse families of Lepidoptera, Geometridae, with over 24,000 described species and a worldwide distribution. Despite the cosmopolitan di
The extraordinary diversity of flowering plants has long captivated biologists andevolutionary ecologists. Plant-insect relationships are recognized as a major driverof this diversity, with pollinators playing a crucial role in angiosperm speciation andtrait diversification. Numerous observational and experimental studies have shownthat pollinators influence the evolution of floral traits—such as
In the current context of climate and anthropogenic change, assessing the adaptive capacity of coastal communities, i.e., their ability to adapt, navigate and/or recover from the impacts of change is key in coastal management and decision-making processes. Framing in adaptive capacity assessments (i.e., what is highlighted) influences how coastal communities’ adaptive capacity is perceived and und
The European Union regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR) represents a policy innovation with important implications for the governance of global commodity chains. We discuss the risks and limitations of this policy derived from an ex-ante assessment of the robustness of its theory of change. For doing so, we use insights from the literature on zero-deforestation commitments and other pr
The impacts of climate change may be particularly severe for geographically isolated populations, which must adjust through plastic responses or evolve. Here, we study an endangered Arctic plant, Primula nutans ssp. finmarchica, confined to Fennoscandian seashores and showing indications of maladaptation to warming climate. We evaluate the potential of these populations to evolve to facilitate sur
Pollinator-mediated reproductive interactions among co-flowering plant species provide a canonical example of how biotic factors may contribute to species coexistence, yet we lack understanding of the exact mechanisms. Flowering-dominant and unusually attractive “magnet species” with disproportionate contributions to pollination may play key roles in such reproductive interactions, but their relat
Divergent patterns of phenotypic selection on floral traits can arise in response to interactions with functionally distinct pollinators. However, there are a limited number of studies that relate patterns of phenotypic selection on floral traits to variation in local pollinator assemblages in pollination-generalized plant species. We studied phenotypic selection on floral traits of Viscaria vulga
Resilience – broadly understood as withstanding, and adapting to, shocks and risks – has emerged as a central discursive device for converging humanitarian needs with climate change responses. This paper's human-centred engagement with resilience draws on the case of smallholder farmers engaged in rain-fed cocoa production in Ghana's Central Region, to systematically unpack how poverty shapes smal
BACKGROUND: Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) are asymptomatic precursor conditions to multiple myeloma and related disorders. Smoldering multiple myeloma is distinguished from MGUS by 10% or greater bone marrow plasma cells (BMPC) on sampling, has a higher risk for progression, and requires specialist management.OBJECTIVE: To develop a
Two species new to science, Xanthoria pedersenii and X. wennergrenii in the Xanthoria calci- cola complex (Xanthoria, Xanthorioideae, Teloschistaceae), characterized by a complex of morphological, anatomical and molecular characters, are described, illustrated and com- pared with closely related taxa.
In recent years, an increasing number of ecosystems are threatened by seasonal flooding, changing non-flooded shoreland (NF) into seasonally flooded wetland (SF), but the consequences of this hydrological change for soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics remain unknown. In this study, we investigated how the SOC content was determined by flooding duration and soil physicochemical variables in adjacent
Biological invasions pose a global challenge, affecting ecosystems worldwide and human societies. Knowledge of the evolutionary history of invasive species is critical to understanding their current invasion success and projecting their future spread. However, to date, few studies have addressed the evolutionary history and potential future spread of invaders simultaneously. In this study, we expl
Climate modeling suggests that achieving international climate goals requires a reduction in current CO2 emissions by over 90%, with any remaining emissions to be addressed through carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions. Sixteen CDR strategies are evaluated by integrating technical potential, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria, along with sequestration permanence. This evaluation
The ability of people to act on their knowledge of their surrounding physical environments before, in response to, and after impactful climate-related hazards is shaped by broader environmental and socio-economic conditions. We present a multiple case study that illustrates how people from both non-Indigenous and Indigenous communities living in remote areas in the Nordic countries maintain and ad
Achieving sustainable rural land systems, including farms and forestry, is essential to achieve the European Union’s goal of fair and healthy food systems while becoming climate-neutral and halting biodiversity loss. Here we quantitatively assess the environmental and socioeconomic sustainability of rural land systems in Europe using spatial hotspot analyses based on 15 environmental and 9 social
