All Ecology & Evolution articles
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NewsCheese fungi color changes help unlock secrets of evolution
Color changes in fungi on cheese rinds point to specific molecular mechanisms of genetic adaptation—and sometimes a tastier cheese.
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NewsSwitch on, switch off: the dynamic defense of a deadly plant disease
Even strains of Phytophthora infestans considered sensitive to mefenoxam can rapidly develop resistance after a single exposure to a low dose. Researchers have uncovered the dynamics of this defense mechanism, revealing a foe that is more adaptable than previously thought.
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NewsExtreme diatoms inside the Arctic ice glide into the record books
Diatoms found in polar ice are active until temperatures drop to -15 C - the lowest ever recorded for movement by a eukaryotic cell.
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NewsFighting extinction, coral reefs show signs of adapting to warming seas
By studying how six months of elevated ocean temperatures would affect a species of coral from the northern Red Sea, scientists found that although these organisms can certainly survive in conditions that mimic future warming trends, they don’t thrive.
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NewsLess is more: Gene loss drives adaptive evolution of a pandemic bacterium
A study reveals a surprising evolutionary insight: sometimes, losing genes rather than gaining them can help bacterial pathogens survive and thrive. The research focused on Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a bacterium behind many of the seafood-related infections worldwide.
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NewsAncient mammoth remains yield the world’s oldest host-associated bacterial DNA
An international team has uncovered microbial DNA preserved in woolly and steppe mammoth remains dating back more than one million years. The analyses reveal some of the world’s oldest microbial DNA ever recovered, as well as the identification of bacteria that possibly caused disease in mammoths.
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NewsTiny ocean partnership between algae and bacteria reveals secrets of evolution
The microscopic alliance between algae and bacteria offers rare, step-by-step snapshots of how bacteria lose genes and adapt to increasing host dependence, a new study shows.
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NewsBacteria survive dust storms and introduce new genetic traits into our air
Bacterial communities carried from Africa to Israel survive their airborne journey, arriving with genes that may affect human health and the environment, a new study reveals.
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NewsDeadly infectious bone disease wiped out long-necked dinosaurs in Brazil
Researchers found sauropod bones with signs of osteomyelitis, an infectious disease that can be caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi, or protozoa and that killed the animals quickly. The discovery suggests that favorable conditions for the disease existed.
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NewsNew research rewrites origins of world’s first recorded pandemic - the Plague of Justinian
For the first time, researchers have uncovered direct genomic evidence of the bacterium behind the Plague of Justinian — the world’s first recorded pandemic — in the Eastern Mediterranean, where the outbreak was first described nearly 1,500 years ago.
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NewsTiny creatures, big insights: The microbial signature of the sea uncovered by copepods
A new study has revealed that tiny planktonic crustaceans carry a unique microbial signature that better reflects ocean currents and environmental gradients than microbes found freely in seawater.
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News‘Controlled evolution’ dramatically boosts pDNA production for biomedical manufacturing
Researchers have controlled the evolution of E. coli bacteria in the lab in order to dramatically increase the amount of plasmid DNA (pDNA) these modified bacteria produce. pDNA is an essential – and expensive – ingredient in many gene therapies.
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NewsScientists trace the evolution of the H5N1 virus
Researchers have discovered that the currently circulating 2.3.4.4b clade of H5N1 has specific mutations in its genome that increase its human adaptive potential.
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News4,000-year-old sheep reveals that livestock played a role in prehistoric plague infections
An ancient Yersinia pestis genome recovered from sheep sheds new light on a mysterious infectious disease that plagued prehistoric Eurasia for over 2000 years.
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NewsGeobiologist Dr. Ilya Bobrovskiy moves to MARUM with his ERC Starting Grant
Geobiologist Dr. Ilya Bobrovskiy, previously employed at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, is moving to the University of Bremen to establish a research group at MARUM as part of his ERC Starting Grant.
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NewsDancing against the current: Microbial survival strategy
In scalding hot water rushing through narrow channels, some bacteria have evolved a surprising survival technique: they cling to surfaces, stand upright, and sway rhythmically—like tiny street dancers fighting the flow.
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NewsStudy reveals how climate shapes fungal spore traits with applications for soil health
A new study reports on how global climate conditions affect arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal spore traits and the species biogeographic patterns. The study is the first to examine multiple traits of this kind on a global scale.
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NewsKākāpō decline reveals threat of parasite coextinction
Researchers have discovered that more than 80 per cent of parasites detected in kākāpō poo prior to the 1990s are no longer present in contemporary populations. They used ancient DNA and microscopic techniques to sample faeces dating back more than 1500 years.
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NewsBird-to-human jump by trichomonas parasites illuminated in new study
A new study reveals how genetic changes in the parasite responsible for one of the world’s most common sexually transmitted infections may have helped it adapt to human hosts.
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NewsStudy tracks Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation using benthic foraminifera
Scientists investigated how the weakening of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is connected to the ventilation of the shallow ocean. Using benthic foraminifera, the team was able to reconstruct changes in the oxygen content of the oxygen-minimum zone over 27,000 years.