Speciation is the ultimate source of biodiversity, yet because most species arise in spatial isolation (allopatry), it remains unclear how speciation history shapes patterns of sympatric species richness. Here, we examine how the timing of past speciation events influences the maximum sympatric species richness attained across 40 families of passerine birds. Using a phylogenetic model, we infer that the average waiting time fo...

In genetically heterogeneous (UM-HET3) mice produced by the CByB6F1 × C3D2F1 cross, the Nrf2 activator astaxanthin (Asta) extended the median male lifespan by 12% ( p = 0.003, log-rank test), while meclizine (Mec), an mTORC1 inhibitor, extended the male lifespan by 8% ( p = 0.03). Asta was fed at 1840 ± 520 (9) ppm and Mec at 544 ± 48 (9) ppm, stated as mean ± SE ( n ) of independent diet preparations. Both were started at 12...

Aim The exceptional turnover in biota with elevation and number of species coexisting at any elevation makes tropical mountains hotspots of biodiversity. However, understanding the historical processes through which species arising in geographical isolation (i.e. allopatry) assemble along the same mountain slope (i.e. sympatry) remains a major challenge. Multiple models have been proposed including (1) the sorting of already e...

Global biodiversity is facing a crisis, which must be solved through effective policies and on‐the‐ground conservation. But governments, NGOs, and scientists need reliable indicators to guide research, conservation actions, and policy decisions. Developing reliable indicators is challenging because the data underlying those tools is incomplete and biased. For example, the Living Planet Index tracks the changing status of globa...

Understanding how multiple co‐occurring environmental stressors combine to affect biodiversity and ecosystem services is an on‐going grand challenge for ecology. Currently, progress has been made through accumulating large numbers of smaller‐scale empirical studies that are then investigated by meta‐analyses to detect general patterns. There is particular interest in detecting, understanding and predicting ‘ecological surprise...

Priority effects can play a fundamental role in the assembly of ecological communities, but how they shape the dynamics of biodiversity over macroevolutionary timescales remains unclear. Here we develop and analyse a metacommunity model combining local priority effects with niche evolution, speciation and extinction. We show that by promoting the persistence of rare species, local priority effects cause the evolution of higher...

Aim Morphological and lineage evolution are predicted to follow different patterns in island and mainland radiations. However, the extent to which these geographical contexts influence evolutionary trajectories remains poorly understood, in part because few studies have focused on species‐rich clades colonizing continents and archipelagos over comparable timeframes. Focusing on a diverse songbird clade radiating on the African...

Summary Choline is ubiquitous in marine eukaryotes and appears to be widely distributed in surface marine waters; however, its metabolism by marine bacteria is poorly understood. Here, using comparative genomics and molecular genetic approaches, we reveal that the capacity for choline catabolism is widespread in marine heterotrophs of the marine Roseobacter clade ( MRC ). Using the model bacterium R uegeria pomeroyi , we confi...

The current spatial pattern of a population is the result of previous individual birth, death, and dispersal events. We present a simple model followed by a comparative analysis for a species‐rich plant community to show how the current spatial aggregation of a population may hold information about recent population dynamics. Previous research has shown how locally restricted seed dispersal often leads to stronger aggregation...

Classical theory states that if conspecifics have a greater competitive effect on individuals than heterospecifics then coexistence should occur, and ecologists have spent much effort exploring ways to generate coexistence when this condition is not met. One process that has received particular attention in the last two decades is the effect of within‐species aggregation and between‐species segregation caused by limited disper...

Summary The bacterioneuston is defined as the community of bacteria present within the neuston or sea surface microlayer. Bacteria within this layer were sampled using a membrane filter technique and bacterial diversity was compared with that in the underlying pelagic coastal seawater using molecular ecological techniques. 16S rRNA gene libraries of ≈ 500 clones were constructed from both bacterioneuston and the pelagic water...

Most spatial models of competing species assume symmetries in the spatial scales of dispersal and interactions. This makes analysis tractable, and has led to the conclusion that segregation of species in space does not promote coexistence. However, these symmetries leave parts of the parameter space uninvestigated. Using a moment‐approximation method, we present a spatial version of the Lotka–Volterra competition equations to...