The latest issue of Ecology and Evolution is now live! Over 20 excellent articles free to read, download and share. The cover image is taken from Philopatry drives genetic differentiation in an island archipelago: comparative population genetics of Galapagos Nazca boobies (Sula granti) and great frigatebirds (Fregata minor) by Iris I. Levin and Patricia G. Parker.
Below are some highlights from this issue:
Warming off southwestern Japan linked to distributional shifts of subtidal canopy-forming seaweeds by Kouki Tanaka, Seiya Taino, Hiroko Haraguchi, Gabrielle Prendergast and Masanori Hiraoka.
Summary: To assess distributional shifts of species in response to recent warming, historical distribution records are the most requisite information. The surface seawater temperature (SST) of Kochi Prefecture, southwestern Japan on the western North Pacific, has significantly risen, being warmed by the Kuroshio Current. Past distributional records of subtidal canopy-forming seaweeds (Laminariales and Fucales) exist at about 10-year intervals from the 1970s, along with detailed SST datasets at several sites along Kochi’s >700 km coastline. In order to provide a clear picture of distributional shifts of coastal marine organisms in response to warming SST, we observed the present distribution of seaweeds and analyzed the SST datasets to estimate spatiotemporal SST trends in this coastal region.
Extreme climatic events drive mammal irruptions: regression analysis of 100-year trends in desert rainfall and temperature by Aaron C. Greenville, Glenda M. Wardle and Chris R. Dickman.
Summary: Extreme climatic events, such as flooding rains, extended decadal droughts and heat waves have been identified increasingly as important regulators of natural populations. Climate models predict that global warming will drive changes in rainfall and increase the frequency and severity of extreme events. Consequently, to anticipate how organisms will respond we need to document how changes in extremes of temperature and rainfall compare to trends in the mean values of these variables and over what spatial scales the patterns are consistent.
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