Philippa Kaur

Nearly two years into the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science, research, including some featured in this month’s issue, shows that there is still a wealth of scientific secrets to uncover in the ocean depths.
In many ways, considering the ocean as a single unit is overly broad. The global ocean covers 71% of the planet’s surface, reaches down to depths of over 10 kilometres, includes about 1.35 billion cubic kilometres of water and houses an approximated 2.2 million eukaryotic species. There are distinct regions, with distinct physical properties, and, in turn, there are distinct species. Yet, the world’s oceans do have a level of physical and thematic connectivity.
Credit: Daria Zaseda / DigitalVision Vectors / GettyPhysically, a large part of the connection is related to the presence of large rotating ocean currents that transfer heat across latitudes and contribute to ocean mixing (thermohaline circulation). Some of these currents are warming at alarming rates — up to three times faster than the rest of the ocean, leading to questions about the underlying mechanisms of the warming and expectations for change.Focusing on western boundary currents (WBCs) in the Southern Hemisphere, in an Article in this issue of Nature Climate Change, Li and colleagues answer a long-debated question on the mechanisms of change, showing that temperature-gradient-related instabilities, rather than flow-speed-related instabilities are behind the shifts. In another Article, focusing on the global future changes of eddies (including eddy-rich WBCs), Beech and colleagues report the development of a flexible method that maximizes local model resolution while minimizing computational costs, to reveal the long-term geographical specificities and nonlinear temperature increases expected to 2100 (see also the News and Views article by Yang on these papers).A recent paper1 has demonstrated the important role of large ocean currents in defining plankton biogeography and dynamics, and WBC warming has previously been linked to impacts such as fishery collapses. The tight link between physical processes and biological responses is an underscoring theme of climate change ecology, but is perhaps more apparent in the open ocean, where physical processes can be easily (if imperfectly) linked to primary productivity using remotely sensed phytoplankton pigment absorption, and where life is generally less impacted by geographical, political or disturbance-based boundaries compared with land and freshwater systems. These aspects may facilitate modelling of current and future communities, while also allowing broader assumptions to be made about biological movement and connectivity.Despite these benefits, understanding ocean change comes with its own difficulties. Biological sampling, while easy enough in the surface waters, becomes increasingly difficult at depth. Although future habitats for various organisms have been projected on the basis of their thermal limits in the ocean, these predictions often still rely on temperatures at the surface of the sea. Addressing this, Santana-Falcón and colleagues report in an Article the global mapping of ocean temperature changes to depths of 1,000 metres, and reveal the complex depth-dependent changes in thermal upper and lower bounds that marine organisms will soon be subjected to. In another Article, Ariza and colleagues neatly address the issue of directly monitoring deep-ocean change by compiling a large database of sound-based observations, and subsequently classifying the ocean’s ‘echobiomes’, defined as sound-scattering communities with comparable structural and functional properties (see also the accompanying News and Views article by Hazen). Sound-based methods are also increasingly being used on land2, and represent an exciting tool for monitoring change, particularly in hard-to-reach places such as deep forests, high mountaintops or underground. While the sound reflection method used in the study by Ariza and colleagues has limits in its ability to identify organisms at the individual or species levels, it does provide a community-level focus on change, which remains much needed in the field of global change ecology.At the other end of the spatial spectrum, research by Lee and colleagues reported in an Article also in this issue dives deep into the DNA of a keystone ocean organism (a copepod), to understand the mechanisms that may allow longer-term adaptation to warming and pH stress. The work reveals remarkable adaptation over just a few short generations, which is linked to epigenetic changes. As climate change impacts continue to escalate, the ability of organisms to invoke both shorter- and longer-term adaptations has become an increasingly relevant area of research. Epigenetics has previously been reported as a quick-response method to cope with environmental stress, and may be particularly relevant in defining the adaptation of short-lived animals such as insects and the resilience of the communities they uphold.The five research pieces linked to the oceans in this issue reveal just some of the diversity of topics, methods and scales relevant to understanding global change. Also increasingly relevant are works on ocean conservation3 and on the social and economic impacts of ocean change4,5. Like climate change science, the topic of ocean change is less of a field, and more of a cross-disciplinary theme. More

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Changes in temperature and extreme environmental conditions can affect the dynamics of vector-borne pathogens. These include leishmaniasis, transmitted by phlebotomine sandflies, as well as mosquitoes that spread arboviruses like dengue, encephalitis, yellow fever, West Nile fever, and lymphatic filariasis19,20,21.The CCA analysis showed that maximum temperature significantly influenced the abundance of mosquito populations in the study area. In addition, the NMDS showed two different groupings that consisted of samples collected during the rainy and dry seasons. Accordingly, Refs.22,23 report that changes in temperature and relative humidity determine the abundance of mosquitoes, which can disappear entirely during the dry season. Moreover, Refs.22,24,25 note that certain species of mosquitoes increase proportionally with the regional rainfall regime. This is consistent with Ref.10, who find alternating patterns in tropical and temperate climates in some Brazilian regions.As shown by the geometric regression, there is a positive correlation between cumulative rainfall in the days before collection and the number of species found in the study period. Likewise, Ref.26 reported that under the conditions observed in the Serra do Mar State Park, climate variables directly influenced the abundance of Cq. chrysonotum and Cq. venezuelensis, favoring the occurrence of culicids during the more warm, wet, and rainy months.The current climate scenario and future projections about climate, environmental, demographic, and meteorological factors directly influence the distribution and abundance of mosquito vectors and/or diseases27,28,29,30. Environmental temperature alters mosquito population dynamics, thereby affecting the development of immature stages as well as reproduction31. While temperature has an important effect on population dynamics, rainfall and drought also affect the density and dispersal of mosquitoes in temperate and tropical regions32.To be sure, environmental changes other than climate can modify the behavior of vector insects and, subsequently, the mechanism of transmission of parasites20. Specifically, human impacts on the environment can result in drastically different disease transmission cycles in and around inhabited areas33.A previous study34 reported that changes in land use influence the mosquito communities with potential implications for the emergence of arboviruses. Another study35 noted that environmental changes negatively affect natural ecosystems with accelerated biodiversity loss. This is due to the modification and loss of natural habitat and unsustainable land use, which leads to the spread of pathogens and disease vectors.Hence, understanding the relationship between humans and the environment becomes increasingly critical, given the way in which climate changes can lead to alterations in the epidemiology of diseases such as dengue in areas considered free of the disease, as well as in endemic areas36.We found that the abundance and diversity of Mansoniini were directly influenced by the effect of the rainy season and other climatic factors. The rainfall regime has been shown to affect the development of immature forms12,37; explaining the greater frequency of these specimens in the warmer and wetter months38,39,40. According to Ref.41, stable ecosystems such as forests contain great species diversity. On the other hand, diversity tends to be reduced in biotic communities suffering from stress.Studies of insect populations in natural areas are important because they allow a direct analysis of how environmental factors influence phenomena such as the choice of breeding sites by females for oviposition, hematophagous behavior, and the distribution of species along a vegetation gradient12,26,42,43.Throughout the experimental period of the present study, we observed that Shannon light traps are an effective method for catching mosquitoes from the Mansoniini tribe. Interestingly, Ref.44 reported a species richness pattern strongly influenced by Coquillettidia fasciolata (Lynch Arribálzaga, 1891) on mosquito samples from different capture points by using CDC and Shannon light traps as sampling methods. In contrast to the results of Ref.44, where the highest population density of mosquitoes was captured with CDC traps, we observed that these traps were not effective at capturing specimens of Mansoniini in spite of being used in large numbers in the present study. Moreover, Ref.45 conducted another study on faunal diversity in an Atlantic Forest remnant of the state of Rio de Janeiro and observed the highest abundance of Cq. chrysonotum (Peryassú, 1922) and Cq. venezuelensis by using Shannon light traps, while the numbers of captures of Ma. titillans were very similar using CDC and Shannon traps.The results of this study indicate that the makeup of culicid fauna remains quite similar throughout the year, despite seasonal variations in abundance, though there was a lower variability of fauna in the dry season. Therefore, although the seasonality did not affect the temporal variation of the faunal composition in a generalized way, it was possible to detect a partial effect of the seasonality on fauna abundance.
Reference46 report that the incidence peaks of mosquitoes in the warmer and wetter months, as well as mosquito populations remaining between tolerance limits for most of the year, indicate the sensitivity of some species to the local climate.The elevated abundance and diversity of species of Mansoniini in the study area were influenced by the favorable maintenance of breeding sites, including specific water accumulations with emerging vegetation that remain present throughout the year and the well-defined rainy season in the region. In addition, the representatives of Mansoniini, which prefer breeding sites containing macrophytes, made up nearly all of the species collected7.Besides providing a greater awareness of mosquito populations’ ecological and biological aspects, research carried out in wild areas also provides information on the relationship between species diversity and the area in which they are found. Considering that wild insects may become potential vectors of diseases, research in wild areas also provides helpful information for understanding relevant epidemiological aspects. These studies facilitate the identification, monitoring, and control of mosquito populations following environmental changes caused by direct human action, which can lead to major epidemics26.We observed considerable heterogeneity among Mansoniini fauna, and the months with the highest rainfall directly influence the structure of the communities and contribute to the increase in mosquito diversity and abundance, possibly due to variations in the availability of habitat for their immature forms. More

Sightings of some common bird species increased during the UK’s 2020 lockdown.Credit: Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty

People weren’t the only ones who changed their ways during the COVID-19 pandemic — birds did, too. Four out of five of the most commonly observed birds in the United Kingdom altered their behaviour during the nation’s first lockdown of 2020, although they did so in different ways depending on the species, according to an analysis.The study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B on 21 September1, is one of several that used the disruptions brought about by the pandemic — from a reduction in the number of cars on the roads to the closure of some national parks — to quantify the impact that humanity has on the natural world. Although some research has found that lockdowns had a largely positive effect on wildlife2, the latest data from the United Kingdom provide a much more nuanced picture (see Bird Behaviour).

Credit: Warrington et al/Proceedings of the Royal Society B

“People didn’t disappear during the lockdown,” says co-author Miyako Warrington, a behavioural ecologist at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. “We changed our behaviour, and wildlife responded.”Rare experimentIn the early months of the pandemic, social media was abuzz with reports of wild animals being seen in unusual places. These claims were partially validated when Warrington and her colleagues reported that, in 2020, many bird species in the United States and Canada were spotted moving into spaces usually occupied by people2.To see how a COVID-19 lockdown affected birds in the United Kingdom, Warrington and her colleagues tallied sightings of the 25 most common birds between March and July 2020 — during the country’s first lockdown — and compared their data set with data from previous years. In total, the study included around 870,000 observations.The team then compared this information to data showing how people split their time between home, essential shops and parks: three places people in the United Kingdom were allowed to be during the lockdown.Because people spent more time at home and in parks than before March 2020, the analysis found that 20 of the 25 bird species examined behaved differently during lockdown. Parks — which were flooded with visitors — saw an an uptick in the numbers of corvids and gulls, whereas smaller birds, such as Eurasian blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) and house sparrows (Passer domesticus), were spotted less frequently than in previous years. And because people spent more time at home, the number of avian species that visited domestic gardens also dropped, by around one-quarter, compared with previous years.Other species, including rock pigeons (Columba livia), didn’t react to the lockdown at all. Warrington found this surprising, because pigeons are city dwellers, so she thought they would be affected by the changes in people’s behaviour. “But they don’t give a crap about what we do,” she says.Adapting to changeThe birds that altered their habits during the lockdown were probably responding to changes in human behaviour, says Warrington. Tits and other birds whose numbers dipped might have fled when people and their pets started spending more time in parks and gardens. The reverse could be true for scavengers, such as gulls and corvids, which might have benefited from park visitors leaving behind rubbish for them to feed on.When combined with the results of other studies, the behaviour of British birds reveals the complex ways in which wildlife was affected by lockdowns and underlines the importance of reducing the disturbance of animals by people, says Raoul Manenti, a conservation zoologist at the University of Milan in Italy.For Warrington, that means acknowledging that lockdowns were not universally good for wildlife. “Our relationship with nature is complicated,” she says. By developing a better understanding of this relationship, “we know we can affect positive change as long as we do it in a thoughtful manner”. More