Evolution typically lags behind environmental change. Here, we document the opposite: evolution surging ahead of warming climate, driven by a trade-off between predation risk and climate stress. Euphydryas editha butterflies could either place eggs low, risking lethal temperatures, or high, risking predation by deer. Historical (1990-2002) response to this trade-off was low oviposition, prioritizing protection from predation. This prioritization has reversed; mean distance of eggs from the ground has tripled, cooling them by ~7°C, far exceeding regional warming and exposing eggs to greater predation risk than necessary to eliminate heat risk. The insects have both overcompensated for climate warming and overshot the target of selection. Egg placement behaviour is bimodal with simple inheritance; females either drop to the ground or balance on leaves, with dropping recessive to balancing. Evolution of discontinuous traits tends to miss targets of selection, in this case over-compensating for climate change and protecting against future warming.

When designing new protected areas, conservation managers often use bioclimatic models to anticipate the effects of climate change on species distributions. Recent studies have shown that the outputs of such models frequently differ in direction and magnitude, generating uncertainties that compromise their value for guiding conservation plans. Traditional approaches tend to minimise this uncertainty by designing adaptive strategies or by complexifying predictive models. However, these approaches may prove inadequate when uncertainty grows too large, as is the case with climate change. Here, rather than attempting to reduce uncertainty, we propose to embrace and value it in order to seek conservation measures that are as robust as possible to many plausible futures. By adapting this "Robust Decision Making" framework to conservation, we stress tested five generic conservation strategies against hundreds of plausible futures, for each of 22 species of concern. Our conceptual study seeks the strengths and vulnerabilities of each strategy across many possible future directions, facilitating both decision-making amongst strategies and emergence of robust and adaptive conservation plans. We anticipate our approach to offer an innovative framework to complement classic species conservation planning methods by reducing sensitivity to climate change uncertainty and improving the overall performance of conservation actions.

Abstract To achieve sustainable targets, international panels call for a transformative change in human–nature interactions to foster human well‐being and promote pro‐environmental behaviour. The extent to which people considered themselves as part of nature—known as human–nature connectedness—has been shown to be a key societal trait for achieving such a transformative change. Human–nature connectedness is linked to improved human welfare and actions for nature conservation and can be increased by direct contact with natural environments in adults living in the Global North. It has not been shown whether these relations are true across lifetimes and in the Global South, making it difficult to generalise about the effects of human–nature connectedness globally. Here, we conducted a cross‐sectional study to examine and compare human–nature connectedness across ages in 1858 participants aged 3–87 years from two countries: France (N = 1059) and Colombia (N = 799). We also investigated the links between human–nature connectedness, pro‐environmental behaviours, well‐being and two indicators of opportunity to experience nature (i.e. degree of urbanisation and forest cover around the participants' municipality of residence). Results show that human–nature connectedness is positively related to well‐being and pro‐environmental behaviours in both countries. Analyses revealed an age‐related pattern of human–nature connectedness with a significant decline from childhood to the mid‐teens in both countries. Overall, Colombian participants have a higher human–nature connectedness than French participants and individuals' human–nature connectedness was negatively linked to the urbanisation's indices in both countries. Here, we show that human–nature connectedness is linked to sustainable outcomes in a Global South country, just as it is in the Global North. Our study also suggests that increasing contact with nature during formative teenage years could mitigate the observed decline in human–nature connectedness. Future studies are warranted combining qualitative and quantitative measures related to human–nature connectedness, nature experiences, values and practices in relation to nature, in multiple countries from the global South. Our study indicates that enhancing human–nature connectedness could provide an additional tool for achieving sustainable targets globally, not just in highly developed northern‐hemisphere countries. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

As plant species expand their upper limits of distribution under current warming, some retain both traditional climate space and biotic environment while others encounter novel conditions. The latter is the case for Rhododendron campanulatum, a woody shrub that grows both above and below treeline at our study site in the Eastern Himalayas where a very conspicuous, stable treeline was defined by a nearly contiguous canopy of tall Abies spectabilis trees, many of which are over a century old. Prior work showed that treeline had remained static in this region while R. campanulatum expanded its elevational range limit. We tested local adaptation of R. campanulatum by performing reciprocal transplants between the species' current elevational range limit (4023 m above sea level [asl]) and just above treeline (3876 m asl). Contrary to expectation, the coldest temperatures of late winter and early mid-spring were experienced by plants at the lower elevation: R. campanulatum at species' limit (upper site) were covered by snow for a longer period (40 more days) and escaped the coldest temperatures suffered by conspecifics at treeline (lower site). The harsher spring conditions at treeline likely explain why leaves were smaller at treeline (15.3 cm(2)) than at species limit (21.3 cm(2)). Contrary to results from equivalent studies in other regions, survival was reduced more by downslope than by upslope movement, again potentially due to extreme cold temperatures observed at treeline in spring. Upslope transplantation had no effect on mortality, but mortality of species limit saplings transplanted downslope was three times higher than that of residents at both sites. A general expectation is that locals should survive better than foreign transplants, but survival of locals and immigrants at our species limit site was identical. However, those species limit saplings that survived the transplant to treeline grew faster than both locals at treeline and the transplants at species limit. Overall, we found asymmetric adaptation: Compared with treeline saplings, those at species limit (147 m above treeline) were more tolerant of extremes in the growing season but less tolerant of extremes in winter and early mid-spring, displaying local adaptation in a more complex manner than simply home advantage, and complicating predictions about impacts of future regional climate change.

Climate change reinvigorates two debates: first, about relative roles of taxonomic, genetic and phenetic criteria in prioritizing entities for conservation and, second, on the role of hybrids in biodiversity assessments, as climatechange-induced range shifts create sympatry between formerly allopatric species/subspecies, thereby generating novel hybrids. We argue that rapid climate change necessitates a shift in the ethical balance sheet for conservation prioritization. Here we use the extensive ecotypic variation in a climate-sensitive butterfly, Euphydryas editha, to illustrate a case in which conservation biologists choosing extant populations as sources for reintroductions to extinct sites, translocations to novel sites, or genetic rescue of inbred populations should first select populations with appropriate phenotypes for climate adaptation and preferences for host and habitat and only then, within that group, rely on subspecies identity or genomic similarity between source and target populations. Preferences evolve rapidly, and we show that they differed sufficiently between an endangered subspecies and potential sources genomically close to it that restoration efforts would be doomed. Conversely, introductions from genomically more distant, ecologically similar populations would succeed and hybridize. Evolutionary biologists have argued that hybridizations, whether caused by climate change or genetic rescue projects, may be essential for retaining genetic diversity and adaptive potential at species/genus level. Conservation practitioners, in contrast, tend to oppose genetic change, arguing to preserve "purity" of existing groups. Our example of the role of climate change in conservation of a species with rapid evolution of critical traits and a mosaic pattern of local adaptation supports the evolutionary biologists' argument.

Despite growing evidence that "connectedness" of humans with nature creates multiple benefits for both humans and nature, these benefits are not fully considered by health and conservation policymakers. Studies are scattered across scientific disciplines including health, education, psychology and biology, making it difficult to get a complete overview. Here, we conduct a systematic review, focused on recent meta-analyses that investigate impacts of psychological and/or physical connection with nature on human health and well-being and on attitudes and actions that promote nature conservation. By "psychological connection" we mean the extent to which people see themselves as part of nature and by "physical connection" we mean contact with natural areas. We identified 16 relevant meta-analyses covering 832 independent studies. We found consistent conclusions across geographically diverse experimental studies that physical connection with nature improved human cognition, social skills, physical and mental health, and psychological connection to nature. Experiments also showed that psychological connection with nature had significant positive impact on pro-environmental behaviors and values. Correlational studies supported experimental results and, in addition, found psychological connection with nature positively correlated with mental and physical health. Studies are biased toward adults rather than children and away from southern regions (Africa, Oceania and South America). Overall, our review suggests a critical role for psychological and physical human-nature connections in developing a sustainable future. Although experimental studies are rare, conducting cross-cultural experimental research is needed if governmental and non-governmental stakeholders, researchers and citizens are to develop appropriate actions toward achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Life on Earth is diverse at many levels, meaning there is a lot of variety within species and there are many different kinds of species. This biodiversity provides many of the resources that humans need and enhances our quality of life. All of Earth’s organisms are affected by Earth’s climate, but they also influence Earth’s climate. In this article, we show how research on plants, animals, and microbes helps us better understand how living things can both impact and respond to climate change. This research also gives us insight into what the future might be like for life on Earth. Such knowledge will help us to protect our planet—and the living things on it—from the harmful effects of future climate change.

Studies in birds and trees show climatic stresses distributed across species' ranges, not only at range limits. Here, new analyses from the butterfly Euphydryas editha reveal mechanisms generating these stresses: geographic mosaics of natural selection, acting on tradeoffs between climate adaptation and fitness traits, cause some range-central populations to evolve to limits of climatic tolerance, while others remain resilient. In one ecotype, selection for predator avoidance drives evolution to limits of thermal tolerance. In a second ecotype, the endangered Bay Checkerspot, selection on fecundity drives evolution to the climate-sensitive limit of ability to complete development within the lifespans of ephemeral hosts, causing routinely high mortality from insect-host phenological asynchrony. The tradeoff between maternal fecundity and offspring mortality generated similar values of fitness on different dates, partly explaining why fecundity varied by more than an order of magnitude. Evolutionary response to the tradeoff rendered climatic variability the main driver of Bay Checkerspot dynamics, and increases in this variability, associated with climate change, were a key factor behind permanent extinction of a protected metapopulation. Finally, we discuss implications for conservation planning of our finding that adaptive evolution can reduce population-level resilience to climate change and generate geographic mosaics of climatic stress. This article is part of the theme issue 'Species' ranges in the face of changing environments (Part II)'.

Evolutionary change impacts the rate at which insect pests, pollinators, or disease vectors expand or contract their geographic ranges. Although evolutionary changes, and their ecological feedbacks, strongly affect these risks and associated ecological and economic consequences, they are often underappreciated in management efforts. Greater rigor and scope in study design, coupled with innovative technologies and approaches, facilitates our understanding of the causes and consequences of eco-evolutionary dynamics in insect range shifts. Future efforts need to ensure that forecasts allow for demographic and evolutionary change and that management strategies will maximize (or minimize) the adaptive potential of range-shifting insects, with benefits for biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Internationally agreed sustainability goals are being missed. Here, we conduct global meta-analyses to assess how the extent to which humans see themselves as part of nature-known as human-nature connectedness (HNC)-can be used as a leverage point to reach sustainability. A meta-analysis of 147 correlational studies shows that individuals with high HNC had more pronature behaviours and were significantly healthier than those with low HNC. A meta-analysis of 59 experimental studies shows significant increases in HNC after manipulations involving contact with nature and mindfulness practices. Surprisingly, this same meta-analysis finds no significant effect of environmental education on HNC. Thus, HNC is positively linked to mind-sets that value sustainability and behaviours that enhance it. Further, we argue that HNC can be enhanced by targeted practices, and we identify those most likely to succeed. Our results suggest that enhancing HNC, via promotion of targeted practices, can improve sustainability and should be integrated into conservation policy.

Insects have been key players in the assessments of biodiversity impacts of anthropogenically driven environmental change, including the evolutionary and ecological impacts of climate change. Populations of Edith’s Checkerspot Butterfly (Euphydryas editha) adapt rapidly to diverse environmental conditions, with numerous high-impact studies documenting these dynamics over several decades. However, studies of the underlying genetic bases of these responses have been hampered by missing genomic resources, limiting the ability to connect genomic responses to environmental change. Using a combination of Oxford Nanopore long reads, haplotype merging, HiC scaffolding followed by Illumina polishing, we generated a highly contiguous and complete assembly (contigs n = 142, N50 = 21.2 Mb, total length = 607.8 Mb; BUSCOs n = 5,286, single copy complete = 97.8%, duplicated = 0.9%, fragmented = 0.3%, missing = 1.0%). A total of 98% of the assembled genome was placed into 31 chromosomes, which displayed large-scale synteny with other well-characterized lepidopteran genomes. The E. editha genome, annotation, and functional descriptions now fill a missing gap for one of the leading field-based ecological model systems in North America.

As species' poleward range limits expand under climate change, generalists are expected to be better colonists than specialists, extending their ranges faster. This effect of specialization on range shifts has been shown, but so has the reverse cause–effect: in a global meta‐analysis of butterfly diets, it was range expansions themselves that caused increases in population‐level diet breadth. What could drive this unexpected process? We provide a novel behavioral mechanism by showing that, in a butterfly with extensive ecotypic variation, Edith's checkerspot, diet breadths increased after colonization events as diversification of individual host preferences pulled novel hosts into population diets. Subsequently, populations that persisted reverted toward monophagy. We draw together three lines of evidence from long‐term studies of 15 independently evolving populations. First, direct observations showed a significant increase in specialization across decades: in recent censuses, eight populations used fewer host genera than in the 1980s while none used more. Second, behavioral preference‐testing experiments showed that extinctions and recolonizations at two sites were followed, at first by diversification of heritable preference ranks and increases in diet breadth, and subsequently by homogenization of preferences and contractions of diet breadth. Third, we found a significant negative association in the 1980s between population‐level diet breadth and genetic diversity. Populations with fewer mtDNA haplotypes had broader diets, extending to 3–4 host genera, while those with higher haplotype diversity were more specialized. We infer that diet breadth had increased in younger, recently colonized populations. Preference diversification after colonization events, whether caused by (cryptic) host shifts or by release of cryptic genetic variation after population bottlenecks, provides a mechanism for known effects of range shifts on diet specialization. Our results explain how colonizations at expanding range margins have increased population‐level diet breadths, and predict that increasing specialization should accompany population persistence as current range edges become range interiors.

The COVID-19 pandemic and anthropogenic climate change are global crises. We show how strongly these crises are connected, including the underlying societal inequities and problems of poverty, substandard housing, and infrastructure including clean water supplies. The origins of all these crises are related to modern consumptive industrialisation, including burning of fossil fuels, increasing human population density, and replacement of natural with human dominated ecosystems. Because business as usual is unsustainable on all three fronts, transformative responses are needed. We review the literature on risk management interventions, implications for COVID-19, for climate change risk and for equity associated with biodiversity, water and WaSH, health systems, food systems, urbanization and governance. This paper details the considerable evidence base of observed synergies between actions to reduce pandemic and climate change risks while enhancing social justice and biodiversity conservation. It also highlights constraints imposed by governance that can impede deployment of synergistic solutions. In contrast to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governance systems have procrastinated on addressing climate change and biodiversity loss as these are interconnected chronic crises. It is now time to address all three to avoid a multiplication of future crises across health, food, water, nature, and climate systems.

Dynamics of herbivorous insect diet breadth are important in generation of novel pests, biological control of weeds and as indicators of global change impacts. But what forces and events drive these dynamics? Here we present evidence for a novel scenario: that specialization increases in persistent populations, but that, at the species level, this trend is countered by effects of colonizations. Colonizations cause host shifts, which are followed by non-adaptive evolutionary expansions of diet breadth, adding transitory hosts during adaptation to the principal novel host. We base this thesis on long-term study of 15 independently-evolving populations of Edith’s Checkerspot butterfly, eight of which used fewer host genera in recent censuses than in the 1980’s, while none used more - a significant increase in specializaton. At the same time, two extintion/recolonization events were followed by temporary expansions of diet breadth. Behavioural experiments showed that these expansions were driven by within-population diversification of individual oviposition preferences. These results may explain an old puzzle: a significant negative association between population-level diet breadth and mtDNA diversity. Populations with fewer mtDNA haplotypes had broader diets, suggesting that diet breadth increases in younger, recently-colonized populations. A recent global meta-analysis of butterfly diets, using biogeographic data, explains latitudinal patterns of diet breadth by showing that poleward range expansions have caused reduced specialization. This implies broad applicability of our results, which provide a plausible mechanism for the latitudinal trends: colonizations at expanding range margins would increase population-level diet breadths, while population persistence in range interiors would facilitate increasing specialization.

Abstract Alpine treelines are expected to shift upward due to recent climate change. However, interpretation of changes in montane systems has been problematic because effects of climate change are frequently confounded with those of land use changes. The eastern Himalaya, particularly Langtang National Park, Central Nepal, has been relatively undisturbed for centuries and thus presents an opportunity for studying climate change impacts on alpine treeline uncontaminated by potential confounding factors. We studied two dominant species, Abies spectabilis (AS) and Rhododendron campanulatum (RC), above and below the treeline on two mountains. We constructed 13 transects, each spanning up to 400 m in elevation, in which we recorded height and state (dead or alive) of all trees, as well as slope, aspect, canopy density, and measures of anthropogenic and animal disturbance. All size classes of RC plants had lower mortality above treeline than below it, and young RC plants (<2 m tall) were at higher density above treeline than below. AS shows little evidence of a position change from the historic treeline, with a sudden extreme drop in density above treeline compared to below. Recruitment, as measured by size–class distribution, was greater above treeline than below for both species but AS is confined to ~25 m above treeline whereas RC is luxuriantly growing up to 200 m above treeline. Synthesis. Evidence suggests that the elevational limits of RC have shifted upward both because (a) young plants above treeline benefited from facilitation of recruitment by surrounding vegetation, allowing upward expansion of recruitment, and (b) temperature amelioration to mature plants increased adult survival. We predict that the current pure stand of RC growing above treeline will be colonized by AS that will, in turn, outshade and eventually relegate RC to be a minor component of the community, as is the current situation below the treeline.