Sea foam contains hemoglycin from cosmic dust.

In-falling cosmic dust has left evidence of meteoritic polymer amide in stromatolites, both fossil and modern. In search of evidence for continued present day in-fall, sea foam was collected from two beaches in Rhode Island and subjected to Folch extraction to concentrate amphiphilic components in a chloroform water-methanol interphase layer. Hemoglycin polymer amide molecules previously characterized by MALDI mass spectrometry in meteorites and stromatolites were identified in sea foam either directly, or their fragmentation patterns.

Biodiversity impacts of the 2019-2020 Australian megafires.

With large wildfires becoming more frequent, we must rapidly learn how megafires impact biodiversity to prioritize mitigation and improve policy. A key challenge is to discover how interactions among fire-regime components, drought and land tenure shape wildfire impacts. The globally unprecedented 2019-2020 Australian megafires burnt more than 10 million hectares, prompting major investment in biodiversity monitoring.

Global Avian Functional Diversity Depends on the World's Most Widespread and Distinct Birds.

The relationship between global trait distinctiveness and geographic range size is an emerging pattern of interest in macroecology. Early observations suggested that the relationship was positive, implying that globally widespread species hold the rarest combinations of traits. Here, we formally describe and test the relationship in the world's birds and consider its implications for global functional diversity and redundancy.

Navigating ecological novelty towards planetary stewardship: challenges and opportunities in biodiversity dynamics in a transforming biosphere.

Human-induced global changes, including anthropogenic climate change, biotic globalization, trophic downgrading and pervasive land-use intensification, are transforming Earth's biosphere, placing biodiversity and ecosystems at the forefront of unprecedented challenges. The Anthropocene, characterized by the importance of in shaping the Earth system, necessitates a re-evaluation of our understanding and stewardship of ecosystems. This theme issue delves into the multifaceted challenges posed by the ongoing ecological planetary transformation and explores potential solutions across four key subthemes.