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Scapucci, L., Krebs, L., Burri, S. et al. Soil and forest floor respiration already acclimated to increasing temperatures in a mixed deciduous forest. Ecol Process 14, 71 (2025).

Forest ecosystems can help reduce CO2 in the atmosphere, but this benefit can be offset by CO respiration from soils and the forest floor. A long-term study in a Swiss mixed forest shows that despite rising temperatures, these CO2 emissions have not increased, suggesting the ecosystem has already adapted to warmer conditions.

Simone Fior et al. Ancient alleles drive contemporary climate adaptation in an alpine plant. Science390,59-64 (2025).

Species need to adapt genetically to survive in a warming climate, but it is often unclear where helpful variants come from and how they influence evolution over time. This study shows that an Alpine carnation already carries “warm” and “cold” gene versions for flowering time that arose in the past and are likely to help the species adapt to future climate change.

Li, Y., Fei, D., Schubert, J. et al. Pre-meiotic H1.1 degradation is essential for Arabidopsis gametogenesis. EMBO J 45, 789–819 (2026).

Plants and animals both reorganize their DNA packaging when forming reproductive cells, but how this process works in plants was unclear. This study shows that Arabidopsis uses two molecular pathways to remove a key histone protein, which is essential for successful reproduction and the formation of functional germ cells.

Anne C. Roulin. Blinded by the lights? Re-examining the adaptive role of transposable elements in plants with population genomics. Current Opinion in Plant Biology, Volume 89 (2026).

Transposable elements are mobile DNA sequences in plant genomes that can sometimes influence traits and help plants respond to environmental change, but most are harmful and removed by natural selection. This article argues that their role in local adaptation is complex and often overstated, and that broader genomic studies across many species are needed to understand their true impact.

Dorey, T., Deluigi, J., Maccagni, A., Rasmann, S., Glauser, G. and Willi, Y. Variation in herbivore defense strategies among plant species differing in elevational distribution and the role of temperature in defense. New Phytol. (2026).

Temperature affects both plants and the insects that feed on them, which can change how well plants defend themselves. Experiments with mustard-family plants along a mountain slope show that high-elevation species suffer less herbivory and use strong, flexible defenses - especially chemical ones - helping them cope with insects under different temperatures.