Empathic comforting varies more within bonobo and chimpanzee species than between them

Durham University

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Juvenile bonobo embraces a distressed companion during post-conflict consolation.  

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Credit: Zanna Clay/Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary

Psychologists from Durham University, UK, observed the behaviour of 90 sanctuary-living apes to establish whether bonobos were more likely than chimpanzees to comfort others in distress. 

The study, led by Dr Jake Brooker, found that both species consoled their peers at similar rates, with the greatest variation actually occurring within each species. 

This challenges long-held assumptions that bonobos are the more empathic ape and instead highlights the variation within each species. 

It is the first time that the two species’ consolation tendencies have been directly compared. 

The study has been published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior. 

The researchers studied 40 bonobos at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo and 50 chimpanzees at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage in Zambia. 

In total, the team logged 1,400 hours of observation across the two species, focussing on how individuals reacted to a group member that had experienced a naturally occurring moment of distress such as a fight. 

They found that older apes were less likely to console than younger apes in both bonobos and chimpanzees. 

This suggests that emotional sensitivity to others emerges early in ape development. 

In bonobos, younger individuals were more likely to console others and be consoled. 

In chimpanzees, young males and close social partners consoled the most. 

Both species console each other in a similar way to humans, with behaviours including embracing, hand grasping, and touching. 

Dr Brooker, of Durham University’s Department of Psychology, said: “For a long time, bonobos have been thought of as the more empathic ape, whilst chimpanzees are typically spoken about as the violent, despotic ape. 

“However, we found that chimpanzees are just as likely to console one another as bonobos.  

“Instead, like recent studies comparing bonobos and chimpanzees in aggression, social tolerance, and sexuality, our findings highlight the important individual and social variation within each species. 

“Just like humans, bonobos and chimpanzees may flexibly show empathy depending on the individual, the group, and the surrounding social culture.” 

Senior author of the study, Professor Zanna Clay of Durham University’s Department of Psychology, added: “Although empathy is very important for our own species, our findings show that empathic behaviours, like consolation, appear to be a common trait we also share with our two closest ape relatives.  

“Finding these overlaps between our two close cousins suggests our last common ancestor likely showed these empathic capacities too. 

“A next step will be to see how much these patterns are also observed in other settings, particularly in the wild.” 

The research team say that collecting more data on different groups of apes in a variety of settings would help further our understanding of our closest living relatives, which in turn could shed light on the evolution of human social behaviour.  

This study was funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation. 

ENDS 

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Journal

Evolution and Human Behavior

DOI

10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106682 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Within-species variation eclipses between-species differences in Pan consolation

Article Publication Date

25-Apr-2025

Two young bonobos embracing

Victim bonobo with pout face being consoled by a juvenile bystander

Credit

Zanna Clay/Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary

Mother chimpanzee embracing her distressed juvenile son

At Chimfunshi, chimpanzees live in large naturalistic miombo woodland forest enclosures

Juvenile chimpanzee holding the hand of adult following social conflict

Adult chimpanzee embracing juvenile chimpanzee

Adult chimpanzee embracing juvenile chimpanze

Credit

Jake Brooker/Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust

 

Many paths to an angry bird

Uncovering the roots of aggressiveness in female cavity-nesting birds

Duke University

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Among the pairs of species compared in the study are the Yellow Warbler (left) and the Prothonotary Warbler— an obligate cavity nester. 

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Credit: Photos courtesy of Shelby Lawson and Michael Jeffords

“Get off my lawn!”

Funny as a meme but maybe scary in real life, this short sentence is synonymous with an elderly man shouting at kids whose bikes have gotten too close to a well-manicured front yard. But it could just as well represent a female bird, aggressively chasing whatever intruder gets too close to her nest.

Not any female bird, though. An international team of researchers led by Sara Lipshutz, assistant professor of Biology at Duke University, found that female birds who can only nest in cavities are far more aggressive than those who don’t have this restriction on their nesting real estate.

Called obligate secondary cavity nesters, these are species that build their nests in pre-existing cavities in tree trunks, fence posts or rocky outcrops. “They can't excavate that cavity themselves, and they can’t just build a nest anywhere,” explained Lipshutz. “They have to find a hole in a tree, and this is the only way they can reproduce.”

These specific needs — and the fact that they do not create these cavities themselves — mean that females with good nest sites have a precious resource to defend. And they do, with beaks and claws, and quite a bit of angry vocalizing.

Lipshutz’s federally-funded team focused on five families of birds: swallows, wood warblers, sparrows, thrushes and wrens, and on two closely related species per family — one an obligate secondary cavity nester, and one not. The researchers then strategically placed decoys corresponding to each species and Bluetooth speakers playing their call in the vicinity of nests and observed how the resident birds responded.

As with so many other traits, one could expect aggressiveness to run in families, being more prevalent in some branches of birds’ evolutionary tree than in others. What Lipshutz and her team found, however, was that aggressiveness is far more related to nest strategy than to family. With the exception of never-aggressive sparrows and always-aggressive wrens, obligate cavity nesters were far more determined to get intruders off their lawn than their more versatile cousins. Among the obligate cavity-nesters, females were also more aggressive than males, possibly reflecting the higher cost they’d bear if their nest was lost.

“It was a really striking behavioral pattern,” said Lipshutz.

“The pressure to compete led to higher aggressiveness,” added Kimberly Rosvall, a Duke alumna whose lab at Indiana University contributed to the project. “And this was especially strong for the females.”

The team also looked at another frequent culprit of aggressiveness: testosterone. Once again, the results were surprising. Females from cavity-nesting species didn’t have higher levels of testosterone.

If family and hormones can’t explain why obligate cavity-nesters are particularly aggressive, could it be that aggressiveness is associated with specific genes? Lipshutz and her team looked at how genes are expressed — turned on or off — in each of their study species, to understand whether certain genes are repeatedly used in cavity-nesters. Their findings indicate both yes and no. Cavity-nesters expressed many of the same genes in the same manner, but fewer genes seemed to be consistently associated with aggression across all species.

“We always want to find the genes, a handful of genes that make a lot of sense, previously known genes that are associated with aggression and maybe have even been experimentally manipulated to impact aggression,” said Lipshutz. “And we didn't find any of those usual suspects.”

Lipshutz is far from disappointed, though. “There are probably several hundred genes associated with aggression and they're probably all working together in subtle ways. Those combinations are not the same for each species, which is really interesting from an evolutionary perspective,” she said. “It shows that there are independent ways to get to the same behavioral outcome.

“As our team likes to say, ‘There are many possible routes to build an aggressive bird.’”

This work was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (DBI-1907134, DBI-2146866, IOS-1953226 and IOS-1942192).

CITATION: “Repeated Behavioral Evolution Is Associated With Convergence of Gene Expression in Cavity-Nesting Songbirds,” Sara E Lipshutz, Mark S Hibbins, Alexandra B Bentz, Aaron M Buechlein, Tara A Empson, Elizabeth M George, Mark E Hauber, Douglas B Rusch, Wendy M Schelsky, Quinn K. Thomas, Samuel J. Torneo, Abbigail M Turner, Sarah E Wolf, Mary J Woodruff, Matthew W Hahn, Kimberly A Rosvall. Nature Ecology and Evolution, April 28, 2025. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02675-x

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Journal

Nature Ecology & Evolution

DOI

10.1038/s41559-025-02675-x 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Repeated behavioural evolution is associated with convergence of gene expression in cavity-nesting songbirds

Disclaimer: AAAS and Eu

 

Balancing nature restoration and land use: a path to sustainable growth in the EU

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

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Can nature restoration and economic productivity go hand in hand? A new study finds that the EU’s ambitious Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR) is essential to achieving biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation targets and that it could be implemented without compromising the supply of agricultural and forest products.

Ensuring that biodiversity conservation actions are integrated with land management strategies is key for long-term sustainability. Doing so can ensure that ecosystems continue to provide essential services such as pollination, water purification, and carbon storage, all of which support agriculture and forestry production. If biodiversity is neglected in favor of short-term economic gains, ecosystem degradation can lead to soil erosion, loss of natural pest control, and reduced resilience to climate change, ultimately harming both nature and livelihoods.

By using an integrated spatial planning approach, the authors of the new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution show that strategic restoration efforts can yield significant biodiversity and climate benefits while ensuring continued food and timber production across Europe.

“We wanted to explore whether nature restoration goals and economic needs are inherently at odds. Our findings suggest that, with careful planning, restoration can indeed lead to a win-win scenario for biodiversity and sustainable production,” explains lead author Melissa Chapman, an alumna of the IIASA Young Scientists Summer Program and winner of the 2022 IIASA Peccei Award, who is now an incoming assistant professor at ETH Zürich. “What started as a small summer project turned into a multi-year collaborative effort due to evolving policy discussions. As a result, the analysis is more comprehensive and policy-relevant,” she says.

Without the implementation of the NRR, biodiversity losses in Europe are expected to continue or worsen, making restoration efforts critical for mitigating these declines. The study provides scientific insights into how land use can be allocated efficiently to meet conservation, restoration, and production goals under different economic and policy scenarios. This research is particularly relevant and timely as EU Member States prepare their National Restoration Plans to fulfill the NRR’s goal of restoring 20% of land and water by 2030.

“There is large diversity with which cropland, pasture, or forest can be managed, and how that impacts biodiversity, climate, and economic activities. This challenges our understanding of the many trade-offs associated with future EU land management, but this diversity can also be an opportunity to identify win-win solutions,” says David Leclère, a study coauthor and senior research scholar in the IIASA Integrated Biosphere Future Research Group.

“Our approach enables the simultaneous consideration and planning of multiple actions and sectors, minimizing potential conflicts and more strategically utilizing each sector's contribution to food and timber provision, nature conservation, and climate mitigation,” adds study coauthor Martin Jung, a senior research scholar in the IIASA Biodiversity, Ecology, and Conservation Research Group.

As EU Member States draft their National Restoration Plans, they will outline key areas, species, and habitats targeted by restoration measures and determine baseline levels and targets levels of restoration indicators as well as implementation mechanisms.

“This work, and similar studies done at national scales, can help shape Nature Restoration Plans. It can help to identify which areas to focus on for restoration and conservation, estimate how these efforts can simultaneously fight climate change, and look at how the plans might affect industries like farming or forestry, which in turns helps to determine what kind of financial or other support the relevant sectors might need,” concludes Piero Visconti, who conceived the study and leads the Biodiversity, Ecology, and Conservation Research Group at IIASA.

Reference
Chapman, M., Jung, M., Leclere, D., Boettiger, C., Augustynczik, A.L.D., Gusti, M., Ringwald, L., and Visconti, P. (2025). Meeting EU biodiversity targets under future land-use demands. Nature Ecology & Evolution DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02671-1

 

About IIASA:
The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policymakers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by prestigious research funding agencies in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. www.iiasa.ac.at

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Journal

Nature Ecology & Evolution

DOI

10.1038/s41559-025-02671-1 

Article Title

Meeting EU biodiversity targets under future land-use demands.

Article Publication Date

28-Apr-2025

 

New study confirms beech leaf disease threatens European beech trees, too

Researchers at the Holden Arboretum and the USDA-ARS used advanced microscopy to trace how the BLD-causing nematode affects American and European beech

Holden Forests & Gardens

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image: 

A scanning electron microscope reveals nematodes (highlighted in green) inside the spongy mesophyll of a European beech (Fagus sylvatica) leaf infected with beech leaf disease (BLD). Eggs are marked in red for enhanced visualization. Natural fractures in the leaf surface suggest pathways for nematode migration from within the leaf to its outer surface. New research confirms that European beech is susceptible to BLD, raising concerns about global forest health.

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Credit: Colbert-Pitts et al. 2025 Plant Pathology © British Society for Plant Pathology

KIRTLAND, OHIO — A new study from Holden Forests & Gardens and a team at USDA Agricultural Research Service confirms that beech leaf disease—a fast-spreading disease already devastating American beech across eastern North America—also affects European beech (Fagus sylvatica). The research raises concerns that the disease could spread globally, threatening the health of forests across Europe.

European beech is a cornerstone of native forests in Europe as well as a common ornamental species planted across North America. To date, beech leaf disease has not been reported in Europe. 

Published in the journal Plant Pathology, the study used advanced microscopy to trace how the BLD-causing nematode, Litylenchus crenatae subsp. mccannii, alters leaf structure and function in European beech, with American beech used as a comparison. Under the microscope, the same signature symptoms—misshapen leaf biology and dense nematode populations in buds—were observed in European beech leaves and buds exposed to the invasive pest.

These findings mark the first time the full disease process has been documented in European beech, from nematode infestation in the buds to visible leaf symptoms and internal tissue damage.

“This is the first in-depth cellular-level evidence that European beech is susceptible to beech leaf disease,” says Mary Pitts, a research specialist in the David Burke Lab at HF&G and lead author of the study. “We found clear signs of infection and structural damage in both the buds and leaves, similar to what we see in American beech.”

For the study, the team collected buds and leaves from symptomatic European beech and American beech at the Holden Arboretum, as well as asymptomatic European beech from the Dawes Arboretum (Newark, Ohio), where the disease had not yet spread. 

After processing the leaves and buds in the lab, the team could peer inside and view the actual nematodes as well as what the damage looks like on a microscopic level. They soaked samples in alcohol to clear out green pigments, then used a magenta stain that highlights the nematode, making them stand out clearly against the leaf tissue. The resulting imagery is striking.

They also examined cross-sections of the leaves to better understand the nematode’s effects at the cellular level. The researchers observed abnormal cell growth, disorganized stomata, and severe changes to internal leaf layers—changes that reduce the tree’s ability to breathe and photosynthesize effectively.

The team’s findings raise new concerns about the disease’s potential spread beyond North America. Researchers hope that these cellular-level insights can help tree health experts better understand how the disease weakens trees from the inside out.

“This study helps us understand how the disease works in different beech species, which is key for understanding the basic biology of this disease and potentially help managing its spread,” says Paulo Vieira, researcher with the USDA-ARS (Beltsville, MD) and senior author on the study. “We're still amazed by the cellular processes involved in this disease. While it's highly detrimental to the tree, it is undeniably interesting from a scientific perspective. It’s a reminder that plant diseases don’t respect borders. We need to be vigilant and safeguard our natural forest ecosystems.”

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Citation: Mary Colbert-Pitts, Mihail R. Kantor, Andrew Jansen, David J. Burke, & Paulo Vieira. 2025. “Cellular dynamics of beech leaf disease on Fagus sylvatica.” Plant Pathology, 0:1–18.

About Holden Forests & Gardens: Holden Forests & Gardens is made up of two of Northeast Ohio’s most important environmental and cultural institutions—the Holden Arboretum and Cleveland Botanical Garden—whose mission is to connect people with the wonder, beauty, and value of trees and plants, to inspire action for healthy communities. One of the largest public gardens in the country, HF&G has 21,000 member households and an annual attendance of nearly 350,000 for whom we strive to provide inspirational and educational visitor experiences.

Chlorophyll-depleted European beech (Fagus sylvatica) leaves stained with acid fuchsin reveal the presence of beech leaf disease (BLD)-causing nematodes (pink) in symptomatic samples (right), while asymptomatic samples (left) show no nematodes. These findings confirm that European beech is susceptible to BLD.

Credit

Colbert-Pitts et al. 2025 Plant Pathology © British Society for Plant Pathology

Journal

Plant Pathology

DOI

10.1111/ppa.14101 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Cellular Dynamics of Beech Leaf Disease on Fagus sylvatica

Article Publication Date

28-Apr-2025

New pests and diseases will cut UK tree growth

University of Exeter

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The arrival of new plant pests and diseases is likely to severely damage UK trees and woodlands in the coming decades, new research shows.

The ash dieback epidemic prompted the government to assess all pests and diseases that could potentially enter the UK and affect our trees and agricultural crops.

In the new study, University of Exeter scientists assessed the 636 tree pests and diseases to work out the invasion probability and likely effects on tree growth.

Based on recent rates of pest and disease arrival, they estimate that – by 2050 – more than half of tree growth could be lost (compared to growth if no new pests and diseases arrived from now onwards).

Tackling pest and disease invasions is very difficult in a world of global trade and travel, but tight biocontrol would slow the process – and tree-planting policies can also boost resilience.

“The defence against uncertain risk is always diversity,” said Professor Dan Bebber.

“In the UK, we have relatively low tree diversity – both in terms of the number of tree species and the genetic diversity within each species.

“The ash dieback epidemic showed us how devastating a single tree disease can be, and how urgently we need to learn about these threats and protect our biodiversity.”

Professor Bebber added: “As well as issues about biosecurity, our research raises social and cultural questions about what we think our woodlands should look like – for example which species should we plant?

“We need to consider this – in light of pests, diseases and climate change – when we think about the future of UK woodlands.”

The at-risk trees highlighted in the study include pine, cherry, spruce, larch and oak.

In recent times, about one new tree pest or disease has established itself in the UK per year – and the sheer number of possible invaders makes further arrivals almost certain.

Tree cover fell below 5% of UK land area at the beginning of the 20th Century, but grew again to about 13% in 2018. This contrasts with a European average of 39% forest area.

UK reforestation has primarily involved fast-growing exotic conifer species, which now comprise about half of total forest area. Ancient woodlands (continuously tree-covered since 1600) cover just 2.5% of the UK.

Current government policy is to increase tree cover to 16.5% in England by 2050, 21% of Scotland by 2032, and by 2,000 hectares per year in Wales.

Professor Bebber said: “Our study highlights the need for care in carrying out these projects, to ensure they are resilient to future pests, diseases and climate change.

“This work is a stark reminder that emerging plant pests and diseases pose a severe threat to UK trees, and the biodiversity benefits and ecosystem services they provide.”

The study was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) project ADD-TREES – a pioneering Artificial Intelligence research project providing innovative technologies that will aid crucial decisions about land-use changes, with a focus on initiatives to create new woodlands and forests.

The paper, published in the journal Plants People Planet, is entitled: “Potential impacts of plant pests and diseases on trees and forests in the UK.”

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Journal

Plants People Planet

DOI

10.1002/ppp3.70023 

Article Title

Potential impacts of plant pests and diseases on trees and forests in the UK

Article Publication Date

28-Apr-2025