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| De novo assembly, annotation, and comparative analysis of 26 diverse maize genomes | Science | 2021 | 40 |
| A starting guide to root ecology: strengthening ecological concepts and standardising root classification, sampling, processing and trait measurements | New Phytologist | 2021 | 31 |
| Multidimensional tropical forest recovery | Science | 2021 | 23 |
| Gut microbiome heritability is nearly universal but environmentally contingent | Science | 2021 | 22 |
| Biodiversity–productivity relationships are key to nature-based climate solutions | Nature Climate Change | 2021 | 21 |
| Nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization consistently favor pathogenic over mutualistic fungi in grassland soils | Nature Communications | 2021 | 20 |
| Air quality-related health damages of food | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | 2021 | 16 |
| Decadal changes in fire frequencies shift tree communities and functional traits | Nature Ecology and Evolution | 2021 | 16 |
| The long lives of primates and the 'invariant rate of ageing' hypothesis | Nature Communications | 2021 | 14 |
| A chromosome-level genome of Astyanax mexicanus surface fish for comparing population-specific genetic differences contributing to trait evolution | Nature Communications | 2021 | 13 |
| Biodiversity as insurance: from concept to measurement and application | Biological Reviews | 2021 | 13 |
| Increasing effects of chronic nutrient enrichment on plant diversity loss and ecosystem productivity over time | Ecology | 2021 | 13 |
| Plant carbohydrate depletion impairs water relations and spreads via ectomycorrhizal networks | New Phytologist | 2021 | 13 |
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| A metabolic modeling platform for the computation of microbial ecosystems in time and space (COMETS) | Nature Protocols | 2021 | 12 |
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| Drivers of seedling establishment success in dryland restoration efforts | Nature Ecology and Evolution | 2021 | 12 |
| The genomic consequences of hybridization | ELife | 2021 | 12 |
| Bidirectional interactions between host social behaviour and parasites arise through ecological and evolutionary processes | Parasitology | 2021 | 11 |
| Remote spectral detection of biodiversity effects on forest biomass | Nature Ecology and Evolution | 2021 | 11 |
| How complementarity and selection affect the relationship between ecosystem functioning and stability | Ecology | 2021 | 10 |
| Experimental nitrogen fertilisation globally accelerates, then slows decomposition of leaf litter | Ecology Letters | 2021 | 10 |
| Earthworm invasion causes declines across soil fauna size classes and biodiversity facets in northern North American forests | Oikos | 2021 | 9 |
| Low-intensity frequent fires in coniferous forests transform soil organic matter in ways that may offset ecosystem carbon losses | Global Change Biology | 2021 | 9 |
