On December 9, 2025, members of Peay and Fukami Labs met to talk about the papers published in 2025 (or some other recent years) that we liked the most. The papers we selected are listed below. (If you are curious about the papers we picked in previous years, check out our 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, lists.)

Best papers of 2025


Averesch, Nils J. H., Graham K. Shunk, and Christoph Kern. 2022. Cultivation of the Dematiaceous Fungus Cladosporium Sphaerospermum Aboard the International Space Station and Effects of Ionizing Radiation. Frontiers in Microbiology 13 (July): 877625.
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Chesnais, Aude. 2025. 'Wolakota': Grassroots Sustainable Innovation and Decolonial Systemic Design from Lakota Country. Transatlantica 1.
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Givnish, Thomas J. 2025. Causes of Delayed Angiosperm Diversification: The Photosynthetic Revolution, Increased Opportunity Costs of Anti-Herbivore Defenses, Selection for Qualitative Toxins, and Acceleration of Plant-Herbivore Coevolution. American Journal of Botany 112 (11): e70115.
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Nishino, Takanori, Minoru Moriyama, Hiromi Mukai, Masahiko Tanahashi, Takahiro Hosokawa, Hsin-Yi Chang, Shuji Tachikawa, et al. 2025. Defensive Fungal Symbiosis on Insect Hindlegs. Science 390 (6770): 279-283.
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Ong, Theresa W., Lisa C. McManus, Vítor V. Vasconcelos, Luojun Yang, and Chenyang Su. 2025. Seeing Halos: Spatial and Consumer-Resource Constraints to Landscapes of Fear. The American Naturalist 205 (6): 590-603.
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Prentice, Melanie B., Grace A. Crandall, Amy M. Chan, Katherine M. Davis, Paul K. Hershberger, Jan F. Finke, Jason Hodin, et al. 2025. Vibrio pectenicida Strain FHCF-3 Is a Causative Agent of Sea Star Wasting Disease. Nature Ecology & Evolution 9 (9): 1739-1751.
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Rice, Mallory M., Shersingh Joseph Tumber-Dávila, Marcella D. Baiz, Susan J. Cheng, Kathy Darragh, Cesar O. Estien, J. W. Hammond, et al. 2025. Terminology in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Disproportionately Harms Marginalized Groups. PLoS Biology 23 (1): e3002933.
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Sahu, Ashish, Mahender Singh, Adnan Amin, Monisa Mehboob Malik, Shariq Nazir Qadri, Adnan Abubakr, S. Surya Teja, Shabir Ahmad Dar, and Ishtiyaq Ahmad. 2025. A Systematic Review on Environmental DNA (eDNA) Science: An Eco-Friendly Survey Method for Conservation and Restoration of Fragile Ecosystems. Ecological Indicators 173 (113441): 113441.
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Suzuki, Toshitaka N. 2025. How to Study Animal Syntax. In: The Oxford Handbook of Approaches to Language Evolution, 593-606. Oxford University Press.
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Veerabahu, Aishwarya, Mark T. Banik, Daniel L. Lindner, Anne Pringle, and Michelle A. Jusino. 2025. Invasive Golden Oyster Mushrooms Are Disrupting Native Fungal Communities as They Spread throughout North America. Current Biology 35 (16): 3994-4002.e4.
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Zhu, Kai, Yiluan Song, Josephine C. Lesage, Justin C. Luong, James W. Bartolome, Nona R. Chiariello, Joan Dudney, et al. 2024. Rapid Shifts in Grassland Communities Driven by Climate Change. Nature Ecology & Evolution 8 (12): 2252-2564.
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