In recent years, significant advancements in DNA extraction, sequencing technologies, mass spectrometry-based methods, computing power, and analytical techniques have transformed the study of ancient DNA and proteins. These developments have greatly expanded palaeontological and evolutionary research possibilities, offering a clearer window into the past. Additionally, this knowledge can assist researchers in predicting future ecological changes.

We welcome submissions on topics including, but not limited to:

• Paleoecology and ecosystem reconstructions: Insights from paleogenomic and paleoproteomic data to study past biodiversity, ecosystem dynamics, and species-environment interactions

• Extinct species and megafauna: Spatial and temporal distribution of extinct taxa, including Pleistocene megafauna, and their responses to environmental change

• Adaptation, domestication, and admixture: Genetic and protein-based evidence to uncover evolutionary processes in ancient populations

• Conservation and extinction: Lessons from ancient genomes and proteins to understand extinction dynamics and inform modern conservation efforts

• Ancient plants and microbial communities: Novel approaches to reconstruct past vegetation, microbial evolution, and marine ecosystems

• Theoretical advances: Rates of evolutionary change, population history, phylogeny, and species response to climate change and anthropogenic impacts

• Technical challenges and innovations: Addressing PCR biases that favor model or contaminate DNA, Preventing DNA degradation and improving DNA recovery, tackling incomplete reference databases, computational methods to improve sequence identification, taxonomic assignment, and noise filtering in highly fragmented datasets and developing frameworks for verifying and integrating data from multiple reference sources

BMC Ecology and Evolution is calling for submissions to our Collection, Pollinators under pressure: ecology, evolution, and environmental change. Pollinators are important for a healthy and functioning planet, playing a vital role in ecosystem health and food production. Pollinators directly and indirectly support several of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals, from SDG 2: Zero Hunger to SDG 15: Life on Land. However, largely due to human activities, pollinator populations are declining worldwide. Almost 35% of invertebrate pollinators, including many bee and butterfly species are facing extinction. Similarly, 17% of vertebrate pollinators, such as bats and hummingbirds, are at risk.

Pollinators face numerous challenges, including habitat loss, climate change, pesticide exposure, and diseases. This Collection welcomes research that advances our understanding of how these pressures shape pollinator populations, behaviors, communities and the ecosystems they support. We are particularly interested in studies that generate actionable insights for conservation, restoration and policy, including work that evaluates mitigation strategies, models future risks, or examines the effectiveness of current management practices.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Impacts of pesticide exposure on pollinator health
• How habitat and land‑use changes affect pollinators
• Pollinator biodiversity monitoring
• Pollinator conservation and restoration approaches
• How management practices impact pollinators
• Pollination ecology in changing environments
• Effects of diseases on bee populations
• Climate‑driven shifts in pollinator phenology, distribution and behavior
• Evolutionary responses to environmental stressors, including adaptation, plasticity and genetic change
• Impacts of invasive species on native pollinators and pollination systems
• Landscape connectivity and fragmentation, and their influence on pollinator movement and gene flow
• Neuroethological and behavioral studies linking stressors to changes in cognition, navigation and foraging
• Socio‑ecological and policy‑relevant research that informs conservation planning, agri‑environment schemes and ecosystem‑service management
• Modeling approaches predicting future risks to pollinators or forecasting ecosystem impacts of pollinator decline

All manuscripts submitted to this journal, including those submitted to collections and special issues, are assessed in line with our editorial policies and the journal’s peer review process. Reviewers and editors are required to declare competing interests and can be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists.