Preprints
There are 2037 Preprints listed.
A meta-analysis reveals PFAS concentrations double with each trophic level across aquatic and terrestrial food webs
Published: 2025-02-11
Subjects: Other Environmental Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) threaten ecosystems worldwide due to their persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity. Through a global-scale meta-analysis of 122 aquatic and terrestrial food webs from 64 studies, we analyse 1,009 trophic magnification factors (TMFs) for 72 PFAS and identify key variability drivers. PFAS concentrations systematically doubled with each trophic level [...]
Algorithm selection for optimal ecological monitoring design
Published: 2025-02-11
Subjects: Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Comprehensive monitoring of biodiversity to direct conservation action is foundational to addressing the ongoing biodiversity crisis. As integrative monitoring programs increasingly come online in response to multilateral biodiversity agreements, establishing best practices for optimal design is critical. Selecting the appropriate algorithm for identifying sample sites is both necessary for [...]
Location-scale Meta-analysis and Meta-regression as a Tool to Capture Large-scale Changes in Biological and Methodological Heterogeneity: a Spotlight on Heteroscedasticity
Published: 2025-02-11
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Heterogeneity is a defining feature of ecological and evolutionary meta-analyses. While conventional metal-analysis and meta-regression methods acknowledge heterogeneity in effect sizes, they typically as-sume this heterogeneity is constant across studies and levels of moderators (i.e., homoscedasticity). This assumption could mask potentially informative patterns in the data. Here, we introduce [...]
Variations in epifaunal assemblages among different algal species in the coastal waters of the Noto Peninsula, Japan
Published: 2025-02-10
Subjects: Life Sciences
Algal beds are biodiversity hotspots in coastal ecosystems, forming complex food webs based on seaweeds. Epifauna serve as important indicators of algal productivity and environmental change, interacting closely with their host seaweeds. This study compared the composition of epifaunal assemblages associated with different seaweed species in the Noto Peninsula, Japan, to elucidate their [...]
Seeing herbaria in a new light: leaf reflectance spectroscopy unlocks predictive trait and classification modeling in plant biodiversity collections
Published: 2025-02-10
Subjects: Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Botany, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Integrative Biology, Life Sciences
Reflectance spectroscopy is a non-destructive, rapid, and robust method for estimating functional traits and distinguishing species. Spectral reflectance libraries generated from herbarium specimens are an untapped and promising resource for generating broad phenomic datasets across space, time, and species. We conducted a proof-of-concept study using functional trait data and spectra from [...]
The importance of cities in protecting imperiled species
Published: 2025-02-10
Subjects: Biology
Habitat loss and alteration from urbanization threaten global biodiversity, and municipal decision-making therefore affects the persistence of many imperiled species. Using Canada as a case study, we quantified the overlap between critical habitats of imperiled species in large urban areas. Of these species, 14% were urban-restricted, and ~28% of these species, spanning nine taxonomic groups, had [...]
Multiplayer videogames to analyze behavior during ecological interactions
Published: 2025-02-10
Subjects: Life Sciences
Behavior shapes population and community dynamics through feedbacks with habitat configuration and interaction networks. Work on this interplay includes longitudinal surveys, experiments, and models. Multiplayer online videogames foster real-time interactions among lots of players in virtual spaces. Data from these games could complement theoretical and empirical work but research on them is only [...]
Harnessing meta-analyses’ insights in ecology and evolution research
Published: 2025-02-10
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Meta-analyses are powerful tools to synthesise the literature in several fields of study, including ecology and evolution. However, it remains uncertain whether ecologists and evolutionary biologists fully comprehend meta-analyses’ findings or effectively apply them when citing these studies in their own research. Here, we first discuss key meta-analytical concepts and provide a guide to [...]
Geography, taxonomy, extinction risk and exposure of fully migratory birds to droughts and cyclones
Published: 2025-02-10
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Anthropogenic climate change is predicted to drive unprecedented increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events, such as drought and cyclones. The impacts of these events on fully migratory species could be particularly severe and have cascading effects on the functioning of many ecosystems. We explore the relationships between geography, taxonomy, extinction risk and the [...]
Monogenea on exotic Indian freshwater fish. 8. Co-translocation of Cichlidogyrus tilapiae (Monogenea, Dactylogyridae) with pindani Chindongo socolofi (Cichliformes, Cichlidae), the first report of this parasite genus in India
Published: 2025-02-07
Subjects: Aquaculture and Fisheries Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Parasitology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Chindongo socolofi (Cichliformes, Cichlidae) is a popular freshwater ornamental fish from Lake Malawi in Africa. Although identifying parasites associated with the global ornamental trade is critical for developing biosecurity practices, little is known about the parasite fauna of C. socolofi. Therefore, this study sought to determine what monogenean parasites C. socolofi harbours in India. Adult [...]
Overcoming “doom and gloom”: Envisioning desirable futures for Arctic biodiversity
Published: 2025-02-07
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Nature and Society Relations, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Sustainability
We co-created visions of desirable futures for Arctic biodiversity during a workshop which included representatives from academia, Indigenous Peoples, business and policy-making. Appreciating our diverse perspectives, we identified key actions that would enable the positive outcomes shared in our visions: boosting education, rethinking Arctic biodiversity governance, elevating the voices of [...]
Harnessing Large Language Models for Ecological Literature Reviews: A Practical Pipeline
Published: 2025-02-07
Subjects: Life Sciences
Hundreds of thousands of peer-reviewed articles and grey literature reports are published every year in ecology and conservation biology. This ever-growing body of knowledge presents new challenges. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly challenging for researchers to stay current on new information and to identify knowledge gaps. Here, we argue that Large Language Models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s [...]
A new perspective on Squamate social cognition – the use of semiochemicals
Published: 2025-02-07
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
The Social Intelligence Hypothesis suggests that cognition might be key to enable animals to live in social groups. Especially social cognition is important as it allows animals to respond appropriately to conspecifics and ensure group cohesion. Social cognition is extensively studied in mammals and birds but to gain a broad understanding of the benefits of social cognitive processes in social [...]
Shaped from an early age: behavioural and hormonal phenotypes in juvenile male guinea pigs living in distinct social environments
Published: 2025-02-05
Subjects: Animal Studies, Biology, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
The individualised social niche results from interactions of an individual with its social environment. The social environment can change during lifetime. Thus, individuals need to be able to conform to different individualised social niches over lifetime. Our goal was therefore to elucidate when and how social niche conformance in guinea pigs occurs. We focused on juvenility, an important [...]
Maximising time-series inclusion reduces geographic and taxonomic biases in the Living Planet Index
Published: 2025-02-05
Subjects: Biodiversity
Measuring how and why biodiversity is changing is critical to protecting it. Among the tools developed to measure biodiversity, one indicator has come under recent scrutiny. The Living Planet Index (LPI) is an indicator based on vertebrate population trends used as evidence for policy and a resource for scientific research; it has a high profile and global reach in the media by conveying a simple [...]