Preprints
There are 3828 Preprints listed.
The e14 cryptic prophage belongs to a temperate phage lineage distributed across Escherichia and retains genes with potential anti-phage defence functions
Published: 2026-10-23
Subjects: Bacteriology, Bioinformatics, Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Other Microbiology
The e14 region of Escherichia coli str. K-12 is a cryptic prophage that retains functional excision and integration machinery despite extensive loss of phage reproductive functions. However, its evolutionary relationship to other bacteriophages remains poorly resolved. Here, we identify related prophages across four Escherichia species, alongside related, independently isolated bacteriophages. [...]
Hydrodynamic Feedbacks in Coral Reefs: from Organisms to Geomorphic Development
Published: 2026-10-23
Subjects: Life Sciences
Coral reefs are shaped by tightly coupled interactions among geomorphology, hydrodynamic forcing, and ecological processes. In this review, we synthesize current knowledge on how hydrodynamic processes regulate coral reef functioning across scales, from exchanges at organismal surfaces to reef-scale morphodynamics. Hydrodynamic forcing governs mass and momentum transfer across scales through [...]
Where the fluke meets the snail: climate, ensemble models, and fasciolosis risk in Ukraine
Published: 2026-10-23
Subjects: Life Sciences
Fasciolosis, caused by the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica, is an economically important zoonotic disease that is endemic in Ukraine, yet the environmental drivers of its distribution remain insufficiently understood and no national-scale risk model has been produced. We compiled occurrence records for F. hepatica and its intermediate snail host Galba truncatula and used an ensemble species [...]
Gaps and biases in the ecological evidence underlying global biodiversity impact assessments
Published: 2026-10-23
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences
1. Halting global biodiversity loss requires methods that link biodiversity impacts to both their direct drivers and the human activities that generate them. Biodiversity footprint assessment has emerged as a key framework for establishing these connections, resulting in the rapid development of diverse methods and applications. Central to these approaches are characterisation factors (CFs), [...]
Size-dependent beak shape divergence between Parrot and Common Crossbills likely involves major developmental changes
Published: 2026-10-23
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Forest Biology, Life Sciences, Ornithology, Zoology
We studied allometry, here defined as shape-size covariation, to explore the unresolved case of divergence between the Parrot and Common Crossbill. Using geometric morphometrics, we compared beak shape and allometry among the Parrot Crossbill, the Common Crossbill and the more distantly related Two-Barred Crossbill. The Parrot Crossbill differed from the two other species in shape changes that [...]
Gaussian processes on phylogenies: a kernel framework for building, checking and comparing models of trait evolution
Published: 2026-10-23
Subjects: Life Sciences
Phylogenetic comparative methods for continuous traits, such as phylogenetic generalised least squares, Brownian motion and Ornstein–Uhlenbeck models, Pagel's tree transformations, early-burst and multi-rate models, phylogenetic mixed models and ancestral-state reconstruction, can all be regarded as Gaussian processes on a phylogeny that differ only in their covariance function, or kernel. This [...]
Conspecific density enhances sound seed production during high-seed years in European beech
Published: 2026-10-23
Subjects: Life Sciences
Climate change is reducing the supply of sound seeds available for forest regeneration, creating a need to identify management strategies that can counteract these losses. Managing local tree density offers one potential approach, as neighbouring trees can enhance pollination but also increase losses to seed predators. In masting species, which produce highly variable but synchronised seed crops, [...]
Vert-NSM: neural shape models for shape completion, classification, and landmark-free morphometrics of vertebrate specimens
Published: 2026-10-23
Subjects: Biodiversity
Natural history museums are building digital 3D archives at a scale that enables geometric morphometric analysis across thousands of specimens. Landmark-based analyses depend on anatomical priors and often exclude unidentified and incomplete specimens, which are abundant in collections and the fossil record. Continuous shape representations offer a landmark-free alternative that can be combined [...]
Genetic diversity must underpin area-based conservation and restoration targets
Published: 2026-10-23
Subjects: Biodiversity, Environmental Policy, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences
The mid-term review of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework reveals highly uneven progress in halting biodiversity loss, especially for genetic diversity (Target 4) which underpins ecosystem function and species’ adaptive potential in a changing environment (Des Roches et al., 2018). Over 70% of the Parties have set national targets to conserve and restore genetic diversity, yet, so [...]
IUCN Red List of Ecosystems: Coral Reefs of Brazil
Published: 2026-10-22
Subjects: Life Sciences
Brazil’s coral reefs are the only true known coral reefs in the South Atlantic and extend across approximately 3,000 km along the coast, from Parcel de Manuel Luís at 0°50’S to Esquecidos reef at 18°50’S. They present unique characteristics, including their distinct growth form, and harbor endemic species of coral, fish and invertebrates, supporting high levels of marine biodiversity. [...]
IUCN Red List of Ecosystems: Coral Reefs of East Asia
Published: 2026-10-22
Subjects: Life Sciences
East Asian coral reefs extend from 13.9°S to 31.0°N across 16 countries and territories, covering an estimated 75,765 km² of shallow coral reef habitat, representing 30.3% of the global coral reef extent and encompassing 25 coral reef ecoregions. Of this, 35,620 km² of mapped coral reef was assessed in this study. The region hosts the worldwide highest diversity of corals, invertebrates and fish, [...]
IUCN Red List of Ecosystems: Coral Reefs of ROPME Sea Area
Published: 2026-10-22
Subjects: Life Sciences
Coral reefs of the ROPME Sea Area (RSA) extend from the Arabian (Persian) Gulf through the Gulf of Oman to the western Arabian Sea, spanning the coastal and offshore waters of Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. With an area of 632 km2, these coral reefs represent 0.35% of the photic coral reef area assessed globally in the Red List of Ecosystems. [...]
IUCN Red List of Ecosystems: Coral Reefs of South Asia
Published: 2026-10-22
Subjects: Life Sciences
South Asian coral reefs extend from approximately 10.80°S to 25.06°N across India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and the Chagos Archipelago. They cover an estimated 8,282.6 km², representing approximately 4% of global coral-reef extent, and encompass 13 ecoregions delineated using the Marine Ecoregions of the World framework and regional expert input. The region supports diverse [...]
IUCN Red List of Ecosystems: Coral Reefs of the Caribbean
Published: 2026-10-22
Subjects: Life Sciences
IUCN Red List of Ecosystems: Coral Reefs of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden
Published: 2026-10-22
Subjects: Life Sciences
The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden constitute a complex and globally significant tropical marine ecosystem characterized and long recognized by exceptional biological diversity and a high degree of endemism. Overall, the region contains an estimated 13,118 km² of coral reefs, representing around 7% of the photic coral reef area assessed globally in the Red List of Ecosystems (5.0% of global coral reef [...]