Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
On the spatial aggregation of condition metrics for ecosystem accounting
Published: 2025-12-03
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Life Sciences, Other Life Sciences
In face of the ongoing nature crisis, the international community is setting targets and deciding on actions to combat the current biodiversity crises. For this to be effective they need tools to accurately describe the current situation and to monitor trends in ecosystems over time. Ecosystem condition accounts (ECA) is one such tool that use variables and indicators to describe key ecosystem [...]
Predicting coral trends and attributing drivers of change from local to global scales
Published: 2025-12-03
Subjects: Life Sciences
Modern biodiversity monitoring programs are designed to assess abundance trends of keystone taxa and deliver scientific insights to inform decision-making and policy development. An important consideration when using these evidence-based frameworks is the quantification of uncertainty from trends, which determines the robustness of data-driven methods in detecting and attributing changes across [...]
The legacy of privilege: Social inheritance reverses sex differences in reproductive inequality in spotted hyenas
Published: 2025-12-03
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Inequalities in reproductive success among females and males shape natural and sexual selec-tion, as well as genetic diversity. A key mechanism influencing reproductive inequality in humans and other animals is the social inheritance of privilege. Using a 29-year dataset spanning eight generations of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta), a species in which social status is maternally inherited, we [...]
Tagged for life? Retention rates and effects on growth and condition of tagging - a long-term field study on PIT- and Carlin tagging in European eel
Published: 2025-11-29
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Different types of tags and markers are commonly used for various fish monitoring and tracking purposes. Effects of tags and markers on fish and the retention rates can affect the interpretation of mark-recapture data on both the individual (e.g. growth and body condition) and population level (e.g. survival and pro-duction estimates), making studies of this issue important. In this study, we [...]
Modelling the current and future potential distribution areas of Columba albitorques in Ethiopia
Published: 2025-11-29
Subjects: Life Sciences
Understanding species’ responses to climate change is essential for predicting future biodiversity patterns and informing conservation strategies. However, in Ethiopia, the impacts of climate change on bird distributions remain poorly documented. This study utilized the MaxEnt model to predict the current and future distribution of the White-collared Pigeon (Columba albitorques) under different [...]
Meeting the Demand: Aligning Marine Biodiversity Data Supply with Policy Needs
Published: 2025-11-29
Subjects: Life Sciences
The effective implementation of international, regional, and national commitments on marine biodiversity depends on reliable data. However, there is often a disconnect between the information generated by scientists and the data explicitly required by policy processes. This review systematically examined more than thirty policy instruments and mapped over 1,000 explicit data requirements to [...]
Resilience and function: Beetles as critical drivers of global ecological processes
Published: 2025-11-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
Beetles (Coleoptera), among the most diverse and ecologically significant insect groups, play vital roles in ecosystem functioning and service provision. With over 300,000 described species, their adaptability - driven by traits such as elytra and diverse feeding habits enables them to occupy nearly all terrestrial niches. Beetles contribute to nutrient cycling, pollination, seed dispersal, pest [...]
From mating to sperm storage: density-dependent plasticity in pre- and post-copulatory shared mating traits
Published: 2025-11-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
Mating interactions depend on traits expressed jointly by males and females, yet the extent to which each sex controls variation in these shared mating traits remains unclear. Because the expression of such traits (like mating latency, copulation duration, and sperm transfer) depends on both partners, their evolution is constrained by intersexual correlations yet facilitated by behavioural [...]
Ecosystem services from shellfish reefs as a nature-based solution: a global evidence synthesis to guide restoration and policy
Published: 2025-11-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
1. Context. Shellfish reefs, comprising oysters, mussels, clams, and mixed bivalves, act as ecosystem engineers and nature-based solutions (NbS), providing supporting, regulating, provisioning, and cultural ecosystem services (ES). Yet, despite rapid growth in restoration practice, the translation of ES evidence into policy and management remains uneven across regions and taxa. 2. Objectives. We [...]
Quantifying impacts of policy and practice interventions on biodiversity and climate
Published: 2025-11-28
Subjects: Agriculture, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences
There is urgent demand for ecosystem management interventions – targeted actions through policies and practices – that meaningfully address climate change and biodiversity loss while sustaining ecosystem delivery of water, food, fibre and fuel. Rigorous quantification of intervention outcomes is required for decision makers to identify, promote and scale effective interventions. Yet [...]
Marker-Assisted Breeding for Salt Tolerance in Rice: In Bangladesh Context.
Published: 2025-11-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
Salinity stress threatens rice (Oryza sativa L.) production across 1.056 million hectares of Bangladesh's coastal regions, with intensification projected due to climate change and sea-level rise. Marker-assisted breeding (MAB) has emerged as a transformative approach for developing salt-tolerant varieties, offering precision and efficiency over conventional methods. This review examines [...]
Hemitaeniochromis pumba, a new species of cichlid fish from Lake Malawi, Africa, with comments on related species.
Published: 2025-11-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
A new species of haplochromine (Pseudocrenilabrini) cichlid fish, Hemitaeniochromis pumba is described from Lake Malawi, named for its outwardly angled, tusk-like oral jaw teeth, recalling those of a pig or warthog. It is assigned to the genus Hemitaeniochromis Eccles & Trewavas 1989 on the basis of its dark horizontal midlateral band, broken anteriorly but continuous posteriorly, with a [...]
Plasticity and scaling through multinucleation: a key adaptation to challenging environments
Published: 2025-11-26
Subjects: Cell and Developmental Biology, Cell Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Multinucleate cells, single cells containing multiple nuclei in a shared cytoplasm, are found across the eukaryotic tree of life. Having evolved independently in fungi, plants, protists, and animals, they thrive in environments ranging from nutrient-poor deep-sea sediments to dynamic soil microhabitats and host tissues. Multinucleate organization enables spatial specialization without internal [...]
Unravelling the Enigma of Soil Animal Diversity: An Integrated Perspective from Functional Traits to Evolutionary History
Published: 2025-11-26
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Why does a single square meter of forest soil harbour thousands of animal species? Fifty years after Jonathan M. Anderson raised this question, soil ecology still struggles with a fragmented view on the coexistence of species. Researchers often study taxonomy, functional traits, and phylogeny in isolation. Each approach adds insight but leaves gaps in the picture of soil biodiversity. In this [...]
Bergenia ligulata: A Comprehensive Review of Its Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, and Public Health Potential
Published: 2025-11-26
Subjects: Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences
Bergenia ligulata (Wall.) Engl., commonly known as “Pashanbheda” or “stone breaker,” is a perennial herb of the family Saxifragaceae, widely utilized in South Asian traditional medicine for the prevention and treatment of urinary and renal disorders. This review synthesizes current evidence on its ethnomedicinal relevance, phytochemical composition, pharmacological properties, and potential [...]