Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
The coefficient of variation of body mass (and other traits)
Published: 2026-09-11
Subjects: Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Variation is a fundamental property of populations and provides the raw material upon which evolutionary processes can act. The coefficient of variation, defined as the standard deviation divided by the arithmetic mean, is widely used in evolutionary biology to quantify relative variation, for example to draw conclusions about the strength of selection. However, comparing coefficients of [...]
Evaluating vibroacoustic sensor performance and vibration attenuation: implications for soil biodiversity sampling
Published: 2026-09-11
Subjects: Entomology, Life Sciences, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Earth’s biodiversity is undergoing substantial changes in response to anthropogenic stressors, creating a need for efficient methods of assessing biodiversity, particularly in soil ecosystems where sampling remains challenging. Soil vibroacoustics - the use of substrate-borne vibrations or sounds to quantify or detect below-ground biological activity – offers a potentially rapid and scalable [...]
Heterogeneity in Microbial Systems: Scales, Drivers, and Consequences
Published: 2026-09-11
Subjects: Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences
Heterogeneity is a fundamental, multi-scale organizing principle of microbial life, transcending its historical treatment as mere statistical noise. This review synthesizes recent advances to construct a unified framework for understanding microbial heterogeneity across hierarchical scales—from molecular and cellular phenotypic diversity, through strain-level genomic micro-diversity, to [...]
The Little Reptilian Lion: A Literature Review and Field Perspective on the Behavioral Ecology of Agama picticauda (Peter's Rock Agama)
Published: 2026-09-11
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Life Sciences, Zoology
Agama picticauda (Peter's Rock Agama) is one of West Africa's most abundant and visually striking lizards, yet remains profoundly understudied at the level of behavioral ecology. This review draws on published literature and extended personal field observation of wild populations in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, to document the species' behavioral complexity and argue for dedicated long-term research. [...]
Behavioural strategy and predator control: a coupled evolutionary predator-prey model for kiwi conservation in New Zealand
Published: 2026-09-11
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Behavior and Ethology, Dynamic Systems, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Population Biology
Conservation management of endangered species can be enhanced by quantitative frameworks that simultaneously model behavioural adaptations alongside population dynamics. This paper presents a Coupled Evolutionary Predator-Prey Model (CEPPM) that integrates replicator dynamics from Evolutionary Game Theory with an extended Lotka-Volterra predator-prey framework, applied to kiwi (Apteryx spp.) [...]
Vegetation and local density are associated with red deer calving dates but don’t explain the long-term temporal trend
Published: 2026-09-11
Subjects: Life Sciences
Long-lived mammal species can show advancing reproductive phenology even though prolonged gestation means adaptive phenotypic plasticity to warmer springs, as observed for reproductive phenology across other taxonomic groups, is unlikely. A constraint model in which oestrus date depends on achieving a certain level of body condition seems more likely, so the question is which variables are [...]
Urban densification and vegetation composition reshape ecological networks across trophic layers
Published: 2026-09-11
Subjects: Life Sciences
Urban densification reshapes biodiversity, yet its effects on ecological networks across trophic levels remain unclear. Using a metaweb approach, we reconstructed bipartite, multitrophic, and combined food webs across 60 urban green spaces along gradients of urban densification and vegetation complexity. Densification reduced taxonomic and interaction richness, promoted interaction [...]
MiCampo: A Multi-Level Digital Cooperative Infrastructure for Agroecological Planning, Participatory Certification and Territorial Market Coordination
Published: 2026-09-11
Subjects: Life Sciences
Agroecological transitions require coordination across technical, certification, economic and research domains. We present MiCampo, a modular digital cooperative infrastructure organized into four functional levels: (1) agroecological technical planning, (2) digital participatory guarantee systems (PGS), (3) contractual territorial distribution planning and logistics, and (4) territorial research [...]
Endosymbiotic bioenergetic synergy behind climate-mediated species boundaries of rainforest warblers
Published: 2026-09-10
Subjects: Life Sciences
The molecular cooperation among organelles facilitates adaptation during eukaryotic evolution, but the role of endosymbiotic synergy in the organismal climate adaptation remains unclear. Here we unveil the Endosymbiotic Bioenergetic Synergy Model, which characterizes the role of emergent molecular activities among organelles underlying energy metabolism in climate adaptation of eukaryotes. The [...]
Multiple genetic routes to pelvic spine loss in brook stickleback
Published: 2026-09-10
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Pelvic spine loss has evolved repeatedly in stickleback species and represents an intriguing opportunity to study genetically parallel adaptation. While previous work has identified key loci associated with this trait, the extent to which different populations rely on the same genetic mechanisms remains unclear. The genetic basis of pelvic spine loss in Culaea inconstans (Kirtland 1840) has only [...]
Developmental and Phylogenetic Patterns of Antennal Expansion in Leaf-Footed Bugs (Hemiptera: Coreidae)
Published: 2026-09-10
Subjects: Life Sciences
Insect antennae morphology is highly conserved in many insect families, yet in some clades elaborations of antennae form are more common. Leaf-footed bugs (Hemiptera: Coreidae) are one case where there is considerable variation in antennal morphology. Antennae can be rectilinear, with cylindrical antennomeres, or have laterally flattened antennomeres, that differ in which antennomeres they occur. [...]
Optical Remote Sensing and Machine Learning Enable Scalable Carbon Mapping in Himalayan Forests Despite Spectral Saturation Challenges
Published: 2026-09-09
Subjects: Life Sciences
Accurate aboveground biomass (AGB) estimation is critical for climate change mitigation and carbon accounting in mountain regions, yet spatially explicit mapping remains limited by reliance on conventional field methods and underexplored machine learning approaches in the Himalaya. Bhutan, a carbon-negative nation maintaining 70% forest cover, faces urgent demand to develop robust monitoring, [...]
Beyond caveat emptor: reducing nitrous oxide risk in the soil carbon offset market
Published: 2026-09-09
Subjects: Life Sciences
Soil organic carbon (SOC) storage projects are an increasingly prominent natural climate solution, drawing investment from diverse climate-sensitive stakeholders. However, the OC additions that build SOC can alter emissions of the potent greenhouse gas (GHG) nitrous oxide (N2O). These emission changes can erode the intended GHG benefit when OC inputs fuel spatiotemporally episodic hot spots and [...]
Suction or filter feeder? Morphology supports a combined feeding mechanism in the Little Auk (Alle alle)
Published: 2026-09-09
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Life Sciences, Ornithology
Little Auks (Alle alle) are the most abundant seabird in the Arctic, with their largest colonies in north-west Greenland sustained by foraging nearly exclusively on plankton. Given their high metabolic demands, adults must capture an approximate 60,000 copepods per day, raising long-standing questions about how this can be achieved efficiently, and with this, questions about the anatomical basis [...]
Time-lagged responses of soil biota are pervasive and require new approaches
Published: 2026-09-09
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
When land-use changes, soil biodiversity is typically assumed to respond immediately. Nonetheless, soils are inherently slow systems. We argue that soil communities often remain in a transient state for decades to centuries, generating persistent ecological legacies. These lags can arise through two interacting mechanisms: environmental inertia, as the physical and chemical properties of soils [...]