Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
Asteraceae in isolation: diversity and island biogeography of the largest plant family
Published: 2024-01-16
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
The hyperdiverse plant family Asteraceae, with over 32,000 species globally, forms an iconic component of island floras, including many spectacular radiations, but a global picture of their insular diversity is lacking. Here, we uncover the global biogeographical and evolutionary patterns of Asteraceae on islands to reveal the magnitude and potential causes of their evolutionary success. We [...]
A big data and machine learning approach for monitoring the condition of ecosystems
Published: 2024-01-16
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Sciences, Forest Biology, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Statistical Methodology, Statistical Models, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Ecosystems are highly valuable as a source of goods and services and as a heritage for future generations. Knowing their condition is extremely important for all management and conservation activities and public policies. Until now, the evaluation of ecosystem condition has been unsatisfactory and thus lacks practical implementation for most countries. We propose that ecosystem integrity is a [...]
The cytoarchitecture of the telencephalon of Labroides dimidiatus (Labridae)
Published: 2024-01-16
Subjects: Life Sciences
As evidence for advanced cognitive abilities in fishes steadily increases, cytoarchitectonic studies of the Actinopterygian telencephalon receive increasing interest by neuro-ethologists. However, the amount of information concerning brain organization in this group is still rather small. Here, we present a cytoarchitectonic analysis of the telencephalon of Labroides dimidiatus, a species showing [...]
The moulting arthropod: a complete genetic toolkit review
Published: 2024-01-14
Subjects: Life Sciences
Exoskeletons are a defining character of all arthropods that provide physical support for their segmented bodies and appendages as well as protection from the environment and predation. This ubiquitous yet evolutionarily variable feature has been instrumental in facilitating the adoption of a variety of lifestyles and the exploitation of ecological niches across all environments. Throughout the [...]
The power of touch: from survival to enduring, prosocial cooperation
Published: 2024-01-14
Subjects: Life Sciences
Cooperation is a pivotal biological phenomenon that occurs in many forms. In species that engage in helping, individuals vary in association time and the extent of physical proximity, influencing the extent of touching between individuals. Here, we emphasize the importance of touch in the development and maintenance of parenting and mate bonds, and its link to cooperation. Touch activates a [...]
Animal social networks are robust to changing association definitions
Published: 2024-01-12
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Ornithology
The interconnecting links (edges) between individuals (nodes) in an animal social network are often defined by discrete, directed behaviours (interactions). However, where interactions are difficult to observe, a network edge is instead defined as individuals sharing space or overlapping in time (an association). Despite an increasingly accessible toolkit to assemble and analyse animal social [...]
Vulnerability of amphibians to global warming
Published: 2024-01-11
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Amphibians are the most threatened vertebrates, yet their resilience to rising temperatures remains poorly understood. This is primarily because knowledge of thermal tolerance is taxonomically and geographically biased, compromising global climate vulnerability assessments. Here, we employed a phylogenetically-informed data imputation approach to predict the heat tolerance of 60% of amphibian [...]
Morphological evolution in a time of Phenomics
Published: 2024-01-10
Subjects: Life Sciences
Organismal morphology has been at the core of study of biodiversity for millennia before the formalization of the concept of evolution. In the early to mid-twentieth century, a strong theoretical framework was developed for understanding both pattern and process of morphological evolution on a macroevolutionary scale. The past half century has been a transformational period for the study of [...]
The role of deadwood in the carbon cycle: Implications for models, forest management, and future climates
Published: 2024-01-10
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Sciences, Forest Biology, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Plant Biology, Plant Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Deadwood represents a significant carbon pool in forests and savannas. Although previous research has focused mainly on forests, we synthesise deadwood studies across all ecosystems with woody vegetation. Storage and release of carbon from deadwood is controlled by interacting decomposition drivers including biotic consumers (animals, microbes) and abiotic factors (water, fire, sunlight, [...]
Integrating intraspecific trait variability in functional diversity: an overview of methods and a guide for ecologists
Published: 2024-01-09
Subjects: Life Sciences
The variability in traits within species (intraspecific trait variability; ITV) has attracted an increased interest in functional ecology, as it can profoundly influence the detection of functional trait patterns, calculation of functional diversity (FD), and assessments of ecosystem functioning. This renewed focus stems from the recognition that species are not homogeneous entities but rather [...]
Systematic mapping of experimental approaches to studying common mycorrhizal networks
Published: 2024-01-09
Subjects: Life Sciences
Mycorrhizal fungi can interlink and connect plants in a common mycorrhizal network (CMN). Studying CMNs is challenging due to pathways of material transfer but also plant and mycorrhizal effects that have to be tested and controlled in order to be able to evaluate the presence and magnitude of a specific CMN effect. These controls let to a clear but strict definition of CMN which requires [...]
Switching to bioplastics may exacerbate ingestion of lost and discarded fishing gear by marine invertebrates
Published: 2024-01-09
Subjects: Animal Experimentation and Research, Biology, Environmental Health Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Natural Resources and Conservation, Sustainability
Bioplastics are argued to be more environmentally sustainable than conventional plastics. Yet, little is known about how bioplastics degrade in marine environments or their likelihood of being ingested by animals. We measured changes in the weight of biodegradable, semi-biodegradable, and non-biodegradable fishing gears (soft plastic lures, SPLs) in or out of seawater over 14 days. We then [...]
An integrated open population distance sampling approach for modelling age-structured populations
Published: 2024-01-09
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Population Biology
Estimation of abundance and demographic rates for populations of wild species is a challenging but fundamental issue for both management and research into ecology and evolution. One set of approaches that has been used extensively to estimate abundance of wildlife populations is Distance Sampling (DS) methods for line or point transect survey data. Historically, DS models were only available as [...]
The rarity of Invertebrates prevents reliable application of IUCN Red-List criteria.
Published: 2024-01-04
Subjects: Life Sciences
Among the most widely used information underpinning international conservation efforts is the IUCN Red List of endangered species. The Red List designates species extinction risk based on geographic range, population size, or declines in either. However, the Red-List has poor representation of invertebrates which comprise the majority of animal diversity, and it has frequently been questioned [...]
Solving the “small outbreak problem” in climate epidemiology
Published: 2024-01-04
Subjects: Climate, Diseases, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Environmental Public Health, Epidemiology, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Parasitic Diseases, Public Health, Virus Diseases
Climate change can cause outbreaks of infectious diseases in unfamiliar locations — but how do we know which unusual outbreaks are the result of climate change? Scientists often hesitate to guess, leaving the task to journalists or the public. All of these audiences would benefit from a clear and consistent framework for thinking about causality, especially in situations where outbreaks are too [...]