Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, Mangroves of New Zealand
Published: 2024-05-08
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Mangroves of New Zealand is a regional ecosystem subgroup (level 4 unit of the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology). It includes the marine ecoregions of Central New Zealand, Northeastern New Zealand and Three Kings-North Cape. Their mapped extent in 2018 was 281.7 to 296.2 km2, representing 0.2% of the global mangrove area. The biota is characterized by a single species: Avicennia marina subsp. [...]
IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, Mangroves of South India and Sri Lanka, and Maldives
Published: 2024-05-08
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Mangroves of South India and Sri Lanka, and Maldives is a regional ecosystem subgroup (level 4 unit of the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology). It includes the marine ecoregions of Western India, South India and Sri Lanka, and Maldives. The mapped extent in 2020 was 249.2 km2, representing 0.2% of the global mangrove area. The environmental settings of this ecoregion differ widely ranging from open [...]
A wrap-around movement path randomization method to distinguish social and spatial drivers of animal interactions
Published: 2024-05-08
Subjects: Life Sciences
Studying the spatial-social interface requires tools that distinguish between social and spatial drivers of interactions. Testing hypotheses regarding the factors determining animal interactions often involves comparing observed interactions with reference or ’null’ models. One approach to accounting for spatial drivers of social interactions in reference models is randomizing animal [...]
Global review of shorebird tracking publications: Gaps and priorities for research and conservation
Published: 2024-05-07
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Ornithology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Electronic tracking has enabled rapid advances in knowledge of the movement behaviour and habitat use of shorebirds (Charadriiformes), and is thus making a growing contribution to their conservation. However, developing a useful coherent global strategy for tracking these taxa requires an overview of the current availability of data and how it varies along regional and ecological lines. To this [...]
Integrating animal tracking and trait data to facilitate global ecological discoveries
Published: 2024-05-06
Subjects: Life Sciences
Understanding animal movement is at the core of ecology, evolution, and conservation science. Big data approaches for animal tracking have facilitated impactful synthesis research on spatial biology and behavior in ecologically important and human-impacted regions. Similarly, databases of animal traits (e.g., body size, limb length, locomotion method, lifespan) have been used for a wide range of [...]
Origin of the impact of rock climbing on cliff ecosystems: A guide to evidence-based conservation management to regulate climbing
Published: 2024-05-06
Subjects: Life Sciences
1. Cliff ecosystems provide refuge to 35-66% of the world’s endemic plants. However, they face growing threats from climbing. Evidence suggests that untouched cliffs harbor approximately twice the plant richness compared to climbed cliffs, with increasing impact as climbing intensity increases. Unfortunately, the origin and extent of the climbing impact has not been assessed so far. 2. We [...]
IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, Mangroves of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden
Published: 2024-05-06
Subjects: Life Sciences
Mangroves of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden is a regional ecosystem subgroup (level 4 unit of the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology). It includes the marine eco-regions of Gulf of Aden, Northern and Central Red Sea, and Southern Red Sea, and extends across Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia. The biota is characterized by two species of true mangroves namely; Avicennia [...]
IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, Mangroves of the Gulf of Guinea - South
Published: 2024-05-06
Subjects: Life Sciences
The Mangroves of the Gulf of Guinea - South is a regional ecosystem subgroup (level 4 unit of the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology). It includes the Angolan, Gulf of Guinea Central, Gulf of Guinea Islands and Gulf of Guinea South marine ecoregions. The biota is characterized by six species of true mangroves with several associated mangrove species. The majority of the mangroves are found in the [...]
IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, Mangroves of the Arabian (Persian) Gulf
Published: 2024-05-06
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Mangroves of the Arabian (Persian) Gulf is a regional ecosystem subgroup (level 4 unit of the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology). It includes the marine ecoregions of the Arabian (Persian) Gulf, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Western Arabian Sea and Western India (Asia). Mangroves of the Arabian (Persian) Gulf occupy sheltered intertidal lagoons along coastlines and offshore islands, occupying various [...]
Symbiotic status does not preclude hybridisation in Mediterranean octocorals
Published: 2024-05-05
Subjects: Life Sciences
Understanding how species can form and remain isolated in the marine environment is still an active research area. Correctly delimiting species if also of interest for biodiversity conservation and for a wide range of biological studies. Here we study the differentiation and the possibility of hybridization among three temperate octocorals : Eunicella cavolini, E. singularis and E. verrucosa. [...]
Predator-Prey movement interactions: jaguars and peccaries in the spotlight
Published: 2024-05-05
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Understanding how the landscape influences the distribution and behavior of predators and prey gives us insights into the spatial dynamics of their interactions and the factors that shape their populations across space and time. This study analyzed interactions between jaguars (Panthera onca) and white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari) at different forest and grassland distances and under varying [...]
Revisiting Wolbachia detections: old and new issues in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and other insects
Published: 2024-05-05
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Life Sciences, Microbiology
Wolbachia continue to be reported in species previously thought to lack them, particularly Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The presence of Wolbachia in this arbovirus vector is considered important because releases of mosquitoes with transinfected Wolbachia are being used around the world to suppress pathogen transmission and these efforts depend on a lack of Wolbachia in natural populations of this [...]
University herbaria are uniquely important
Published: 2024-05-02
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
University herbaria play critical roles in biodiversity research and training and provide an interdisciplinary academic environment that fosters innovative uses of natural history collections. Universities have a responsibility to steward these important collections in perpetuity, in alignment with their academic missions and for the good of science and society.
Quantifying the Value of Community Science Data for Conservation Decision-making
Published: 2024-05-02
Subjects: Life Sciences
Monitoring biodiversity can be critical for informing effective conservation strategies, but can also deplete the resources available for management actions. Freely-available community science data may help alleviate this issue, but only if data quality is sufficient to inform the best decisions. Our objective was to quantify the predicted outcomes of prioritizing conservation action based on [...]
Wildlife health perceptions and monitoring practices in globally distributed protected areas
Published: 2024-04-30
Subjects: Biodiversity, Environmental Monitoring, Epidemiology, Health Information Technology, Health Policy, Life Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration, Sustainability, Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Epidemiology, and Public Health
Deficits in wildlife health (WH) monitoring at protected areas (PAs) can weaken the detection of infectious diseases; physical, and chemical threats; rapid response; and assessment of health management practices, threatening biodiversity conservation and global health. However, there is a lack of baseline information regarding the local perception of wildlife, human, and livestock health [...]