Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
Anisogamy does not always promote the evolution of mating competition traits in males
Published: 2023-10-18
Subjects: Life Sciences
Anisogamy has evolved in most sexually reproducing multicellular organisms allowing the definition of the male and female sexes, producing small and large gametes. Anisogamy, as the initial sexual dimorphism, is a good starting point to understand the evolution of further sexual dimorphisms. For instance, it is generally accepted that anisogamy sets the stage for more intense mating competition [...]
Fifteen years of elasmobranchs trade unveiled by DNA tools: Lessons for enhanced monitoring and conservation actions
Published: 2023-10-18
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences
The trade of elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) in Brazil threatens the country's rich endemic biodiversity. The present study explored the use of DNA-based tools to monitor the Brazilian elasmobranch trade, focusing on their role in identifying processed products and supporting conservation efforts. A systematic search of literature was conducted and included 35 peer-reviewed papers published [...]
Multinational evaluation of genetic diversity indicators for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Monitoring framework
Published: 2023-10-16
Subjects: Biodiversity, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences
In December 2022, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, in which 196 Parties, for the first time, committed to report on the status of genetic diversity for all species. To facilitate this reporting, three genetic diversity indicators were developed, two of which focus on the processes contributing to genetic [...]
Towards causal relationships for modelling species distribution
Published: 2023-10-14
Subjects: Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Life Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Statistical Models
1. Understanding the processes underlying the distribution of species through space and time is fundamental in several research fields spanning from ecology to spatial epidemiology. Correlative species distribution models (SDMs) involve popular statistical tools to infer species geographical distribution thanks to spatiotemporally explicit observations of species occurrences coupled with a set of [...]
Shedding light on nocturnal behavior: A cost-effective solution for remote, infrared video recording in the field
Published: 2023-10-14
Subjects: Life Sciences
For behavioral ecologists who study nocturnal animals, recording behavior at night is essential, but expensive. Infrared (IR) sensitive camcorders can easily cost over $1,000 USD, yet these pricey cameras rarely stand up to the elements in the field, and pose great financial risk if left unattended overnight. Here, I provide a field-tested method to record nocturnal behavior at a fraction of the [...]
Remote extracellular attacks on bacteriophage
Published: 2023-10-14
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Bacteriophages and their hosts co-evolve while exploiting and defending against the other, respectively. Known anti-phage defences prevent attachment to the cell or target phage nucleic acids within the cell; variation in such defences shapes phage host range. While investigating the host range of the virulent myxophage Mx1 among natural isolates of the social bacterium Myxococcus xanthus, we [...]
Dispersal and eco-evolutionary dynamics in antagonistic species interactions
Published: 2023-10-14
Subjects: Life Sciences
Dispersal fuels the interplay between ecology, evolution and adaptation across spatial and temporal scales. Dispersal also determines the encounter between natural enemies and can produce eco-evolutionary feedbacks with potentially profound consequences for the geographic distribution and genetic diversity of antagonistically interacting species. Although both dispersal and interaction traits, [...]
Avian zoochory is a probable pathway of European perch colonization in artificial lakes: a reply to Vasemägi et al (2023)
Published: 2023-10-14
Subjects: Life Sciences, Population Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Applications of Machine Learning in Phylogenetics
Published: 2023-10-14
Subjects: Biology, Life Sciences
Machine learning has increasingly been applied to a wide range of questions in phylogenetic inference. Supervised machine learning approaches that rely on simulated training data have been used to infer tree topologies and branch lengths, to select substitution models, and to perform downstream inferences of introgression and diversification. Here, we review how researchers have used several [...]
Amount of carbon fixed, transit time and fate of harvested wood products define the climate change mitigation potential of boreal forest management - A model analysis
Published: 2023-10-14
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Other Forestry and Forest Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Boreal forests are often managed to maximize wood production, but other goals, among which climate change mitigation, are increasingly important. Examining synergies and trade-offs between forest production and its potential for carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation in forest stands requires explicitly accounting for how long forest ecosystems and wood products retain carbon from [...]
Sex-specific effects of social environment on behaviour and their correlations in Drosophila melanogaster
Published: 2023-10-06
Subjects: Life Sciences
Environmental and individual experiences can result in immediate and persistent changes in behaviour. Often, such effects are also sex-dependent. Interspecific interactions can be one of the most important environments an individual faces. Such social interactions are expected to affect a suite of behavioural traits and their correlations. Here, we used Drosophila melanogaster and high-throughput [...]
Withdrawn: Datathons: fostering equitability in data reuse in ecology
Published: 2023-10-06
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Genetics, Genetics and Genomics, Genomics, Life Sciences, Microbiology
Duplicate of https://doi.org/10.32942/X2389Q
Should we indulge prawns more on organismal and environmental research?
Published: 2023-10-04
Subjects: Life Sciences
The importance of prawns in organismal research is an issue of concern due to their multifaceted and unique biological characteristics. This majorly includes their tolerance to critical environmental situations, sensitivity, exceptional body morphometrics, ecogeographic occurrence and diversity. All of these make prawns a highly adaptable and evolutionary successful organism. While studying the [...]
With a little help from my friends: the roles of microbial symbionts in insect populations and communities.
Published: 2023-10-04
Subjects: Life Sciences
To understand insect abundance, distribution, and dynamics, we need to understand the relevant drivers of their populations and communities. While microbial symbionts are known to affect many aspects of insect biology, research on their ecological and evolutionary importance for wild non-model insects is scarce. We are still far from understanding the spatio-temporal dynamics of symbioses in [...]
Same data, different analysts: variation in effect sizes due to analytical decisions in ecology and evolutionary biology
Published: 2023-10-04
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Although variation in effect sizes and predicted values among studies of similar phenomena is inevitable, such variation far exceeds what might be produced by sampling error alone. One possible explanation for variation among results is differences among researchers in the decisions they make regarding statistical analyses. A growing array of studies has explored this analytical variability in [...]