Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
Complementando inventarios biológicos con datos abiertos a través de un método semiautomatizado
Published: 2023-12-13
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Introducción: Los muestreos directos constituyen la mejor manera de documentar la riqueza biológica de un lugar, pero pueden verse limitados por diversas circunstancias. Nos preguntamos si la riqueza de especies documentada en campo puede ser complementada con datos de plataformas digitales de biodiversidad. Objetivo: Analizar si los datos de ocurrencia de especies disponibles en la Global [...]
Effects of dissolved organic matter and ecocorona formation on the toxicity of micro- and nanoplastic particles to Daphnia - A meta-analysis
Published: 2023-12-12
Subjects: Life Sciences
Significant quantities of micro- and nanoplastic particles (MNP) end up in the environment, either due to larger plastic debris breaking down or by entering directly as MNPs. Effects of MNPs on organisms have been increasingly reported in recent years, with a large number of studies conducted on water fleas of the genus Daphnia. Most of the available studies used pristine particles that have [...]
Population density affects whole brain and brain region volumes in a wrasse species Coris batuensis
Published: 2023-12-12
Subjects: Life Sciences
The factors shaping brain evolution and cognition are broadly categorized as being either social or environmental. However, the relative importance of these factors is heavily debated, partly due to the limitations from the standard interspecific evolutionary comparative approach. Here, we adopt a complementary strategy leveraging the high degree of brain plasticity that evolved in fishes to ask [...]
Divergent responses between lineages of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to soil phosphorus and nitrogen availability
Published: 2023-12-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Soil Science
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) associations are multifunctional. Two important functions they perform are facilitating nutrient uptake in host plants and protecting plants from biotic stress, among other functions. AM fungal taxa vary in how capably they perform these functions and can also respond differently to environmental selection. Therefore, there is a need to better understand how particular [...]
Bird species’ centrality in seed-dispersal networks varies within climatic niches
Published: 2023-12-12
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Understanding how the functional role of species within seed-dispersal networks varies across geographical and climatic gradients can reveal the mechanisms driving network organization. Using data for 157 bird species from all continents, we evaluated the variation of species’ centrality within local networks across species’ climatic niches (occupied climatic conditions) and in response to [...]
A user-friendly AI workflow for customised wildlife-image classification
Published: 2023-12-11
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Zoology
Monitoring wildlife is crucial for making informed conservation and land-management decisions. Remotely triggered cameras are widely used for this, but the resulting 'big data' are laborious to process. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers a solution to this bottleneck, but it has been challenging for ecologists and practitioners to tailor current approaches to their specific use cases. Generic, [...]
A guide to DNA extraction protocols for ecologists, conservation managers, and environmental DNA researchers
Published: 2023-12-11
Subjects: Life Sciences
Ecologists, conservation biologists, and environmental managers are increasingly dependent on environmental DNA (eDNA) data for research and decision making. The inherent complexity of eDNA samples, coupled with different choices involved during the DNA extraction process, can introduce biases into the final eDNA dataset. Therefore, optimization and troubleshooting of DNA extraction protocols are [...]
Quantifying clearance rates of restored shellfish reefs using modular baskets
Published: 2023-12-08
Subjects: Animal Experimentation and Research, Aquaculture and Fisheries Life Sciences, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Water Resource Management, Zoology
Shellfish reefs are among the most degraded ecosystems globally, prompting substantial efforts to restore them. While biodiversity gains of restored reefs are well documented, other ecosystem services such as water filtration remain poorly quantified. We present a novel way of measuring water filtration by restored reefs using modular restoration structures called Robust Oyster Baskets (ROB 400). [...]
Linking biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people (NCP): a macroecological energy flux perspective
Published: 2023-12-08
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Linking biodiversity and the provision of nature’s contribution to people (NCP) remains a challenge. This hinders our ability to properly cope with the decline in biodiversity and the provision of NCP under global climate and land use changes. Here, we propose a framework that combines biodiversity models with food web energy flux approaches to evaluate and map NCP at large spatio-temporal [...]
Impact of Green Space and Built Environment on Metabolic Syndrome: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis
Published: 2023-12-08
Subjects: Life Sciences
Metabolic Syndrome presents a significant public health challenge associated with an increased risk of noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular conditions. Evidence shows that green spaces and the built environment may influence metabolic syndrome. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies published through August 30, 2023, examining the association of [...]
The Palearctic view on a bat fungal disease
Published: 2023-12-08
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biology, Immunology and Infectious Disease, Life Sciences, Zoology
The fungal infection causing white-nose disease in hibernating bats in North America has resulted in dramatic population declines of affected species since it was first discovered in 2007. Shortly after, it was demonstrated that the causative agent, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, is native to the Palearctic, where it also infects several bat species. However, infection in the Palearctic rarely [...]
Historical redlining impacts wildlife biodiversity across California
Published: 2023-12-07
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Legacy effects describe the persistent, long-term impacts on an ecosystem following the removal of an abiotic or biotic feature. Redlining, a policy that codified racial segregation and disinvestment in minoritized neighborhoods, has produced legacy effects with profound impacts on urban ecosystem structure and health. These legacies have detrimentally impacted public health outcomes, [...]
The OptoReg system: A simple and inexpensive solution for regulating water oxygen.
Published: 2023-12-06
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences
This paper describes an optocoupler-based regulation apparatus for saturation manipulation of oxygen in water (OptoReg). This system enables control of solenoid valves for oxygen and nitrogen gases using a FireSting-O2 meter, an optocoupler box, and an electronic switch box. The hardware components connect to a computer through USB cables. The control software is free and has a graphical user [...]
Natural selection is less efficient at species range edges
Published: 2023-12-06
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Changing species distributions due to global change underscore a pressing need to better understand range limits. However, our knowledge of general determinants of range limits remains poor despite over a century of work. Theoretical models demonstrate that genetic drift should strengthen across environmental gradients. This can limit natural selection to the point where populations can no longer [...]
Parental Brain Through Time: function, anatomy, and molecular mechanisms in contexts
Published: 2023-12-05
Subjects: Life Sciences
Mammalian parental care is highly mother-biased, prompting researchers to presume its connection to female reproductive behavior and physiology, not male. However, recent findings in neurobiological studies suggest the opposite. Considering the evolutionary path of mammalian parental care, the ancestral form of vertebrate parental care appears to be male-biased as in living teleosts (bony fish), [...]