Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, Mangroves of the Gulf of Guinea - North
Published: 2025-07-30
Subjects: Life Sciences
Mangroves of the Gulf of Guinea - North is a regional ecosystem subgroup (level 4 unit of the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology). It includes the marine ecoregions of Gulf of Guinea Central, Gulf of Guinea Upwelling, Gulf of Guinea West. The Gulf of Guinea - North mangrove province mapped extent in 2020 was 6961.2 km2 across, representing 4.7% of the global mangrove area. The biota is characterized [...]
A new model to quantify the probability of collision between birds and aircraft: applications for onboard lighting
Published: 2025-07-30
Subjects: Life Sciences
Globally, bird and aircraft collisions are a major safety hazard and monetary expense for the aviation industry. Empirical evidence suggests that the behavioral response of the animal just prior to a collision is a critical factor in determining whether a collision occurs. However, no theoretical framework exists to predict the probability of a collision based on the escape response of the animal [...]
Evolutionary Origins of the Blood Vascular System in Metazoans – A Microbial Perspective
Published: 2025-07-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
This opinion piece posits two intertwined major evolutionary transformations – the advent of the circulatory system in animals and the subsequent emergence of sterile organismal compartments it enabled – as promoted by microbial communities. These transformations should be considered significant in that they shaped the ability of downstream multicellular organisms to diverge and attain new [...]
Trade-offs between nature and people reveal challenges in translating global conservation targets into national realities
Published: 2025-07-28
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences, Nutrition
Achieving global biodiversity targets depends on the ability of individual countries to translate targets into reality on the ground. In 2022, 196 parties committed to conserving 30% of the planet by 2030, yet questions remain over whether existing protected areas are effective at conserving biodiversity, and furthermore whether conservation successes impact the wellbeing of local communities. We [...]
Rediscovery and Habitat Assessment of the Endemic Philippine Medaka (Oryzias luzonensis) in Northern Luzon
Published: 2025-07-28
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences
The endemic Philippine medaka Oryzias luzonensis, confined to the Laoag (Padsan) watershed in Ilocos Norte, Northern Luzon, had not been recorded in the wild for over 40 years, prompting its classification as Endangered by the IUCN in 2021. Field surveys conducted from January to May 2024 across six sites using traditional push nets successfully rediscovered the species in three Solsona [...]
Threatened Alpine and Subalpine Ecosystems of Australia: An IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Assessment Version 0.5
Published: 2025-07-28
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Flawed analysis invalidates claim of a strong Yellowstone trophic cascade after wolf reintroduction: A comment on Ripple et al. (2025)
Published: 2025-07-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
Ripple et al. (2025) recently argued that large carnivore recovery in Yellowstone National Park triggered one of the world’s strongest trophic cascades, citing a ~1500% increase in willow crown volume derived from plant height data. In this comment, we show that their conclusion is invalid due to fundamental methodological flaws. These include use of a tautological volume model, violations of key [...]
The Marsupial Database: A comprehensive dataset on the ecology and life history of American and Australasian marsupials
Published: 2025-07-25
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Marsupials are an important but typically neglected group of mammals that have been overlooked in many comparative analyses of vertebrate ecology and life-history evolution. In order to address this knowledge bias, we have developed The Marsupial Database. The Marsupial Database contains traits for a phylogenetically diverse set of 414 extant and recently extinct (last 200 years) species from all [...]
Physical and Migration Metrics of White Storks (Ciconia ciconia) and the influence that landfills play in their variation
Published: 2025-07-25
Subjects: Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Ornithology, Zoology
1. White storks (Ciconia Ciconia) are a traditionally fully migratory species and their numbers in western Europe were decimated in the last century. Their numbers have since boomed and they have altered their migratory strategy to have become a partially migratory species. This change has been ascribed in large part to anthropogenic food subsidies, particularly in the form of landfill sites. 2. [...]
Cover crops influence aboveground and belowground invertebrates in farmlands
Published: 2025-07-24
Subjects: Agriculture, Biodiversity, Life Sciences
1. Maintaining vegetation diversity through cover crops could counteract the decreasing soil carbon and biodiversity in intensive monoculture farming, but its impacts on fauna have rarely been quantified. 2. To investigate how cover crops influence the abundance and trophic structure of invertebrates, or inorganic N (proxy of soil functioning), barley (Hordeum vulgare) was grown with up to eight [...]
The number of strong social bonds is linked to survival in a cooperative bird
Published: 2025-07-24
Subjects: Life Sciences
Recent evidence from large mammals, including humans, shows that the quality of social associations beyond general group size can positively influence health and survival. However, whether individuals in other taxa consistently differ in sociality in ways that affect fitness and thus provide a basis for selection remains largely unexplored. In this study, we examined how individual sociality [...]
Long-term change in precipitation and its variability and consequences in a montane environment
Published: 2025-07-22
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
The climate at high altitudes is changing more rapidly than in many other areas, with a variety of consequences for montane flora and fauna. We analyze long-term weather records from Crested Butte (2703m, 1910- 2024) and Gothic (2921m, 1974 – 2024), Colorado, USA, in the West Elk Mountains. In Crested Butte, mean monthly precipitation in the growing season (May – September) can vary by over [...]
FIRST RECORD OF THE SOUTH EUROPEAN ROACH, SarmaRutilus rubilio (Bonaparte, 1837) IN THE ASINARO RIVER BASIN (SICILY, ITALY).
Published: 2025-07-21
Subjects: Life Sciences
The first record of the South European Roach Sarmarutilus rubilio (Bonaparte, 1837) introduced to the Asinaro river basin (SE Sicily) is reported. The species, alien to Sicily, was sampled/observed in May-June 2025 almost along the entire main river, from near the headwaters up to about 3 km from the mouth. The SE Roach is able to reproduce in this environment, as evidenced by the presence of [...]
The Minimum Carbon Theory: A Physiological Basis for Species Coexistence
Published: 2025-07-21
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Understanding how species coexist and why diversity varies across regions remains a central challenge in ecology. Although existing theories such as niche theory, neutral theory, and modern coexistence theory have yielded important insights into species coexistence and diversity, their reliance on abstract parameters lacking direct physiological grounding limits empirical validation and [...]
Big bills, small changes: with few exceptions, Jungle crows show minor variation in bill morphology across their distribution
Published: 2025-07-21
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Ornithology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Examinations of morphology can reveal a species' relationship with the environment and their evolutionary trajectory. Particularly pronounced difference can hint at specific selection pressures, and reveal hitherto unknown species. Cryptic species, with only subtle morphological differences, are widespread and ignoring them risks underestimating biodiversity and their threatened status. Recently [...]