Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
Integrating evolutionary theory into a framework for the mechanistic evaluation of candidate anti-aging interventions
Published: 2026-01-30
Subjects: Life Sciences
Despite decades of research into the molecular hallmarks of aging, geroscience lacks a unifying framework to guide the development of effective anti-aging interventions. Here, we integrate two leading evolutionary theories—the Disposable Soma Theory and Hyperfunction Theory—into a layered model of aging biology, the “Aging Onion”. In this framework, aging arises both from persistent activity of [...]
Growth–reproduction trade-offs are common but changing in woody plants: a meta-analysis
Published: 2026-01-30
Subjects: Life Sciences
Growth and reproduction draw on a common resource pool, yet empirical studies of woody plants report widely differing relationships between seed production and growth. Here we synthesize 685 estimates from 78 studies covering 79 woody species to test how growth–reproduction correlations vary across time, species, and environments. Growth and reproduction measured within the same year were [...]
Multi-provenance assisted seed dispersal slows range contractions under climate change.
Published: 2026-01-29
Subjects: Life Sciences
Rapid climate warming threatens the persistence of temperate European forests, raising urgent questions about whether traditional reliance on local seed sources remains viable. Using Quercus petraea in France as a model system, we combined provenance-specific species distribution models with a dynamic range-shift model (simRShift) to evaluate climate-informed assisted dispersal under SSP5-8.5 [...]
Environmental DNA reveals differential geologic isolation effects on plant and fungal Communities in the Hengduan Mountains
Published: 2026-01-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
Species range limits are typically constrained by their tolerance to abiotic factors such as climate, as well as by dispersal limitations due to geographic barriers like mountain ridges and river valleys. Montane regions, which are hyperdiverse in many different clades, characterised by high turnover, and complex topography, provide ideal systems for investigating the drivers of range limits. In [...]
Fire as a regeneration filter: contrasting effects of heat and smoke on Arctic seed germination.
Published: 2026-01-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
The rapid warming of the Arctic is increasing the frequency, intensity, and spatial extent of fires. Because fire has historically been rare in this region, most Arctic plant species are unlikely to have evolved traits that confer tolerance to fire, and the consequences for early life-history stages such as seed germination remain largely unknown. Here, we experimentally tested the effects of two [...]
Beyond timescale separation: An eco-evolutionary consumer-resource theory of host-microbe symbioses
Published: 2026-01-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
Symbiotic associations between microorganisms and hosts are universal and dynamic. However, current ecological and evolutionary theory often simplistically analyzes hosts and symbionts as either separate or fully integrated entities. This entrenchment obscures a central research challenge: to understand symbioses across varying degrees of interaction, integration, and functional dependence. We [...]
The overlooked small terrestrial mammal taxa (Rodentia, Eulipotyphla, and Lagomorpha) in the evolution of coronaviruses
Published: 2026-01-28
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences, Molecular Genetics, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Coronaviruses have been extensively detected in bats over the past few decades. However, increasing evidence suggests that other taxa, such as Rodentia, Eulipotyphla, and Lagomorpha, may have played a significant role in the ecology and evolution of some coronaviruses. Here, we compile recent contributions illuminating these mammals' enigmatic role in coronavirus evolution. We highlight how [...]
Psilocybin and the Evolutionary Significance of Altered Neural States: Interaction-Based Perspectives Beyond Deterrence Models
Published: 2026-01-28
Subjects: Behavioral Neurobiology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Neuroscience and Neurobiology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Psilocybin is a psychoactive tryptamine produced by a phylogenetically discontinuous yet ecologically diverse subset of fungi. Despite decades of chemical, pharmacological, and ethnobiological research, the evolutionary forces driving the emergence and persistence of this compound remain insufficiently explained. Recent hypotheses proposing that psilocybin evolved primarily as a deterrent against [...]
An Interpretation, Survey, and Outlook of Microbial Macroecology
Published: 2026-01-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
The construction of a predictive theory of the dynamics and structure of microbial communities requires the identification of repeatable, robust empirical patterns. The investigation of such patterns in ecology has historically been the domain of the subdiscipline macroecology. However, the application of macroecology to microorganisms is not straightforward, as we lack an understanding of how [...]
SPECIES OF PASSIONATE INTEREST: Practicing Biocultural Conservation and Eco-social Transformation Together
Published: 2026-01-27
Subjects: Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Species of Passionate Interest expands on the concept of the "cultural keystone species," reviewing its intellectual history and proposing future applications in the field of biodiversity conservation. The paper critiques the classic view of the "keystone" species in Western conservation science, emphasizing the need to consider the dynamic cultural context and the diversity of emotional [...]
Diversity in viral resistance emerges from host genotype and infection order effects
Published: 2026-01-27
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Plant Pathology, Virology
• While viruses are predicted to be the most diverse group of parasites wild plant hosts encounter, the extent and mechanisms maintaining viral resistance diversity remains poorly understood. Here, we test the hypothesis that allocation trade-offs maintain genetic variation in viral resistance and assess whether phenotypic resistance variation may may arise from altered expression under multiple [...]
Is within-host viral community assembly shaped by local adaptation?
Published: 2026-01-27
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Virology
Host-parasite coevolution describes the continuous reciprocal selection driving host defense and parasite infectivity, with direct consequences for disease dynamics. While abundant evidence exists for coevolution shaping host-parasite dynamics within the ‘one host-one parasite’ framework, hosts are typically infected by multiple parasites and the extent to which coevolutionary processes shape [...]
An open occurrence dataset for European subterranean spiders
Published: 2026-01-27
Subjects: Life Sciences
Spiders are remarkably diverse in caves and other subterranean habitats, where they play key ecological roles as generalist predators and strongly influence local food webs. They have been instrumental as model organisms for testing various eco-evolutionary hypotheses. Furthermore, strictly subterranean species exhibiting narrow ranges and high endemism are particularly significant for [...]
Emergent functions in the chemodiversity landscape
Published: 2026-01-23
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Nature produces countless metabolites that regulate organismal performance and the functioning of ecosystems. Specialised metabolites are particularly diverse and mediate ecological interactions across all geographic scales and levels of biological organisation. While chemodiversity, i.e., the richness, relative abundance and disparity of specialised metabolites within a blend of metabolites, has [...]
Functional redundancy shapes spatial patterns of vulnerability to climate-driven shifts in plant community composition across Australia
Published: 2026-01-23
Subjects: Life Sciences
Climate change threatens plant communities worldwide with substantial species losses, yet the consequences of reduced diversity for ecosystem functioning remain uncertain. Functional redundancy, where multiple species fulfil similar ecological roles, may provide functional insurance by buffering ecosystem processes against species loss. Here, we combined plant composition data from 646 TERN [...]