Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
The macroecology of knowledge: Spatio-temporal patterns of name-bearing types in biodiversity science
Published: 2024-08-12
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences
Ecological and evolutionary processes are recognized as the main factors generating and maintaining biodiversity. However, how biodiversity knowledge is collated, organized, and distributed worldwide influences our perceptions and inferences about biodiversity and the underlying processes. We demonstrated that name-bearing type specimens (NBT), the most fundamental reference for the identity of [...]
No support for honest signalling of male quality in zebra finch song
Published: 2024-08-12
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Ornithology
Alam et al.1 claim to have discovered a song feature, “path length”, that honestly signals male fitness and is therefore preferred by all females. However, their data and analyses provide no statistical support for this claim. (1) The key finding — that long-path songs are difficult to learn (Fig. 4c) — is a statistical artefact: regressing y minus x on x creates an illusory effect where none [...]
Experimental evidence that phenotypic evolution but not plasticity occurs along genetic lines of least resistance in homogeneous environments
Published: 2024-08-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Genetic correlations concentrate genetic variation in certain directions of the multivariate phenotype. Adaptation and, under some models, plasticity is expected to occur in the direction of the phenotype containing the greatest amount of genetic variation (gmax). However, this may hinge upon environmental heterogeneity, which can affect patterns of genetic variation. I use experimental evolution [...]
The Architecture of Theory and Data in Microbiome Design: towards an S-matrix for microbiomes
Published: 2024-08-09
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Designing microbiomes for applications in health, bioengineering, and sustainability is intrinsically linked to a fundamental theoretical understanding of the rules governing microbial community assembly. Microbial ecologists have used a range of mathematical models to understand, predict, and control microbiomes, ranging from mechanistic models, putting microbial populations and their [...]
Potentiality of Metal Nanoparticles in Precision and Sustainable Agriculture
Published: 2024-08-08
Subjects: Agriculture, Life Sciences
The world’s increasing population has a higher demand for food and a suitable environment. However, using conventional farming methods and industrial agrochemicals leads to environmental risk, which is a significant threat for the next generation. So, nanotechnology can be a blessing for saving our environment and producing risk-free foods at minimal cost in an eco-friendly way. Nanoparticles [...]
Should we really predict the response of wild endotherms to climate change based on thermal responses measured in captivity?
Published: 2024-08-07
Subjects: Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology, Life Sciences
A database of foraging guilds of seabirds
Published: 2024-08-06
Subjects: Life Sciences
The foraging guilds of terrestrial birds have been a focus of past studies, however little is known about the guilds in seabirds, except for certain species and localities. To overcome this gap, here we developed the Foraging Guilds of Seabirds database (FGSdb) by compiling a global database of 311 seabird species (from a total of 346 known, representing 90% of all seabird species) and assigning [...]
What do functional diversity, redundancy, rarity, and originality actually measure? A theoretical guide for ecologists and conservationists
Published: 2024-08-02
Subjects: Life Sciences
Functional diversity, redundancy, rarity, and originality are fundamental concepts in ecology and conservation biology. Despite their frequent use, the precise meaning and relationships between these measures are often unclear. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive theoretical framework to elucidate what each of these measures captures and how they interrelate. By integrating traditional [...]
Assembly Graph as the Rosetta Stone of Ecological Assembly
Published: 2024-08-02
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Ecological assembly---the process of ecological community formation through species introductions---has recently seen exciting theoretical advancements across dynamical, informational, and probabilistic approaches. However, these theories often remain inaccessible to non-theoreticians, and they lack a unifying lens. Here, I introduce the assembly graph as an integrative tool to connect [...]
Evolutionary rescue by aneuploidy in tumors exposed to anti-cancer drugs
Published: 2024-07-31
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Genetics, Life Sciences
Evolutionary rescue happens when a population survives a sudden environmental change that initially causes the population to decline toward extinction. A prime example of evolutionary rescue is the ability of cancer to survive exposure to treatment. One evolutionary mechanism by which a population of cancer cells can adapt to chemotherapy is aneuploidy. Aneuploid cancer cells can be fitter in an [...]
The Conguillío Statement on the values and responsibilities of ecologists
Published: 2024-07-31
Subjects: Life Sciences
Amid global environmental crises threatening the survival of many species, including our own, a diverse group of scientists from 15 countries and members of 16 professional and academic societies, concerned with the current global environmental crisis met in February 2024 to address the urgent need to reflect on, and identify, our core values and responsibilities as individual professionals and [...]
Ongoing collapse of avifauna in temperate oceanic islands close to the mainland in the Anthropocene
Published: 2024-07-30
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
1. Oceanic island ecosystems are highly vulnerable to human activity. Furthermore, oceanic islands close to the mainland provide distinct perspectives on natural processes, including overseas dispersal from the mainland. However, the effects of overseas dispersal and human activity on insular community changes have not been empirically demonstrated. 2. To clarify the mechanisms driving changes in [...]
The benefits of hierarchical ecosystem models: demonstration using a new state-space mass-balance model EcoState
Published: 2024-07-30
Subjects: Life Sciences
Ecosystem models predict changes in productivity and status for multiple species, and are important for incorporating climate-linked dynamics in ecosystem-based fisheries management. However, fishery regulations are primarily informed by single-species stock assessment models, which estimate unexplained variation in dynamics (e.g., recruitment, survival, fishery selectivity, etc) using random [...]
A review of professional ecological societies’ values, missions, and ethics
Published: 2024-07-27
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
The rapid decline in Earth’s biodiversity poses significant threats to nature and human well-being. Human activities such as land use change, pollution, climate change, invasive species, and overexploitation drive this crisis, endangering millions of species and affecting critical habitats and ecosystems. This study investigates the role of professional ecological societies in addressing the [...]
Age, sex, and temperature shape within- and among-individual space use in black-capped chickadees
Published: 2024-07-27
Subjects: Animal Studies, Behavior and Ethology, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Historically, spatial ecology studies have focused on average movement patterns within animal groups; however, recent studies highlight the value of considering movement decisions both within- and among-individuals. Using a marked population of black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), we used the number of unique feeders an individual visits within our study area as a proxy for space use [...]