Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
Socio-ecological factors shape the distribution of a cultural keystone species in Malaysian Borneo
Published: 2022-09-14
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Biophysical and socio-cultural factors have jointly shaped the distribution of global biodiversity, yet relatively few studies have quantitatively assessed the influence of social and ecological landscapes on wildlife distributions. We sought to determine whether social and ecological covariates shape the distribution of a cultural keystone species, the bearded pig (Sus barbatus). Drawing on a [...]
When and how does photoinhibition matter for plant fitness?
Published: 2022-09-13
Subjects: Botany, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Physiology, Plant Biology, Plant Sciences, Population Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
The many biophysical factors that shape how plant species sort across environmental gradients may include photoinhibition, which I define broadly as oxidative damage that plants and other phototrophs risk incurring when they absorb excess light energy they cannot safely dissipate. Photoinhibition is seldom explicitly discussed as a potential driver of plant fitness and distributions. Here, I aim [...]
Effects of distinct data processing in the phylogenetic signature of foliar spectra of regenerating plants in Neotropical Forest gaps
Published: 2022-09-13
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Important biochemical traits may be robustly mapped by optical spectroscopy, allowing inferences about phylogenetic conservation in plant species. However, distinct types of data processing might lead to distinct patterns of phylogenetic signal in the foliar spectra. Thus, investigate the standard analytical approaches in order to understand their influence over the phylogenetic signal is [...]
Foraging Efficiency and the Importance of Knowledge in Pemba, Tanzania: Implications for Childhood Evolution.
Published: 2022-09-12
Subjects: Anthropology, Behavior and Ethology, Biological and Physical Anthropology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Childhood is a period of life unique to humans. Childhood may have evolved through the need to acquire knowledge and subsistence skills. In an attempt to evaluate the importance of learning for the evolution of childhood, previous research examined the increase with age of returns to foraging across various resources. Any increase could be due to increases in knowledge or other factors such as [...]
The evolution of eusociality: Kin selection theory, division of labour models, and evo-devo explanations
Published: 2022-09-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
The evolution of eusociality has long been recognized as an evolutionary paradox. We identify three different but complementary approaches to the study of the evolution of eusociality. Kin selection models explain why individuals can evolve to have distinct reproductive or non-reproductive roles. Division of labour models elucidate how specialisation can emerge and evolve. Conceptual models from [...]
Spillover of human antivirals may promote resistant pathogens in animal reservoirs
Published: 2022-09-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Health Life Sciences, Immunology and Infectious Disease, Life Sciences, Other Immunology and Infectious Disease, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Novel viral pathogens are causing diseases to emerge in humans, a challenge to which society has responded with technological innovations such as antiviral therapies. Antivirals can be rapidly deployed to mitigate severe disease, and with vaccines, save human lives and provide a long-term safety net against new viral diseases. Yet with these advances come unforeseen consequences when antivirals [...]
How much biodiversity is concealed in the word “biodiversity”?
Published: 2022-09-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Amidst a global biodiversity crisis, the word “biodiversity” has become indispensable for conservation and management. Yet, biodiversity is often used as a buzzword in scientific literature. Resonant titles of papers claiming to have studied “global biodiversity” may be used to promote research focused on a few taxonomic groups, regions, habitats, or facets of biodiversity [taxonomic, [...]
Publication bias impacts on effect size, statistical power, and magnitude (Type M) and sign (Type S) errors in ecology and evolutionary biology
Published: 2022-09-12
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Statistics and Probability
Collaborative assessments of direct replicability of empirical studies in the medical and social sciences have exposed alarmingly low rates of replicability, a phenomenon dubbed the ‘replication crisis’. Poor replicability has spurred cultural changes targeted at improving reliability in these disciplines. Given the absence of equivalent replication projects in ecology and evolutionary biology, [...]
Demystifying the graduate school application process
Published: 2022-09-09
Subjects: Life Sciences
Navigating the graduate school application process is often challenging, requiring intricate knowledge of academia and graduate institutional structures. This “Hidden Curriculum of Academia” includes what different graduate degrees offer, how to connect with a faculty member of interest, and the skills needed to submit a “competitive” application. We hope to demystify a portion of this hidden [...]
Realising the potential of real-time online monitoring for conservation culturomics
Published: 2022-09-09
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Environmental monitoring is increasingly shifting towards a set of systems that describe changes in real-time. In ecology specifically, a series of challenges have prevented the roll-out of real-time monitoring for features such as biodiversity change or ecosystem service provision. Conservation culturomics, a field concerned with interactions between people and nature, is well-placed to [...]
Metamicrobiome-driven homeostasis of nutrient recycling
Published: 2022-09-08
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Carbon and nutrient recycling by free-living microbial decomposers and fire - two key recycling pathways - are highly sensitive to climatic variation. However, mutualistic associations of microbiomes with plants and animals cause previously underestimated environmental buffering effects. This close cooperation between small and large organisms solves a fundamental allometric trade-off between [...]
SpatialBoundaries.jl: Edge detection using spatial wombling
Published: 2022-09-07
Subjects: Biology, Life Sciences
Spatial wombling is an approach for detecting edges within a defined two-dimensional landscape. This is achieved by calculating the rate and direction of change through the interpolation of points. This not only gives an approximation as to the shape of the landscape but can also be used to identify candidate boundaries cells that delimit a shift from one state to another within the landscape. [...]
Does symmetry preclude the evolution of senescence? A comment on Pen & Flatt 2021
Published: 2022-09-06
Subjects: Biology, Life Sciences
Patterns of senescence across the tree of life remain poorly understood and a clearly important task is to identify the minimal conditions for senescence to occur at all. Starting with Weismann in 1882, it has generally been argued that some type of asymmetry between parent and offspring is a prerequisite for old individuals to show declining performance. The intuitive role of asymmetries should, [...]
Heterostyly on Japanese Islands
Published: 2022-09-06
Subjects: Botany, Life Sciences, Plant Sciences
Heterostyly is a genetically controlled floral polymorphism that promote outbreeding. Although many studies on heterostyly have been done in Japan, there have been no comprehensive analysis nor review. Here I present the list of heterostyly in the native flora of Japan through reviewing references. By using this list, I tested the difference in occurrence of heterostylous species among subgroups [...]
The role of hybrid seed inviability in angiosperm speciation
Published: 2022-09-03
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Understanding which reproductive barriers contribute to speciation is essential to understanding the diversity of life on earth. Several contemporary examples of strong hybrid seed inviability (HSI) between recently diverged species suggest that HSI may play a fundamental role in plant speciation. Yet, a broader synthesis of HSI is needed to clarify its role in diversification. Here, I review the [...]