Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
Inferring genomic landscapes with the integrative sequentially Markov coalescent (iSMC)
Published: 2026-05-28
Subjects: Bioinformatics, Biology, Computational Biology, Genetics and Genomics, Genomics, Life Sciences
The integrative Sequentially Markovian Coalescent (iSMC) is an extension of the sequentially Markovian Coalescent (SMC) model allowing for parameter heterogeneity along the genome, such as recombination and mutation rates. Heterogeneous parameters follow an autocorrelation process that modulates the genealogical process, extending the hidden state space and adding as few as two extra parameters [...]
A viral mimic increases body temperature but does not affect mass or inflammation in a wild frugivorous bat
Published: 2026-05-28
Subjects: Biology, Life Sciences
The acute phase response is a component of innate immunity that helps fight infections. Understanding variation in this response is particularly critical in bats, which can be asymptomatic hosts of pathogens that cause disease in other animals. Although bats are most famously tolerant of viruses, research on the bat acute phase response has focused predominantly on bacterial antigens. To improve [...]
Precision Microbiome Stewardship: Moving Aquaculture from Transient Supplementation to Systemic Resilience
Published: 2026-05-27
Subjects: Life Sciences
Ecological and evolutionary dynamics of chlamydiae endosymbionts in social amoeba host communities
Published: 2026-05-25
Subjects: Life Sciences
Endosymbiotic interactions have played fundamental roles in shaping the evolution of complex eukaryotes. However, how ecological processes shape endosymbioses that are still segregating in host populations have been less described. Here, we characterize the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of chlamydiae bacterial endosymbionts in dictyostelid social amoeba host communities. Our survey of over [...]
Towards a standard model for teaching the process of biological evolution
Published: 2026-05-25
Subjects: Education, Life Sciences
Evolution is widely considered to be one of the cornerstones of the biological sciences. Despite this importance, the process of biological evolution remains widely misunderstood among students, illustrating that evolution education is in need of an educational synthesis. The current paradigm for teaching the evolutionary process revolves around using population genetics models to illustrate the [...]
Primary and secondary invasion pathways: why the distinction matters
Published: 2026-05-25
Subjects: Life Sciences
The pathways through which non-native species are introduced and spread help shape the rate and geographic patterns of biological invasions. These pathways can be classified as primary, where non-native species cross jurisdictional or biogeographic boundaries, or secondary, where species move within these boundaries after introduction. Despite fundamental economic, political, social, and [...]
A systematic review on the effectiveness of salmonid spawning habitat improvements, and recommendations to potentially increase productivity of depressed Newfoundland Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) populations
Published: 2026-05-23
Subjects: Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Population Biology
When dangerous predators are ignored: antipredator responses in temporary-pond amphibians
Published: 2026-05-23
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Antipredator behaviour is recognised as a key factor of reintroduction success, yet it remains poorly considered in conservation practice. Despite their conservation relevance, little is known about antipredator behaviour in Pelobatidae tadpoles, among which the endangered Italian lineage of common spadefoot toad Pelobates fuscus has been the target of several captive breeding and reintroduction [...]
Synthetic biology as an empirical tool for evolutionary theory
Published: 2026-05-23
Subjects: Life Sciences
Evolutionary biology has traditionally inferred process from patterns in extant organisms and the fossil record, leaving many foundational questions constrained by their historical nature. Over the past two decades, synthetic and high-throughput approaches — including deep mutational scanning, genome editing, ancestral sequence reconstruction, engineered mutators, and random-sequence assays — [...]
A fine-grained behavior-based approach to estimating the probability of collision between moving vehicles and birds
Published: 2026-05-22
Subjects: Life Sciences
1. Collisions between animals and vehicles contribute to biodiversity loss, threaten human safety, and have economic consequences. Escape responses of wildlife to vehicles are a critical factor in determining whether a collision occurs. However, presently species-specific vulnerability estimates do not consider the species escape behavior, potentially resulting in inaccurate mortality estimates. [...]
The holobiont is not a useful model for most host-microbiome interactions
Published: 2026-05-21
Subjects: Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Evolution, Life Sciences
The holobiont concept refers to a host and associated microbes. It has been critiqued over the last decade, primarily based on the argument that individual holobionts are not an appropriate level for analyzing multi-generation host dynamics, as most microbes are acquired from the environment. Several responses were given to this and other criticisms. The main response has been that the holobiont [...]
Multi-eared Listening: Pathways to Equitable Partnerships in a Transdisciplinary Ecoacoustics
Published: 2026-05-21
Subjects: Arts and Humanities, Life Sciences
Multi-Eared Listening is a call to integrate Indigenous, local, and Western scientific knowledges in a transdisciplinary ecoacoustic research. Following the Mi’kmaw principle of Two-Eyed Seeing, Multi-Eared Listening, points to the importance of braiding epistemologies in ecoacoustic research and conservation. Case studies from Ecuador, Ghana, Indonesia, Australia, and transnational sound art [...]
Colossal Disinformation
Published: 2026-05-20
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
I have a position: de-extinction is almost impossible, however, deëxtinction, a word invented by the world’s first “de-extinction” company Colossal Laboratories & Bioscience’s can be (Max 2025); hereafter Colossal, which they define as the creation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that appear and act like extinct species, is possible. It’s branding, not science. I and other critics of [...]
The roles of density dependence, developmental asynchrony, and niche traversal costs in shaping the evolution of ontogenetic complexity
Published: 2026-05-20
Subjects: Life Sciences
Most organisms undergo some degree of niche transition throughout their life cycles, which are typically accompanied by morphological, physiological, and/or behavioral changes. Ontogenetic complexity generally refers to the magnitude and abruptness of these changes. Evolutionary theory has described how various genetic properties facilitate and constrain the evolution of ontogenetic complexity, [...]
A Protocol for Standardizing Measurements and Enabling Global Harmonization of Herbarium Leaf Reflectance Spectra
Published: 2026-05-20
Subjects: Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology, Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Botany, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Reflectance spectroscopy offers a powerful approach to integrate high-throughput phenotypic data from herbarium specimens into the digital landscapes of ecology, evolution, and systematics. Because inconsistencies in instrumentation and measurement practices can increase noise and limit dataset compatibility, the International Herbarium Spectral Digitization Working Group (IHerbSpec) has [...]