Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
Gut microbiota repeatability is contingent on temporal scale and age in wild meerkats
Published: 2022-03-29
Subjects: Life Sciences, Microbiology, Other Microbiology
Inter-individual differences in gut microbiota composition are hypothesized to generate variation in host fitness – a premise for the evolution of host-gut microbe symbioses. However, recent evidence suggests that gut microbial communities are highly dynamic, challenging the notion that individuals harbour unique and stable gut microbial phenotypes. Leveraging a long-term dataset of wild [...]
Hematological and Biochemical Reference Intervals of the Visayan Warty Pig in Negros Occidental, Philippines
Published: 2022-03-25
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biodiversity, Biology, Forest Biology, Forest Sciences, Laboratory and Basic Science Research Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Other Animal Sciences, Other Life Sciences, Physiology, Zoology
The Visayan warty pig is one of the endemic species of the Philippines that have been listed as "critically endangered." Conservation actions and efforts, such as health assessments, are being carried out to preserve the population. However, there is limited information about the normal hematological and biochemical profile of the species. The study presents reference intervals essential for [...]
Multi-level instrumentation of bivouac thermoregulation: Current methods and future directions
Published: 2022-03-25
Subjects: Entomology, Life Sciences
Army ants are frequently used as charismatic organismal representatives of collective behavior in nature, providing templates for modern engineered systems as well as continuing to drive aspirational goals for the engineered systems of the future. Most attention on army ants has been focused on the ability of groups of ants to self-assemble into adaptive structures such as bridges or even [...]
Plant spectra as integrative measures of plant phenotypes
Published: 2022-03-25
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Plant Biology, Plant Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
1. Spectroscopy at the leaf or canopy scales is becoming one of the core tools of plant functional ecology. Remotely sensed reflectance spectra can allow ecologists to infer plant traits and strategies—and the community- or ecosystem-level processes they correlate with—continuously over unprecedented spatial scales. 2. Because of the complex entanglement of structural and chemical factors that [...]
Evidence-based Protection of Sea Turtle Eggs and Hatchery Practices
Published: 2022-03-24
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Marine Biology
It is important for emerging conservationists and wildlife managers to gain experience in the use of evidence-based conservation, by way of critical analysis and understanding of the context and application of conservation actions. We developed a teaching case and activity for undergraduate and graduate courses in conservation biology, wildlife management etc., although it could also be adopted [...]
Synergies and complementarities between ecosystem risk assessment and ecosystem accounting
Published: 2022-03-23
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Safeguarding biodiversity and human well-being depends on sustaining ecosystems. Global agreements, such as the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and UN Sustainable Development Goals, aim to halt and reverse loss and degradation of ecosystems, associated biodiversity and ecosystem services. They require standardised information for quantifying where ecosystem loss and degradation is [...]
Urban food forestry transforms fine-scale soil function for rapid and uniform carbon sequestration
Published: 2022-03-22
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Urbanization displaces agriculture and natural ecosystems, constraining food security and carbon (C) sinks. A proposed solution, Urban Food Forestry (UFF), promises local food from trees that can sequester C faster than other land cover types as long as soil function improves. We compared fine-scale variation in soil physical, chemical and biological properties within and between UFF and [...]
Biofilm formation is intrinsic to the origin of life
Published: 2022-03-22
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Biofilm formation the build up of multicellular, often surface-associated, communities of autonomous cells, is the natural mode of growth of up to 80% of microorganisms living on this planet. Their tolerance against multiple environmental stresses makes biofilms refractory towards antimicrobial treatment strategies and the actions of the immune system. But how did biofilm formation arise? Here, I [...]
Defence mitigation by predators of chemically defended prey integrated over the predation cycle and across biological levels
Published: 2022-03-19
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
The long-term evolution of species involved in predator-prey interactions has resulted in many examples of specialised prey defences. The methods that predators use to mitigate prey defences has received less attention. The frequent reference to an arms races or coevolution without clear evidence that both strategies evolved under the influence of each other is problematic. In this review, we use [...]
Developing a framework to improve global estimates of conservation area coverage
Published: 2022-03-18
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences
Area-based conservation is a widely used approach for maintaining biodiversity, and there are ongoing discussions over what is an appropriate global conservation area coverage target. To inform such debates, it is necessary to know the extent and ecological representativeness of the current conservation area network, but this is hampered by gaps in existing global datasets. In particular, [...]
Interpolation of temporal biodiversity change, loss, and gain across scales: a machine learning approach
Published: 2022-03-16
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Statistics and Probability
1. Estimates of temporal change of biodiversity, and its components loss and gain, are needed at local and geographical scales. However, we lack them because of data in-completeness, heterogeneity, and lack of temporal replication. Hence, we need a tool to integrate heterogeneous data and to account for their incompleteness. 2. We introduce spatiotemporal machine learning interpolation that can [...]
An integrative indicator linking area-based actions to national and global outcomes for forest biodiversity
Published: 2022-03-13
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences
Indicators supporting implementation of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) are likely to be used not only to monitor progress toward achieving agreed goals and targets, but also to help prioritise specific actions to address shortfalls in this achievement as efficiently as possible. To perform this dual role, adopted indicators must be derived from data of sufficient rigour and [...]
The Global Forest Health Crisis: A Public Good Social Dilemma in Need of International Collective Action
Published: 2022-03-11
Subjects: Agricultural and Resource Economics, Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Science, Agriculture, Behavioral Economics, Biodiversity, Biology, Biosecurity, Botany, Economics, Entomology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Environmental Studies, Forest Biology, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, International Relations, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Other Forestry and Forest Sciences, Other Plant Sciences, Pathogenic Microbiology, Plant Biology, Plant Pathology, Plant Sciences, Political Science, Science and Technology Studies, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Society is confronted by interconnected threats to ecological sustainability. Among these is the devastation of forests by destructive non-native pathogens and insects introduced through global trade, leading to the loss of critical ecosystem services and a global forest health crisis. We argue that the forest health crisis is a public good social dilemma and propose a response framework that [...]
Endosymbiosis or Bust: Influence of Ectosymbiosis on Evolution of Obligate Endosymbiosis
Published: 2022-03-09
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Endosymbiosis, symbiosis in which one symbiont lives inside another, is woven throughout the history of life and the story of its evolution. From the mitochondrion residing in almost every eukaryotic cell to the gut microbiome found in every human, endosymbiosis is a cornerstone of the biological processes that sustain life on Earth. While endosymbiosis is ubiquitous, many questions about its [...]
Keep Your Frenemies Closer: Bacteriophage That Benefit Their Hosts Evolve to be More Temperate
Published: 2022-03-09
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Bacteriophages, also known as phages, are viruses that infect bacteria. They are found everywhere in nature, playing vital roles in microbiomes and bacterial evolution due to the selective pressure that they place on their hosts. As obligate endosymbionts, phages depend on bacteria for successful reproduction, and either destroy their hosts through lysis or are maintained within the host through [...]