Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
Supergenes on Steroids
Published: 2021-09-09
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics and Genomics, Genomics, Life Sciences
At the birth of supergenes, the genomic landscape is dramatically re-organized leading to pronounced differences in phenotypes and increased intrasexual diversity. Two of the best- studied supergenes in vertebrates are arguably the inversion polymorphisms on chromosomes 2 and 11 in the white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) and the ruff (Calidris pugnax), respectively. In both species, [...]
Contribution of anther color to interaction between plants and flower-visiting arthropods – usefulness of bioresource stocks
Published: 2021-09-07
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
It is very difficult to provide strong evidence of how flower characteristic that may serve to attract pollinators, improve plant fitness. We propose to use the natural variation that we have observed within our wild tomato (Solanum pimpinellifolium) plant stocks to investigate the effect of anther color on attracting flower-visiting arthropods which act as pollinators. By looking at [...]
Make natures role visible to achieve the SDGs
Published: 2021-09-07
Subjects: Agriculture, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Economics, Environmental Studies, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Central to the premise of the Sustainable Development Goals is the concept that the environment underpins the economic and social dimensions of development, yet the language and structure of the SDG framework are largely blind to these environment-development relationships beyond the "nature" Goals (14 and 15). As a result, ecosystem health continues to decline, development milestones lag, and [...]
A method for low-cost, low-impact insect tracking using retroreflective tags
Published: 2021-09-06
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Current methods for direct tracking of individual bee movement behaviour have several limitations. In particular, the weight and size of some types of electronic tag may limit their use to larger species. Radars and other electronic systems are also often large and very expensive to deploy. A tool is needed that complements these electronic-tag methods. In particular one that is simple to use, [...]
Hybridization may promote variation in cognitive phenotypes in experimental guppy hybrids
Published: 2021-09-04
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Hybridization is an important mechanism of evolution. While hybrids often express inferior traits and are selected against, hybridization can promote phenotypic variation and produce trait combinations distinct from the parentals, generating novel adaptive potential. Among other traits, hybridization can impact behaviour and cognition and may reinforce species boundaries when hybrids show [...]
Metapopulation-level associations in mutualistic stream fishes
Published: 2021-09-03
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Population Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Positive biotic interactions are recognized as important factors determining species distributions. Although effects of positive interactions have often been observed at local scales, much less is known about consequences at larger spatial scales such as metapopulation dynamics. Here, we study nest associations of stream fishes - widespread reproductive mutualism between host (nest-builder) and [...]
Harmonizing taxon names in biodiversity data: a review of tools, databases, and best practices
Published: 2021-09-03
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
1. The process of standardizing taxon names, taxonomic name harmonization, is necessary to properly merge data indexed by taxon names. The large variety of taxonomic databases and related tools are often not well described. It is often unclear which databases are actively maintained or what is the original source of taxonomic information. In addition, software to access these databases is [...]
How to approach the study of syndromes in macroevolution and ecology
Published: 2021-09-01
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Syndromes, wherein multiple traits evolve convergently in response to a shared selective driver, form a central concept in ecology and evolution. Recent work has questioned the utility and indeed the existence of some of the classic syndromes, such as pollination and seed dispersal syndromes. Here, we discuss some of the major issues that have plagued research into syndromes in macroevolution. [...]
Standardized NEON organismal data for biodiversity research
Published: 2021-09-01
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Understanding patterns and drivers of species distributions and abundances, and thus biodiversity, is a core goal of ecology. Despite advances in recent decades, research into these patterns and processes is currently limited by a lack of standardized, high-quality, empirical data that spans large spatial scales and long time periods. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) fills this [...]
Breeding in the pandemic: short-term lockdown restrictions do not alter reproductive decisions and avian life-history traits in a European capital city
Published: 2021-09-01
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Humans are transforming natural habitats into managed urban green areas and impervious surfaces with unprecedented pace. Yet the effects of human presence per se on animal life-history traits are rarely tested. This is particularly true in cities, where human presence is often indissociable from urbanisation itself. The onset of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, along with the resulting lockdown [...]
The arrival and spread of the European firebug Pyrrhocoris apterus in Australia as documented by citizen scientists
Published: 2021-09-01
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Life Sciences
We present evidence of the recent introduction and quick spread of the European firebug Pyrrhocoris apterus in Australia, as documented on the citizen science platform iNaturalist. The first public record of the species was reported in December 2018 in the City of Brimbank (Melbourne, Victoria). Since then, the species distribution has quickly expanded into 15 local government areas surrounding [...]
Decomposing phenotypic skew and its effects on the predicted response to strong selection
Published: 2021-08-31
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
The major frameworks for predicting evolutionary change assume that a phenotypes underlying genetic and environmental components are normally distributed. However, the predictions of these frameworks may no longer hold if distributions are skewed. Despite this, phenotypic skew has never been decomposed, meaning the fundamental assumptions of quantitative genetics remain untested. Here, we [...]
What state of the world are we in? Targeted monitoring to detect transitions in vegetation restoration projects.
Published: 2021-08-30
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences
Monitoring vegetation restoration is challenging because ‘best practice’ monitoring is costly, requires long-term funding, and involves monitoring multiple vegetation variables which are often not linked back to learning about progress toward objectives. There is a clear need for the development of targeted monitoring programs that focus on a reduced set of variables that are tied to specific [...]
The effect of brief or prolonged bouts of winning or losing male-male contests on plasticity in sexually selected traits
Published: 2021-08-28
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Fight outcomes often affect male fitness by determining their access to mates. Thus ‘winner-loser’ effects, where winners often win their next contest, while losers tend to lose, can influence how males allocate resources towards pre- and post-copulatory traits. We experimentally manipulated the winning/losing experiences of pairs of size-matched male Gambusia holbrooki for either a day, a week [...]
Fuel connectivity, burn severity, and seedbank survivorship drive ecosystem transformation in a semi-arid shrubland.
Published: 2021-08-27
Subjects: Desert Ecology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
A key challenge in ecology is understanding how multiple drivers interact to precipitate persistent vegetation state changes. These state changes may be both precipitated and maintained by disturbances, but predicting whether the state change is fleeting or persistent requires an understanding of the mechanisms by which disturbance affects the alternative communities. In the sagebrush shrublands [...]