Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
Integrating intraspecific trait variability in functional diversity: an overview of methods and a guide for ecologists
Published: 2024-01-09
Subjects: Life Sciences
The variability in traits within species (intraspecific trait variability; ITV) has attracted an increased interest in functional ecology, as it can profoundly influence the detection of functional trait patterns, calculation of functional diversity (FD), and assessments of ecosystem functioning. This renewed focus stems from the recognition that species are not homogeneous entities but rather [...]
Systematic mapping of experimental approaches to studying common mycorrhizal networks
Published: 2024-01-09
Subjects: Life Sciences
Mycorrhizal fungi can interlink and connect plants in a common mycorrhizal network (CMN). Studying CMNs is challenging due to pathways of material transfer but also plant and mycorrhizal effects that have to be tested and controlled in order to be able to evaluate the presence and magnitude of a specific CMN effect. These controls let to a clear but strict definition of CMN which requires [...]
Switching to bioplastics may exacerbate ingestion of lost and discarded fishing gear by marine invertebrates
Published: 2024-01-09
Subjects: Animal Experimentation and Research, Biology, Environmental Health Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Natural Resources and Conservation, Sustainability
Bioplastics are argued to be more environmentally sustainable than conventional plastics. Yet, little is known about how bioplastics degrade in marine environments or their likelihood of being ingested by animals. We measured changes in the weight of biodegradable, semi-biodegradable, and non-biodegradable fishing gears (soft plastic lures, SPLs) in or out of seawater over 14 days. We then [...]
An integrated open population distance sampling approach for modelling age-structured populations
Published: 2024-01-09
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Population Biology
Estimation of abundance and demographic rates for populations of wild species is a challenging but fundamental issue for both management and research into ecology and evolution. One set of approaches that has been used extensively to estimate abundance of wildlife populations is Distance Sampling (DS) methods for line or point transect survey data. Historically, DS models were only available as [...]
The rarity of Invertebrates prevents reliable application of IUCN Red-List criteria.
Published: 2024-01-04
Subjects: Life Sciences
Among the most widely used information underpinning international conservation efforts is the IUCN Red List of endangered species. The Red List designates species extinction risk based on geographic range, population size, or declines in either. However, the Red-List has poor representation of invertebrates which comprise the majority of animal diversity, and it has frequently been questioned [...]
Solving the “small outbreak problem” in climate epidemiology
Published: 2024-01-04
Subjects: Climate, Diseases, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Environmental Public Health, Epidemiology, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Parasitic Diseases, Public Health, Virus Diseases
Climate change can cause outbreaks of infectious diseases in unfamiliar locations — but how do we know which unusual outbreaks are the result of climate change? Scientists often hesitate to guess, leaving the task to journalists or the public. All of these audiences would benefit from a clear and consistent framework for thinking about causality, especially in situations where outbreaks are too [...]
Experimental rapid and small-scale ecological population divergence in the absence of current natural selection
Published: 2024-01-02
Subjects: Life Sciences
Adaptive divergence has long been a core topic in the field of evolutionary biology, with natural selection traditionally considered its only driver. Here we focus on the ability of matching habitat choice to generate population divergence and reproductive isolation. This alternative mechanism of divergence considers that individuals choose their habitats based on an evaluation of the ecological [...]
Performance-dependent movement: An alternative driver of adaptive divergence
Published: 2024-01-02
Subjects: Life Sciences
It is a tenet of evolutionary biology that local adaptation is driven by natural selection, while it is hindered by gene flow. This is because random movements between populations disrupt the match between phenotype and the local environment. However, if individuals moved to the environments where they have higher ecological performance, movements between populations could facilitate local [...]
The Role of Pollination Services in Seed Production: A review
Published: 2023-12-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
In the face of declining insect biodiversity, this study reviews the critical role of pollination services in seed production of food crops. Insects, as pollinators, play a fundamental role in the reproductive processes of both wild and domesticated plants, impacting global agriculture. While previous reviews have assessed the influence of pollinators on primary food production, this review [...]
Integrating multiple datasets to align biological and statistical populations for abundance estimation
Published: 2023-12-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
Ideally, a statistical population is the same as, or accurately represents its corresponding biological population. However, in practice, they rarely align in space and time, which can lead to variable exposure to sampling and biased inference. We often view a population mismatch as a temporary emigration process and resolve it with replicate and/or repeat sampling, though this approach is not [...]
Biogeographical diet variation within and between the rabbitfishes Siganus corallinus, Siganus virgatus, Siganus doliatus and Siganus trispilos
Published: 2023-12-27
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Feeding habits of herbivorous fish play an important role in the form and function of coastal marine ecosystems. Rabbitfishes (Siganidae) have been recognized as important consumers of macroalgae in the coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific region. However, it is unclear how their diet varies among and within species at biogeographical scales. The present study assessed the inter- and intra-specific [...]
Untangling the complex food webs of tropical rainforest streams
Published: 2023-12-23
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
1- Food webs depict the tangled web of trophic interactions associated with the functioning of an ecosystem. Understanding the mechanisms providing stability to these food webs is therefore vital for conservation efforts and management of natural systems.2- Here, we first characterised a tropical stream meta food web and five individual food webs using a Bayesian Hierarchical approach unifying [...]
Bird life history traits influence the diversity of their associated microbiomes
Published: 2023-12-23
Subjects: Life Sciences
Background: The avian microbiome plays an essential role in host development, health, and behavior, but while microbiomes of captive birds have been extensively studied, little is known about how life history traits influence the resident microbial diversity of individuals and of species in wild birds. Host traits may shape their associated microbiomes by modulating the exposure of the host to [...]
European native oyster reef ecosystems are universally Collapsed
Published: 2023-12-23
Subjects: Life Sciences
Oyster reefs are often referred to as the temperate functional equivalent of coral reefs. Yet evidence for this analogy is lacking for the European native species Ostrea edulis and its biogenic habitat. Recently assembled historical data provide a unique opportunity to develop a robust definition for this ecosystem type, confirm that O. edulis are biogenic reef builders, and assess its current [...]
Inferring the seasonal dynamics and abundance of an invasive species using a spatio-temporal stacked machine learning model
Published: 2023-12-22
Subjects: Biology, Entomology, Life Sciences, Population Biology, Public Health, Virus Diseases
Various modelling techniques are available to understand the temporal and spatial variations of the phenology of species. Scientists often rely on correlative models, which establish a statistical relationship between a response variable (such as species abundance or presence-absence) and a set of predominantly abiotic covariates. The modelling approach choice, i.e. the algorithm, is a crucial [...]