Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
Using multiple datasets to account for misalignment between statistical and biological populations for abundance estimation
Published: 2023-12-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
A fundamental aspect of ecology is identifying and characterizing population processes. Because a census is rare, we almost always use sampling to make inference about the biological population, and the part of the population at risk of sampling is referred to as the statistical population. Ideally, the statistical population is the same as, or accurately represents its corresponding biological [...]
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 [...]
VectAbundance: a spatio-temporal database of vector observations
Published: 2023-12-22
Subjects: Entomology, Environmental Public Health, Epidemiology, Life Sciences, Zoology
Modelling approaches play a crucial role in supporting local public health agencies by estimating and forecasting vector abundance and seasonality. However, the reliability of these models is contingent on the availability of standardized, high-quality data. Addressing this need, our study focuses on collecting and harmonizing egg count observations of Aedes albopictus, obtained through ovitraps [...]
Ecosystem functions and services provided by dung beetles: a global meta-analysis
Published: 2023-12-19
Subjects: Agriculture, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Life Sciences
Dung beetles are known to carry out a range of ecosystem functions such as secondary seed dispersal, bioturbation, nutrient cycling, plant growth, pest and parasite control, and trophic regulation, many of which support key ecosystem services. Despite the globally purported significance of this group of insects for ecosystem functioning, there has been no quantitative synthesis to establish the [...]
The trade-offs of honest and dishonest signals
Published: 2023-12-19
Subjects: Life Sciences
Explaining the evolution of honest versus dishonest signals under conflicts of interest has long posed a major challenge, but several recent developments should spur renewed interest in this problem. First, the Handicap Principle, which maintains that signals must be costly to be honest, has been refuted and the model that claimed to validate this idea has been shown to have been misinterpreted. [...]
Evolutionary Immunology to Explore Original Antiviral Strategies
Published: 2023-12-18
Subjects: Life Sciences
Over the past 25 years, the field of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) has used genomics and genetics to gain insight on the developmental mechanisms underlying the evolution of morphological diversity of animals. Evo-devo exploits the key insight that conserved toolkits of development (e.g., Hox genes) are used in animals to produce genetic novelties that provide adaptation to a new [...]
The genetic basis for social network traits in the wild.
Published: 2023-12-14
Subjects: Life Sciences
Sociality is fundamental for many species, linked to an individual’s survival and reproductive success. The evolution of social behaviours has been studied, especially in complex social animals such as birds. However, discerning the genetic basis of these behaviours has been difficult due to the lack of ecological validity and life-history in controlled environments. In wild populations, however, [...]
Shrinking body size may not provide meaningful thermoregulatory benefits in a warmer world
Published: 2023-12-13
Subjects: Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Ornithology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Physiology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
In a recent and impressive analysis of avian morphological data (covering >250 000 male birds from 105 species), Youngflesh et al.1 report that birds breeding in North America have become significantly lighter over the last three decades, coincident with rising breeding season temperatures. Because these observations recapitulate predictions under Bergmann’s Rule (i.e., that the body size of [...]
Complementando inventarios biológicos con datos abiertos a través de un método semiautomatizado
Published: 2023-12-13
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Introducción: Los muestreos directos constituyen la mejor manera de documentar la riqueza biológica de un lugar, pero pueden verse limitados por diversas circunstancias. Nos preguntamos si la riqueza de especies documentada en campo puede ser complementada con datos de plataformas digitales de biodiversidad. Objetivo: Analizar si los datos de ocurrencia de especies disponibles en la Global [...]
Effects of dissolved organic matter and ecocorona formation on the toxicity of micro- and nanoplastic particles to Daphnia - A meta-analysis
Published: 2023-12-13
Subjects: Life Sciences
Significant quantities of micro- and nanoplastic particles (MNP) end up in the environment, either due to larger plastic debris breaking down or by entering directly as MNPs. Effects of MNPs on organisms have been increasingly reported in recent years, with a large number of studies conducted on water fleas of the genus Daphnia. Most of the available studies used pristine particles that have [...]
Population density affects whole brain and brain region volumes in a wrasse species Coris batuensis
Published: 2023-12-13
Subjects: Life Sciences
The factors shaping brain evolution and cognition are broadly categorized as being either social or environmental. However, the relative importance of these factors is heavily debated, partly due to the limitations from the standard interspecific evolutionary comparative approach. Here, we adopt a complementary strategy leveraging the high degree of brain plasticity that evolved in fishes to ask [...]