Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Life Sciences
Studying the genetic basis of ecological interactions with intergenomic epistasis
Published: 2024-03-04
Subjects: Life Sciences
In a community, the phenotype or fitness of a focal genotype of one species can depend on the genotypes of other species. Such between-species genetic interactions are increasingly referred to as intergenomic epistasis, analogous to the classical definition of (intragenomic) epistasis in genetics. Here, we propose the first mathematical definition of intergenomic epistasis, which formalises the [...]
Running a queer- and trans-inclusive faculty hiring process
Published: 2024-03-02
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Microbiology
Queer and transgender scientists face documented systemic challenges across the sciences, and as a result have a higher attrition rate than their peers. Recent calls for change within science have emphasized the importance of addressing barriers to the success and retention of queer and trans scientists to create a more inclusive, equitable, and just scientific establishment. Crucially, we note [...]
Pursuit and escape drive fine-scale movement variation during migration in a temperate alpine ungulate
Published: 2024-03-02
Subjects: Life Sciences
Climate change reduces snowpack, advances snowmelt phenology, drives summer warming, alters growing season precipitation regimes, and consequently modifies vegetation phenology in mountain systems. Altitudinal migrants cope with seasonal variation in such conditions by moving between seasonal ranges at different elevations, but vertical movements may be complex and are often not unidirectional [...]
Are microbes colimited by multiple resources?
Published: 2024-03-02
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Systems Biology
Resource colimitation --- the dependence of growth on multiple resources simultaneously --- has become an important topic in microbiology due both to the development of systems approaches to cell physiology and ecology, and to the relevance of colimitation to environmental science, biotechnology, and human health. Empirical tests of colimitation in microbes suggest that it may be common in [...]
Agency in the Evolutionary Transition to Multicellularity
Published: 2024-03-02
Subjects: Life Sciences
This review explores the concept of agency. Behavior intrinsic to an organism and initiated by it may be taken as evidence of agency, though, as we will discuss, the word has wider ramifications. An organism’s agential behavior has aspects that are both characteristic of its species and idiosyncratic. We ask how agential features exhibited by cells might change concomitantly with the evolutionary [...]
Behavioural plasticity shapes population ageing patterns
Published: 2024-02-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Studying the mechanisms shaping age-related changes in behaviour (“behavioural ageing”) is important for understanding population dynamics in our changing world. Yet, studies that capture within-individual behavioural changes in wild populations of long-lived animals are still scarce. Here, we used a 15-year GPS-tracking dataset of a social obligate scavenger, the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), [...]
Evaluating Compatibility between the Key Biodiversity Area Proposal Process and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Environmental Priorities with evidence from Canada and Mi'kma'ki (Nova Scotia)
Published: 2024-02-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration, Social and Behavioral Sciences
This report will demonstrate that no meaningful (non-random) compatibility exists between the Key Biodiversity Area proposal process – as it now exists and is being implemented globally and in Canada – and the biocultural priorities of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP&LC’s)*. It is precisely because it is a global standard that no claim that KBA proposal meaningfully (non-randomly) [...]
Harnessing Large Language Models for Coding, Teaching, and Inclusion to Empower Research in Ecology and Evolution
Published: 2024-02-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
Large language models (LLMs) are a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that can perform various natural language processing tasks. The adoption of LLMs has become increasingly prominent in scientific writing and analyses because of the availability of free applications such as ChatGPT. This increased use of LLMs raises concerns about academic integrity, but also presents opportunities for the [...]
Biologging for the future: how biologgers can help solve fundamental questions, from individuals to ecosystems
Published: 2024-02-25
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Archival instruments attached to animals (biologgers) have enabled exciting discoveries and have promoted effective conservation and management for decades. Recent research indicates that the field of biologging is poised to shift from pattern description to process explanation. Here we describe how biologgers have been - and can be - used to test hypotheses and challenge theory in behavior and [...]
Satellite derived trait data slightly improves tropical forest biomass, NPP and GPP predictions
Published: 2024-02-25
Subjects: Biology, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences
Improving tropical forest current biomass estimates can help more accurately evaluate ecosystem services in tropical forests. The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) lidar provides detailed 3D forest structure and height data, which can be used to improve above-ground biomass estimates. However, there is still debate on how best to predict tropical forest biomass using GEDI data. Here [...]
The response of trophic interaction networks to multiple stressors along a large-scale latitudinal range in the Southern Hemisphere
Published: 2024-02-24
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Marine Biology
Ecological networks offer valuable insights into community structure, key species identification, and ecosystem management. Understanding how these networks respond to global change stressors is of increasing interest, especially along geographical gradients. This review summarizes potential stressor responses in marine food webs from the Southwest Atlantic to the Antarctic (45 - 78°S), [...]
Mind the lag: understanding delayed genetic erosion
Published: 2024-02-23
Subjects: Life Sciences
The delay between environmental changes and the corresponding genetic responses within populations is a common but surprisingly overlooked phenomenon in ecology, evolutionary and conservation genetics. This time lag problem can lead to erroneous conservation assessments when solely relying on genetic data. We identify population size, life-history traits, reproductive strategies and the severity [...]
Sex-specific discrimination of familiar and unfamiliar mates in the Tokay gecko
Published: 2024-02-23
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Social animals need to keep track of other individuals in their group to be able to adjust their behaviour accordingly and facilitate group cohesion. This recognition ability varies across species and is influenced by cognitive capacities such as learning and memory. In reptiles, particularly Squamates (lizards, snakes, and worm lizards), pheromonal communication is pivotal for territoriality, [...]
Layers of latency in social networks and their implications for comparative analyses
Published: 2024-02-22
Subjects: Life Sciences
Animal social systems are remarkably diverse. Linking this diversity to its ecological and evolutionary drivers and consequences has been a major focus of biological research. Initial efforts have been done within groups, populations, and species. Equipped with this information, researchers are now turning to investigations of social structure that are comparative in nature. However, comparing [...]
Survival of the luckiest
Published: 2024-02-22
Subjects: Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Opposite dynamics are behind natural selection and sexual selection. When considering natural and sexual selection separately, the fittest individuals survive. However, when these processes interact, luck often determines the survivor. As a result, chance has a greater impact on evolution. Published. Cite as: Da Silva, Sergio. Survival of the Luckiest, International Review of Economics 71 [...]