Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Evaluating the potential of molecular dietary analysis of predators for the detection of emerging plant pests
Published: 2026-06-01
Subjects: Agriculture, Behavior and Ethology, Biodiversity, Biosecurity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Forest Biology, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Genetics, Laboratory and Basic Science Research Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Monitoring plant pests is crucial for maximising yields across agricultural and forest production systems, but also for the mitigation of invasive species spread. Traditional monitoring methods, such as mass trapping and direct observation, scale poorly and introduce latency between collection, detection and response. Since many plant pests are frequently consumed by predators, molecular dietary [...]
Deterministic by design: causal inference challenges for ‘biodiversity change’ syntheses
Published: 2026-06-01
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Understanding biodiversity change over space and time is a central goal of ecology. A common approach to asking why biodiversity is changing over time, is to collate biodiversity time series from multiple sites and undertake a two-step analysis: First, site-level estimates of ‘biodiversity change’ are calculated. Second, those change estimates are regressed on putative environmental drivers, such [...]
A simple demographic explanation for the evolution of the dietary restriction response and its ecological relevance
Published: 2026-06-01
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Considerable life history plasticity is observed in response to variation in food availability and composition. This is perhaps best known in the context of dietary restriction, which consistently induces lower reproduction and higher survival across taxa, with nutritional geometry studies further demonstrating the importance of food composition as well as amount. Although there is a huge amount [...]
Do the benefits of hybridization outweigh the costs under conditions of global change?
Published: 2026-06-01
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Global change is predicted to facilitate hybridization but whether the hybrid populations persist and shape biodiversity remains unknown. At the grey zone, before speciation is completed, hybridization is likely leading to simultaneous costs and benefits for hybrid fitness. Whether the benefits outweigh the costs depends on the environment, as hybrid fitness, and potential incompatibilities, can [...]
Sex-reversed males are morphologically similar but have lower testosterone levels compared to sex-concordant males in the agile frog
Published: 2026-05-30
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Environment-induced sex reversal – the mismatch between genetic and phenotypic sex caused by external conditions during early development – is increasingly documented in ectothermic vertebrates, yet its fitness-related consequences in natural populations remain poorly tested. To address this gap, we compared sex-reversed XX males and sex-concordant XY phenotypic males in agile frogs (Rana [...]
Developmental Plasticity in Response to Temperature Aligns with Allen’s but not Bergmann’s Rule
Published: 2026-05-30
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Increases in average global temperatures have caused researchers to revisit how species and populations are expected to respond to changing temperatures. Allen’s rule and Bergmann’s rule describe two ecogeographic patterns where species in high (cold) latitudes have shorter limbs and larger bodies, respectively, than species at low (warm) latitudes. This pattern is purported to be due to the [...]
Sexual dichromatism in agile frogs: sex-reversed males closely resemble typical male coloration
Published: 2026-05-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
In species with sexual dichromatism, colouration can play an important role in intraspecific communication and affect breeding success. Communication by visual signals during the breeding season has been increasingly recognized to occur in anuran amphibians. However, most studies of sexual dichromatism have focused on consistent differences between males and females, and species with varying [...]
From Individuals to Networks: The Role of Variation in Plant-Pollinator Communities' Responses to Global Change
Published: 2026-05-28
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Integrative Biology, Life Sciences
1. Plant–pollinator communities are critical for biodiversity, ecosystem function, and human well-being. Yet our ability to predict divergent species responses to environmental change, the risk of abrupt collapse, or the potential for recovery in plant-pollinator systems remains limited. 2. Here, we argue that individual variation within species may play a critical but underappreciated role in [...]
“Ecological and Conservation Governance Condition Analysis Using Ecological Diversity Indices: A Study of Bhawal National Park”
Published: 2026-05-25
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Education, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Forest Biology, Forest Management, Other Forestry and Forest Sciences
Abstract: Once a historical biodiversity hotspot, the Bhawal National Park (BNP) in Bangladesh faces severe threats to its ecological integrity, despite its protected status. Located approximately 40 km north of Dhaka, the park’s original coppice Sal forest (Shorea robusta) ecosystem is now fragmented and degraded due to illegal deforestation and encroachment, leading to a drastic decline in [...]
Biorestorer: A Framework for Synthetic Succession with a Qualitative System Level Illustration
Published: 2026-05-22
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Ecosystem restoration in severely degraded or soil-absent environments requires approaches that operate independently of natural soils and make effective use of locally available resources. The Biorestorer platform introduces synthetic succession as a systems-based eco-engineering framework structured in sequential functional phases and aligned with in situ resource utilization (ISRU) principles, [...]
When dangerous predators are ignored: antipredator responses in temporary-pond amphibians
Published: 2026-05-22
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Antipredator behaviour is recognised as a key factor of reintroduction success, yet it remains poorly considered in conservation practice. Despite their conservation relevance, little is known about antipredator behaviour in Pelobatidae tadpoles, among which the endangered Italian lineage of common spadefoot toad Pelobates fuscus has been the target of several captive breeding and reintroduction [...]
Collembola eco-morphological indices (EMI) and Soil Biological Quality Index (QBS-c): a review and practical guidelines for soil health assessment
Published: 2026-05-20
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Soil health assessments remain dominated by physicochemical indicators, largely due to limited functional understanding and a lack of practical tools for quantifying soil biodiversity in applied contexts. However, many soil functions are fundamentally driven by biotic components, highlighting the need for robust biological indicators. The Soil Biological Quality indices, QBS-ar and QBS-c (Parisi, [...]
Fishers’ local knowledge strengthens seagrass restoration planning
Published: 2026-05-20
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Marine Biology, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Seagrass restoration is increasingly guided by habitat suitability models, yet restoration outcomes depend on more than biophysical suitability alone. In coastal social-ecological systems, fishers and anglers hold fine-scale, time-integrated knowledge of habitat condition, human use, and local constraints that are rarely incorporated at the outset of restoration planning. Here, we tested whether [...]
Colossal Disinformation
Published: 2026-05-20
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
I have a position: de-extinction is almost impossible, however, deëxtinction, a word invented by the world’s first “de-extinction” company Colossal Laboratories & Bioscience’s can be (Max 2025); hereafter Colossal, which they define as the creation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that appear and act like extinct species, is possible. It’s branding, not science. I and other critics of [...]
A Protocol for Standardizing Measurements and Enabling Global Harmonization of Herbarium Leaf Reflectance Spectra
Published: 2026-05-20
Subjects: Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology, Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Botany, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Reflectance spectroscopy offers a powerful approach to integrate high-throughput phenotypic data from herbarium specimens into the digital landscapes of ecology, evolution, and systematics. Because inconsistencies in instrumentation and measurement practices can increase noise and limit dataset compatibility, the International Herbarium Spectral Digitization Working Group (IHerbSpec) has [...]