Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Efficient Bayesian implementations of capture-recapture models with Stan
Published: 2026-04-02
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Biostatistics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Population Biology, Statistical Methodology, Statistical Models, Statistics and Probability, Survival Analysis
Capture-recapture (CR) methods are a mainstay of ecological statistics for estimating demographic parameters and population sizes in animal populations. The advent of Bayesian methods made complex hierarchical formulations accessible to practitioners, largely relying on conditional likelihood formulations with latent discrete parameters. However, modern gradient-based MCMC methods that are the [...]
An evolving view of phylogenetic biogeography
Published: 2026-04-01
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Biogeography is intrinsically linked to evolution as a process and to systematics as a practice. Phylogenetic biogeography, in particular, studies the distribution of life in space over time through the lens of common ancestry. Over the past century, new biological and geological discoveries, theoretical frameworks, and methodological techniques revolutionized how we understand why species have [...]
Incorporating population genomic perspectives into kelp conservation and aquaculture in the Pacific Northwest
Published: 2026-04-01
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Genetics and Genomics, Genomics, Life Sciences, Marine Biology
Recent kelp forest declines and growth in the kelp aquaculture industry have fueled increasing interest in ecological and evolutionary research on kelp forests, including kelp population genomics. While many kelp management activities have inherent genetic and evolutionary implications, kelp management in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) of North America has to date made only limited use of [...]
On the role of biogeography in the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis
Published: 2026-04-01
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
In the first half of the 20th century, the Modern Synthesis (MS) integrated Mendelian genetics, paleontology, systematics, natural history, common descent, and natural selection. Although the MS has been the guiding paradigm of evolutionary studies since 1950, by the beginning of the 21st century, a new synthesis incorporated themes such as evo-devo, phenotypic plasticity, and epigenetic [...]
Mitigating the Pollinator-Prey Conflict in Drosera capillaris: A Study on Physiological Plasticity and Phylogenetic Conservatism within Drosera
Published: 2026-04-01
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Premise: Carnivorous plants face a dilemma: acquiring nutrients from insect prey while simultaneously relying on insect pollinators for reproduction. Thus, carnivorous plants have evolved mechanisms to avoid/reduce pollinator-prey conflict. This study aims to understand how carnivorous plants deal with this conflict through: macroevolutionary adaptations (floral stalk length) or short-term [...]
Range-wide pangenomics reveals vulnerability and adaptation in a sedentary bird
Published: 2026-03-31
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics and Genomics
Structural genetic variants are known to underlie evolutionary adaptations, but have never been evaluated across the entire geographic range of a species. We constructed the first range-wide pangenome to evaluate how such variants may influence conservation efforts of the Montezuma quail (Cyrtonyx montezumae). Profiles of local adaptation, population structure, and genomic diversity all support a [...]
Climate warming reduces seed mass in European beech through altered resource dynamics and drought
Published: 2026-03-31
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Seed mass is a key life-history trait that influences dispersal, seedling establishment, and plant fitness, yet its long-term response to climate change remains poorly understood. We used two long-term datasets of European beech (\textit{Fagus sylvatica}) from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands (1976-2024) to test whether seed mass has changed over time and whether any decline can be [...]
Open Code in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology: An Evidence-Based Appraisal by SORTEE
Published: 2026-03-30
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
1. Open Code is the practice of publicly archiving analysis or software code in a manner that follows FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) guiding principles. This allows for increased transparency of data processing and analysis, and facilitates computational reproducibility of research results. 2. The empirical evidence for the general benefits of Open Code mostly focuses on [...]
Pre-registration and Registered Reports in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology: An Evidence-Based Appraisal by SORTEE
Published: 2026-03-30
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
1. A pre-registration is a time-stamped, read-only research plan that is written prior to data collection and analysis. This practice aims to increase transparency and reduce questionable research practices (QRPs) such as p-hacking and HARKing. Registered Reports are an article format with two stage peer review, that integrates Pre-registration and peer review and aims to additionally reduce [...]
Northern Sierra Historical Range of Variability and Current Landscape Departure
Published: 2026-03-30
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Biology, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
This report describes modeling historical range of variability (HRV) and current departure for landscapes within the Northern Sierra ecoregion in California and Nevada. We discuss the need for this study with respect to the historical and contemporary context of the ecoregion, including background on the natural range of variability concept and the use of simulation modeling to quantify it. For [...]
Population differentiation in functional traits shapes plant–consumer interactions along an elevational gradient
Published: 2026-03-26
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
1. Understanding how intraspecific variation in functional traits shape species interactions is central to predicting ecological responses to environmental change. The relative contribution of genetic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity to trait variation and their consequences for species interactions remain poorly understood. 2. Here, we conducted a reciprocal transplant experiment using [...]
Integration of ecological knowledge in European landscape architecture: a systematic project-description review
Published: 2026-03-26
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Urban Studies and Planning
Landscape architecture has a strong environmental focus and clearly states the ambition to integrate ecological knowledge in its practice and theory. This study aims to assess the state of the art in integrating ecology in landscape architecture project design, identifying well-integrated ecological knowledge areas and potential knowledge gaps, to support future development of this integration. [...]
How environmental conditions affect the acquisition, establishment, and persistence of microbial endosymbiosis in insects
Published: 2026-03-26
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Microbiology
Long-term interactions between insect hosts and their internal microbial symbionts are ubiquitous. As these interactions support many aspects of the insect host biology, restrictions to their establishment and maintenance could have important consequences to the survival of insects and functioning of ecosystems. The current literature provides extensive evidence that rapidly changing [...]
Species, geography, and weather conditions predict offshore migration in songbirds
Published: 2026-03-25
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
The increasing development of offshore wind farms raises concerns about potential effects on migratory songbirds. Current wind farm monitoring techniques, such as radar, infrared cameras and motion detectors, capture this risk in general, but cannot reliably identify individuals to species level and thus fail to detect species-specific exposure to these structures. Due to their spatial focus on [...]
Scale dependence of avian functional rarity reveals mismatches between global and local conservation priorities
Published: 2026-03-25
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Aim. Spatial scale shapes both how rarity is defined and how conservation priorities are derived from it, yet most functional rarity assessments rely on a single (often global) reference pool. We test how the scale dependence of functional rarity affects hotspot identification and the alignment of global versus local conservation priorities in birds. Location. Global. Time period. Contemporary. [...]