Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Randomization analyses in niche and distribution modeling
Published: 2022-09-01
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
In the field of niche modeling, data are often subject to multiple interacting sources of uncertainty, bias, and autocorrelation that make them difficult to analyze using traditional statistical approaches. Randomization is often used in statistical tests in order to estimate distributions that are difficult to specify analytically. Decades of development in the niche modeling literature have [...]
Decoupled responses of biodiversity facets driven from anuran vulnerability to climate and land use changes
Published: 2022-08-30
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Anthropogenic climate and land use changes are the main drivers of biodiversity loss, promoting a major reorganization of the biota in all ecosystems. Biodiversity loss implies not only in the loss of species, but also entails losses in other dimensions of biodiversity, such as functional diversity, phylogenetic diversity and the diversity of ecological interactions.Yet, each of those facets of [...]
Sampling strategy matters to accurately estimate response curves’ parameters in species distribution models
Published: 2022-08-27
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Life Sciences, Plant Sciences
Aim: Assessing how different sampling strategies affect the accuracy and precision of species response curves estimated by parametric Species Distribution Models. Major taxa studied: Virtual plant species. Location: Abruzzo (Italy). Time period: Timeless (simulated data). Methods: We simulated the occurrence of two virtual species with different ecology (generalist vs specialist) and [...]
Bird Eye Color: A Rainbow of Variation, a Spectrum of Explanations
Published: 2022-08-24
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Birds display a rainbow of eye colors, but this trait has received relatively little study compared to plumage coloration. Avian eye color variation occurs at all phylogenetic scales: it can be conserved throughout whole families or vary within a single species, yet the evolutionary importance of eye color variation within species and across the avian phylogeny is also understudied. Here, we [...]
The promise of an evolutionary perspective of alcohol consumption
Published: 2022-08-23
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Neuroscience and Neurobiology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Life Sciences, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health
The urgent need for medical treatments of alcohol use disorders has motivated the search for novel molecular targets of alcohol response. Most studies exploit the strengths of lab animals without considering how these and other species may have adapted to respond to alcohol in an ecological context. Here, we provide an evolutionary perspective on the molecular and genetic underpinnings of alcohol [...]
A test of species’ mobility hypothesis in ecological niche modeling
Published: 2022-08-23
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Abstract Aim: Ecological niche model (ENM) or species distribution model is a modeling technique broadly used in ecology and biogeography and is increasingly used in decision-making regarding land use and biodiversity conservation. The methodology behind ENM applications is critical for model accuracy. One critical question that every ENM study faces is how to define a model training area. [...]
Dog days are over: climate change is predicted to cause population collapse in a cooperative breeder
Published: 2022-08-17
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Population Biology
It has been suggested that animals may have evolved co-operative breeding strategies in response to extreme climatic conditions. Climate change, however, may push species beyond their ability to cope with extreme climates, and reduce the group sizes in co-operatively breeding species to a point where populations are no longer viable. Predicting the impact of future climates on these species is [...]
The Darwinian Core of Evolutionary Theory and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis: Similarities and Differences
Published: 2022-08-14
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
In this paper, we evaluate debates surrounding calls for an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis in light of the Darwinian core of evolutionary theory, which was somewhat broader than the Modern Synthesis. We suggest that Darwin’s nuanced operationalization of natural selection rested upon two innovations: the atomization of individuals into trait-variants, and a reconceptualization of heredity in [...]
Bayesian reinforcement learning models reveal how great-tailed grackles improve their behavioral flexibility in serial reversal learning experiments
Published: 2022-08-10
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Environments can change suddenly and unpredictably, so animals might benefit from being able to flexibly adapt their behavior through learning new associations. Reversal learning experiments, where individuals initially learn that a reward is associated with a specific cue before the reward is switched to a different cue, thus forcing individuals to reverse their learned associations, have long [...]
Repeatability of performance within and across contexts measuring behavioral flexibility
Published: 2022-08-10
Subjects: Animal Experimentation and Research, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Research into animal cognitive abilities is increasing quickly and often uses methods where behavioral performance on a task is assumed to represent variation in the underlying cognitive trait. However, because these methods rely on behavioral responses as a proxy for cognitive ability, it is important to validate that the task structure does, in fact, target the cognitive trait of interest [...]
The IUCN Red List is not sufficient to protect genetic diversity
Published: 2022-08-01
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List is an important and widely used conservation prioritization tool. It uses information about species range size, habitat quality and fragmentation levels, and trends in abundance to assess species extinction risk. Genetic erosion is an additional key factor determining extinction risk, but the Red List was not designed to assess [...]
Experimental validation of transposable element insertions using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
Published: 2022-07-30
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Transposable elements (TEs), also known as transposons, are repetitive DNA sequences, present in virtually all organisms, that can move from one genomic position to another. TEs can be a source of mutations with important consequences for organisms. Despite their interest, its repetitive nature has made their study very challenging. However, the emergence of new sequencing technologies that allow [...]
The courage of hopelessness: a transformative change for conservation sciences
Published: 2022-07-29
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
As the twenty-first century unfolds, the human-driven decline of life on Earth is of greater concern and, despite tremendous growth in the volume of conservation science and many local successes, shows no clear signs of improvement. As a matter of fact, the reversal of nature’s ongoing decline is only possible with urgent “transformative change” However, no transformative changes are viable [...]
Female preferences for higher vocal effort in Neotropical singing mice
Published: 2022-07-29
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Despite the importance of vocalizations in mammalian sociosexual communication, little is known about female preferences for male vocal displays in wild mammals. Here, we characterized female preferences for the advertisement songs of male Alston’s singing mice (Scotinomys teguina). We developed procedures for inducing estrus, using vaginal morphology as a bioindicator. We then broadcasted [...]
European light skin may have evolved as an adaptation to the Neolithic sedentary lifestyle
Published: 2022-07-27
Subjects: Bioinformatics, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Population Biology
Light skin facilitates the penetration of ultraviolet light (UV) radiation through the skin, increasing the synthesis of vitamin D that in turn stimulates bone formation. It has been suggested that light skin appeared in the ancestors of modern Europeans as an adaptation to the conditions of low UV radiation in high latitudes; however, paleogenetic studies have recently shown it did not evolve [...]