Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
GPS telemetry reveals changes in the movement patterns of a cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus) flying over an active war zone
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Life Sciences
Armed conflicts have devastating effects over wildlife populations and ecosystems, yet their impacts on wildlife behavior remains understudied. In this study we summarized behavioral changes that occurred in a Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus) which made three flights over active war zones in Northern and Eastern Ukraine during spring 2022. As the individual approached the frontline its [...]
Spontaneous native–non-native tree mixtures worldwide: a systematic map of research patterns, with knowledge gaps and management implications
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Sciences
Purpose of Review: Spontaneous mixtures of native and non-native tree species occur in forest landscapes affected by land-use change, species introductions and disturbances. However, research on these communities remains fragmented. Recent Findings: We identified 238 cases. Research was concentrated in high-income countries and studies included diverse combinations of native and non-native tree [...]
Will AI inadvertently push a natural history renaissance?
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
As AI automates coding and statistical modelling, quantitative ecologists face an existential crisis. But automated analysis is only as good as the data it is fed, shifting the scarce resource from analysis to expert observation. Naturalists and field ecologists, increasingly ‘endangered’ species in the modern era, may experience a resurgence, if institutions act.
Modeling Mosquito Dynamics and West Nile Virus Risk in Canada: A Systematic Mapping Review of Approaches and Research Gaps
Published: 2026-10-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Numerical Analysis and Computation, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Mosquito population dynamics are strongly shaped by environmental conditions and are central to mosquito-borne disease risk. In Canada, West Nile virus (WNV) remains the dominant mosquito-borne viral disease of public health concern, while climate change may alter mosquito distributions, seasonal activity, and the risk of WNV and other emerging mosquito-borne diseases. This systematic mapping [...]
Design and reporting principles for experimental cancer evolution
Published: 2026-10-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Evolutionary processes are inherently stochastic, such that independently evolving populations exposed to identical conditions may not follow identical trajectories. In cancer, this stochasticity contributes to diverse resistance pathways in tumor cell populations exposed to the same therapeutic pressures. Experimental evolution provides a controlled framework for studying these dynamics by [...]
Noise as a global change driver: a meta-analysis of its fitness consequences for birds
Published: 2026-10-29
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health
Anthropogenic noise is a widespread yet underappreciated global pollutant. Despite mounting evidence that noise may affect the physiology and behaviour of birds, its consequences for fitness, and thus its capacity to impact population and evolutionary processes, remain unclear. Here, we conduct a pre-registered systematic review and meta-analysis of the causal effects of anthropogenic noise on [...]
Reef fish biodiversity guarantees productivity
Published: 2026-10-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Biodiversity loss on coral reefs may threaten their functioning and services to humanity. However, the impacts of biodiversity change on reef fish productivity, a key function that sustains millions of humans, are not well understood. Here, we compiled a global dataset of coral reef fish surveys to examine whether assemblage biodiversity promotes productivity, in both space and time. Diversity [...]
Rethinking success and quality in ecological forecasting
Published: 2026-10-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Ecological forecasts are increasingly required to inform science, policy and action in the face of rapid environmental and societal change. However, differences in how developers and end-users judge the value of ecological forecasts may limit their utility and uptake in real-world decision-making. Here, we use a participatory approach to propose a novel, holistic framework for the evaluation of [...]
Considering more complex covariate responses improves predictive performance in dynamic occupancy models
Published: 2026-10-28
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Finding the right level of model complexity is a key challenge in most contexts, including ecology where data are often messy and underlying patterns complex. Dynamic occupancy models (DOMs) are increasingly used for modelling species distributions. DOMs have advantages over traditional species distribution models because their hierarchical structure allows them to explicitly model changes in [...]
Comparing covariate selection strategies for predictive dynamic occupancy models
Published: 2026-10-28
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Predicting how species will redistribute under global environmental change is a prerequisite for effective conservation. Dynamic occupancy models (DOMs) are increasingly popular tools for modelling range dynamics. DOMs estimate local colonisation and extinction probabilities while accounting for imperfect detection to capture the processes behind changing patterns of species occurrence. Covariate [...]
Nocturnal vocalizations in diurnal birds: a systematic review of current knowledge, research gaps and future directions
Published: 2026-10-27
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Ornithology
Nocturnal vocalisations by diurnal birds have been increasingly documented in recent decades, yet the functions and mechanisms underlying this behaviour remain poorly understood. Here, we conducted a systematic review to synthesize the current knowledge regarding nocturnal vocalisations in diurnal birds. The study is structured around 12 non-exclusive hypotheses proposed to explain why diurnal [...]
Rapid health assessment of coral reefs: a standardised, quick, and reliable tool developed and tested during the 2024/25 global bleaching event
Published: 2026-10-27
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Coral reefs worldwide are experiencing increasingly frequent and severe degradation events driven by rising sea surface temperatures, yet reliable and scientifically comparable data remain sparse for many coral reefs. Park managers, rangers, and community-led groups in areas lacking scientific studies could contribute to data records by collecting relevant data on coral reefs. However, these [...]
ArHa: A globally standardised, relational database of arenavirus and hantavirus sampling in wild small mammal populations
Published: 2026-10-25
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Immunology and Infectious Disease, Virus Diseases
Arenaviruses and hantaviruses are globally distributed zoonotic pathogens primarily hosted by small mammals. Efforts to map their ecological drivers and predict spillover risk are hindered by the fragmentation of historical surveillance data across the primary literature, compounded by shifting host nomenclature and variable geographic precision. We present ArHa, a database of 123,101 host [...]
Oak gall wasps lack conserved microbial symbionts
Published: 2026-10-23
Subjects: Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Life Sciences
Herbivorous insects frequently rely on microbial partners to exploit their host plants, yet for gall-inducing insect taxa, there were few attempts to comprehensively resolve their microbial associations. To address this gap, we characterised microbial abundance, composition and specificity in three Polish populations of cherry oak gall wasps (Cynips quercusfolii), a highly specialized [...]
From Temperate to Boreal -- Untangling the Importance of Environment, Space, and Species Co-distributions in Forest Plant Distributions
Published: 2026-10-23
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Aim Quantify how environmental conditions, spatial autocorrelation, and species co-distributions shape forest plant community at regional scale. Location Southern Québec, Canada, between the 45th and 53rd parallels. Period From 1986 to 2000. Major taxa studied Vascular plants, mosses, and lichens. Methods We analyzed the presence-absence of 224 plant species across 28,210 ecological observation [...]