Preprints

Filtering by Subject: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Detection of energetic equivalence depends on food web architecture and estimators of energy use

Poppy Joaquina Romera, Benoit Gauzens, Ana Carolina Antunes, et al.

Published: 2024-07-04
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Population Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Ecologists have long debated the universality of the energetic equivalence rule (EER), which posits that population energy use should be invariant with average body size due to negative size–density scaling. We explored size–density and size–energy use scaling across 183 geographically–distributed soil invertebrate food webs to investigate the universality of these fundamental EER assumptions. [...]

Microbial functional diversity and redundancy: moving forward

Pierre Ramond, Pierre Galand, Ramiro Logares

Published: 2024-07-04
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Microbiology

Microbial functional ecology is expanding as we can now measure the traits of wild microbes that affect ecosystem functioning. Here, we review techniques and advances that could be the bedrock for a unified framework to study microbial functions. We then explore the technical, ecological, and evolutionary processes that could explain environmental patterns of microbial functional diversity and [...]

Strong small-scale differentiation but no cryptic species within the two isopod species Asellus aquaticus and Proasellus coxalis in a restored urban river system (Emscher, Germany)

Martina Weiss, Armin W. Lorenz, Christian K. Feld, et al.

Published: 2024-07-04
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences, Zoology

Worldwide, humans have strongly altered river networks. Key changes resulted in modified hydromorphology, poor habitat quality and availability, migration barriers, and pollution. Restoration measures aim at mitigating anthropogenic stressors and to restore connectivity, but the biological success of the measures is not guaranteed. Analyzing genetic diversity and population structure of target [...]

The economic risk of the losses in pest control as frogs decline

Karoline Ceron, Diego José Santana, Mathias Mistretta Pires

Published: 2024-07-04
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Crop pests threaten agricultural productivity, causing significant economic losses and food security issues. Although various control methods exist, pesticide reliance raises health and environmental concerns. In this sense, the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a favored approach that minimizes pesticide use while incorporating diverse pest control methods. A key aspect of IPM is biological [...]

Topoclimate buffers floristic diversity from macroclimate in temperate mountain forests.

Jeremy Borderieux, Emiel De Lombaerde, Karen De Pauw, et al.

Published: 2024-07-04
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Microclimates strongly influence the composition and diversity of forest plant communities. Recent studies have highlighted the role of tree canopies in shaping understory thermal conditions at small spatial scales, especially in lowland forests. In mountain forests, however, the influence of topography in environmental conditions (e.g. topoclimate) is ought to also influence plants’ perceived [...]

Phenological Patterns of Woody Plant Species in a Tropical Dry Forest, Bannerghatta National Park, Bengaluru

Balasubramanya Sharma, Akshay Kumar V G, Poorvashree P, et al.

Published: 2024-06-27
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Plant Sciences

Phenology is the study of the timing of recurring natural stages in the life cycle of an organism. These natural stages, such as the plant's reproductive cycles, are being affected by the changing climate. The current study aims to understand the effect of weather parameters on the phenology of dry forests in Bannerghatta National Park. Two transects with 504 reproductively mature individuals [...]

Spatial bias in dietary studies can limit our understanding of the feeding ecology of large carnivores

Jacopo Cerri, Rudy Brogi, Carmela Musto, et al.

Published: 2024-06-26
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Many large carnivores have broad geographical ranges, encompassing ecosystems with a different prey base. Our understanding of their diet could therefore be biased by the spatial concentration of dietary studies into few areas. We propose a protocol to divide the geographical range of large carnivores, into areas that are homogeneous with respect to available food sources, by using the grey wolf [...]

ExActR: A Shiny app for creating ecosystem extent accounts

Anthony Gibbons, Francesco Martini, Cian White, et al.

Published: 2024-06-25
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Ecosystem accounting is a structured way to integrate nature into sustainable decision-making. The System of Environmental Economic Accounting-Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) was adopted by the United Nations as a set of international standards for the collection of habitat data and compiling ecosystem accounts. The ecosystem extent account is one of the four pillars of the SEEA-EA framework, [...]

Range size variably predicts genetic diversity in Gehyra geckos

Ching Ching Lau, Keith Allen Christian, Jessica Fenker, et al.

Published: 2024-06-25
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences

Genetic diversity is a fundamental population genetic parameter, and predicts adaptive capacity. Neutral theory predicts a positive correlation between population (or range) size and genetic diversity, but this can be confounded by other demographic processes. To investigate the role of range size, population fluctuation and introgression in determining genetic diversity, we generate and analyse [...]

We need to talk about (sublinear) density dependence

Andrew D Letten

Published: 2024-06-24
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Sublinear density dependence has been reported in numerous empirical studies, and yet it is seemingly incompatible with most resource-explicit models of competition. Reconciling this disconnect will likely necessitate substantive revision of the assumptions of mechanistic models and/or empirical methods, but it also presents rich opportunities for original research with wide-ranging implications.

Species lists of the Koffler Scientific Reserve at Jokers Hill, Ontario, Canada

Tubba Babar, Sean Blaney, Theresa McKenzie, et al.

Published: 2024-06-24
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

This document includes taxonomically-organized lists of all vascular plants, amphibians and reptiles, birds, and mammals recorded from the 350 ha Koffler Scientific Reserve of the University of Toronto, in King Township, Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, Canada (44° 01' N, 79° 31' W). These lists were initially compiled by C.S. Blaney and were published as an appendix to his M.Sc. thesis [...]

Tundra vegetation community, not microclimate, controls asynchrony of above and belowground phenology

Elise Gallois, Isla H. Myers-Smith, Colleen M. Iversen, et al.

Published: 2024-06-24
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Plant Sciences, Plant Biology, Plant Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

The below-ground growing season often extends beyond the above-ground growing season in tundra ecosystems. However, we do not yet know where and when this occurs and whether these phenological asynchronies are driven by variation in local vegetation communities or by spatial variation in microclimate. Here, we combined above- and below-ground plant phenology metrics to compare the relative [...]

Microbial growth in soil

Megan Foley, Bram W.G. Stone, Tristan A. Caro, et al.

Published: 2024-06-20
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences

The growth rate of a microorganism is a simple yet profound way to quantify its impact on the world. Microbial fitness in the environment depends on the ability to reproduce quickly when conditions are favorable and adopt a survival physiology when conditions worsen, which cells coordinate by adjusting their growth rate. At the population level, per capita growth rate is a sensitive metric of [...]

L’espèce incertaine et les taxons flous

Alex Baumel, Didier Aurelle

Published: 2024-06-20
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

La question de la « bonne » définition de l’espèce, qui unit les biologistes, les naturalistes et les personnes impliquées dans l’usage ou la conservation de la biodiversité, est constamment réactualisée par les progrès des connaissances sur l’évolution et la spéciation. Cette question est loin [...]

Genetic variation of heat tolerance in a model ectotherm: an approach using thermal death time curves

Felix P. Leiva, Mauro Santos, Edwin J Niklitschek, et al.

Published: 2024-06-19
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Physiology

 The assessment of thermal tolerance holds significant importance in predicting the physiological responses of ectotherms, particularly in elucidating their capacity for evolutionary adaptation in the context of global warming. Current approaches to assessing thermal tolerance have limitations that can lead to misleading results, especially with regard to the heritability of thermal limits. [...]

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