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Preprints

Filtering by Subject: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Adaptive sampling for ecological monitoring using biased data: A stratum-based approach

Oliver L. Pescott, Gary D. Powney, Rob James Boyd

Published: 2024-09-10
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Indicators of biodiversity change across large extents of geographic, temporal and taxonomic space are frequent products of various types of ecological monitoring and other data collection efforts. Unfortunately, many such indicators are based on data that are highly unlikely to be representative of the intended statistical populations. Where there is full control over sampling processes, [...]

Bridging local and global knowledges to classify, describe and map ecosystems

Alys Rhiannon Young, Hugh F Davies, Margaret L Ayre, et al.

Published: 2024-09-08
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Effective ecosystem management for biodiversity and human well-being relies on accurate information. Consistent approaches to classifying, describing, and assessing ecosystems can improve the understanding of the ecological processes, threats, and management. We explored how the Global Ecosystem Typology – a global classification framework based on ecosystem function – could support the [...]

Climate change is associated with a higher extinction risk of a subshrub in anthropogenic landscapes

Eva Conquet, Arpat Ozgul, Susana Gómez-González, et al.

Published: 2024-09-06
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Population Biology

In most ecosystems, the increasingly strong effects of climate change on biodiversity co-occur with other anthropogenic pressures, most importantly land-use change. However, many long-term demographic studies focus on populations monitored in protected areas, and our understanding of how climate change will affect population persistence under anthropogenic land use is still limited. To fill this [...]

Not by selection alone: expanding the scope of gene-culture coevolution

Sven Michael Kasser, Kevin N. Lala, Laura Fortunato, et al.

Published: 2024-09-06
Subjects: Anthropology, Biological and Physical Anthropology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Genetics and Genomics, Genomics, Social and Behavioral Sciences

Gene-culture coevolution (GCC) - an ambitious synthesis of biological and social sciences - is often used to explain the evolution of key human traits. Despite the framework’s broad conceptual appeal however, empirical evidence is often perceived as limited to a few key examples like lactase persistence. We argue this apparent gap between theoretical appeal and empirical evidence stems [...]

Cultural integration of invasive species

Ivan Jaric, Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, Zsolt Molnár, et al.

Published: 2024-09-03
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Studies, Natural Resources and Conservation, Sustainability

Many invasive non-native species gradually become embedded within local cultures. Such species can increasingly be perceived by society as familiar or even native elements of the social-ecological system and become an integral part of local cultures. Here, we explore this phenomenon and refer to it as the cultural integration of invasive species. Although culturally integrated species can [...]

Community-ecosystem interactions control plant biodiversity change before and after mangrove restoration.

Brad Oberle, Simon Bustetter, Liah Continentino, et al.

Published: 2024-08-28
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Restoring biological diversity and ecosystem function requires understanding how introduced species interact with one another and their environments. The most prevalent and challenging scenarios involve multiple invasive species whose traits feedback through ecosystem processes. However, research into these systems often focuses on either community dynamics or ecosystem properties, rather than [...]

Quantifying Carbon Sequestration and Ecosystem Enhancement Through Novel Phytoplankton Farming Techniques

Arshia Farmahini Farahani, Nika Kasraei

Published: 2024-08-28
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Phytoplankton farming emerges as a critical nature-based solution to address the intertwined crises of climate change and marine ecosystem degradation. As foundational drivers of oceanic carbon cycling, phytoplankton generate ~50% of Earth’s oxygen and sequester 10–20 billion metric tons of CO₂ annually through the biological carbon pump . This study develops scalable cultivation techniques to [...]

Rethinking Environmental Impact Assessment for nature positive development

Holly Louise Kirk, Dale Wright, Georgia E Garrard, et al.

Published: 2024-08-28
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Achieving nature positive development within existing regulatory frameworks will be challenging. Halting and reversing biodiversity loss requires restoration and enhancement of ecosystems alongside a fundamental shift in how we value biodiversity and assess quantifiable improvements. Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) focussed on mitigating negative impacts do not promote positive outcomes – [...]

Thermal performance curves, activity and survival in a free-ranging ectotherm

Kristoffer H Wild, John H Roe, Jonathan Curran, et al.

Published: 2024-08-28
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Physiology

Temperature profoundly influences the distribution and diversity of ectotherms, yet in natural settings, interactions between environmental temperatures, behaviour, physiological function and the influence of these factors on individual survival remain poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear as to how trade-offs between these factors are optimised in wild, free-ranging species. We [...]

Quantifying disturbance effects on ecosystem services in a changing climate

Laura E Dee, Steve J. Miller, Kate J Helmstedt, et al.

Published: 2024-08-27
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Disturbances, such as hurricanes, fires, droughts, and pest outbreaks, can cause major changes in ecosystem conditions that threaten nature’s contributions to people (ecosystem services). However, approaches to assess these impacts on diverse services under climate change are rare. To advance such efforts, we build on the accelerating research on disturbance ecology and ecosystem services to [...]

A top predator provokes similar defense behavior as a mesopredator in an intraguild prey

Kai-Philipp Gladow, Marla Jablonski, Nayden Chakarov, et al.

Published: 2024-08-26
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Ornithology

The loss of top predators has been shown to lead to drastic changes in community structure. An important part of this is the shift in behavior of other species. The understanding of such changes is scarce because recordings of behavioral reactions towards lost species are rarely done. This is important for predators experiencing predation pressure themselves, known as intraguild predation. [...]

IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, Mangroves of the Tropical Southwestern Pacific

Sarah L. Robin, Joanna C. Ellison, Cyril Marchand, et al.

Published: 2024-08-14
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Mangroves of the Tropical Southwestern Pacific are a regional ecosystem subgroup (level 4 unit of the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology). It includes the marine ecoregions of Central and Southern Great Barrier Reef, Coral Sea, Fiji Islands, New Caledonia, Tonga Islands, Torres Strait Northern Great Barrier Reef, and Vanuatu. The Tropical Southwestern Pacific province mapped extent in 2020 was 874.0 [...]

Experimental evidence that phenotypic evolution but not plasticity occurs along genetic lines of least resistance in homogeneous environments

Greg M Walter

Published: 2024-08-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Genetic correlations concentrate genetic variation in certain directions of the multivariate phenotype. Adaptation and, under some models, plasticity is expected to occur in the direction of the phenotype containing the greatest amount of genetic variation (gmax). However, this may hinge upon environmental heterogeneity, which can affect patterns of genetic variation. I use experimental evolution [...]

The Architecture of Theory and Data in Microbiome Design: towards an S-matrix for microbiomes

Shreya Arya, Ashish B. George, James P. O'Dwyer

Published: 2024-08-10
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Designing microbiomes for applications in health, bioengineering, and sustainability is intrinsically linked to a fundamental theoretical understanding of the rules governing microbial community assembly. Microbial ecologists have used a range of mathematical models to understand, predict, and control microbiomes, ranging from mechanistic models, putting microbial populations and their [...]

Inductive link prediction facilitates the discovery of missing links and enables cross-community inference in ecological networks

Barry Biton, Rami Puzis, Shai Pilosof

Published: 2024-08-02
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Predicting species interactions (links) within ecological networks is crucial for advancing our understanding of ecosystem functioning and responses of communities to environmental changes. Transductive link prediction models are often used but are constrained by sparse, incomplete data and are limited to single networks. We address these issues using an inductive link prediction (ILP) approach. [...]

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