Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
The community-function landscape of microbial consortia
Published: 2022-06-28
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Population Biology
Quantitatively and predictively linking the composition and function of microbial communities is a major aspiration of microbial ecology. It is also a critical step in the path toward engineering synthetic consortia and manipulating natural microbiomes. The functions of microbial communities are collective properties that emerge from a complex web of molecular interactions between individual [...]
A simple conceptual framework and nomenclature for studying repeated, parallel and convergent evolution
Published: 2022-06-28
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Parallel and convergent evolution are textbook examples of the role of natural selection in evolution. However, these terms are used interchangeably, and sometimes with conflicting meanings. This has resulted in confusion, which hampers the understanding of the processes underlying these important forms of evolution. In this synthesis, I discuss the issues with current definitions of parallel, [...]
Dispersal and space use of captive-reared and wild-rehabilitated Harpy Eagles released in Central American landscapes: Implications for reintroduction and reinforcement management
Published: 2022-06-23
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Understanding the spatial context of animal movements is fundamental for establishment and management of protected areas (PA). However, these data are not readily available for large raptors, particularly for tropical species. We telemetry-tracked 36 captive-reared and wild-rehabilitated Harpia harpyja and estimated dispersal and space use after release in Mesoamerica. We evaluated the [...]
An operational workflow for producing periodic estimates of species occupancy at large scales
Published: 2022-06-23
Subjects: Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Policy makers require high-level summaries of biodiversity change. However, deriving such summaries from raw biodiversity data is a complex process involving several intermediary stages. In this paper, we describe a workflow for generating annual estimates of species’ occupancy at national scales from raw species occurrence data, which can be used to construct a range of policy-relevant [...]
The effect of experimental hybridization on cognition and brain anatomy: limited phenotypic variation and transgression in Poeciliidae
Published: 2022-06-23
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Hybridization can promote phenotypic variation and often produces trait combinations distinct from the parental species. This increase in available variation can lead to the manifestation of functional novelty when new phenotypes bear adaptive value under the environmental conditions in which they occur. While the role of hybridization as a driver of variation and novelty in traits linked to [...]
Scaling up and down: movement ecology for microorganisms
Published: 2022-06-19
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Microbiology
Movement is critical for the fitness of organisms, both large and small. It dictates how individuals acquire resources, evade predators, exchange genetic material, and respond to stressful environments. Movement also influences ecological and evolutionary dynamics at scales beyond the individual organism. However, the links between individual motility and the processes that generate and maintain [...]
The vocal apparatus of bats: an understudied tool to reconstruct the evolutionary history of echolocation?
Published: 2022-06-12
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Zoology
Until recently, bat phylogeny separated megabats (laryngeally non-echolocators) and microbats (all laryngeal echolocators) into two distinct clades. This segregation was consistent with the assumption that laryngeal echolocation was acquired by a common ancestor and inherited by all microchiropterans. Thus, laryngeal echolocation was regarded to have evolved once. Recent advances in bat genome [...]
Micro-evolutionary response of spring migration timing in a wild seabird
Published: 2022-06-07
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Understanding the mechanisms by which populations can adapt to changing environmental conditions is crucial for predicting their viability. In the context of rapid climate change, phenological advance is a key adaptation for which evidence is accumulating across taxa. Among vertebrates, phenotypic plasticity is known to underlie most of this phenological change, while evidence for micro-evolution [...]
EvoPhylo: an R package for pre- and postprocessing of morphological data from relaxed clock Bayesian phylogenetics
Published: 2022-06-06
Subjects: Bioinformatics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
1. Relaxed clock Bayesian evolutionary inference (BEI) enables the co-estimation of phylogenetic trees and evolutionary parameters associated with models of character and lineage evolution. Fast advances in new model developments over the past decade have boosted BEI as a major macroevolutionary analytical framework using morphological and/or molecular data across vastly different study systems. [...]
Decline effects are rare in ecology: Comment
Published: 2022-06-06
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Statistical Methodology, Statistical Models, Statistics and Probability
Recently, Costello and Fox (2022) tested, with a large dataset, the hypothesis of whether there is a widespread decline effect in the discipline of ecology. In other words, the magnitude of the reported ecological effect sizes declines over time (Leimu and Koricheva 2004). Contrary to early results from much smaller datasets (Jennions and Møller 2002, Barto and Rillig 2012), Costello and Fox [...]
The Evolution of Peace
Published: 2022-06-02
Subjects: Anthropology, Behavior and Ethology, Biological and Physical Anthropology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Social and Cultural Anthropology
While some species have affiliative and even cooperative interactions between individuals of different social groups, humans are alone in having durable, positive-sum, interdependent relationships across unrelated social groups. Our capacity to have harmonious relationships that cross group boundaries is an important aspect of our species’ success, allowing for the exchange of ideas, materials, [...]
Perturbations highlight importance of social history in parakeet rank dynamics
Published: 2022-06-01
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Dominance hierarchies can provide many benefits to individuals, such as access to resources or mates, depending on their ranks. In some species, rank can emerge as a product of the history of social interactions within a group. However, it can be difficult to determine whether social history is critical to rank in observation-based studies. Here, we investigated rank dynamics in three captive [...]
Temporal variability declines with increasing trophic levels and spatial scales in freshwater ecosystems
Published: 2022-05-30
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
The temporal variability of ecological properties tends to decrease with spatial scale and levels of biological organization, but how does it propagate across trophic levels? We compiled metacommunity time-series datasets spanning basal resources to top predators from 355 freshwater sites across three continents. Temporal variability in abundance decreased from producers to tertiary consumers [...]
Best practices for LGBTQ+ inclusion during ecological fieldwork: Considering safety, cis/heteronormativity, and structural barriers
Published: 2022-05-30
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and other marginalized gender and sexual identities (LGBTQ+) face unique barriers to participation in applied ecology. Such barriers are particularly relevant during fieldwork, including physical and discriminatory risks, increased isolation, and non-inclusive infrastructure.To be more inclusive, fieldwork should address LGBTQ+ safety and survival needs. [...]
Its time to manage mountain lions in Texas
Published: 2022-05-27
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Mountain lions, also called cougars, pumas and Florida panthers, are a wide-ranging, large felid in the western hemisphere. Every U.S. state in which there are breeding populations of mountain lions offer the species some level of protection, except Texas. Here, we summarize historical research on mountain lions in Texas, human perceptions about the species, and historical discussions within [...]