Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
A synthesis of dryland restoration lessons relevant to the San Joaquin Valley
Published: 2020-02-29
Subjects: Desert Ecology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Scientific synthesis is a set of tools relevant to evidence-informed decision making for the drylands of California. Tools include comprehensive theory and formal scientific syntheses of the published primary literature examining restoration in drylands. Restoration lessons consistently reported in the literature provide insights into applicable theory, species-specific practices, and [...]
Forest thinning in ponderosa pines increases carbon use efficiency and energy flow from primary producers to primary consumers
Published: 2020-02-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
A better understanding of carbon use efficiency and carbon allocation during disturbance is critical to improve simulations of the global carbon cycle and understanding future climate impacts. Forest thinning of high stem density, high elevation dry western US forests is becoming more common to reduce severe fire danger but there are uncertainties about how forest thinning may impact forest [...]
The molecular clock as a tool for understanding host-parasite evolution
Published: 2020-02-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
The molecular clock in combination with evidence from the geological record can be applied to infer the timing and dynamics of evolutionary events. This has enormous potential to shed light on the complex and often evasive evolution of parasites. Here, we provide an overview of molecular clock methodology and recent advances that increase the potential for the study of host-parasite [...]
StableClim, continuous projections of climate stability from 21000 BP to 2100 CE at multiple spatial scales
Published: 2020-02-22
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Paleoclimatic data are used in eco-evolutionary models to improve knowledge of biogeographical processes that drive patterns of biodiversity through time, opening windows into past climate–biodiversity dynamics. Applying these models to harmonised simulations of past and future climatic change can strengthen forecasts of biodiversity change. StableClim provides continuous estimates of climate [...]
The Evolutionary Ecology of Age at Natural Menopause: Implications for Public Health
Published: 2020-02-11
Subjects: Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Medicine and Health Sciences, Other Social and Behavioral Sciences, Physiology, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Evolutionary perspectives on menopause have focused on explaining why early reproductive cessation in females has emerged and why it is rare throughout the animal kingdom, but less attention has been given to exploring patterns of diversity in age at natural menopause. In this paper, we aim to generate new hypotheses for understanding human patterns of diversity in this trait, defined as age at [...]
Countergradient variation in reptiles: thermal sensitivity of developmental and metabolic rates across locally adapted populations
Published: 2020-02-08
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Environmental temperature is a key driver of variation in physiological developmental rates in reptiles. Cooler temperatures extend development time and increase the amount of energy required to achieve hatching success, which can pose fitness consequences later in life. Yet, in locally-adapted populations, genetic variation often opposes environmental variation across ecological gradients, known [...]
The trade-off between information and pathogen transmission in animal societies
Published: 2020-02-04
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Social and Behavioral Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Social structure can regulate information and pathogen transmission via social contact or proximity, which ultimately affects individual fitness. In theory, the same network properties that favor social information transmission also favor the spread of socially-transmitted pathogens, creating a trade-off between them. The mechanisms underlying the development and stability of individual [...]
Comparing ecological and evolutionary variability within datasets
Published: 2020-01-28
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Genetics and Genomics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Many key questions in evolutionary ecology require the use of variance ratios such as heritability, repeatability, and individual resource specialization. These ratios allow to understand how phenotypic variation is structured into genetic and non-genetic components, to identify how much organisms vary in the resources they use or how functional traits structure species communities. Understanding [...]
Dunnock social status correlates with sperm speed, but fast sperm does not always equal high fitness
Published: 2020-01-24
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Sperm competition theory predicts that males should modulate sperm investment according to their social status. Sperm speed (one proxy of sperm quality) also influences the outcome of sperm competition because fast sperm cells may fertilize eggs before slow sperm cells. We evaluated whether the social status of males predicted their sperm speed in a wild population of dunnocks (Prunella [...]
Using lichen communities as indicators of forest stand age and conservation value
Published: 2020-01-23
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Evaluating the conservation value of ecological communities is critical for forest management but can be challenging because it is difficult to survey all taxonomic groups of conservation concern. Lichens have long been used as indicators of late successional habitats with particularly high conservation value because lichens are ubiquitous, sensitive to fine-scale environmental variation, and [...]
Seasonality, diet, and physiology as a predominant control factors of the moult dynamics in birds – a meta-analysis
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Ornithology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Moult is a process, usually occurring annually, in which birds replace their plumage. It is one of the most crucial life-history traits because it restores the functions of plumage and allows a bird to adapt to environmental conditions or special seasonal needs such as breeding and camouflage during non-breeding season. Consequently, moulting has advantages in terms of future performance. [...]
The Orchard Plot: Cultivating a Forest Plot for Use in Ecology, Evolution and Beyond
Published: 2019-12-29
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
‘Classic’ forest plots show the effect sizes from individual studies and the aggregate effect from a meta-analysis. However, in ecology and evolution meta-analyses routinely contain over 100 effect sizes, making the classic forest plot of limited use. We surveyed 102 meta-analyses in ecology and evolution, finding that only 11% use the classic forest plot. Instead, most used a ‘forest-like plot’, [...]
Cultural conformity and persistence in the context of differing site fidelity
Published: 2019-12-18
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Animal culture often shows geographic structure, with nearby individuals sharing more cultural features than individuals further apart. However, spatial extent of cultural features, along with the degree of conformity to local cultures, vary within and among species. Further, rates of cultural change presumably also vary, though documentation of temporal variability lags behind documentation of [...]
Social effects on age-related and sex-specific immune cell profiles in a wild mammal
Published: 2019-12-16
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Evidence for age-related changes in innate and adaptive immune responses is increasing in wild populations. Such changes have been linked to fitness, and understanding the factors driving variation in immune responses is important for the evolution of immunity and senescence. Age-related changes in immune profiles may be due to sex-specific behaviour, physiology and responses to environmental [...]
The need for a nationally consistent ecosystem monitoring framework for Australian rangelands.
Published: 2019-12-13
Subjects: Desert Ecology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
The need for a national ecosystem monitoring system for the Australian rangelands has been regularly identified. Against a background of natural variability, rangeland ecosystems face both short and longer-term impacts. These pressures, including overstocking, climate change, deforestation, altered fire regimes and invasion by feral species, are expected to drive changes to the structure, [...]