Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Quantifying the autonomic response to stressors – one way to expand the definition of "stress" in animals
Published: 2019-11-07
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Endocrinology, Life Sciences, Physiology, Systems Biology
Quantifying the impact of changes or stimuli in the external and internal environment that are challenging (“stressors”) to whole organisms is difficult. To date, physiological ecologists and ecological physiologists have mostly used measures of glucocorticoids (GCs) to assess the impact of stressors on animals. This is of course too simplistic as Hans Seyle himself characterized the response of [...]
Bryophyte cover and richness decline after 18 years of experimental warming in Alpine Sweden
Published: 2019-11-07
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Background and Aims: Climate change is expected to affect alpine and Arctic tundra communities. Most previous long-term studies have focused on impacts on vascular plants, but this study examined potential impacts of long-term warming on bryophyte communities. Methods: Experimental warming with open-top chambers (OTCs) was applied for 18 years to a mesic meadow and a dry heath alpine plant [...]
Decoupled morphological and biomechanical evolution and diversification of the wing in bats
Published: 2019-11-06
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Bats use their forelimbs in different ways, flight being the most notable example of morphological adaptation. However, different behavioural specializations beyond flight have also been described in several bat lineages. Understanding the postcranial evolution during the locomotory and behavioural diversification of bats is fundamental to understanding bat evolution. We investigate whether [...]
Selection on reproductive plasticity in a wild population of blue tits, Cyanistes caeruleus
Published: 2019-11-04
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
In the plant-insect-insectivorous-bird system, changing climates can result in mis-timing in bird reproduction, potentially impacting chick survival. To adapt to earlier prey emergence, birds can make use of phenotypic plasticity, which can be characterized by reaction norms. Despite gaining focus in research, studies on avian reproductive reaction norms as traits are scarce, particularly on [...]
Whither scientific debate? A rebuttal of “Contextualising UK moorland burning studies: geographical versus potential sponsorship-bias effects on research conclusions” by Brown and Holden (bioRxiv 2019; 731117)
Published: 2019-10-31
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
To read the preprint which this publication seeks to criticise, see here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/731117v1 To read our original peer-reviewed critique of the EMBER project, see here: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1365-2664.13476 1. We recently published a peer-reviewed critique of the EMBER report. In a preprint response, Brown & Holden (2019) [...]
Thermal ecology or interspecific competition: what drives the warm and cold distribution limits of mountain ectotherms?
Published: 2019-10-24
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Current climate change-forced local extinctions of ectotherms in their warmer distribution limits have been linked to a reduction in their activity budgets by excess of heat. However, warmer distribution limits of species may be determined by biotic interactions as well. We aimed to understand the role of thermal activity budgets as drivers of the warmer distribution limit of cold-adapted [...]
The Price equation and the unity of social evolution theory
Published: 2019-10-23
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
The Price equation has been entangled with social evolution theory from the start. It has been used to derive the most general versions of kin selection theory, and Price himself produced a multilevel equation which provides an alternative formulation of social evolution theory, dividing selection into components between and within groups. In this sense, the Price equation forms a basis for both [...]
Honey Bee Diversity Is Swayed by Migratory Beekeeping and Trade Despite Conservation Practices: Genetic Evidences for the Impact of Anthropogenic Factors on Population Structure
Published: 2019-10-13
Subjects: Agriculture, Animal Sciences, Apiculture, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Genetics, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences, Zoology
The intense admixture of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) populations at a global scale is mostly attributed to the widespread migratory beekeeping practices and replacement of queens and colonies with non-native races or hybrids of different subspecies. These practices are also common in Anatolia and Thrace, but their influence on the genetic make-up of the five native subspecies of honey bees has [...]
Experimenting with the past to improve environmental monitoring programs
Published: 2019-10-13
Subjects: Agriculture, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Long-term monitoring programs are a fundamental part of both understanding system dynamics and informing management decisions. However, monitoring programs not always designed to consider statistical power, site selection, or the full costs and benefits of monitoring. Further, data from monitoring programs with different goals and protocols are now being combined for comparative analyses. Key [...]
The causes and consequences of ornament variation in a natural population
Published: 2019-10-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
The role of sexual selection in natural populations has long been the subject of debate in evolutionary biology. Ornaments are sexually selected traits, which means they should vary within a population, have a genetic basis, and be associated with fitness. Despite evidence of ornaments meeting these criteria, evolutionary responses to sexual selection are rare in nature. This study focuses on two [...]
The role of replication studies in ecology
Published: 2019-10-11
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Recent large-scale projects in other disciplines have shown that results often fail to replicate when studies are repeated. The conditions contributing to this problem are also present in ecology but there have not been any equivalent replication projects. Here we examine ecologists’ understanding of and opinions about replication studies. When asked what percentage of ecological studies are [...]
Avian trait specialization is negatively associated with urban tolerance
Published: 2019-10-10
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Generalist species — with their wide niche breadths — are often associated with urban environments, while specialist species are likely to be most at-risk of increasing urbanization processes. But studies which quantify the relationship between trait specialization (i.e., niche breadth) and urban tolerance are generally methodologically limited, with repeatable robust methods to easily quantify [...]
Toward a metabolic theory of life history
Published: 2019-09-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Population Biology
Significance Data and theory reveal how organisms allocate metabolic energy to components of the life history that determine fitness. In each generation animals take up biomass energy from the environment and expended it on survival, growth, and reproduction. Life histories of animals exhibit enormous diversity – from large fish and invertebrates that produce literally millions of tiny eggs and [...]
Assessing symbiont extinction risk using cophylogenetic data
Published: 2019-09-25
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics and Genomics, Immunology and Infectious Disease, Life Sciences, Other Life Sciences, Parasitology
Symbionts have a unique mode of life that has attracted the attention of ecologists and evolutionary biologists for centuries. As a result of this attention, these disciplines have produced a mature body of literature on host-symbiont interactions. In contrast, the discipline of symbiont conservation is still in a foundational stage. Here, we aim to integrate methodologies on symbiont [...]
Evidence synthesis for tackling research waste
Published: 2019-09-20
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Population Biology, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
There is an urgent need for a change in research workflows so that pre-existing knowledge is better utilised in designing new research. A formal assessment of the accumulated knowledge prior to research approval would reduce the waste of already limited resources caused by asking low priority questions.