Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
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, [...]
Cross-scale interaction of host tree size and climatic water deficit governs bark beetle-induced tree mortality
Published: 2019-12-13
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
The recent Californian hot drought (2012-2016) precipitated unprecedented ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) mortality, largely attributable to the western pine beetle (Dendroctonus brevicomis; WPB). Broad-scale climate conditions can directly shape tree mortality patterns, but mortality rates respond non-linearly to climate when local-scale forest characteristics influence the behavior of [...]
Multivariate Mixed Models in Ecology and Evolutionary biology: Inferences and implementation in R
Published: 2019-12-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Multivariate mixed models (MMM) are generalized linear models with both fixed and random effect having multiple response variables. MMM allow partitioning of total (phenotypic) (co)variances for multiple traits into (co)variances on hierarchically lower levels. We outline why ecologists and evolutionary biologists should be interested in such partitioning as well as the levels of analyses that [...]
Post-release exploration and diel activity of hatchery, wild and crossbred strain brown trout in semi-natural streams
Published: 2019-12-11
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Aquaculture and Fisheries Life Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Behaviours that are adaptive in captivity may be maladaptive in the wild and hence compromise after-release survival of hatchery fish. Understanding behavioural differences displayed straight after the release could help improving hatchery protocols and developing behavioural tests for assessing the fitness of fish reared for releases. We characterized the post-release behaviour in two [...]
Measurement and analysis of interspecific spatial associations as a facet of biodiversity
Published: 2019-12-07
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Interspecific spatial associations (ISA), which include co-occurrences, segregations, or attractions among two or more species, can provide important insights into the spatial structuring of communities. However, ISA has primarily been examined in the context of understanding interspecific interactions, while other aspects of ISA, including its relations to other biodiversity facets and how it [...]
Behavioral Modification of Eastern Hoolock Gibbon in Non-Protected Fragmented Rainforest Patches of North Eastern Himalayas
Published: 2019-12-07
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Life Sciences, Zoology
Presence of Eastern Hoolock Gibbon (Hoolock leuconydes) was confirmed recently in and around Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh, where the last remnant rainforest region of Eastern Himalaya still exists. A total of 13 groups of Eastern Hoolock Gibbon were located in this Lower Dibang valley in the outskirts and periferi of Mehao WLS where they coexist with humans at the non-protected [...]
Relative contribution of plant traits and soil properties to the functioning of a temperate forest ecosystem in the Indian Himalayas
Published: 2019-12-04
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Plant-soil interactions are a major determinant of changes in forest ecosystem processes and functioning. We conducted a trait-based study to quantify the contribution of plant traits and soil properties to above- and below-ground ecosystem properties in temperate forest in the Indian Himalayas. Nine plant traits (leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf water content, leaf dry matter content, leaf [...]