Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Monitoring large and complex wildlife aggregations with drones
Published: 2019-01-02
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Ornithology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
• Recent advances in drone technology have rapidly led to their use for monitoring and managing wildlife populations but a broad and generalised framework for their application to complex wildlife aggregations is still lacking • We present a generalised semi-automated approach where machine learning can map targets of interest in drone imagery, supported by predictive modelling for estimating [...]
Measuring competitive impact: joint-species modelling of invaded plant communities
Published: 2018-12-18
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
1. Non-native species can dominate plant communities by competitively displacing native species, or because environmental change creates conditions favourable to non-native species but unfavourable to native species. We need to disentangle these alternative mechanisms so that management can target competitively dominant species and reduce their impacts. 2. Joint-species distribution models [...]
Timber harvest and tree size near nests explains variation in nest site occupancy but not productivity in northern goshawks (Accipiter gentilis)
Published: 2018-12-10
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Ornithology
Conservation concern for the northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) reflects evidence that goshawks may abandon nest sites or suffer from reduced nesting success in response to some forms of timber harvest. However, this evidence is mixed and has yet to be reviewed systemically and quantitatively. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the extent to which timber harvest and tree size [...]
Male territorial aggression does not drive conformity to local vocal culture in a passerine bird
Published: 2018-12-09
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
In many songbird species, young males learn songs from neighbors and then settle nearby, thus creating neighborhoods of conformity to local vocal culture. In some species males appear to postpone song learning until after dispersal, possibly to facilitate conformity to local dialects. Despite decades of study, we still lack a consensus regarding the selective pressures driving this delayed song [...]
Developmental temperature affects phenotypic means and variability: a meta-analysis of fish data
Published: 2018-12-09
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Fishes are sensitive to their thermal environment, and face an uncertain future in a warming world. Theoretically, populations in novel environments might express greater levels of phenotypic variability to increase the chance of surviving – and eventually thriving – in the new conditions. Most research on the effect of the early thermal environment in fish species focuses on average phenotypic [...]
Temperature as a modulator of sexual selection
Published: 2018-12-03
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
A central question in ecology and evolution is to understand why sexual selection varies so much in strength across taxa, and it has long been known that ecological factors are crucial to this respect. Temperature is a particularly critical abiotic ecological factor that can drastically modulate a wide range of physiological, morphological and behavioural traits, impacting individuals and [...]
Early-life telomere length predicts survival to adulthood and lifespan in a wild mammal
Published: 2018-11-22
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Telomeres, protective caps at the end of chromosomes, maintain genomic stability and function as a biomarker of senescence in many vertebrate species. Telomere length at different ages has been related to (subsequent) lifespan, but to date only one laboratory-based study has shown a direct link between early-life telomere length and lifespan. Whether this relationship holds in wild populations, [...]
Subspecies status and methods explain strength of response to local versus foreign song by oscine birds in meta-analysis
Published: 2018-11-10
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
To understand the implications of geographical variation in vocal culture in songbirds, researchers have often compared territorial responses to playback of local songs versus responses to playback of songs from ‘foreign’ conspecifics. This body of work has the potential to help us move towards a general understanding of factors driving divergence in signal recognition. We conducted a systematic [...]
Female Maylandia zebra prefer victorious males
Published: 2018-11-09
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Females of a widespread species of the rock‐dwelling haplochromine cichlids of Lake Malawi, Maylandia zebra, show preference for males that successfully evict intruding males from their territory. This behaviour, experimentally induced by the investigators in a laboratory setting, was also preferred over males that were not permitted to interact with any other individual.
Empowering peer reviewers to improve transparency
Published: 2018-04-17
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Peer review is widely considered fundamental to maintaining the rigor of science, but it is an imperfect process. In that context, it is noteworthy that formal standards or guidelines for peer reviews themselves are rarely discussed in many disciplines, including ecology and evolutionary biology. Some may argue that a dearth of explicit guidelines is not a problem. After all, a tremendous amount [...]
Questionable Research Practices in Ecology and Evolution
Published: 2018-03-21
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
We surveyed 807 researchers (494 ecologists and 313 evolutionary biologists) about their use of Questionable Research Practices (QRPs), including cherry picking statistically significant results, p hacking, and hypothesising after the results are known (HARKing). We also asked them to estimate the proportion of their colleagues that use each of these QRPs. Several of the QRPs were prevalent [...]