Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Individual differences in behaviour explain variation in survival: a meta-analysis
Published: 2019-08-01
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Research focusing on among-individual differences in behaviour (“animal personality”) has been blooming for over a decade. One of the central theories explaining the maintenance of behavioural variation posits a trade-off between behaviour and survival with individuals expressing greater “risky” behaviours suffering higher mortality. Here, for the first time, we synthesize the existing empirical [...]
Experimentally altered rainfall regimes and host root traits affect grassland arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities
Published: 2019-07-30
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Plant Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Future climate scenarios predict changes in rainfall regimes. These changes are expected to affect plants via effects on the expression of root traits associated with water and nutrient uptake. Associated microorganisms may also respond to these new precipitation regimes, either directly in response to changes in the soil environment or indirectly in response to altered root trait expression. We [...]
Temporal dynamics of mycorrhizal fungal communities and co-associations with grassland plant communities following experimental manipulation of rainfall
Published: 2019-07-30
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Plant Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Climate models project overall a reduction in rainfall amounts and shifts in the timing of rainfall events in mid-latitudes and sub-tropical dry regions, which threatens the productivity and diversity of grasslands. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi may help plants to cope with expected changes but may also be impacted by changing rainfall, either via the direct effects of low soil moisture on [...]
The hierarchy-of-hypotheses approach: A synthesis method for enhancing theory development in ecology and evolution
Published: 2019-07-30
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
In the current era of Big Data, existing synthesis tools (e.g. formal meta-analysis) are useful for handling the deluge of data and information. However, there is a need for complementary tools that help to (i) structure data and information, (ii) closely connect evidence to theory and (iii) further develop theory. We present the hierarchy-of-hypotheses (HoH) approach to address these issues. In [...]
Relationships between mycorrhizal type and leaf flammability in the Australian flora
Published: 2019-07-22
Subjects: Biodiversity, Botany, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Evolution, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Plant Sciences
Mycorrhizal fungi have been linked to fire processes in natural ecosystems via their effects on litter decomposability but, to our knowledge, relationships between mycorrhizal fungi and leaf traits directly associated with aspects of flammability have not been studied. Here, we assessed the relationships among leaf traits and host mycorrhizal type for 77 species of Australian trees and shrubs to [...]
Resource allocation to growth or luxury consumption drives mycorrhizal responses
Published: 2019-07-18
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Plant Biology, Plant Sciences
Highly variable phenotypic responses in mycorrhizal plants challenge our functional understanding of plant-fungal mutualisms. Using non-invasive high-throughput phenotyping, we observed that arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi relieved phosphorus (P) limitation and enhanced growth of Brachypodium distachyon under P-limited conditions, while photosynthetic limitation under low nitrogen (N) was [...]
Moving on from the insect apocalypse narrative: engaging with evidence-based insect conservation
Published: 2019-07-16
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Life Sciences
Recent studies showing temporal changes in local and regional insect populations received exaggerated global media coverage. Confusing and inaccurate science communication on this important issue could have counter-productive effects on public support for insect conservation. The ‘insect apocalypse’ narrative is fuelled by a limited number of studies that are restricted geographically [...]
Male age and its association with reproductive traits in captive and wild house sparrows
Published: 2019-06-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Evolutionary theory predicts that females seek extra-pair fertilisations from high-quality males. In socially monogamous bird species, it is often old males that are most successful in extra-pair fertilisations. Adaptive models of female extra-pair mate choice suggest that old males may produce offspring of higher genetic quality than young males because they have proven their survivability. [...]
Pet or pest? Stable isotope methods for the early detection of invasive alien species
Published: 2019-06-29
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
The illegal pet trade facilitates the global dispersal of invasive alien species (IAS), providing opportunities for new pests to establish in novel recipient environments. Despite the increasing threat of IAS to the environment and economy, biosecurity efforts often lack suitable, scientifically-based methods to make effective management decisions; such as identifying an established IAS [...]
Toward a Pluralistic Conception of Resilience
Published: 2019-06-29
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Computer Sciences, Dynamic Systems, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Numerical Analysis and Computation, Other Medicine and Health Sciences, Other Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Sustainability, Systems Biology
The concept of resilience occupies an increasingly prominent position within contemporary efforts to confront many of modernitys most pressing challenges, including global environmental change, famine, infrastructure, poverty, and terrorism, to name but a few. Received views of resilience span a broad conceptual and theoretical terrain, with a diverse range of application domains and settings. In [...]
The ‘Holy Grail’ in Phylogenetic Reconstruction: Seeing the Forest for the Trees?
Published: 2019-06-18
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Systematic/macroevolutionary biology has dedicated much of the past 50 years of its energy and resources in an effort to resolve definitively the one true ‘tree of life’ and to explain materially its cause. But, no matter the quantity/quality of data, experimentation, and analysis, the effort is hampered by persistent and ever-accumulating contradictory observations. This may be an indication [...]
Accurate forest projections require long-term wood decay experiments because trait effects change.
Published: 2019-06-16
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Deadwood is a large aboveground carbon (C) pool that regulates how forests respond to global change. Due to slow decomposition, CWD delays C emissions following major forest disturbances so predicting how carbon balance will respond to changing disturbance regimes requires identifying factors that influence the full temporal trajectory of wood decay from senescence to complete mineralization. [...]
On the importance of the megabiota to the functioning of the biosphere
Published: 2019-06-15
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A prominent signal of the Anthropocene is the extinction and population reduction of the megabiota – the largest animals and plants on the planet. However, we lack a predictive framework for the sensitivity of megabiota during times of rapid global change and how they impact the functioning of ecosystems and the biosphere. Here, we extend metabolic scaling theory and use global simulation models [...]
Little difference in average fish growth and maximum size across temperatures
Published: 2019-06-06
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Ectotherms typically increase growth and reduce body size when temperature increases. This physiological response to temperature, termed the temperature-size rule (TSR), is often used to predict how rising temperatures with climate change will affect higher levels of organization, i.e. guilds, communities and ecosystems. Here we study whether faster growth and reduction in adult body size are [...]
Does internal egg carrying impair foraging ability as much as external egg carrying in a neotropical spider?
Published: 2019-06-05
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Females not only produce costly gametes, but also store the eggs until oviposition, a period called pregnancy. The volume that eggs occupy in the female abdomen may decrease female foraging ability by making females slow. Although females of all species are subjected to these potential costs, it remains an unexplored matter in invertebrates. Females of the spider Paratrechalea ornata carry their [...]