Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Dominance determines fish community biomass in a temperate seagrass ecosystem
Published: 2019-01-20
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Biodiversity and ecosystem function are often correlated, but there are multiple hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Ecosystem functions such as primary or secondary production may be maximized by species richness, evenness in species abundances, or the presence or dominance of species with certain traits. Here, we combined surveys of natural fish communities (conducted [...]
Visual-based male mate preference for conspecific females in mutually ornamented fish: possible importance of species recognition hypothesis
Published: 2019-01-17
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Because sexual selection typically acts on males, evolution of conspicuous ornamentation in females has been understudied. Genetic correlation between sexes and sexual or social selection on females have been proposed to explain female ornamentation, but they cannot fully explain observed patterns in nature such as female ornamentation in non-territorial, promiscuous species. The species [...]
Rapid isolation and characterization of microsatellites in the critically endangered Mountain Bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci)
Published: 2019-01-15
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences, Molecular Genetics
High-throughput sequencing tools promise to revolutionize many aspects of genetics research, e.g. by allowing the identification of functional adaptive genetic variation. However, the expense and expertise required to apply these tools to basic conservation questions is a challenge for applications outside academia, resulting in a so-called “conservation genomics gap” (Shafer et al. 2015). The [...]
The covariance between metabolic rate and behaviour varies across behaviours and thermal types: meta-analytic insights
Published: 2019-01-13
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Physiology
Energy metabolism has received much attention as a potential driver of repeatable among-individual differences in behaviour (animal personality). Several factors have been hypothesized to mediate this relationship. We performed a meta-analysis of >70 studies comprised of >8000 individuals reporting relationships between measures of maintenance metabolic rates (i.e., basal metabolic rate, [...]
Macroecology of parental care in arthropods: higher mortality risk leads to higher benefits of offspring protection in tropical climates
Published: 2019-01-11
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
The intensity of biotic interactions varies around the world, in such a way that mortality risk imposed by natural enemies is usually higher in the tropics. A major role of offspring attendance is protection against natural enemies, so the benefits of this behaviour should be higher in tropical regions. We tested this macroecological prediction with a meta‐regression of field experiments in which [...]
Local forest structure variability increases resilience to wildfire in dry western U.S. coniferous forests
Published: 2019-01-08
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
A “resilient” forest endures disturbance and is likely to persist. Resilience to wildfire may arise from feedback between fire behavior and forest structure in dry forest systems. Frequent fire creates fine-scale variability in forest structure, which may then interrupt fuel continuity and prevent future fires from killing overstory trees. Testing the generality and scale of this phenomenon is [...]
Counter culture: Causes, extent and solutions of systematic bias in the analysis of behavioural counts
Published: 2019-01-06
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
We often quantify the rate at which a behaviour occurs by counting the number of times it occurs within a specific, short observation period. Measuring behaviour in such a way is typically unavoidable but induces error. This error acts to systematically reduce effect sizes, including metrics of particular interest to behavioural and evolutionary ecologists such as R2, repeatability (intra-class [...]
BEHAVIOUR OF WHITE FULANI CALVES GRAZING PANICUM/STYLO PASTURE IN SOUTHWEST NIGERIA
Published: 2019-01-02
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
The objective of this study was to investigate the behaviour of White Fulani (WF) yearling calves grazing a Panicum maximum/Stylosanthes guainensis mixture under traditional management system in south western Nigeria. The effects of two biomass spatial distribution (dense and sparse) were evaluated in association with three pasture heights (10, 15 and 20 cm), with calves allowed access to the [...]
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: 2018-12-17
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: 2018-12-09
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: 2018-12-08
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, [...]