Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Biodiversity
A structured approach for building multi-community state-and-transition models to support conservation planning
Published: 2023-12-20
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Global declines in ecosystem extent and condition mean there is an increasing demand for recovery and conservation plans. Conservation plans for ecological communities require a management framework with measurable, time-bound objectives. Efficient and structured processes that facilitate timely and comparable conservation plans are essential, especially where resources are constrained. We [...]
Ecosystem functions and services provided by dung beetles: a global meta-analysis
Published: 2023-12-19
Subjects: Agriculture, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Life Sciences
Dung beetles are known to carry out a range of ecosystem functions such as secondary seed dispersal, bioturbation, nutrient cycling, plant growth, pest and parasite control, and trophic regulation, many of which support key ecosystem services. Despite the globally purported significance of this group of insects for ecosystem functioning, there has been no quantitative synthesis to establish the [...]
Complementando inventarios biológicos con datos abiertos a través de un método semiautomatizado
Published: 2023-12-13
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Introducción: Los muestreos directos constituyen la mejor manera de documentar la riqueza biológica de un lugar, pero pueden verse limitados por diversas circunstancias. Nos preguntamos si la riqueza de especies documentada en campo puede ser complementada con datos de plataformas digitales de biodiversidad. Objetivo: Analizar si los datos de ocurrencia de especies disponibles en la Global [...]
Bird species’ centrality in seed-dispersal networks varies within climatic niches
Published: 2023-12-12
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Understanding how the functional role of species within seed-dispersal networks varies across geographical and climatic gradients can reveal the mechanisms driving network organization. Using data for 157 bird species from all continents, we evaluated the variation of species’ centrality within local networks across species’ climatic niches (occupied climatic conditions) and in response to [...]
MEWC: A user-friendly AI workflow for customised wildlife-image classification
Published: 2023-12-11
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Zoology
Monitoring wildlife is crucial for making informed conservation and land-management decisions. Remotely triggered cameras are widely used for this purpose, but the resulting 'big data' are laborious to process. Although artificial intelligence (AI) offers a powerful solution to this bottleneck, it has been challenging for ecologists and practitioners without substantial technical expertise to [...]
The world was our oyster: Records reveal the vast historical extent of European oyster reef ecosystems
Published: 2023-12-07
Subjects: Biodiversity, Marine Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Anthropogenic activities have impacted marine ecosystems at extraordinary scales. Biogenic reef ecosystems built by the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) typically declined prior to scientific monitoring. Collating >1,600 records published over 350 years, we created a highly resolved (10km2) map of historical oyster reef presence across its biogeographic range, including documenting abundant [...]
Historical dataset details the distribution, extent and form of lost Ostrea edulis reef ecosystems.
Published: 2023-12-07
Subjects: Aquaculture and Fisheries Life Sciences, Biodiversity, Marine Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Ocean ecosystems have been subjected to anthropogenic influences for centuries, but the scale of past ecosystem changes is often unknown. For centuries, the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis), an ecosystem engineer providing biogenic reef habitats, was a culturally and economically significant source of food and trade. These reef habitats are now functionally extinct, and almost no memory of [...]
Natural selection is less efficient at species range edges
Published: 2023-12-06
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Changing species distributions due to global change underscore a pressing need to better understand range limits. However, our knowledge of general determinants of range limits remains poor despite over a century of work. Theoretical models demonstrate that genetic drift should strengthen across environmental gradients. This can limit natural selection to the point where populations can no longer [...]
Opinion: Missing half the picture, focus on stony corals during bleaching events has left critical knowledge gaps in our understanding of reef-scale bleaching and recovery
Published: 2023-11-28
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
The behavioural costs of overcrowding for gregarious cave-dwelling bats
Published: 2023-11-01
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
1. Bats are known for their gregarious social behaviour, often congregating in caves and underground habitats, where they play a pivotal role in providing various ecosystem services. Studying bat behaviour remains an underexplored aspect of bat ecology and conservation despite its ecological importance. 2. We explore the costs and impacts of overcrowding on bat social behaviour. This study [...]
The dispersal potential of endangered plants versus non-native garden escapees
Published: 2023-10-30
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences, Plant Sciences
Amidst global challenges like climate change, plant dispersal corridors are essential. In human-dominated landscapes, urban and rural green spaces are key dispersal avenues. Non-native plants are known to benefit from these, yet the potential benefits for endangered plants remain unclear. To address this question, I compared dispersal traits of endangered native plants with those of [...]
Patterns and drivers of population trends on individual Breeding Bird Survey routes using spatially explicit models and route-level covariates
Published: 2023-10-27
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biostatistics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Monitoring, Population Biology, Statistical Methodology, Statistical Models
Spatial patterns in population trends, particularly those at fine geographic scales, can help better understand the factors driving population change in North American birds. The standard trend models for the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) were designed to estimate changes in relative abundance through time (trend) within broad geographic strata, such as countries, Bird Conservation [...]
Uneven genetic data limits biodiversity assessments in protected areas globally
Published: 2023-10-26
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Policy, Genetics, Life Sciences
Increasing the extent of protected areas (PA) through 30x30 and other area-based conservation initiatives can help to achieve global biodiversity conservation goals across all biodiversity levels. However, intraspecific genetic variation, the foundational level of biodiversity, is rarely explicitly considered in PA design or quality performance assessments. Repurposing existing genetic data could [...]
Fifteen years of elasmobranchs trade unveiled by DNA tools: Lessons for enhanced monitoring and conservation actions
Published: 2023-10-18
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences
The trade of elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) in Brazil threatens the country's rich endemic biodiversity. The present study explored the use of DNA-based tools to monitor the Brazilian elasmobranch trade, focusing on their role in identifying processed products and supporting conservation efforts. A systematic search of literature was conducted and included 35 peer-reviewed papers published [...]
Multinational evaluation of genetic diversity indicators for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Monitoring framework
Published: 2023-10-16
Subjects: Biodiversity, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences
In December 2022, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, in which 196 Parties, for the first time, committed to report on the status of genetic diversity for all species. To facilitate this reporting, three genetic diversity indicators were developed, two of which focus on the processes contributing to genetic [...]