Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Biodiversity
Reassessing a Holocene extinction: multiple lines of evidence do not support the historical presence and recent extirpation of a protected anole on the island of Anguilla
Published: 2024-09-20
Subjects: Biodiversity, Genomics, Integrative Biology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Zoology
Accurate assessment of historical species ranges is important for conservation science and management. Inaccurate historical species ranges can lead to incorrect assumptions about local extinctions, population trends, and potential sites for reintroductions. Yet, historical knowledge is often lacking for many species. Here, we examine the case of the bearded anole, Anolis pogus, which has long [...]
Demographic expansion and panmixia in a St. Martin endemic, Anolis pogus, coincides with the decline of a competitor
Published: 2024-09-19
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Genomics, Population Biology, Zoology
Understanding patterns of differentiation at microgeographic scales can enhance our understanding of evolutionary dynamics and lead to the development of effective conservation strategies. In particular, high levels of landscape heterogeneity can strongly influence species abundances, genetic structure, and demographic trends. The bearded anole, Anolis pogus, is endemic to the topographically [...]
Widespread decline of ground beetles in Germany
Published: 2024-09-18
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences
Many insect species are facing existential crises, primarily due to diverse human-induced activities. Most insect assessments, however, are based on short-term data or some iconic species. Here, in close collaboration with taxonomic experts from natural history societies, we compiled the best available occurrence data for ground beetles in Germany, estimated the changes in species occupancy over [...]
Mapeando Necessidades: Oportunidades para a Utilização de Ferramentas Genéticas e Genômicas na Conservação da Biodiversidade Brasileira
Published: 2024-09-12
Subjects: Biodiversity, Genetics and Genomics
Biodiversity conservation, especially in megadiverse regions like Brazil, faces challenges that demand the implementation of innovative approaches. In this context, a partnership agreement was signed between the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) and the Vale Institute ofTechnology (ITV), named GBB (Genomics of the Brazilian Biodiversity), aiming to develop genetic and [...]
Harnessing social media data to track species range shifts
Published: 2024-09-10
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences
Biodiversity monitoring programs and citizen science data remain heavily biased towards the Global North. Incorporating social media data can complement existing gaps, especially in megadiverse countries with limited records, but whether such data can significantly improve our understanding of range-shifting species is unknown. Here, we collated locality data from Flickr and Facebook, in addition [...]
Collapse and recovery of livestock systems shape fire regimes on the Eurasian steppe: a review of ecosystem and biodiversity implications
Published: 2024-09-04
Subjects: Biodiversity, Botany, Natural Resources and Conservation, Plant Sciences, Sustainability
Shifts in fire regimes can trigger rapid changes in ecosystem functioning and biodiversity. We synthesize evidence for patterns, causes and consequences of recent change in fire regimes across the Eurasian steppes, a neglected global fire hotspot. Political and economic turmoil following the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 triggered abrupt land abandonment over millions of hectares and a [...]
Cultural inception of invasive species
Published: 2024-09-02
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Studies, Natural Resources and Conservation, Sustainability
1. Many invasive alien species gradually become embedded within local cultures. Such species can increasingly be perceived by society as familiar and native elements of the social-ecological system and as integral parts of local cultures. 2. Here, we explore this phenomenon and define it as cultural inception. Cultural inception can greatly hinder our ability to successfully manage invasive [...]
Rethinking Environmental Impact Assessment for nature positive development
Published: 2024-08-28
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Achieving nature positive development within existing regulatory frameworks will be challenging. Halting and reversing biodiversity loss requires restoration and enhancement of ecosystems alongside a fundamental shift in how we value biodiversity and assess quantifiable improvements. Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) focussed on mitigating negative impacts do not promote positive outcomes – [...]
Quantifying disturbance effects on ecosystem services in a changing climate
Published: 2024-08-27
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Disturbances, such as hurricanes, fires, droughts, and pest outbreaks, can cause major changes in ecosystem conditions that threaten nature’s contributions to people (ecosystem services). However, approaches to assess these impacts on diverse services under climate change are rare. To advance such efforts, we build on the accelerating research on disturbance ecology and ecosystem services to [...]
A toolbox to quantify human activity in protected areas for park management
Published: 2024-08-26
Subjects: Biodiversity
1. Recreation in protected areas (PAs) is growing worldwide, potentially conflicting with wildlife and ecosystem protection. Efficiently estimating human activity in PAs is crucial for balancing a dual mandate of supporting visitor access and biodiversity, but managers lack clear recommendations about how best to monitor spatial and temporal trends in human activity. 2. Through two case [...]
Current knowledge on the novel semiarid photovoltaic ecosystems and their impacts on biodiversity
Published: 2024-08-26
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is fundamental to mitigate the effects of global climate change. Renewable power capacity is increasing globally, and solar photovoltaic will be the dominant renewable energy source by 2050. Photovoltaic parks require great extensions of land, usually in drylands. But both ecosystems created by solar parks and the effect of solar parks [...]
PPSDB : A Linked Open Data knowledge base for protist-prokaryote symbiotic interactions
Published: 2024-08-26
Subjects: Biodiversity, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences
As the ecological and evolutionary importance of symbiotic interactions between protists (microbial eukaryotes) and prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) is better appreciated, keeping an overview of their diversity and the literature becomes a growing and ongoing challenge. Here we present the Protist-Prokaryote Symbiosis Database (PPSDB), comprising 789 manually curated interaction statements [...]
The macroecology of knowledge: Spatio-temporal patterns of name-bearing types in biodiversity science
Published: 2024-08-12
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences
Ecological and evolutionary processes are recognized as the main factors generating and maintaining biodiversity. However, how biodiversity knowledge is collated, organized, and distributed worldwide influences our perceptions and inferences about biodiversity and the underlying processes. We demonstrated that name-bearing type specimens (NBT), the most fundamental reference for the identity of [...]
An integrated population modelling workflow for supporting mesopredator management
Published: 2024-08-01
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Biodiversity, Biostatistics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Longitudinal Data Analysis and Time Series, Natural Resources and Conservation, Population Biology, Statistical Methodology, Statistical Models, Survival Analysis, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Expanding populations of mesopredators threaten biodiversity and human health in many ecosystems across the world. Lethal control through harvest is commonly implemented as a mitigation measure, yet the effects of harvest and its interaction with environmental conditions on mesopredator population dynamics have rarely been assessed quantitatively due to data constraints. Recent advances [...]
New frontiers in AI for biodiversity research and conservation with multimodal language models
Published: 2024-08-01
Subjects: Biodiversity
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into biodiversity research and conservation is growing rapidly, demonstrating great potential in reducing the intensive human labor required for data preprocessing, thereby, facilitating larger data collections that offer ecological insights at unprecedented scales. However, most of these AI applications for biodiversity are still in the early [...]