Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Biodiversity
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 [...]
Open Access Principles and Practices Benefit Conservation
Published: 2019-05-01
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Open access is often contentious in the scientific community, but its implications for conservation are under-discussed or omitted entirely from scientific discourse. Access to literature is a key factor impeding implementation of conservation research, and many open access models and concepts that are little-known by most conservation researchers may facilitate implementation. Conservation [...]
A continental measure of urbanness predicts avian response to local urbanization
Published: 2019-03-26
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Ornithology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Urban Studies and Planning
Understanding species-specific relationships with their environment is essential for ecology, biogeography, and conservation biology. Moreover, understanding how these relationships change with spatial scale is critical to mitigating potential threats to biodiversity. But methods which measure inter-specific variation in responses to environmental parameters, generalizable across multiple spatial [...]
Mapping and understanding the digital biodiversity knowledge about vertebrates in the Atlantic Rainforest
Published: 2019-03-18
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Biodiversity data are fundamental for macroecological studies. Recent efforts on gathering global data have not been sufficient to surpass biases and gaps. This incompleteness has serious consequences on conservation and ecological understanding, therefore it is of major importance to map, quantify and describe these flaws. In this paper we aimed to assess inventory incompleteness for the [...]
Climate, human disturbance and geometric constraints drive the elevational richness pattern of birds in a biodiversity hotspot in south-western China
Published: 2019-02-21
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
We explored the elevational richness patterns of birds in a biodiversity hotspot in south-western China, the Gaoligong Mountains and assessed the role of different spatial factors, climatic factors and landscape composition in shaping the richness patterns. The east slope of the southern part of Gaoligong Mountains (24.79°N-26.49°N, 98.65°E-98.93°E) is the western-most part of the Hengduan [...]
Ice-free area expansion compounds the non-native species threat to Antarctic terrestrial biodiversity
Published: 2019-02-18
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Warming across ice-covered regions will result in changes to both the physical and climatic environment, revealing new ice-free habitat and new climatically suitable habitats for non-native species establishment. Recent studies have independently quantified each of these aspects in Antarctica, where ice-free areas form crucial habitat for the majority of terrestrial biodiversity. Here we [...]
Seeing rare birds where there are none: self-rated expertise predicts correct species identification, but also more false rarities
Published: 2019-02-04
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biodiversity, Life Sciences, Ornithology
The use of crowdsourced data is growing rapidly, particularly in ornithology. Citizen science greatly contributes to our knowledge, however, little is known about the reliability of data collected in that way. We found, using an online picture quiz, that self-proclaimed expert birders were more likely to misidentify common British bird species as exotic or rare species, compared to people who [...]
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 [...]