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Preprints

Filtering by Subject: Biodiversity

Social cues and habitat structure influence the behavior of a non-social insect

Matteo Marcantonio, Stefano Masier, Argiris Kourtidis, et al.

Published: 2024-03-05
Subjects: Agriculture, Animal Sciences, Biodiversity, Entomology, Life Sciences

Habitat fragmentation and loss is a known threat to biodiversity. Their combined effect leaves organisms in small isolated patches of habitat, contributing to the current biodiversity crisis. The first response of animals to environmental change is typically behavioral. Beyond the physical elements of the environment, the "social landscape" shapes the spatial distribution of the habitats [...]

Quantifying taxon-specific habitat connectivity requirements of urban wildlife using structured expert judgement

Steph Courtney Jones, Luke O'Loughlin, Danswell Starrs, et al.

Published: 2024-02-28
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Research Methods in Life Sciences

Urban planning which enhances native biodiversity in and around cities is needed to address the impacts of urbanisation and conserve urban biodiversity. The “Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design” (BSUD) framework incorporates ecological knowledge into urban planning to achieve positive biodiversity outcomes through improved urban design and infrastructure development. BSUD includes principles to [...]

Rangewide occupancy of a flagship species, the California Gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica) in southern California: habitat associations and recovery from wildfire

Barbara E. Kus, Kristine L. Preston, Alexandra Houston

Published: 2024-02-12
Subjects: Biodiversity

The California Gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica), a federally threatened species, is a flagship species for regional conservation planning in southern California (USA). An inhabitant of coastal sage scrub vegetation, the gnatcatcher has declined in response to habitat loss and fragmentation, exacerbated by catastrophic wildfires. We documented the status of gnatcatchers throughout their [...]

Japanese mayfly family classification with a vision transformer model

Yuichi Iwasaki, Hiroko Arai, Akihiro Tamada, et al.

Published: 2024-02-10
Subjects: Aquaculture and Fisheries Life Sciences, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Biodiversity, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Sciences, Databases and Information Systems, Engineering, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Benthic macroinvertebrates are a frequently used indicator group for biomonitoring and biological assessment of river ecosystems. However, their taxonomic identification is laborious and requires special expertise. In this study, we aimed to assess the capability of a vision transformer (ViT) model for family-level identification of mayflies (order Ephemeroptera). Specifically, we focused on [...]

Survival patterns and population stability of cliff plants suggest high resistance to environmental variability

Ane Múgica Carnicero, Maria Begoña Garcia, Héctor Miranda

Published: 2024-02-09
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Cliffs are marginal and poorly studied habitats that are home to a high proportion of endemic or threatened species. Here, we review the survival patterns and population dynamics of plants growing on vertical cliffs and compare them to other plants with similar life histories that grow on the ground. To this end, we have compiled studies of cliff and ground plants from two main sources: MONITO [...]

The costs and benefits of publicising species discoveries.

Gerard Ryan, Emily Nicholson, Christopher Baker, et al.

Published: 2024-02-09
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Biodiversity, Biology

Public information about where species are found can influence what happens to them – from building support to protect their habitat, to telling poachers where to find a target. Recent heated scientific debate about whether to release information about species’ locations when new species or populations are found have highlighted the trade-off between the risk of damage or loss versus the benefits [...]

Leveraging Biodiversity Net Gain to address invertebrate declines in England

Natalie Elizabeth Duffus, Owen T Lewis, Richard Grenyer, et al.

Published: 2024-02-09
Subjects: Biodiversity, Entomology

Meeting ambitions such as the Global Biodiversity Framework 2030 targets will require multiple conservation mechanisms that benefit the widest possible range of habitats and species. Here, we evaluate the likely impact of a novel and ambitious ecological compensation policy, Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) in England, on terrestrial insects, spiders, and other arthropods (‘invertebrates’), a [...]

Comparing conservation land acquisition strategies using agent-based models

Robert J. Smith, Assaf Shwartz, Claire Stewart, et al.

Published: 2024-01-29
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Most unprotected biodiversity is found outside state-owned protected areas, so developing effective conservation initiatives on privately and communally-owned land is critical. Conservationists have a long history of working with these landowners and their actions can be divided into two broad categories. The first is where they agree to take over responsibility for management, either by buying [...]

Hybridization potential of brown trout, with particular reference to invaded environments

Craig F Purchase, Connor Hanley, Tyler H. Lantiegne, et al.

Published: 2024-01-25
Subjects: Aquaculture and Fisheries Life Sciences, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Population Biology

Hybridization is a complex process beginning with the mating of two species. However, hybrid offspring frequency does not predict hetero-specific mating frequency, as post-mating, both pre-zygotic and post-zygotic barriers influence their occurrence. Post-zygotic outbreeding depression usually results in poor embryo-juvenile survival or the production of sterile hybrid offspring. Females have [...]

Puma space use and dispersal in tropical biodiversity hotspots: bridging a gap to connect individuals to populations

Bernardo Brandão Niebuhr, Sandra Maria Cintra Cavalcanti, Ermeson A. Vilalba, et al.

Published: 2024-01-25
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Zoology

Assessing residency and dispersal behavior of apex predators and its consequences for landscape connectivity is of paramount importance for understanding population- and ecosystem- effects of anthropogenic land use change. However, basic information on animal space use is still lacking, particularly in the Tropics. Here we synthesize ranging and dispersal ecological information on pumas (Puma [...]

Distribution, Abundance and Status of At-Risk Birds at a Six-Acre Site Within the Upper Boileau Biodiversity Reserve, Québec: A Year-Long Research Study

Jimmy Videle

Published: 2024-01-22
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences, Ornithology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Understanding the distribution, abundance and status of at-risk birds in any area where human impact is low is an imperative in understanding the larger ecological situation. Birds have been widely seen as reliable indicators of ecological health and there have been significant population declines in North America, especially among migratory aerial insectivores, and are escalading rapidly. As a [...]

Opportunity Begets Opportunity to Drive Macroevolutionary Dynamics of a Diverse Lizard Radiation

Laura Alencar, Orlando Schwery, Meaghan R. Gade, et al.

Published: 2024-01-18
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Evolution proceeds unevenly across the tree of life, with some lineages accumulating diversity more rapidly than others. Explaining this disparity is challenging as similar evolutionary triggers often do not result in analogous shifts across the tree, and similar shifts may reflect different evolutionary triggers. We used a combination of approaches to directly consider such context-dependency [...]

A big data and machine learning approach for monitoring the condition of ecosystems

Miguel Equihua, Octavio Pérez-Maqueo, Julián Equihua, et al.

Published: 2024-01-16
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Sciences, Forest Biology, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Statistical Methodology, Statistical Models, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Ecosystems are highly valuable as a source of goods and services and as a heritage for future generations. Knowing their condition is extremely important for all management and conservation activities and public policies. Until now, the evaluation of ecosystem condition has been unsatisfactory and thus lacks practical implementation for most countries. We propose that ecosystem integrity is a [...]

Meta-analysis reveals that the effects of precipitation change on soil and litter fauna in forests depend on body size

Philip Martin, Leonora Fisher, Leticia Pérez-Izquierdo, et al.

Published: 2024-01-11
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Anthropogenic climate change is altering precipitation regimes at a global scale. While precipitation changes have been linked to changes in the abundance and diversity of soil and litter invertebrate fauna in forests, general trends have remained elusive due to mixed results from primary studies. We used a meta-analysis based on 352 comparisons from 30 primary studies to address associated [...]

Smart Solutions, Big Returns: Closing Biodiversity Knowledge Gaps with Digital Agriculture

Ruben Remelgado, Vítězslav Moudrý, Elisa Padulosi, et al.

Published: 2023-12-23
Subjects: Agriculture, Biodiversity

The global expansion and intensification of food production threaten biodiversity, vital for ecosystem services and food security. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) advocates drastic changes in agricultural management, yet translating recommendations into local action is challenging. Biodiversity-friendly practices carry highly uncertain benefits, dissuading their adoption. [...]

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