Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Social and economic consequences of prestige and dominance in rural Colombian social networks
Published: 2025-08-22
Subjects: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Social status regulates influence and well-being in most social-animals. In humans, social status can be attained via two distinct routes: prestige (freely-conferred deference, typically tracking the ability of individuals to confer benefits) and dominance (fear-based deference, typically tracking the ability of individuals to inflict costs). While prestige and dominance are well-studied from a [...]
Observation methods in animal behaviour: a simulation study of performance
Published: 2025-08-21
Subjects: Animal Studies, Biological Psychology, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Most behavioural studies rely on systematic samples of behaviour, as observing and recording all behavioural events that occur is rarely feasible. Choosing an observation method involves several key decisions, including which individuals to observe, how to sample their behaviour, and how to distribute sampling effort over time. These decisions influence how closely behavioural estimates reflect [...]
From Shorelines to Social Media: Mixed-Methods Insights into Urban Fishing Practices, Policy Gaps and Culture in the Digital Age
Published: 2025-08-14
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Recreational and subsistence fishing are globally significant forms of marine resource use, contributing to food security, cultural identity, and social well-being across diverse coastal communities. Yet these non-commercial sectors are often overlooked in formal fisheries monitoring and governance. In California’s San Francisco Bay Area, non-commercial fishers represent a wide range of [...]
Five misunderstandings in animal social network analysis
Published: 2025-08-04
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Animal social network analysis has become central to behavioural ecology, offering powerful tools to explore the links between social behaviour and ecological or evolutionary processes. While rooted in the broader field of social network analysis, the methods used in animal studies have diverged from contemporary practices in the broader field. This divergence has led to conflicting guidance on [...]
okaapi: an R package for generating social networks based on trait preferences
Published: 2025-07-09
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Modelling of simulated networks with generative network models plays a central role for our understanding of the emergence and consequences of network structures. Accessible software that generates simulated networks based on relevant processes can facilitate the use of this important approach in behavioural ecology, and can help drive forward our understanding of animal social structures. Here [...]
Social information about others’ affective states in a human-altered world
Published: 2025-07-06
Subjects: Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
As a result of human-induced environmental change, animals increasingly face challenges that differ from those encountered throughout their evolutionary history. Whilst this has caused dramatic declines for many species, some can persist by gathering information to reduce uncertainty, thereby minimising risks and exploiting new opportunities. The strategic use of social information can be [...]
Conservation impacts and socio-demographic characteristics mediate perceptions of trophy hunting
Published: 2025-06-20
Subjects: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Trophy hunting is a divisive topic in conservation, with recent events and policy proposals reigniting heated debates over its acceptability. To understand what shapes divergent opinions on trophy hunting, we conducted an opportunistic survey that gauged the degree to which the perceived acceptability of trophy hunting was influenced by a range of contextual factors (e.g. animal welfare, [...]
Enhancing motivation to learn about the ocean through VR underwater field skills in a Higher Education setting
Published: 2025-06-16
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Other Social and Behavioral Sciences, Psychology, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly recognised as a tool for enhancing engagement and motivation in education. This is particularly true where access to experiential learning is limited, as is often the case in marine ecology courses. However, evaluations of the effectiveness of VR as a teaching and learning tool in higher education is limited. Here, we use the Explore experience developed by [...]
Gendered male and high-income country authors dominate publication at a One Health research organization
Published: 2025-05-28
Subjects: Life Sciences, Publishing, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Authorship on academic publications carries substantial weight for researchers in science fields. One’s position in a list of authors is typically used to signal information about author contributions and status, with the first and last authorship positions regarded as the most prestigious and important for career advancement. Therefore, any inequities that exist in the allocation of publication [...]
The Hunt for Ancient DNA – Natural & Artificial
Published: 2025-05-12
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract: The recently released documentary titled “The Hunt for the Oldest DNA” was the inspiration for the writing of this paper. It is because Professor Eske Willerslev and I, David R. Wood, are both peers in two mirror fields of evolutionary science achieving similar breakthrough results using similar techniques to unconceal ancient DNA – natural and artificial. This paper goes through the [...]
Correcting Mesoudi’s Failed Concept of Societal Culture
Published: 2025-05-12
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract: The natural species homo sapiens are not a cultural species. Homo sapiens instead artificially segregates itself into many artificial species (i.e., cultures) for competitive advantage in natural intraspecies competition – warfare, economics, etc. These artificial species are defined and categorized based on the distinct combination of artificial genomes, artificial structural [...]
Culmulative Cultural Evolution - A Flawed Concept
Published: 2025-05-11
Subjects: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract: The concept of cumulative cultural evolution (CCE) is fundamentally flawed. The second process of evolution is enacted via imagination at the individual level. This process utilizes an artificial genome within our mind when conceiving a new idea. Homo sapiens has expanded the artificial genome available to each of us, but this does not amount to a cumulative process practically. It is [...]
Bengal Basin in the Midst of the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean Littoral: A Study of the Earliest Trading Centre and the Nautical Network of Inland and Oceanic Trade originating from Ancient Bengal
Published: 2025-04-28
Subjects: Arts and Humanities, Social and Behavioral Sciences
This study explores the pivotal role of the Bengal Basin in shaping ancient maritime and inland trade networks in South Asia. Centered on the region’s complex deltaic system and strategic coastal position, the research investigates how natural features such as the expansive Gangetic delta and extensive river networks fostered both local commerce and long-distance trade across the Indian Ocean. [...]
Facing the heat: behavioral and molecular underpinnings of heat stress in bumblebees
Published: 2025-04-25
Subjects: Animal Studies, Behavior and Ethology, Behavioral Neurobiology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Environmental Studies, Life Sciences, Neuroscience and Neurobiology, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Climate change heralds an era of increased heat waves. Insects, due to their short generation times and their sensitive ecological requirements, offer a powerful model for studying rapid physiological and behavioral responses to high temperatures. Solitary insects primarily respond to temperature extremes by moving in space or time to remain in a constant environment, or by exploiting phenotypic [...]
Code review in practice: A checklist for computational reproducibility and collaborative research in ecology and evolution
Published: 2025-04-24
Subjects: Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Ensuring that research, along with its data and code, is credible and remains accessible is crucial for advancing scientific knowledge—especially in ecology and evolutionary biology, where the climate crisis and biodiversity loss accelerate and demand urgent, transparent science. Yet, code is rarely shared alongside scientific publications, and when it is, unclear implementation and insufficient [...]