Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
StableClim, continuous projections of climate stability from 21000 BP to 2100 CE at multiple spatial scales
Published: 2020-02-22
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Paleoclimatic data are used in eco-evolutionary models to improve knowledge of biogeographical processes that drive patterns of biodiversity through time, opening windows into past climate–biodiversity dynamics. Applying these models to harmonised simulations of past and future climatic change can strengthen forecasts of biodiversity change. StableClim provides continuous estimates of climate [...]
The Evolutionary Ecology of Age at Natural Menopause: Implications for Public Health
Published: 2020-02-11
Subjects: Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Medicine and Health Sciences, Other Social and Behavioral Sciences, Physiology, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Evolutionary perspectives on menopause have focused on explaining why early reproductive cessation in females has emerged and why it is rare throughout the animal kingdom, but less attention has been given to exploring patterns of diversity in age at natural menopause. In this paper, we aim to generate new hypotheses for understanding human patterns of diversity in this trait, defined as age at [...]
Comparing ecological and evolutionary variability within datasets
Published: 2020-01-28
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Genetics and Genomics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Many key questions in evolutionary ecology require the use of variance ratios such as heritability, repeatability, and individual resource specialization. These ratios allow to understand how phenotypic variation is structured into genetic and non-genetic components, to identify how much organisms vary in the resources they use or how functional traits structure species communities. Understanding [...]
Seasonality, diet, and physiology as a predominant control factors of the moult dynamics in birds – a meta-analysis
Published: 2020-01-09
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Ornithology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Moult is a process, usually occurring annually, in which birds replace their plumage. It is one of the most crucial life-history traits because it restores the functions of plumage and allows a bird to adapt to environmental conditions or special seasonal needs such as breeding and camouflage during non-breeding season. Consequently, moulting has advantages in terms of future performance. [...]
The Orchard Plot: Cultivating a Forest Plot for Use in Ecology, Evolution and Beyond
Published: 2019-12-29
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
‘Classic’ forest plots show the effect sizes from individual studies and the aggregate effect from a meta-analysis. However, in ecology and evolution meta-analyses routinely contain over 100 effect sizes, making the classic forest plot of limited use. We surveyed 102 meta-analyses in ecology and evolution, finding that only 11% use the classic forest plot. Instead, most used a ‘forest-like plot’, [...]
Social effects on age-related and sex-specific immune cell profiles in a wild mammal
Published: 2019-12-16
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Evidence for age-related changes in innate and adaptive immune responses is increasing in wild populations. Such changes have been linked to fitness, and understanding the factors driving variation in immune responses is important for the evolution of immunity and senescence. Age-related changes in immune profiles may be due to sex-specific behaviour, physiology and responses to environmental [...]
Effective ecological monitoring requires a multi-scaled approach.
Published: 2019-11-28
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Environmental monitoring data is fundamental to our understanding of environmental change and is vital to evidence-based policy and management. However, different types of ecological monitoring, along with their different applications, are often poorly understood and contentious. Varying definitions and strict adherence to a specific monitoring type can inhibit effective ecological monitoring, [...]
Ageing and senescence across reproductive traits and survival in superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus)
Published: 2019-11-14
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Why do senescence rates of fitness-related traits often vary dramatically? By considering the full ageing trajectories of multiple traits we can better understand how trade-offs and life-history shapes the unique evolution of senescence rates within a population. Here, we examine age-related changes in survival and six reproductive traits in both sexes using a long-term study of a wild population [...]
Disentangling the role of shared ancestry and the environment on leaf stable isotopes
Published: 2019-09-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Ratios of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stable isotopes in plants are important indicators of intrinsic water use efficiency and N acquisition strategies. Here, we examined patterns of inter- and intraspecific variation and phylogenetic signal in foliar δ13C and δ15N for 59 alpine tundra plant species, stratifying our sampling across five habitat types. Overall, we found that variation in both δ13C [...]
Game of Tenure: the role of “hidden” citations on researchers’ ranking in Ecology
Published: 2019-08-27
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Aim Field ecologists and macroecologists often compete for the same grants and academic positions, with the former producing original data that the latter generally use for model parameterization. Original data are usually cited only in the supplementary materials thereby not counting formally as citations, creating an unfair system where field ecologists are routinely under-acknowledged and [...]
Optimising occupancy models and detection probability for conservation monitoring in a forest-dwelling small mammal
Published: 2019-08-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Biology, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Population Biology
The ability to determine the survey effort required to detect species presence is critical for the conservation of populations in order to monitor changes in distribution or abundance, a challenge for rare and elusive species. While designing an effective population survey may be of concern to scientists, it may also be a legal requirement for protected species. We analysed how spatial and [...]
Finding fungal ecological strategies: Is recycling an option?
Published: 2019-08-09
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
High-throughput sequencing (e.g., amplicon and shotgun) has provided new insight into the diversity and distribution of fungi around the globe, but developing a framework to understand this diversity has proved challenging. Here we review key ecological strategy theories developed for macro-organisms and discuss ways that they can be applied to fungi. We suggest that while certain elements may be [...]
Fungal functional ecology: Bringing a trait-based approach to plant-associated fungi
Published: 2019-08-09
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Fungi play many essential roles in ecosystems. They facilitate plant access to nutrients and water, serve as decay agents that cycle carbon and nutrients through the soil, water and atmosphere, and are major regulators of macro-organismal populations. Although technological advances are improving the detection and identification of fungi, there still exist key gaps in our ecological knowledge of [...]
The commonness of rarity: Global and future distribution of rarity across land plants
Published: 2019-08-09
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
A key feature of life’s diversity is that some species are common but many more are rare. Nonetheless, at global scales, we do not know what fraction of biodiversity consists of rare species. Here, we present the largest compilation of global plant species observation data in order to quantify the fraction of Earth’s extant land plant biodiversity that is common versus rare. Tests of different [...]
Individual variation in thermal plasticity and its impact on mass-scaling
Published: 2019-08-02
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
1. Physiological processes of individuals can be highly variable and there is mounting evidence that individuals can differ in how they respond to environmental change. The ability for individuals to reversibly adjust their metabolic rate in response to temperature (i.e., metabolic thermal plasticity) may affect mass-scaling at the population level. This process has rarely been investigated [...]