Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
A meta-analysis reveals PFAS concentrations double with each trophic level across aquatic and terrestrial food webs
Published: 2025-02-11
Subjects: Other Environmental Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) threaten ecosystems worldwide due to their persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity. Through a global-scale meta-analysis of 122 aquatic and terrestrial food webs from 64 studies, we analyse 1,009 trophic magnification factors (TMFs) for 72 PFAS and identify key variability drivers. PFAS concentrations systematically doubled with each trophic level [...]
Monogenea on exotic Indian freshwater fish. 8. Co-translocation of Cichlidogyrus tilapiae (Monogenea, Dactylogyridae) with pindani Chindongo socolofi (Cichliformes, Cichlidae), the first report of this parasite genus in India
Published: 2025-02-07
Subjects: Aquaculture and Fisheries Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Parasitology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Chindongo socolofi (Cichliformes, Cichlidae) is a popular freshwater ornamental fish from Lake Malawi in Africa. Although identifying parasites associated with the global ornamental trade is critical for developing biosecurity practices, little is known about the parasite fauna of C. socolofi. Therefore, this study sought to determine what monogenean parasites C. socolofi harbours in India. Adult [...]
Measuring critical thermal maximum in aquatic ectotherms: a practical guide
Published: 2025-02-03
Subjects: Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Critical thermal limits, commonly quantified as CTmax (maximum) or CTmin (minimum), are core metrics in the thermal biology of aquatic ectotherms. CTmax, in particular, has recently surged in popularity due to its various applications, including understanding and predicting the responses of animals to climate warming. Despite its growing popularity, there is a limited literature aimed at [...]
Assessment of Urban Bias in Iberian Butterfly Sampling through Citizen Science Data
Published: 2025-01-24
Subjects: Entomology, Life Sciences, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Citizen science platforms have revolutionized biodiversity monitoring by enabling large-scale data collection. However, concerns about potential biases, such as urban sampling bias, have raised questions about the quality and representativeness of these datasets. This study assesses the spatial distribution of butterfly observations collected through the citizen science platform Biodiversidad [...]
Weather and landscape morphology drive thermal regime variation among Mývatn ponds, and implications for resident Arctic charr
Published: 2025-01-21
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Thermal stratification is common in lentic freshwater systems, and has extensive effects on ecosystem function and the interactions between aquatic organisms and their surroundings. Although thermal regimes in temperate systems are well-characterized, small arctic and subarctic lakes and ponds can have irregular thermal regimes, and the conditions leading to stratification and mixing are less [...]
Using seed germination as a proxy of restoration success
Published: 2025-01-16
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Ecological restoration of post-mining landscapes is critical to mitigating the environmental impacts of extraction activities. This study compares the effectiveness of geomorphic restoration (GR) versus conventional restoration (CR) techniques in improving soil water availability and seed germination dynamics in the Fortuna quarry, a Mediterranean post-mining site in Spain. Soil water content [...]
Effects of stem and pith eccentricity on the accuracy of basal area increment estimations
Published: 2024-12-23
Subjects: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Accurate tree growth quantification is crucial in ecology to assess tree growth. Basal area increment (BAI) is typically calculated from tree rings on increment cores, assuming trees are perfect circles with centered piths. However, trees often have pith offset and stem out-of-roundness, leading to estimation errors. Yet, we do not know how much estimation error results from these eccentricities. [...]
Environmental RNA mitigates fish ghosts related to fish feeds for aquaculture in molecular ecological survey in a bay.
Published: 2024-12-20
Subjects: Aquaculture and Fisheries Life Sciences, Biodiversity, Genomics, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
The use of environmental DNA for molecular ecological surveys has become widely utilized in ecological assessments of various water environments, from rivers to coastal and marine areas. However, it is important to consider the scenarios of potential contamination of environmental nucleic acids in interpreting the results. In this study, we analyzed the fish species present in the feed that may [...]
Forecasting patterns of shifting biodiversity refuges in an increasingly flammable world
Published: 2024-12-20
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
In a warming and rapidly changing world, biodiversity is increasingly threatened by more frequent, severe, and larger fires. Variation in the life history attributes and habitat preferences of species mean that they may be affected differently by fire, and hence, decision makers must account for this. Understanding how fire affects the distribution of important areas of habitat and refuges for [...]
New technology for an ancient fish: A lamprey life cycle modeling tool with an R Shiny application
Published: 2024-11-25
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Applied Statistics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Population Biology, Systems Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Lampreys (Petromyzontiformes) are an ancient group of fishes with complex life histories. We created a life cycle model that includes an R Shiny interactive web application interface to simulate abundance by life stage. This will allow scientists and managers to connect available demographic information in a framework that can be applied to questions regarding lamprey biology and conservation. We [...]
Earlier and increased growth of tundra willows after a decade of growth in a warmer common garden environment
Published: 2024-11-08
Subjects: Biology, Botany, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Plant Biology, Plant Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
1. The expansion of woody shrubs, known as shrubification, is one of the most widely observed patterns of vegetation change in the tundra. Yet, we do not know the relative importance of plant plasticity and genetic change in determining shrub responses to warming. Plastic responses to the environment can be rapid, while genetic differentiation is much slower. 2. We established a common garden [...]
Altered phenotypic responses of asexual Arctic Daphnia after 10 years of rapid climate change
Published: 2024-11-05
Subjects: Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Understanding the fates of organisms and ecosystems under global change requires consideration of the organisms’ rapid adaptation potential. In the Arctic, the recent temperature increase strongly impacts freshwater ecosystems which are important sentinels for climate change. However, a mechanistic understanding on the adaptive capacity of their key zooplankton grazers, among them polyploid, [...]
Meromixis in the Anthropocene: pathways of change
Published: 2024-11-03
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Gaps in global alien plant trait data and how to fill them
Published: 2024-10-17
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Aim Functional traits help to understand the ecological processes underlying biological invasions. The extent to which trait data are available for alien plants at the global scale is unknown. In this study, we assess the availability of trait data and identify global gaps and biases Location Global Time Period Present Major taxa studied Vascular plants Methods We used the GloNAF database to get [...]
A State and Transition framework to guide riparian woodland vegetation management and environmental water decisions
Published: 2024-09-30
Subjects: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
River regulation and water extraction are major threats to the health and persistence of water-dependent ecosystems, such as riparian woodlands and forests. In heavily modified agricultural landscapes, riparian vegetation is also impacted by site-level stressors like livestock grazing, tree clearing, and weed invasions. Complex interactions among spatial and temporal drivers in water-dependent [...]