Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Acclimation to fluctuating hypoxia alters activity and escape performance, but not metabolism, in guppies
Published: 2025-05-02
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Organisms living in fluctuating environments must cope with constantly changing conditions. Here we investigated how acclimation to either fluctuating or constant oxygen affects behavioural and physiological responses to hypoxia in guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Guppies were acclimated to either fluctuating hypoxia (100% of air saturation during day to 40% at night) or constant normoxia (100% of [...]
Creating woodland through natural processes: Current understanding and knowledge gaps in Great Britain
Published: 2025-04-30
Subjects: Agriculture, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
1. Creating new woodlands through natural processes, as opposed to traditional tree planting, is expected to result in more structurally diverse, locally-adapted woodlands that enhance the resilience of existing treescapes. However, the outcomes of natural colonisation can be variable, and there is still considerable uncertainty around the ecological processes involved. 2. To address knowledge [...]
Key Biodiversity Areas and Important Plant Areas can help build ecologically representative Protected and Conserved Area networks to meet 30-by-30
Published: 2025-04-23
Subjects: Biodiversity, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Expanding the global network of Protected and Conserved Areas (PCAs) to cover 30% of the planet by 2030 (30-by-30) is mandated in the Global Biodiversity Framework. However, if PCA expansion is undertaken hastily, it risks inadvertently overlooking important species or ecosystems and entrenching existing spatial and taxonomic biases. We investigate, across 28 countries, whether sites identified [...]
Disentangling Landscape Heterogeneity: Compositional, Configurational, Vertical, and Temporal Heterogeneity
Published: 2025-04-14
Subjects: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Aim Landscape heterogeneity is a key driver of biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and resilience. However, the complex relationships among different components of heterogeneity—compositional, configurational, vertical, and temporal—remain underexplored for large areas such as at the national scale. This study examines the associations among multiple landscape heterogeneity components across [...]
Forest restoration treatments increase native plant diversity but open the door to invasion in the Colorado Front Range
Published: 2025-04-08
Subjects: Forest Biology, Forest Management, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Forest thinning treatments are often done with objectives to re-establish historical forest structure and increase the system’s resilience against future wildfires. But little is known about their long-term efficacy, and effects on understory plant composition. This is especially true in the Colorado Front Range (CFR). We used a before/after control/impact study design to assess the effects of [...]
Diurnal temperature range drives understory plant community composition in micro-climatically complex temperate forests
Published: 2025-04-03
Subjects: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Diurnal temperature range (DTR) is hypothesized to be a key driver of plant community assembly, because areas with high DTR are exposed to both extreme high and extreme low temperatures on a daily basis. We established networks of temperature and relative humidity sensors along DTR gradients in two montane forest basins, and conducted plant surveys around each sensor (n=46). We examined which [...]
Increased Arctic fire occurrence related to human activity calls for improved management
Published: 2025-03-20
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Arctic fires have become more frequent in recent decades. They release carbon to the atmosphere through burning organic material and degrading permafrost and thus accelerate global warming. Previous research highlighted climate variables as the driving factor of fire occurrence in the Arctic, largely ignoring the contribution of human activity. Here, we analyzed the relationship between fire [...]
Recovery of forest structural complexity during secondary succession in the tropics
Published: 2025-03-19
Subjects: Agricultural Science, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Plant Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Forest structural complexity is an essential determinant of forest ecosystem functions and biodiversity. The natural dynamics of structural complexity of tropical forests remain largely unexplored, especially for naturally regenerating forest during secondary succession. Better understanding the trajectories of forest structural complexity recovery is crucial to inform the development of forest [...]
Belowground communities in lowlands are less stable to climate extremes across seasons
Published: 2025-02-24
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Ecological responses to climate extremes vary drastically in different spatiotemporal contexts. For instance, the seasonal timing could be a major factor influencing community responses, but its importance is likely to vary at different spatial settings, such as high or low elevation. Here, we investigate how soil communities at high- and low-elevation sites respond to extreme heat events at [...]
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 [...]