Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Cryptic diversity constrains biogeographical inference in microscopic animals: evidence from bdelloid rotifers in Greenland
Published: 2026-06-01
Subjects: Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Species are fundamental units of biodiversity, yet their delimitation remains challenging in many organismal groups. The increasing use of DNA data has revealed widespread cryptic diversity, in which genetically distinct lineages are morphologically indistinguishable. Consequently, many morphology-based biogeographical inferences have likely overestimated species ranges, particularly in [...]
Canopy closure re-establishes ants in young tree plantations, while low soil pH limits ant diversity
Published: 2026-05-29
Subjects: Entomology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
1. Tree species richness is known to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, but its effects across trophic levels during forest restoration remain insufficiently understood. In reforestation on complex terrain, habitat complexity may moderate the effect of canopy closure on animal community reassembly, a relationship further shaped by the abiotic environment. 2. Ants, as key functional [...]
China must revise its regulation for managing non-native invasive species
Published: 2026-05-28
Subjects: Political Science, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Biological invasions are a leading contributor to the global biodiversity crisis, yet existing regulatory frameworks are challenged by definitions of ‘non-native’ species that are based on geopolitical rather than ecological boundaries. This perspective highlights the critical disconnect between administrative jurisdictions and biogeographic units, with focus on China’s biosecurity laws. These [...]
Navigating Spatial Trade-offs in Restoration Planning: A Multi-Objective Optimization Framework Integrating Ecological Feasibility
Published: 2026-05-28
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sustainability, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Ecosystem restoration requires decision-support tools capable of balancing ecological benefits under limited resources while explicitly accounting for the long-term likelihood of restoration success. Despite its recognized importance, ecological feasibility has rarely been formulated as an optimization objective in spatial planning, typically being treated only as a constraint or biophysical [...]
Insufficient environmental protection by the European regulatory framework for pesticides
Published: 2026-05-21
Subjects: Agriculture, Environmental Health Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Toxicology
Schriever et al. (2025) argue that environmental risk assessment of pesticides in the European Union is sufficiently protective and that regulatory thresholds are rarely exceeded. Here, we re-examine these claims based on new and previous evidence from monitoring, systematic reviews, and different types of field studies. The clear outcome is that measured pesticide concentrations frequently [...]
Designing for nature doesn't cost the Earth
Published: 2026-05-19
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Urban Studies and Planning
1. A key barrier to the development of nature positive cities is the unknown cost of implementing novel urban design elements. Strict budgets and government approval processes make it challenging for developers to trial new approaches, meaning most developments rarely deviate from ‘business-as-usual’ (BAU). Further research is urgently needed to overcome this barrier to innovation and help [...]
Expanding the sentinel approach through multimodal integration: resolving underlying ecological processes with eDNA and computer vision
Published: 2026-05-19
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Sentinel approaches provide a semi-controlled method for quantifying in-field ecological interactions and processes while reducing bias and labour. They are, however, limited by difficulties ascribing taxonomic identities, behavioural context and temporal resolution to interacting agents. The integration of additional sources of data, including the analysis of DNA left behind on sentinel objects [...]
An epibiotic association between burrowing and sessile bivalves on the Amazon continental shelf: implications for ecological facilitation in sediment-dominated environments
Published: 2026-05-12
Subjects: Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
From the perspective of ecological facilitation theory, we report an epibiotic association between two mollusk species with contrasting lifestyles, Chama macerophylla Gmelin, 1791 (sessile) and Tucetona pectinata (Gmelin, 1791) (burrowing), on the Amazon continental margin. Specimens were collected using a Van Veen dredge near the shelf break and in the vicinity of AP3 blocks recently offered for [...]
OdoCocktail-Japan: Primer sets to enrich environmental DNA of Japanese Odonata species
Published: 2026-05-12
Subjects: Biodiversity, Entomology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Monitoring is essential to conserve and recover biodiversity. Environmental DNA (eDNA)-based metabarcoding analysis has been recognized as a cost-effective and efficient method to monitor species, but it still has limitations, such as insufficient reference databases and lack of primer sets suitable to detect target species. As biological indicators of freshwater habitats, Odonata species have [...]
Identifying knowledge gaps on simultaneous above- and belowground organism responses to global change
Published: 2026-05-07
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Global change affects all terrestrial organisms regardless if they live above or below the ground. Even though they are strongly linked by various direct and indirect interactions, organisms can respond very differently to global change stressors, due to different features of above- and belowground compartments. Many different organism groups have shown declines in diversity, abundance or biomass [...]
Does the substrate on which cryptogams grow matter for limno-terrestrial meiofauna?
Published: 2026-05-04
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Cryptogam habitats support a wide range of limno-terrestrial meiofauna, but the factors that shape their communities are still not well understood. The physical substrate that cryptogams grow on (e.g., soil, the base of a tree, or its trunk) can influence local moisture, temperature, and nutrient conditions, yet its role in structuring meiofaunal assemblages has rarely been tested systematically. [...]
Reindeer habitat selection and movement changes with cumulative impacts from mining and wind power development
Published: 2026-04-30
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Management, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Industrial expansion often occurs in landscapes already affected by multiple disturbances, leading to cumulative impacts on biodiversity and local communities. With the societal pressure for an rapid ‘green transition’, land-use changes intensifies, yet most impact assessments remain local and project-based, disregarding cumulative impacts. We conceptualized and disentangled key dimensions of [...]
Toward repurposing global passive air sampling networks for insect monitoring: Promises and pitfalls of airborne eDNA
Published: 2026-04-29
Subjects: Entomology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
1. Polyurethane foam passive air samplers (PUF-PAS) are widely deployed to monitor environmental pollutants, yet their capacity to capture biological signals such as environmental DNA (eDNA) remains largely unexplored. Recent advances in airborne eDNA research create a timely opportunity to evaluate PUF-PAS as a tool for biodiversity monitoring and to leverage existing global sampling networks [...]
Network architecture and vulnerability of macroalgal epiphyte-host interactions in Caribbean coastal ecosystems: implications for marine conservation
Published: 2026-04-07
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Background and Aims Tropical coastal marine ecosystems depend critically on macroalgal epiphyte–host interaction networks to sustain biodiversity, primary production, and ecosystem services, yet the architecture and vulnerability of these networks remain poorly characterised in the Caribbean. This study aimed to characterise the topological structure of the epiphyte–host interaction network in [...]
Land use and climate shape amphibian multidimensional diversity and conservation in a coffee agroforestry landscape, Western Ghats
Published: 2026-04-04
Subjects: Biodiversity, Other Forestry and Forest Sciences, Population Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Shade coffee agroforests are recognized as refuges for biodiversity and potential allies in conservation across the human-modified tropics. However, biodiversity is strongly influenced by coffee cultivation methods and climates, both of which vary widely and are increasingly dynamic. In this context, one significant but understudied change is the shift in cultivated species from arabica (Coffea [...]