Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Evolution
Life cycle complexity drives variation in thermal tolerance and plasticity
Published: 2026-02-09
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Evolution, Integrative Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Accumulating evidence suggests that heat tolerance varies substantially across insect development, yet patterns of variation remain difficult to generalise across species. We discuss how the diversity of insect developmental strategies shapes both the intensity and predictability of thermal environments across ontogeny, and how this likely generates variation in heat tolerance, plasticity, and [...]
The origins and diversification of hummingbird pollination in Bromeliaceae
Published: 2026-02-06
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biology, Botany, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Plant Sciences
Bromeliaceae are a model group for understanding explosive Neotropical diversification, combining remarkable ecological breadth and high species richness, despite relatively recent evolutionary origins. Multiple drivers are hypothesised to accelerate bromeliad diversification, and hummingbird pollination is frequently proposed to be among the strongest. However, our understanding has been limited [...]
Superorganismal Anisogamy: a Comparative Test of an Extended Theory
Published: 2026-02-04
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Multicellular organisms and superorganisms (e.g., ant colonies) are both products of major evolutionary transitions in individuality, and they share many analogous traits. Theory developed to explain the evolution of one such trait, anisogamy, has recently been adapted to explain its superorganismal analogue: large egg-like queens and small sperm-like males. To test this theory with comparative [...]
The overlooked small terrestrial mammal taxa (Rodentia, Eulipotyphla, and Lagomorpha) in the evolution of coronaviruses
Published: 2026-01-28
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences, Molecular Genetics, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Coronaviruses have been extensively detected in bats over the past few decades. However, increasing evidence suggests that other taxa, such as Rodentia, Eulipotyphla, and Lagomorpha, may have played a significant role in the ecology and evolution of some coronaviruses. Here, we compile recent contributions illuminating these mammals' enigmatic role in coronavirus evolution. We highlight how [...]
Psilocybin and the Evolutionary Significance of Altered Neural States: Interaction-Based Perspectives Beyond Deterrence Models
Published: 2026-01-28
Subjects: Behavioral Neurobiology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Neuroscience and Neurobiology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Psilocybin is a psychoactive tryptamine produced by a phylogenetically discontinuous yet ecologically diverse subset of fungi. Despite decades of chemical, pharmacological, and ethnobiological research, the evolutionary forces driving the emergence and persistence of this compound remain insufficiently explained. Recent hypotheses proposing that psilocybin evolved primarily as a deterrent against [...]
Is within-host viral community assembly shaped by local adaptation?
Published: 2026-01-27
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Virology
Host-parasite coevolution describes the continuous reciprocal selection driving host defense and parasite infectivity, with direct consequences for disease dynamics. While abundant evidence exists for coevolution shaping host-parasite dynamics within the ‘one host-one parasite’ framework, hosts are typically infected by multiple parasites and the extent to which coevolutionary processes shape [...]
Developmental density shapes adult mate guarding strategies in an invertebrate
Published: 2026-01-19
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Post-copulatory mate guarding is a widespread reproductive strategy that reduces sperm competition but can generate sexual conflict when male and female optima diverge. While mate guarding is known to respond plastically to immediate social conditions, the extent to which early-life social environments of both sexes shape adult guarding behaviour remains poorly understood. We experimentally [...]
How Large Cooperative Groups Avoid Local Competition
Published: 2026-01-19
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution
Large cooperative groups are a common sight in nature. Their existence is puzzling, however, because local competition should keep groups relatively small. A simple but untested way large groups can avoid local competition is by increasing their resource base. We conducted a systematic review and phylogenetic meta-analysis to look for evidence of this effect in wild populations of cooperatively [...]
Life-history evolution and uninvadable mortality schedules with and without intergenerational energy transfers
Published: 2026-01-19
Subjects: Evolution
Intergenerational energy transfers are widespread in nature, yet most life history theory assumes that organisms balance energy production and consumption at each age, leaving the evolutionary consequences of transfers underexplored. We develop a life history model under two energy budget constraints: (i) no transfers, where production equals consumption at each age, and (ii) transfers, where [...]
The Singularity at the Heart of Evolutionary Biology: Organismal Selection and the Thermodynamic Origin of Life
Published: 2025-12-23
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
The origin of the first organism presents as a fundamental discontinuity in evolutionary biology. While population‑centred theories of natural selection succeed when reproduction and heredity exist, they cannot explain life’s emergence from non‑living matter. Building on the conceptual framework of Organismal Selection, this work proposes a physical model in which the transition from lifeless [...]
Coevolution of social network structure and life history in toothed whales
Published: 2025-12-18
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Marine Biology
Toothed whales offer a 34 million year-long natural experiment for the evolution of complex mammalian societies. However, quantitative comparative analyses of social structure in these species are lacking. Here, we draw on existing social network analyses to compare social structure across toothed whales. We consider published measures of two social network traits across all toothed whales: [...]
Evolving on two fronts: Oak species and syngameons
Published: 2025-12-16
Subjects: Botany, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Plant Sciences
William ‘Bill’ Burger wrote in 1975, “I believe that the classical species-concept in Quercus defines a very real population system and that it evolves on two fronts. One is that of continuing to adapt to a niche that differs slightly from its close relations. The second is in sharing the broader evolutionary advances of these same close relations that together comprise the genetically [...]
The weak driver conundrum: data archiving and biological phenomena impact macrogenetic findings
Published: 2025-12-10
Subjects: Biodiversity, Evolution, Genetics, Genomics, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Macrogenetics seeks to identify the global drivers and patterns in intraspecific genetic diversity, yet many reported patterns are weak or inconsistent. To achieve multispecies global inference, many macrogenetic studies leverage open sequencing data that can suffer from archiving biases. It remains unclear if macrogenetic inconsistencies are innate genetic phenomena, or are the product of open [...]
The legacy of privilege: Social inheritance reverses sex differences in reproductive inequality in spotted hyenas
Published: 2025-12-02
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Inequalities in reproductive success among females and males shape natural and sexual selec-tion, as well as genetic diversity. A key mechanism influencing reproductive inequality in humans and other animals is the social inheritance of privilege. Using a 29-year dataset spanning eight generations of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta), a species in which social status is maternally inherited, we [...]
Quantifying Energy-Efficient Evolution in Cursorial Avian Archosaurs Through Comparative Torque-Based Hindlimb Modeling
Published: 2025-11-27
Subjects: Evolution, Paleobiology
Understanding the way evolution drives adaptations that “optimize” energy-efficiency in cursorial species provides instrumental insights into both biomechanical and bio-inspired engineering fields. This study quantitatively models the cursorial evolution of energy-efficient locomotion in bird-line archosaurs by comparing the hindlimb mechanics of Deinonychus antirrhopus (extinct theropod) and [...]