Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Evolution
Towards a better understanding of adaptation: Problem description, partial solutions, and recommendations
Published: 2026-03-20
Subjects: Animal Experimentation and Research, Animal Studies, Behavior and Ethology, Biodiversity, Developmental Biology, Evolution, Human Ecology, Integrative Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Genetics and Genomics, Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration, Population Biology, Science and Technology Studies
This paper is the product of an international workshop aiming to make progress in our general understanding of adaptation. We met from 5-7 February 2025 in Hannover (Germany), funded by the foundation “Volkswagen Stiftung”. For our group of theoretical and empirical biologists, social scientists, and philosophers of science we set up a program to facilitate communication and collaboration between [...]
The scent of survival in a warming world: how monoterpenes drive thermal adaptation in thyme
Published: 2026-03-18
Subjects: Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Plant Sciences, Physiology, Plant Biology, Plant Sciences, Population Biology
1 Monoterpenes are key plant secondary metabolites with well known defensive and ecological functions, yet their role in abiotic stress tolerance remains poorly understood. In many Mediterranean plants, monoterpene composition varies markedly within and among species and is associated with climatic gradients, suggesting that these compounds may mediate plant responses to extreme heat. 2 We [...]
From Trading Genes to Crafting New Tricks: How Horizontal Gene Transfer Potentiates the Emergence of Novel Functions
Published: 2026-03-17
Subjects: Evolution, Genetics, Genomics, Microbiology
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT), the set of processes by which genetic information is transferred between individuals, has shaped life’s evolution. It is particularly frequent in microbial organisms, where it has driven numerous remarkable adaptations to extreme conditions, anti-microbial agents, or biotic interactions. Its role in spreading novel functions is now documented by countless examples [...]
Evaluation of site frequency spectrum-based demographic inference methods for use in conservation contexts
Published: 2026-03-15
Subjects: Evolution, Genomics
Genomic methods for inferring historical effective population size (Nₑ) trajectories offer valuable tools for conservation, yet their reliability under conditions typical of conservation datasets—small sample sizes, reduced-representation SNP data, and recent demographic change—remains poorly characterised. We evaluated the performance of two widely used site frequency spectrum (SFS)–based [...]
Global latitudinal and bathymetric gradients in body size among cartilaginous fishes (Gnathostomata: Chondrichthyes)
Published: 2026-03-11
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Understanding the macroecological rules governing body size variation across environmental gradients has long been a central focus of biology for centuries. Bergmann’s rule – the tendency for animals to reach larger body sizes in colder environments – has been studied in endotherms but with mixed support. However, phylogenetically informed tests of this rule in ectotherms remain scarce, and there [...]
Long-lasting negative effects of poor early life conditions on cognitive performance in adulthood in a wild bird
Published: 2026-03-09
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Nutrition, Ornithology
Adverse conditions encountered during growth, such as stress or malnutrition, are known to affect cognitive development and functions in adulthood in humans and laboratory animals. However, how early life conditions can influence adult cognition in wild animals remains unclear. Yet cognitive abilities such as innovation can be crucial for animals to cope with rapidly changing environments. We [...]
Between Interface and Truth: Multi-Task Selection Drives Ecologically Veridical Perception
Published: 2026-03-05
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Biostatistics, Cognitive Neuroscience, Evolution
When does optimisation for performance yield representations that track world structure? We develop a mathematical theory of agents with a single fixed encoding shared across tasks, and use it to resolve the broader debate over whether selection favors fitness-tuned interfaces or veridical perception. Selection favors ecological veridicality: preserving exactly those world-state distinctions [...]
Transposable elements as drivers of reproductive isolation: A framework for testing hybridization-induced escalation of genetic conflicts
Published: 2026-02-26
Subjects: Evolution, Genetics, Genomics, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Contrary to long-held views, the exchange of genetic diversity between species by hybridization is now recognized as an important process contributing to the evolution of biodiversity. However, hybridization has molecular consequences beyond the exchange of genetic variation. The clash of divergent genomes upon hybridization can escalate genetic conflicts previously resolved in parental species – [...]
pynnotate: a flexible tool for retrieving and processing GenBank data in molecular evolution research and education
Published: 2026-02-26
Subjects: Bioinformatics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution
Pynnotate is a Python-based tool designed for automated retrieval, parsing, and extraction of annotated gene sequences from GenBank records. The tool addresses the common challenges researchers face when working with GenBank data, including inconsistent gene nomenclature, redundant sequences, and the need for standardised gene extraction across multiple taxa. Pynnotate operates through both a [...]
The Individualised Niche in Motion; quantifying individualised niches with movement data
Published: 2026-02-26
Subjects: Aquaculture and Fisheries Life Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Evolution, Ornithology, Other Animal Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Population Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Individuals of the same species often differ consistently in their use of resources, their responses to environmental gradients, and their movement decisions. Between-individual variation across niche axes has been shown to have important ecological consequences. Yet practical frameworks that translate modern tracking data into operational, comparable measures of niche individual specialisation [...]
Among-trait covariance and cross-year repeatability for direct and indirect individual effects in producer-scrounger behaviour in wild house sparrows
Published: 2026-02-20
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution
Variation in social traits can be attributed to direct individual effects (DIEs) of the focal individual and indirect individual effects (IIEs) due to its social partners eliciting behavioural change, analogous to indirect genetic effects. Indirect effects affect the expressed phenotypic variation upon which selection can act, especially when they covary with direct effects, providing a potential [...]
Composite virulence: useful metric or conceptual trap?
Published: 2026-02-20
Subjects: Animal Diseases, Animal Experimentation and Research, Animal Sciences, Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Immunity, Immunology and Infectious Disease, Immunology of Infectious Disease, Immunopathology, Life Sciences, Medical Microbiology, Microbiology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Immunology and Infectious Disease, Parasitic Diseases, Parasitology, Pathogenic Microbiology, Plant Pathology, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Zoology
Virulence, the harm an infection causes to its host, is a cornerstone concept in ecology and evolution, yet it remains difficult to quantify because infection impact is multidimensional, dynamic, and context-dependent. Infections can reduce host performance through multiple, partially redundant routes (including mortality, fecundity loss, behavioural impairment, and physiological disruption), [...]
Social organisation predicts lifespan in mammals
Published: 2026-02-17
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Population Biology
1. Recent comparative analyses have identified positive associations between social organisation and longevity in mammals, but independent replication with larger datasets is needed to establish the robustness of this pattern. 2. Here, we analysed maximum recorded lifespan, body mass, and social organisation data for 1,436 mammal species using Bayesian phylogenetic comparative methods, confirming [...]
A macroevolutionary gene network reveals diapause evolutionary dynamics beyond the circadian clock and predicts microevolution
Published: 2026-02-16
Subjects: Computational Biology, Evolution, Genomics, Other Genetics and Genomics, Population Biology
Diapause is an alternative developmental pathway evolved independently in many insects to synchronize life cycles with resource abundance. While subsets of this essential phenotype have long been studied at a single species level, the genomic basis of the full diapause syndrome remains poorly understood. Remaining unknown is whether convergent diapause syndromes employ shared mechanisms. This [...]
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 [...]