Preprints

Filtering by Subject: Population Biology

Large-scale spatio-temporal variation in vital rates and population dynamics of an alpine bird

Chloé R. Nater, Francesco Frassinelli, James A. Martin, et al.

Published: 2024-02-01
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Population Biology, Statistical Models

Quantifying temporal and spatial variation in animal population size and demography is a central theme in ecological research and important for directing management and policy. However, this requires field sampling at large spatial extents and over long periods of time, which is not only prohibitively costly but often politically untenable. Participatory monitoring programs (also called citizen [...]

Multiple habitat graphs: how connectivity brings forth landscape ecological processes

Paul Savary, Céline Clauzel, Jean-Christophe Foltête, et al.

Published: 2024-01-30
Subjects: Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Population Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Purpose: Habitat connectivity is integral to current biodiversity science and conservation strategies. Originally, the connectivity concept stressed the role of individual movements for landscape-scale processes. Connectivity determines whether populations can survive in sub-optimal patches (i.e., source-sink effects), complete life cycles relying on different habitat types (i.e., landscape [...]

The genetic basis of a regionally isolated sexual dimorphism involves cortex

Kalle Tunström, Ramprasad neethiraj, Naomi L.P. Keehnen, et al.

Published: 2024-01-29
Subjects: Biology, Evolution, Genetics and Genomics, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Population Biology

Sexual dimorphisms represent a source of phenotypic variation and result from differences in how natural and sexual selection act on males and females within a species. Identifying the genetic basis of dimorphism can be challenging, especially once it is fixed within a species. However, studying polymorphisms, even when fixed within a population, can provide insights into the genetic basis of [...]

Hybridization potential of brown trout, with particular reference to invaded environments

Craig F Purchase, Connor Hanley, Tyler H. Lantiegne, et al.

Published: 2024-01-25
Subjects: Aquaculture and Fisheries Life Sciences, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Population Biology

Hybridization is a complex process beginning with the mating of two species. However, hybrid offspring frequency does not predict hetero-specific mating frequency, as post-mating, both pre-zygotic and post-zygotic barriers influence their occurrence. Post-zygotic outbreeding depression usually results in poor embryo-juvenile survival or the production of sterile hybrid offspring. Females have [...]

Open integrated distance sampling for modelling age-structured population dynamics

Erlend Birkeland Nilsen, Chloé R. Nater

Published: 2024-01-09
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Population Biology

Estimation of abundance and demographic rates for populations of wild species is a challenging but fundamental issue for both ecological research and wildlife management. One set of approaches that has been used extensively to estimate abundance of wildlife populations is Distance Sampling (DS) for line or point transect survey data. The first implementations of DS models were only available as [...]

Inferring the seasonal dynamics and abundance of an invasive species using a spatio-temporal stacked machine learning model

Daniele Da Re, Giovanni Marini, Carmelo Bonannella, et al.

Published: 2023-12-22
Subjects: Biology, Entomology, Life Sciences, Population Biology, Public Health, Virus Diseases

Various modelling techniques are available to understand the temporal and spatial variations of the phenology of species. Scientists often rely on correlative models, which establish a statistical relationship between a response variable (such as species abundance or presence-absence) and a set of predominantly abiotic covariates. The modelling approach choice, i.e. the algorithm, is a crucial [...]

Detecting context-dependence in the expression of life history tradeoffs

Louis Bliard, Jordan Scott Martin, Maria Paniw, et al.

Published: 2023-12-07
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Population Biology

Life history tradeoffs are one of the central tenets of evolutionary demography. Tradeoffs, depicting negative covariances between individuals’ life history traits, can arise from genetic constraints, or from a finite amount of resources that each individual has to allocate in a zero-sum game between somatic and reproductive functions. While theory predicts that tradeoffs are ubiquitous, [...]

Covariance reaction norms: A flexible method for estimating complex environmental effects on trait (co)variances

Jordan Scott Martin

Published: 2023-11-21
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Genetics, Integrative Biology, Life Sciences, Population Biology, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Zoology

Estimating quantitative genetic and phenotypic (co)variances is crucial for investigating evolutionary ecological phenomena such as developmental integration, life history tradeoffs, and niche specialization, as well as for describing selection and predicting multivariate evolution in the wild. While most studies assume (co)variances are fixed over short timescales, environmental heterogeneity [...]

An illusion of a macroecological law, abundance-occupancy relationships

Shinichi Nakagawa, William K Cornwell, Corey T Callaghan

Published: 2023-11-01
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Population Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

In macroecology, a classic empirical observation has been positive relationships between local abundance and species' range, known as the abundance-occupancy relationships (AORs). The existence of this empirical relationship has informed both theory development and applied questions. Notably, the spatial neutral model of biodiversity predicts AORs. Yet, based on the largest known meta-analysis of [...]

Patterns and drivers of population trends on individual Breeding Bird Survey routes using spatially explicit models and route-level covariates

Adam C Smith, Veronica Aponte, Marie-Anne R. Hudson, et al.

Published: 2023-10-27
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biostatistics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Monitoring, Population Biology, Statistical Methodology, Statistical Models

Spatial patterns in population trends, particularly those at fine geographic scales, can help better understand the factors driving population change in North American birds. The standard trend models for the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) were designed to estimate changes in relative abundance through time (trend) within broad geographic strata, such as countries, Bird Conservation [...]

Multifaceted density dependence: Social structure and seasonality effects on Serengeti lion demography

Eva Conquet, Maria Paniw, Natalia Borrego, et al.

Published: 2023-10-27
Subjects: Population Biology

Interactions between density and environmental conditions have important effects on vital rates and consequently on population dynamics and can take complex pathways in species whose demography is strongly influenced by social context, such as the African lion, Panthera leo. In populations of such species, the response of vital rates to density can vary depending on the social structure (e.g., [...]

Avian zoochory is a probable pathway of European perch colonization in artificial lakes: a reply to Vasemägi et al (2023)

Flavien Garcia, Ivan Paz-Vinas, Arnaud Gaujard, et al.

Published: 2023-10-15
Subjects: Life Sciences, Population Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Growth and opportunities for drone surveillance in pinniped research

Gregory D Larsen, David W. Johnston

Published: 2023-09-03
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Integrative Biology, Marine Biology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Population Biology, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Zoology

Pinniped species undergo uniquely amphibious life histories that make them valuable subjects for many domains of research. Pinniped research has often progressed hand-in-hand with technological frontiers of wildlife biology, and drones represent a leap forward for methods of aerial remote sensing, heralding data collection and integration at new scales of biological importance. Drone methods and [...]

How does dispersal shape the genetic patterns of animal populations in European cities? A simulation approach

Paul Savary, Cécile Tannier, Jean-Christophe Foltête, et al.

Published: 2023-07-25
Subjects: Biodiversity, Genetics, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Population Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Context and objectives Although urbanization is a major driver of biodiversity erosion, it does not affect all species equally. The neutral genetic structure of populations in a given species is affected by both genetic drift and gene flow processes. In cities, the size of animal populations determines drift and can depend on multiple processes whereas gene flow essentially depends on the [...]

Recent human-bear conflicts in Northern Italy: a review, with considerations of future perspectives

Mattia De Vivo

Published: 2023-07-17
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Biodiversity, Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Population Biology, Zoology

The killing of a runner in Northern Italy by a brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos) and the subsequent investigation of such matter highlighted a Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) that has been present in Trentino since the introduction of bears for conservation during the Life Ursus Project. Such conflict may be exacerbated as both human and bear populations get bigger. In this paper, I summarize the [...]

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