Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Zoology
Deploying Ecological Countermeasures as a Biosecurity Imperative
Published: 2021-03-08
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Public Health, Epidemiology, Immunity, Immunology and Infectious Disease, Immunology of Infectious Disease, Immunopathology, International Public Health, Life Sciences, Maternal and Child Health, Medicine and Health Sciences, Other Immunology and Infectious Disease, Population Biology, Public Health, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Veterinary Infectious Diseases, Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Microbiology and Immunobiology, Veterinary Pathology and Pathobiology, Zoology
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought biosecurity to the forefront of national security policy. Land use change is a fundamental driver of zoonotic disease outbreaks, yet substantial study is yet required to unravel the mechanisms by which land use-induced spillover operates. Ecological degradation may be the 21st Century’s most overlooked security threat. Within the biosecurity context, we introduce [...]
Ecological Countermeasures for Pandemic Prevention: When Ecological Restoration is a Human Health Imperative
Published: 2020-12-06
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Bacteriology, Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Environmental Public Health, Epidemiology, Immunity, Immunology and Infectious Disease, Immunology of Infectious Disease, Immunopathology, Integrative Biology, International Public Health, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Microbiology, Parasitology, Pathogenic Microbiology, Population Biology, Public Health, Systems Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Veterinary Infectious Diseases, Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Microbiology and Immunobiology, Veterinary Pathology and Pathobiology, Zoology
Ecological restoration should be regarded as a public health service. Unfortunately, the lack of quantitative linkages between environmental and human health has limited recognition of these principle. Advent of COVID-19 pandemic provides the impetus for the further discussion. We propose ecological countermeasures as highly targeted, landscape-based interventions to arrest the drivers of land [...]
Wolf depredation hotspots in France: Clustering analyses accounting for livestock availability
Published: 2020-11-06
Subjects: Agriculture, Animal Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Zoology
Depredation hotspots are the main source of conflict between humans and large carnivores. When locating depredation hotspots, previous studies have not adjusted for livestock availability, making it impossible for managers to discriminate hotspots resulting from underlying livestock clustering from those due to other factors such as environmental factors. We studied hotspots of wolf depredation [...]
A methodological roadmap to quantify animal-vectored spatial ecosystem subsidies
Published: 2020-07-28
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Ecosystems are open systems connected through spatial flows of energy, matter, and nutrients. Predicting and managing ecosystem interdependence requires a rigorous quantitative understanding of the drivers and vectors that connect ecosystems across spatio-temporal scales. Animals act as such vectors when they transport nutrients across landscapes in the form of excreta, egesta, and their own [...]
Desert Locust in India: The 2020 invasion and associated risks
Published: 2020-06-02
Subjects: Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Science, Agriculture, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Life Sciences, Animal Sciences, Entomology, Life Sciences, Plant Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Urban Studies and Planning, Zoology
Wind direction, often used in forecasting locust migration, indicates a non-zero probability of desert locust invasion in eastern Indian states. Apart from present controlling measures, we are additionally suggesting to be cautious about the eggs of locust as the rainfall associated with Super Cyclone Amphan has created a favorable breeding ground for the gregarious locust. Also reverse migration [...]
Intergroup food transfers in wild golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia)
Published: 2020-03-01
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Zoology
Transfers of food between adults are uncommon in primates. Although golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia), are unique among primates in the extent of food transfers, reports of food transfers between adults have so far been restricted to captive or reintroduced individuals. Here, I report the first six recorded events of adult-adult food transfers between individuals belonging to [...]
Aerobic scope protection reduces ectotherm growth under warming
Published: 2020-01-24
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology, Life Sciences, Physiology, Zoology
Temperature has a dramatic effect on the physiology of ectothermic animals, impacting most of their biology. When temperatures increase above optimal for an animal, their growth gradually decreases. The main mechanism behind this growth rate reduction is unknown. Here, we suggest the ‘aerobic scope protection’ hypothesis as a mechanistic explanation for the reduction in growth. After a meal, [...]
Behavioral Modification of Eastern Hoolock Gibbon in Non-Protected Fragmented Rainforest Patches of North Eastern Himalayas
Published: 2019-12-07
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Life Sciences, Zoology
Presence of Eastern Hoolock Gibbon (Hoolock leuconydes) was confirmed recently in and around Mehao Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh, where the last remnant rainforest region of Eastern Himalaya still exists. A total of 13 groups of Eastern Hoolock Gibbon were located in this Lower Dibang valley in the outskirts and periferi of Mehao WLS where they coexist with humans at the non-protected [...]
Honey Bee Diversity Is Swayed by Migratory Beekeeping and Trade Despite Conservation Practices: Genetic Evidences for the Impact of Anthropogenic Factors on Population Structure
Published: 2019-10-14
Subjects: Agriculture, Animal Sciences, Apiculture, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Genetics, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences, Zoology
The intense admixture of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) populations at a global scale is mostly attributed to the widespread migratory beekeeping practices and replacement of queens and colonies with non-native races or hybrids of different subspecies. These practices are also common in Anatolia and Thrace, but their influence on the genetic make-up of the five native subspecies of honey bees has [...]
Non-avian reptile learning 40 years on: advances and promising new directions
Published: 2019-09-07
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Zoology
Recently, there has been a surge in cognition research using non-avian reptile systems. As a diverse group of animals, non-avian reptiles (turtles, the tuatara, crocodilians, and squamates - lizards, snakes and amphisbaenids) are good model systems for answering questions related to cognitive ecology; from the role of the environment in impacting brain, behaviour and learning, to how social and [...]
A protocol for using drones to assist monitoring of large breeding bird colonies
Published: 2019-04-29
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Ornithology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Zoology
Drones are rapidly becoming part of environmental monitoring and management applications. They provide an opportunity to improve a number of activities related to monitoring population dynamics of aggregations of wildlife. Bird surveys using drones have attracted particular attention, with a range of potential metrics able to be derived from high resolution drone imagery. Whilst a number of [...]
Female Maylandia zebra prefer victorious males
Published: 2018-11-09
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Females of a widespread species of the rock‐dwelling haplochromine cichlids of Lake Malawi, Maylandia zebra, show preference for males that successfully evict intruding males from their territory. This behaviour, experimentally induced by the investigators in a laboratory setting, was also preferred over males that were not permitted to interact with any other individual.