Preprints
There are 2969 Preprints listed.
Global Patterns Predict Local Biodiversity Shifts in a Climate Change Hotspot
Published: 2026-02-23
Subjects: Life Sciences
Climate change is redistributing life on Earth, and global-scale biogeographical patterns can inform expectations for local ecological responses. As thermal envelopes shift towards higher absolute latitudes and deeper depths in the ocean, fixed locations are experiencing changes in their niche space, driving changes in abundance, occurrence, and community composition. Here, we examine intertidal [...]
A new effect size for meta-analysis of magnitude: lnM
Published: 2026-02-23
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Statistics and Probability
Meta-analyses in ecology and evolution often consider the magnitude of differences between groups rather than their direction. Yet, a common practice is to coerce signed effects (e.g., d and response ratio) into magnitudes by taking absolute values. This transformation induces strong upward bias and non-normal (Gaussian) sampling distributions, violating the assumptions of standard meta-analytic [...]
Machine-learning models of coral cover and life histories reveal that climate refugia for coral reefs persist into 2050
Published: 2026-02-23
Subjects: Marine Biology
Climate change is accelerating the decline of coral reefs, yet some locations may retain conditions that support persistence under future warming. We compiled 45,091 coral field observations (1960–2025) and 42 climate, biophysical, and human-pressure predictors to train machine-learning ensembles that estimate coral cover in 2020 and 2050, and life-history composition in 2020, across a global [...]
Drivers of taxonomic bias in ecology and evolution: insights from ethologists and behavioural ecologists
Published: 2026-02-23
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Taxonomic bias (i.e. the disproportionate attention given to some taxa relative to their diversity) remains a major barrier to achieving generality in ecology and evolution, yet its underlying causes are poorly understood. Here, we proposed a general framework to explain taxonomic bias along three major axes, supported by evidence from a survey of 868 researchers’ taxonomic experiences. First, [...]
A Merlin Falco columbarius at the southern fringe of its Asian wintering range in Madhya Pradesh, India
Published: 2026-02-23
Subjects: Life Sciences
The Merlin Falco columbarius is a small falcon considered an uncommon winter visitor to northwestern India, with records from the central part of the country being extremely scarce and the species often regarded as accidental in peninsular India. Here, I report a rare, well-documented observation of a Merlin from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, in central India. The bird was observed and photographed at [...]
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 [...]
Influence of fire history on reproductive traits in a congeneric obligate seeder and facultative resprouter tree species
Published: 2026-02-20
Subjects: Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Plant Sciences
In fire-prone regions globally, evolution of plant traits that confer resilience to historical fire regimes is widespread. However, many common plant species are currently declining due to a mismatch between historical and contemporary fire regimes. These changes threaten long term community trajectories of plants and the animal species relying on them for food or habitat. Understanding plant [...]
Kin recognition in non-native plants: a general hypothesis of invasiveness
Published: 2026-02-20
Subjects: Life Sciences
Understanding how non-native plants successfully invade new environments is a fundamental question in invasion ecology. Here, we propose a novel hypothesis of kin recognition - the ability of plants to differentiate between closely related and distantly related neighbors - as a mechanistic explanation for invasion success. To evaluate the idea, we reviewed existing evidence for kin recognition in [...]
Contribution and applications of demographic concepts to conservation
Published: 2026-02-20
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Studying the demographic processes that shape how populations respond to environmental changes has long provided insights for conservation biology. Recent theoretical advances have deepened our understanding of these processes, yet their application in conservation remains unclear. We conducted a literature search to examine how six key demographic concepts — life-history trade-offs, the [...]
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), [...]
Anergiobiosis: a testable framework for microbial life under extreme power limitation
Published: 2026-02-20
Subjects: Biology, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Microbiology
"Aeonophily" was recently suggested as a new category of extremophily for ultra-slow-growing subsurface microorganisms. This terminology conflates a physiological state with potential extremophilic specialization. We propose "anergiobiosis" to describe life without sufficient power to sustain cell division, separating this state from questions about specialization. Analogous to temperature [...]
A Framework for Questionable Research Practices in Ecological Modelling
Published: 2026-02-20
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Water Resource Management
1. Questionable research practices (QRPs) bias the published literature towards apparently strong and conclusive results, resulting in low rates of replicability. Recent metaresearch reveals that ecology is not immune to the ‘reproducibility crisis’ seen in other disciplines, due to similar rates of QRPs and a lack of transparency in published research. However, metaresearch to date focuses on [...]
Roe Deer show an affinity for woodland and reluctance to cross roads
Published: 2026-02-19
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Animals use landscapes unequally and have differential responses to anthropogenic changes such as land cover modification. Predicting such responses can be challenging, requiring knowledge of animal movements. This knowledge is particularly valuable where human-animal interactions have implications for either's well-being. Large herbivores, with relatively high mobility, often come in contact [...]
Maternal swimming exercise training improves survival and the heritability of thermal tolerance and length in brown trout offspring
Published: 2026-02-19
Subjects: Life Sciences
Changing the narrative: encroached savannas are not forest
Published: 2026-02-19
Subjects: Life Sciences
1. Savannas are globally important ecosystems but are often misclassified as forests because they can support high tree cover, leading to misguided management. This misunderstanding arises because the presence of grasses, a key defining component of savannas, critical for their structure and functioning, is overlooked. 2. Fundamental tree-based misunderstandings affect the interpretation of [...]