Preprints
There are 3880 Preprints listed.
Pedigree metrics: What are they good for?
Published: 2026-10-31
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Estimating additive genetic variance (V_A) is key to understanding evolutionary potential in wild populations. V_A is commonly estimated using relatedness data from pedigrees in so-called `animal models'. The accuracy of these estimates depends strongly on information in the pedigree. Typically metrics describing pedigree structure (such as the number of individuals, maternities, pedigree depth [...]
Ancient human occupation alters modern forest traits, structure and biomass in neotropical forests.
Published: 2026-10-31
Subjects: Life Sciences
There is considerable debate as to how extensively neotropical forests were shaped by ancient people. This uncertainty has implications for the global carbon cycle because forest plots may be disproportionately located in formerly occupied areas, potentially biasing estimates of tropical forest growth and carbon uptake. Ground measurements within the formerly occupied Maya city of Xmakabatun [...]
Researchers as predators: are field biologists altering traits of the populations that they study?
Published: 2026-10-31
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Field biologists rarely directly measure the long-term impact of their work on the populations they study. However, heavy or repeated sampling (with or without release) could potentially alter population traits and even bias study conclusions. Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata) are a frequently-studied species in evolutionary biology, particularly in the context of variation in predation. [...]
The spatial dynamics of nutrient limitation in communities of generalist predators of crop pests
Published: 2026-10-31
Subjects: Agriculture, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Life Sciences, Nutrition, Zoology
Generalist arthropod predators vitally control crop pests, but their ability to perform this role relies on them obtaining sufficient nutrients within simplified crop environments. Field margins are thought to provide habitat and resources for predators, such as ground beetles, but how far into fields this provision extends is poorly understood. Since arthropod nutrient contents can vary [...]
Urban greenspace drivers of bird species richness differ between migratory and resident species across the full-annual cycle
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Life Sciences
Urban greenspaces are increasingly under pressure from urbanization. Greenspaces provide some of the last remaining resources for biodiversity in cities, but their ecological value varies substantially among sites. Despite their importance, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of which urban greenspaces species use across the full-annual cycle and among migratory groupings. To investigate [...]
A targeted metacollection of Nordic gardens reveals horticultural endemism of threatened woody plants
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Biodiversity, Botany
There is huge potential for bringing together international networks of Botanic Gardens and Arboreta and pooling their resources for coordinated action to conserve threatened species. Realising this potential requires effectively managing complex, largely independently acquired data for tens of thousands of species and many more individual plants with different wild or cultivated origins. Here we [...]
GPS telemetry reveals changes in the movement patterns of a cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus) flying over an active war zone
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Life Sciences
Armed conflicts have devastating effects over wildlife populations and ecosystems, yet their impacts on wildlife behavior remains understudied. In this study we summarized behavioral changes that occurred in a Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus) which made three flights over active war zones in Northern and Eastern Ukraine during spring 2022. As the individual approached the frontline its [...]
Spontaneous native–non-native tree mixtures worldwide: a systematic map of research patterns, with knowledge gaps and management implications
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Sciences
Purpose of Review: Spontaneous mixtures of native and non-native tree species occur in forest landscapes affected by land-use change, species introductions and disturbances. However, research on these communities remains fragmented. Recent Findings: We identified 238 cases. Research was concentrated in high-income countries and studies included diverse combinations of native and non-native tree [...]
Genomic costs without functional consequences in short-range endemics trapped in evolutionary refugia
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Evolution, Genomics, Life Sciences, Molecular Genetics
Species with small geographic ranges are often concentrated in evolutionary refugia, landscapes that support viable populations through significant climate oscillations. Under long-term stable environments and with small population size, species are predicted to evolve narrow climatic tolerances, lose genetic diversity and accumulate harmful mutations. Together, these predictions suggest that [...]
One Paleopathology: A Deep-Time Framework for Predicting Malaria Resurgence in the Climate Crisis
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Archaeological Anthropology, Arts and Humanities, Biological and Physical Anthropology, Climate, Diseases, Environmental Public Health, Epidemiology, History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Parasitic Diseases, Public Health, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Malaria, the deadliest vector-borne disease in human history, is resurging under climate change, land-use change, shifting public health priorities, and declining global funding. In this Personal View, we argue that One Paleopathology, an interdisciplinary framework that integrates bioarchaeology, paleogenomics, historical (written) sources, paleoclimatology, and disease ecology, offers critical [...]
Mapping actor diversity is essential for advancing global seagrass conservation
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Biodiversity, Human Geography, Marine Biology, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy
Seagrass conservation is increasingly organised around global agendas for protection, restoration, climate mitigation, biodiversity recovery and nature-positive finance. The actor systems that determine whether these agendas succeed remain poorly described, if at all. We developed a heuristic actor-centred framework for seagrass social-ecological systems, combining a literature scan with [...]
Will AI inadvertently push a natural history renaissance?
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
As AI automates coding and statistical modelling, quantitative ecologists face an existential crisis. But automated analysis is only as good as the data it is fed, shifting the scarce resource from analysis to expert observation. Naturalists and field ecologists, increasingly ‘endangered’ species in the modern era, may experience a resurgence, if institutions act.
Achieving social and environmental justice: a call to integrate the human and the more-than-human in spatial decision making
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Human Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Urban Studies and Planning
Discrepancies between climate velocity and dispersal capacity threaten subalpine forests in Northern Italy
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Biodiversity, Forest Biology, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Plant Sciences
The acceleration of anthropogenic warming is fundamentally altering the climatic space available to foundational conifer species in European alpine environments. This study evaluates the potential impacts of future climate scenarios on the spatial distribution and elevational displacement of four key taxa (Abies alba, Larix decidua, Picea abies, and Pinus sylvestris) in the Italian Alps. We [...]
Modeling Mosquito Dynamics and West Nile Virus Risk in Canada: A Systematic Mapping Review of Approaches and Research Gaps
Published: 2026-10-30
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Numerical Analysis and Computation, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Mosquito population dynamics are strongly shaped by environmental conditions and are central to mosquito-borne disease risk. In Canada, West Nile virus (WNV) remains the dominant mosquito-borne viral disease of public health concern, while climate change may alter mosquito distributions, seasonal activity, and the risk of WNV and other emerging mosquito-borne diseases. This systematic mapping [...]