Preprints
There are 3932 Preprints listed.
Sex reversal in vertebrates: drivers and consequences in a changing world
Published: 2026-11-13
Subjects: Developmental Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Zoology
Abstract: Sex reversal describes the process of external factors or genetic mutations overriding normal sex determination during sexual development. This phenomenon is widespread among vertebrates and occurs under a number of different developmental circumstances. Environmental factors such as temperature and stress, mutations in key sex determination genes, and exposure to exogenous hormones or [...]
Who’s gonna feed the kids? Provisioning alternation in dunnock pairs and trios is largely explained by each parent’s own visiting pattern
Published: 2026-11-13
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Theory suggests that parents sharing the care of a brood can reduce the costs of sexual conflict by conditional cooperation: each parent is more likely to return to the nest after its partner has fed the young than after its own visit, so that visits tend to alternate. Alternation, however, also arises without any response between parents, because it depends on how often and how regularly each [...]
Microclimate loggers: A matter of shielding… or wrapping?
Published: 2026-11-13
Subjects: Biodiversity, Climate, Environmental Monitoring, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Direct sunlight can heat the sensor, housing, and shield of microclimate loggers overestimating air temperature readings as a result. This raises the question of how loggers should be shielded. We tested whether extra shield layers, ventilation holes inside the shielding and a wrap of aluminium foil around the logger housing reduce the error of one of the most commonly used microclimate loggers, [...]
Can climate change studies guide primate conservation in Africa? A systematic review of observed and projected impacts
Published: 2026-11-13
Subjects: Life Sciences
Climate change is a growing threat, but its impact on species often remains poorly quantified which hampers conservation decisions. African primates are a conservation priority taxon, with 90% of species experiencing population decline. Yet, climate change impacts on this group remain comparatively understudied. We reviewed the peer-reviewed literature (n=58 studies, 2016-2025) to assess whether [...]
The cost of a promise – the species conservation expenditure needed to meet Australia’s zero extinction target in the marine environment
Published: 2026-11-13
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy
The Global Biodiversity Framework has the goal of halting the human-induced extinction of species. An immense number of species are threatened with extinction, the task confronting nations is great, and the cost highly uncertain. We collated cost data for marine species recovery programs in the United States where there have been some successful threatened species recoveries. Based on the [...]
Methodological Issues in Resolving Deer, Wolf, and People Avoidance from Camera Records: from One Home Ground to County and then a Statewide Volunteer Network
Published: 2026-11-13
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Camera records are increasingly used to measure how wildlife respond to people and to predators, but the measures are sensitive to choices that are rarely stated: these include what counts as one event, what the delay is divided by, to which species a return-time measure can justifiably be applied, and against what null a directional test is compared. This paper reports those choices as informed [...]
Destination Selection Function: a competing hazards model for redistribution data
Published: 2026-11-13
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Statistical Methodology, Statistical Models, Statistics and Probability
Dispersal is central to population dynamics, species distributions, and evolution, yet it is notoriously difficult to measure. The standard approach to estimating components of dispersal involves fitting a kernel to the straight-line distances between where individuals started and where they were next observed. In reality, however, an individual can only be observed where sampling takes place, so [...]
First record in over 40 years of the endemic Gerbillus hesperinus in Morocco using thermal imaging and live trapping in collaboration with mammalwatchers
Published: 2026-11-12
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Desert Ecology, Zoology
The Moroccan Atlantic coast harbors a distinctive but poorly understood mammal fauna, including the endangered endemic gerbil Gerbillus hesperinus, a specialist of coastal sandy habitats not recorded for over 40 years. To assess its persistence, a multi-method survey integrating handheld thermal imaging with recording small mammal tracks and live trapping was conducted over seven nights in March [...]
Seasonal (March–May) Drought Analysis of Kitui County, Kenya, Using the Standardised Precipitation Index and the Vegetation Health Index, 2011–2026
Published: 2026-11-12
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Education, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Sciences, Other Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Kitui County, Kenya, was assessed for drought conditions during the March–April–May (MAM) long rains season from 2011 to 2026 using the Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Vegetation Health Index (VHI). SPI was computed in Google Earth Engine using daily precipitation data from CHIRPS, as the standardised anomaly of MAM precipitation relative to a 1981–2010 baseline on a 0.05° grid, [...]
Ericoid mycorrhizal fungi recover from nitrogen additions in a dry heathland experiment in southern England
Published: 2026-11-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Microbiology
1. Ericoid mycorrhizal fungi are fundamental for heathlands’ establishment and functioning and contribute to the essential ecosystem services these endangered habitats provide, yet they are overlooked by environmental monitoring policies. As nitrogen pollution declines across Europe, policymakers need measurable indicators of habitat recovery encompassing above- and below-ground parts of the [...]
A consumer-facing application for radiance field-based 3D reconstruction enables accessible measurement of urban tree structure
Published: 2026-11-11
Subjects: Life Sciences
Urban forests are key in mitigating the effects of climate change and urbanisation on human well-being. Yet, evaluating and managing these benefits requires accurate, scalable monitoring of trees. Laser scanners operated from ground-based and airborne platforms have enabled urban trees to be monitored in unprecedented structural detail and across large spatial extents, respectively. However, [...]
Evaluating Cittarium pica for reef restoration: From grazing effects to post-release retention
Published: 2026-11-11
Subjects: Life Sciences
Caribbean coral reefs have experienced extensive coral loss, accompanied by increased algal cover which inhibits coral recovery. Enhancing native herbivore populations is being explored as a means of controlling excessive algal growth. The gastropod Cittarium pica (C. pica) may represent an option, but its suitability for reef restoration is unknown. We therefore evaluated its grazing, survival, [...]
Integrating the concept of acoustic diversity into the functional ecology framework
Published: 2026-11-11
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
The ecological relevance of sounds in ecosystems has gained increasing attention in the recent decade. While ecoacoustics seeks to study these roles, a majority of studies to date have focused on using Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) for species monitoring or calculating integrative ecoacoustic indices as rapid proxies for biological diversity. This paper proposes an ecological perspective on [...]
Which camera-trap images to review? Estimating occupancy from a small part of a survey
Published: 2026-11-11
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Context. Camera-trap surveys produce more images than people can review. Computer-vision classifiers such as SpeciesNet label animals but miss some species, so people still review images. Aims. To find how many and which images should be reviewed to reliably estimate species occupancy, and how a project can tell when it has reviewed enough. Methods. On four fully labeled camera-trap surveys (in [...]
Between Hill evenness and Hill diversity: how fixed-range evenness indices disagree
Published: 2026-11-11
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Statistical Methodology, Statistics and Probability
Ecologists use evenness to describe the distribution of species abundances and compare communities across space and time. Yet the indices in use are not interchangeable. Chao and Ricotta (2019) identified five fixed-range evenness classes built on Hill numbers. At each Hill order α they are values of one normalized Sharma–Mittal family indexed by a scale parameter β. I show that this family is [...]