Preprints
There are 3494 Preprints listed.
The series of genetic codes that preceded our own
Published: 2026-07-31
Subjects: Evolution, Genetics, Paleobiology
We produce a working hypothesis for the steps by which the canonical genetic code might have been constructed. We assume amino acids were added in the order inferred from their enrichment or depletion in ancestrally reconstructed sequences dating back to the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) relative to that in ancient but post-LUCA controls. To convert this ordering into a time series of [...]
Principles of Effective Guidance to Support the Implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
Published: 2026-07-31
Subjects: Life Sciences
Effective guidance is necessary for conservation practitioners to implement targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). However, there is a need to determine what properties make good guidance: easily accessible, widely usable and addressing specific needs to be implemented quickly by end-users. Alongside a rapid review of tools and guidance resources (T&G) [...]
A modeling lens on landscapes-of-peril and other ecological drivers of zoonoses
Published: 2026-07-31
Subjects: Animal Diseases, Behavior and Ethology, Life Sciences
Ecological systems are driven by a complex suite of environmental conditions, interactions among individuals, and reciprocal behavioral and biological responses of organisms to the ecosystems they inhabit. Individuals may, in turn, reshape those systems, generating feedback that alters the ecological drivers influencing subsequent system dynamics. Extractive and competitive processes are embedded [...]
Mapping monitoring resources to support progress tracking of global biodiversity-related commitments
Published: 2026-07-31
Subjects: Biodiversity, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Policy, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Sustainability
To address global biodiversity declines, governments have committed to ambitious biodiversity-related international policy goals and targets. In parallel, there has been rapid growth in datasets and monitoring resources, which has collectively increased the capacity to track progress towards these global commitments. However, a clear overview of how resources map to these commitments is lacking, [...]
Stage-dependent host use reveals reproductive and nursery habitats in the sea urchin-associated amphipod Dactylopleustes yoshimurai
Published: 2026-07-31
Subjects: Marine Biology
Host-associated symbionts are often described by a single host species, yet host use may be partitioned among life stages and host conditions. The sea urchin-associated amphipod Dactylopleustes yoshimurai commonly occurs on Strongylocentrotus intermedius in Otsuchi Bay, Japan, where juveniles frequently aggregate on disease lesions, whereas ovigerous females are rarely found. This pattern [...]
Bridging the data gap in freshwater biodiversity conservation monitoring: global indicators and online data systems
Published: 2026-07-31
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences
Freshwater ecosystems are among the most threatened on Earth. Global efforts to conserve biodiversity through multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) explicitly include goals contributing to freshwater ecosystems, but monitoring their impact is often constrained by issues around data availability and access, affecting countries’ ability to plan conservation responses and apply adaptive [...]
Patterns of Gray Wolf and White-tailed Deer Movement: Local, County and Regional Camera-trap Data (2018-2025)
Published: 2026-07-31
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
The gray wolf (Canis lupus) is the apex predator of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), but on a single restored site it can be too rare to study. A year-round survey of about ten cameras at nine fixed stations on an approximately 100-ha prairie–savanna complex located within Washburn County, Wisconsin, yielded too few wolf detections over three years (11,473 animal detections, 2024–2026) [...]
The Global Ecosystems Atlas: comprehensive and systematic mapping of Earth's ecosystems
Published: 2026-07-31
Subjects: Desert Ecology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Geography, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Natural Resources and Conservation, Physical and Environmental Geography, Remote Sensing, Spatial Science, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Halting and reversing biodiversity loss is central to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, yet a lack of consistent, spatially comprehensive data on ecosystem distributions has undermined our ability to monitor progress against its goals and targets. Here we introduce the Global Ecosystems Atlas initiative, convened by the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in [...]
Age-related shifts in dietary and oviposition preferences and steep costs of modest parental ageing in Drosophila melanogaster
Published: 2026-07-30
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Nutritional requirements vary across sexes and throughout an organism’s lifetime, and are predicted to influence dietary preferences to maximise fitness. However, the consequences of age-related changes in dietary preferences within and across generations are unknown. This is an important omission, as age-related changes in nutrient intake could have direct, sex-specific effects on offspring. We [...]
Biodiversity Externality Costs Through Supply Chain: A pass-Through Input-Output Framework for Biodiversity Financial Impact Assessment
Published: 2026-07-30
Subjects: Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Studies, Other Economics
Transition biodiversity risk is increasingly recognised as a source of financial risk, yet no framework exists to translate firm-level biodiversity impacts into credit risk metrics comparable to those developed for climate transition risk or even biodiversity dependency risk. This paper fills that gap by adapting the cost pass-through input-output methodology, established in the climate [...]
Interspecific Bergmann’s rule pattern in birds persists despite seasonal migration
Published: 2026-07-30
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Climatic gradients are thought to shape animal body size, with larger species often occurring in colder environments. Yet trait-climate relationships may reflect current climatic exposure as well as the evolutionary and biogeographic histories that shaped species’ traits. Bergmann’s rule illustrates this challenge, and birds provide a useful test because seasonal migration decouples body size [...]
Configuration coefficients can mislead conservation inference from beta diversity in fragmented landscapes
Published: 2026-07-29
Subjects: Life Sciences
Beta diversity informs reserve design and connectivity planning because compositional turnover links local assemblages to regional diversity. However, the conservation meaning of a beta-diversity pattern depends on the mechanism that generates it, not on the sign of a landscape-configuration coefficient alone. I use a recent Atlantic Forest tree beta-diversity analysis (Kramer et al. 2026, Global [...]
More trees, more moths: how urban treescapes can help reverse moth declines
Published: 2026-07-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Moths are undergoing widespread declines in abundance, biomass and diversity, with consequences for pollination, herbivory and trophic interactions. Yet moth conservation remains poorly integrated into biodiversity policy and practice, particularly in urban environments. Here, we argue that trees offer an underused, but very timely, opportunity to support urban moth communities. Trees provide [...]
GLYPTEMYS INSCULPTA (Wood Turtle) PREDATION.
Published: 2026-07-29
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Glyptemys insculpta is a semi-aquatic emydid turtle native to the midwestern and northeastern United States and eastern Canada. This species is imperiled across much of its range and is legally protected in all states and provinces where it occurs. In this report, we document G. insculpta egg predation by Peromyscus maniculatus bairdii (Prairie Deer Mouse), which occurred within a two-week period [...]
The emergence and persistence of partial migration
Published: 2026-07-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Partial migration, where some individuals in a population migrate while others remain resident, is a widespread and complex behavioural phenomenon arising from the interplay of genetic, developmental, social, and environmental processes. These mechanisms often interact, as migratory strategies can be shaped by genetic variation, individual experience, social learning, and fluctuating [...]