Preprints
There are 3084 Preprints listed.
On Information in Evolutionary Processes
Published: 2026-03-26
Subjects: Evolution, Population Biology
Since the first attempts to introduce an information-theoretical formalism into the description of evolutionary processes, several authors have argued that such approaches are inappropriate because biological evolution does not unfold in a predefined space of possibilities. To properly address that objection, we need to separate the semantics of the emergence of biological functions from the [...]
Population differentiation in functional traits shapes plant–consumer interactions along an elevational gradient
Published: 2026-03-26
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
1. Understanding how intraspecific variation in functional traits shape species interactions is central to predicting ecological responses to environmental change. The relative contribution of genetic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity to trait variation and their consequences for species interactions remain poorly understood. 2. Here, we conducted a reciprocal transplant experiment using [...]
Integration of ecological knowledge in European landscape architecture: a systematic project-description review
Published: 2026-03-26
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Urban Studies and Planning
Landscape architecture has a strong environmental focus and clearly states the ambition to integrate ecological knowledge in its practice and theory. This study aims to assess the state of the art in integrating ecology in landscape architecture project design, identifying well-integrated ecological knowledge areas and potential knowledge gaps, to support future development of this integration. [...]
Predicting decay in functional diversity in plant communities under future climates
Published: 2026-03-26
Subjects: Life Sciences
Climate change is expected to cause widespread shifts in the composition of plant communities. However, the extent to which these changes will alter the composition and diversity of plant functional traits is less clear. Here, we assess how climate change may reshape the functional diversity of 32,996 plant communities by combining data on their traits and realised climatic niches with future [...]
How environmental conditions affect the acquisition, establishment, and persistence of microbial endosymbiosis in insects
Published: 2026-03-26
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Microbiology
Long-term interactions between insect hosts and their internal microbial symbionts are ubiquitous. As these interactions support many aspects of the insect host biology, restrictions to their establishment and maintenance could have important consequences to the survival of insects and functioning of ecosystems. The current literature provides extensive evidence that rapidly changing [...]
Species, geography, and weather conditions predict offshore migration in songbirds
Published: 2026-03-25
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
The increasing development of offshore wind farms raises concerns about potential effects on migratory songbirds. Current wind farm monitoring techniques, such as radar, infrared cameras and motion detectors, capture this risk in general, but cannot reliably identify individuals to species level and thus fail to detect species-specific exposure to these structures. Due to their spatial focus on [...]
Scale dependence of avian functional rarity reveals mismatches between global and local conservation priorities
Published: 2026-03-25
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Aim. Spatial scale shapes both how rarity is defined and how conservation priorities are derived from it, yet most functional rarity assessments rely on a single (often global) reference pool. We test how the scale dependence of functional rarity affects hotspot identification and the alignment of global versus local conservation priorities in birds. Location. Global. Time period. Contemporary. [...]
A guide for integration of community ecology in landscape architecture: The Ecological Filters Framework
Published: 2026-03-25
Subjects: Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Urban Studies and Planning
The accelerating biodiversity crisis, driven by habitat change and urbanization, underscores the need to integrate ecological knowledge and landscape architecture. This paper introduces the Ecological Filter Framework (EFF), as a tool to foster this integration. By structuring complex ecological knowledge into tangible categories, the EFF is meant to empower practitioners to shape environments [...]
Situating AI in Environmental Science: Perspectives Across Sectors and Career Stages
Published: 2026-03-25
Subjects: Biotechnology
The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly proliferating across career sectors, including those in the environmental sciences. The field’s reliance on technical analysis, complex and multidimensional datasets, and broad interdisciplinary job responsibilities makes it well-suited to benefit from advancements in AI. However, careers within environmental science are highly diverse and the [...]
Average, variability, and extremes: A framework to quantify microclimate temperature modulation
Published: 2026-03-25
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Microclimate, the climatic conditions experienced by organisms, can differ substantially from the macroclimate measured by weather stations. Microclimate modulation is the modification of the microclimate by environmental conditions. Despite its ecological importance, there is currently no standardized method for quantifying microclimate modulation, which limits comparability across studies. [...]
Spatio-temporal shifts driven by climate change threaten persistence and resilience of honey bee populations
Published: 2026-03-25
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Understanding how climate shapes intraspecific genetic turnover is critical for predicting biodiversity responses to global change, yet such analyses remain limited for systems where natural adaptation and human-mediated dispersal jointly structure diversity. Here, we investigate the spatio-temporal dynamics of genetic composition in the western honey bee (Apis mellifera) across Anatolia and [...]
Bees as Ambassadors for Plant Conservation
Published: 2026-03-25
Subjects: Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Because of their abundance and sessile nature, plants often blend into the landscape, which can lead many people to be unaware of, uniformed, or uninterested in them. This phenomenon, known as “Plant Awareness Disparity” (PAD), contributes to a lack of support for the conservation of plants relative to animals. Strategies for mitigating PAD across diverse demographic groups remain poorly [...]
Flukes of resilience: new sightings of Atlantic humpback dolphin Sousa teuszii (Kükenthal, 1892), but bycaught bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821) in Benin
Published: 2026-03-25
Subjects: Life Sciences
The updated number of confirmed Atlantic humpback dolphin Sousa teuszii case records for Benin’s coast (period 2013-2025) amounts to six, including five sightings and one live-stranding. If no re-sightings occurred, maximally 22 individuals were involved. However, the two 2025 sightings may have been the same pod. Group size was small (mean= 4.57; SD= 2.37; median= 5; range= 1–7; n= 6) compared [...]
Climate-change-driven shifts in the population dynamics of the invasive tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) in the Alps
Published: 2026-03-25
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology
The recent global expansion of the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) across tropical and temperate regions provides a clear example of the mobility and adaptability of invasive species. Among multiple drivers influencing the spread of this species, climate change is emerging as a major driver, creating conditions that favour its persistence and expansion into higher latitudes and [...]
Toward a participatory and adaptive ecology of biodiversity conservation
Published: 2026-03-25
Subjects: Life Sciences
Conservation biology emphasizes, with good reason, the harmful impacts of human activity but often extends the same antagonism to novel, potentially beneficial biodiversity that also arises through human involvement. This asymmetry is rooted in a pervasive nature/culture dualism that affords ecological value primarily to processes considered “natural.” Such a framing constrains conservation’s [...]