Preprints
There are 3456 Preprints listed.
Local Perceptions and Community Engagement in Conservation: Insights from Protected Areas in Guinea-Bissau
Published: 2026-07-20
Subjects: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Understanding community perceptions of conservation initiatives is critical for evaluating their effectiveness and fostering long-term local engagement in biodiversity protection. This study employed a multidimensional framework to assess how socio-economic, governance, ecological, and future-oriented factors influence community engagement across four protected areas in Guinea-Bissau: Boé, [...]
Swept ashore: Transoceanic dispersals and the biogeographic origins of Australian gekkonid lizards
Published: 2026-07-20
Subjects: Biology, Life Sciences
Oceanic dispersal is a rare mode of long-distance dispersal where taxa colonize disconnected islands or continents, sometimes resulting in new radiations. Australia has been isolated from other continental landmasses during the last 45 million years, and overwater colonisation has played a critical role in shaping its contemporary biota. Here, we investigate the biogeographic origins of [...]
The geometry of visual signalling in a bird-of-paradise
Published: 2026-07-20
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Effective visual signalling in animals requires an appropriate viewing geometry, which depends on both the visual system of signal receivers and the spatial context in which the signal is viewed. For example, visual acuity determines the distance at which fine-scale patterns can be resolved, while the visual field defines the space around the audience open to influence from visual signals, [...]
Microhabitat structure predicts eye presence in bryophyte-dwelling tardigrade communities
Published: 2026-07-20
Subjects: Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
Microscopic invertebrates often exhibit variation in eye presence within closely related taxa, yet the ecological correlates of this variation remain poorly understood. In tardigrades, eyes may occur or be absent even among species inhabiting similar environments. Because structures that enable seeing are frequently linked to environmental conditions, we investigated which factors influence eye [...]
Seasonal biases in data collection cause conceptual gaps in animal ecology
Published: 2026-07-20
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Research Methods in Life Sciences
1. Animal life cycles are structured into seasons with major differences in behaviour. Yet much of the data that inform policy and predictive modelling is drawn from studies conducted when animals breed. This temporal research bias overlooks key seasonal and life stages in the ecology of animal populations, such as high over-winter mortality periods. Yet, it is unclear whether this bias also [...]
Continental breeding hotspots of migratory monarch butterflies revealed by coordinated community science partnership
Published: 2026-07-18
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology
The eastern migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus) has declined by more than 80% over the past two decades, highlighting the need for improved understanding of its breeding ecology. To address longstanding gaps in continental-scale data on monarch reproduction, the International Monarch Monitoring Blitz has mobilized community scientists across North America to monitor monarch [...]
Quiet stewardship and deer return times: sound continuity, not fuel, predicts white-tailed deer avoidance of stewardship machines in a multi-year steward-conducted camera census
Published: 2026-07-18
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Recreation and routine land management can alter wildlife behavior even where they do not reduce abundance, and the acoustic component of human activity is difficult to isolate from human presence itself. Within a single restored prairie–savanna, the same trail network is worked on foot, on a silent electric utility vehicle (UTV), and behind gas engines (a gas ATV and a mower), with all vehicle [...]
Extant native and alien herbivores and carnivores retain substantial capacity to restore late-Quaternary trophic structure
Published: 2026-07-18
Subjects: Life Sciences
Global ecosystem restoration seeks to recover ecological functions and trophic integrity. However, late-Quaternary extinctions and range contractions of large mammals have simplified modern ecosystems. The extent to which trophic structure can be rebuilt by surviving species remains unclear. We assess the capacity of extant native and already-introduced alien large herbivores and carnivores to [...]
The Case for Prioritizing West Marin as a Beaver Relocation Site
Published: 2026-07-18
Subjects: Life Sciences
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Beaver Restoration Program (BRP) must allocate a limited number of translocations across many candidate watersheds. This paper argues that West Marin, the coastal watershed anchored by Lagunitas Creek, warrants placement in the top tier of the CDFW's prioritization model. West Marin is the rare site that is at once highest-value, lowest-risk, [...]
Individual repeatability in dietary specialisation across years and competitive regimes in wild birds
Published: 2026-07-17
Subjects: Life Sciences
Dietary variation reflects fitness trade-offs shaped by environmental conditions and individual traits. According to optimal foraging theory, individuals should specialise when profitable prey is abundant, yet empirical evidence remains limited. We hypothesised that specialisation is driven by individual personality and competition intensity. Following the pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) framework, [...]
Replication and generalization in evolutionary ecology
Published: 2026-07-16
Subjects: Life Sciences
Several authors have expressed concern about replicability in evolutionary ecology. But what does replicability mean in this field, and how can replication enable generalization? Evolutionary ecologists investigate probabilistic processes across a vast diversity of unique historical entities. I argue that the aims and subject matter of evolutionary ecology complicate inference and necessitate [...]
The highly pathogenic H5N1 outbreak did not increase mortality rates of adult Atlantic Puffins (Fratercula arctica) in Newfoundland, Canada
Published: 2026-07-15
Subjects: Life Sciences
Host nutrition and density jointly drive susceptibility and tolerance to parasite infection
Published: 2026-07-15
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Variation in host condition and population context is a major source of heterogeneity in infection risk and a key determinant of host-parasite dynamics. Host nutrition and density are drivers of this variation, yet their combined effects on host susceptibility and tolerance to parasite infection remain poorly understood. Here, we experimentally tested these interactive effects on susceptibility [...]
Integrity Matters: Riparian Forest Preservation Influences Body Condition and Parasites of Amphibians
Published: 2026-07-15
Subjects: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Riparian forests are essential for the structure and dynamics of head streams, performing an important role in maintaining biodiversity in fragmented forests. Integrity condition influences the stream quality and the distribution of amphibians and their responses to infections. To investigate this premise, we evaluated parasite infection parameters in amphibians through six riparian areas with [...]
Phantom decoys cause irrational choice in lizards
Published: 2026-07-15
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Choice theory generally predicts that individuals act to maximize their benefits and behave according to simple rationality assumptions. However, the predictions of choice theory are often violated when an additional option is added to a choice set leading to a shift in choice between the original options. While this “decoy effect” has been documented across several animal taxa, it has not been [...]