Preprints
There are 1975 Preprints listed.
Oases in the Sahara Desert – Linking Biological and Cultural Diversity
Published: 2021-02-11
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences
The diversity of life sensu lato comprises both biological and cultural diversity, described as “biocultural diversity”. Similar to plant and animal species, cultures and languages are threatened by extinction, too. Since drylands are pivotal systems for nature and people alike, we use oases in the Sahara Desert as model systems for examining patterns and trends of biocultural diversity. We [...]
CEUTA snowy plover open access data - COMMENTARY
Published: 2021-02-11
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Population Biology
Eberhart-Phillips et al. (2020, Scientific Data 7: 149) recently published a data-paper CeutaOPEN. However, the publication has significant shortcomings: the article does not explain the history nor the context of the project, it did not give credit to the developers of field methodology and data structure, and fails to acknowledge key contributions to the project. We request correcting these [...]
Retiring “cradles” and “museums” of biodiversity
Published: 2021-02-11
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
In 1974, G. Ledyard Stebbins provided a metaphor illustrating how spatial gradients of biodiversity observed today are byproducts of the way environment–population interactions drive species diversification through time. We revisit the narrative behind Stebbins’ “cradles” and “museums” of biodiversity to debate two points. First, the usual “high speciation” vs. “low extinction” and “tropical” vs. [...]
Phylogenomic approaches to detecting and characterizing introgression
Published: 2021-02-08
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Phylogenomics has revealed the remarkable frequency with which introgression occurs across the tree of life. These discoveries have been enabled by the rapid growth of methods designed to detect and characterize introgression from whole-genome sequencing data. A large class of phylogenomic methods makes use of data from one sample per species to infer introgression based on expectations from the [...]
Thermal flexibility and a generalist life history promote urban tolerance in butterflies
Published: 2021-02-08
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Urban expansion poses a serious threat to biodiversity. Given that the expected area of urban land cover is predicted to increase by 2-3 million km2 by 2050, urban environments are one of the most widespread human-dominated land-uses affecting biodiversity. Responses to urbanization differ greatly among species. Some species are unable to tolerate urban environments (i.e., urban avoiders), others [...]
When cheap talk is not that cheap – interviewing the super-rich about illegal wildlife consumption
Published: 2021-02-08
Subjects: Other Social and Behavioral Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Obtaining insights on the illicit consumption of endangered wildlife products is challenging, especially when the study objects are the super-rich. This research note draws upon my experience interviewing nearly 1,000 rhino horn consumers in Vietnam. Trust is crucial in such interactions. No interviews could have been conducted without good rapport between interviewers and respondents. [...]
Urban tolerance of birds changes throughout the full annual cycle
Published: 2021-02-08
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Aim: Our objective was to quantify urban tolerance for North American birds across the full annual cycle. We tested (1) whether intra-annual variability of urban tolerance differed between migrants and residents and (2) whether intra-annual variability of urban tolerance was phylogenetically conserved. We then assessed how the relationship between ecological and life history traits and urban [...]
Male size and reproductive performance in three species of livebearing fishes (Gambusia spp.): a systematic review and meta-analysis
Published: 2021-02-05
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
1. The genus Gambusia represents approximately 45 species of polyandrous livebearing fishes with reversed sexual size dimorphism (i.e. males smaller than females) and with copulation predominantly via male coercion. Male body size has been suggested as an important sexually selected trait, but despite abundant research, evidence for sexual selection on male body size in this genus is mixed. 2. [...]
Corrections to Phytologia,vol. 102 (3) – Rumicastrum dielsii (Poelln.) Carolin is an “alien,” R. cylindricum (Poelln.) Carolin is Elatinaceae, R. monogynum (Poelln.) Carolin is incertae sedis, and the combination in Rumicastrum for Talinum nanum Nees was neglected
Published: 2021-02-05
Subjects: Biodiversity, Life Sciences
In Phytologia 102 (4): 116–123, Hershkovitz recombined into Rumicastrum Ulbrich 65 Australian Montiaceae species originally classified in Calandrinia Kunth. Three of these species, all described by Karl von Poellnitz, do not pertain to Rumicastrum. The type specimen of Rumicastrum dielsii (Poelln.) Carolin is Calandrinia menziesii (Hook.) Torr. & A.Gray, a western North American species [...]
A 25-years population dynamics of sika deer in Kyushu Island, Japan: Estimation using vector autoregressive spatiotemporal model and evaluation of a large-scale management
Published: 2021-02-04
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Forest Management, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Population Biology
Regional management of large herbivore populations is known to be effective in reducing local economic damages and conserving local endemic plants. However, herbivores often move across management areas, and the effect of population management on a large spatial scale is poorly understood, even though it is necessary to use a large-scale approach across multiple management units to implement [...]
The Ecology of Sleep in Reptiles
Published: 2021-02-03
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Sleep is ubiquitous in the animal kingdom and yet displays considerable variation in its extent and form in the wild. Ecological factors, such as predation, competition, and microclimate, therefore, are likely to play a strong role in shaping characteristics of sleep. Despite the potential for ecological factors to influence various aspects of sleep, the ecological context of sleep in reptiles [...]
The diversity of plant sex chromosomes highlighted through advances in genome sequencing
Published: 2021-01-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Plant Sciences
For centuries scientists have been intrigued by the origin of dioecy in plants, characterizing sex-specific development, uncovering cytological differences between the sexes, and developing theoretical models. However, through the invention and continued improvements in genomic technologies, we have truly begun to unlock the genetic basis of dioecy in many species. Here we broadly review the [...]
Systematic review protocol to guide the delineation of critical habitat in the riparian zone for listed freshwater fishes and mussels
Published: 2021-01-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Background Habitat that is necessary for the survival and recovery of a species listed as threatened, endangered, or extirpated (i.e., Critical Habitat) is protected in Canada. For aquatic species, Critical Habitat may include riparian habitat, however it is unclear how much of this riparian habitat needs to be protected to support the survival and recovery of a listed species (primary question). [...]
Reptile smuggling is predicted by trends in the legal exotic pet trade
Published: 2021-01-28
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Western countries are less frequently implicated in illegal wildlife trade (IWT), contrasted with other transnational consumers, yet substantial evidence suggests that they contribute prominently. Live animal smuggling presents a suite of biosecurity concerns, including invasive species and disease risks. Here, we compared the live alien reptile species smuggled to Australia (75 species) to the [...]
Soil fungal diversity and community assembly: Affected by island size or type?
Published: 2021-01-26
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Fungi have huge biodiversity and play important roles in soil biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem services in island ecosystems. Although island biogeography has been widely studied in macroorganisms, the relationship between soil fungal diversity and area in islands is less documented. Here, we examine soil fungal communities of 18 oceanic islands belonged to two types of islands (8 general [...]