Preprints
There are 1544 Preprints listed.
Shrinking body size may not provide meaningful thermoregulatory benefits in a warmer world
Published: 2023-12-13
Subjects: Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Ornithology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Physiology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Zoology
In a recent and impressive analysis of avian morphological data (covering >250 000 male birds from 105 species), Youngflesh et al.1 report that birds breeding in North America have become significantly lighter over the last three decades, coincident with rising breeding season temperatures. Because these observations recapitulate predictions under Bergmann’s Rule (i.e., that the body size of [...]
Complementando inventarios biológicos con datos abiertos a través de un método semiautomatizado
Published: 2023-12-13
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Introducción: Los muestreos directos constituyen la mejor manera de documentar la riqueza biológica de un lugar, pero pueden verse limitados por diversas circunstancias. Nos preguntamos si la riqueza de especies documentada en campo puede ser complementada con datos de plataformas digitales de biodiversidad. Objetivo: Analizar si los datos de ocurrencia de especies disponibles en la Global [...]
Effects of dissolved organic matter and ecocorona formation on the toxicity of micro- and nanoplastic particles to Daphnia - A meta-analysis
Published: 2023-12-12
Subjects: Life Sciences
Significant quantities of micro- and nanoplastic particles (MNP) end up in the environment, either due to larger plastic debris breaking down or by entering directly as MNPs. Effects of MNPs on organisms have been increasingly reported in recent years, with a large number of studies conducted on water fleas of the genus Daphnia. Most of the available studies used pristine particles that have [...]
Population density affects whole brain and brain region volumes in a wrasse species Coris batuensis
Published: 2023-12-12
Subjects: Life Sciences
The factors shaping brain evolution and cognition are broadly categorized as being either social or environmental. However, the relative importance of these factors is heavily debated, partly due to the limitations from the standard interspecific evolutionary comparative approach. Here, we adopt a complementary strategy leveraging the high degree of brain plasticity that evolved in fishes to ask [...]
Divergent responses between lineages of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to soil phosphorus and nitrogen availability
Published: 2023-12-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Soil Science
Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) associations are multifunctional. Two important functions they perform are facilitating nutrient uptake in host plants and protecting plants from biotic stress, among other functions. AM fungal taxa vary in how capably they perform these functions and can also respond differently to environmental selection. Therefore, there is a need to better understand how particular [...]
Elevated CO2 enhances decomposition and modifies litter-associated fungal assemblages in a natural Eucalyptus woodland
Published: 2023-12-12
Subjects: Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Litter decomposition is a key process governing carbon and nutrient cycles in forest ecosystems that is expected to be impacted by increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations. We conducted two complementary field studies to assess the effects of elevated CO2 on Eucalyptus tereticornis litter decomposition processes. First, we used bags of two different mesh sizes to assess the [...]
Bird species’ centrality in seed-dispersal networks varies within climatic niches
Published: 2023-12-12
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Understanding how the functional role of species within seed-dispersal networks varies across geographical and climatic gradients can reveal the mechanisms driving network organization. Using data for 157 bird species from all continents, we evaluated the variation of species’ centrality within local networks across species’ climatic niches (occupied climatic conditions) and in response to [...]
A user-friendly AI workflow for customised wildlife-image classification
Published: 2023-12-11
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Zoology
Monitoring wildlife is crucial for making informed conservation and land-management decisions. Remotely triggered cameras are widely used for this, but the resulting 'big data' are laborious to process. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers a solution to this bottleneck, but it has been challenging for ecologists and practitioners to tailor current approaches to their specific use cases. Generic, [...]
A guide to DNA extraction protocols for ecologists, conservation managers, and environmental DNA researchers
Published: 2023-12-11
Subjects: Life Sciences
Ecologists, conservation biologists, and environmental managers are increasingly dependent on environmental DNA (eDNA) data for research and decision making. The inherent complexity of eDNA samples, coupled with different choices involved during the DNA extraction process, can introduce biases into the final eDNA dataset. Therefore, optimization and troubleshooting of DNA extraction protocols are [...]
Urbanization alters sandy beach scavenging assemblages but not ecosystem function
Published: 2023-12-09
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Urbanization is rapidly transforming coastal landscapes around the world, altering the structure and function of marine, intertidal, and terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, we explore the impact of urbanization on the structure of vertebrate scavenging assemblages and the ecosystem functions they provide in sandy beach ecosystems across 40km of the central California coast, USA. We surveyed [...]
Quantifying clearance rates of restored shellfish reefs using modular baskets
Published: 2023-12-08
Subjects: Animal Experimentation and Research, Aquaculture and Fisheries Life Sciences, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology, Water Resource Management, Zoology
Shellfish reefs are among the most degraded ecosystems globally, prompting substantial efforts to restore them. While biodiversity gains of restored reefs are well documented, other ecosystem services such as water filtration remain poorly quantified. We present a novel way of measuring water filtration by restored reefs using modular restoration structures called Robust Oyster Baskets (ROB 400). [...]
Linking biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people (NCP): a macroecological energy flux perspective
Published: 2023-12-08
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Linking biodiversity and the provision of nature’s contribution to people (NCP) remains a challenge. This hinders our ability to properly cope with the decline in biodiversity and the provision of NCP under global climate and land use changes. Here, we propose a framework that combines biodiversity models with food web energy flux approaches to evaluate and map NCP at large spatio-temporal [...]
Impact of Green Space and Built Environment on Metabolic Syndrome: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis
Published: 2023-12-08
Subjects: Life Sciences
Metabolic Syndrome presents a significant public health challenge associated with an increased risk of noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular conditions. Evidence shows that green spaces and the built environment may influence metabolic syndrome. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies published through August 30, 2023, examining the association of [...]
The Palearctic view on a bat fungal disease
Published: 2023-12-08
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biology, Immunology and Infectious Disease, Life Sciences, Zoology
The fungal infection causing white-nose disease in hibernating bats in North America has resulted in dramatic population declines of affected species since it was first discovered in 2007. Shortly after, it was demonstrated that the causative agent, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, is native to the Palearctic, where it also infects several bat species. However, infection in the Palearctic rarely [...]
Towards the next generation of species delimitation methods: an overview of Machine Learning applications
Published: 2023-12-07
Subjects: Biology, Computational Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics and Genomics
Species delimitation is the process of distinguishing between populations of the same species and distinct species of a particular group of organisms. Various methods exist for inferring species limits, with most of them being rooted in Coalescent Theory. Their primary goal is to identify independently evolving lineages that should represent separate species. Coalescent models have improved [...]