Preprints
There are 2384 Preprints listed.
Mapping and understanding the digital biodiversity knowledge about vertebrates in the Atlantic Rainforest
Published: 2019-03-18
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Biodiversity data are fundamental for macroecological studies. Recent efforts on gathering global data have not been sufficient to surpass biases and gaps. This incompleteness has serious consequences on conservation and ecological understanding, therefore it is of major importance to map, quantify and describe these flaws. In this paper we aimed to assess inventory incompleteness for the [...]
Invasive species interact with climatic variability to reduce success of natives
Published: 2019-02-26
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Plants have evolved resource-conservative and resource-acquisitive strategies to deal with variability in rainfall, but interactions with dominant invasive species may undermine these adaptations. To investigate the relative effect of invaders on species with these two strategies, we manipulated rainfall and invasive grass presence and measured demographic rates in three resource-acquisitive and [...]
Transcriptional Activation of Elephant Shark Mineralocorticoid Receptor by Corticosteroids, Progesterone and Spironolactone
Published: 2019-02-25
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Other Medicine and Health Sciences
We report the analysis of activation by corticosteroids and progesterone of full-length mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) from elephant shark, a cartilaginous fish belonging to the oldest group of jawed vertebrates. Based on their measured activities, aldosterone, cortisol, 11-deoxycorticosterone, corticosterone, 11-deoxcortisol, progesterone and 19-norprogesterone are potential physiological [...]
Climate, human disturbance and geometric constraints drive the elevational richness pattern of birds in a biodiversity hotspot in south-western China
Published: 2019-02-22
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
We explored the elevational richness patterns of birds in a biodiversity hotspot in south-western China, the Gaoligong Mountains and assessed the role of different spatial factors, climatic factors and landscape composition in shaping the richness patterns. The east slope of the southern part of Gaoligong Mountains (24.79°N-26.49°N, 98.65°E-98.93°E) is the western-most part of the Hengduan [...]
Ice-free area expansion compounds the non-native species threat to Antarctic terrestrial biodiversity
Published: 2019-02-19
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Warming across ice-covered regions will result in changes to both the physical and climatic environment, revealing new ice-free habitat and new climatically suitable habitats for non-native species establishment. Recent studies have independently quantified each of these aspects in Antarctica, where ice-free areas form crucial habitat for the majority of terrestrial biodiversity. Here we [...]
Ecosystem services networks: an accessible framework for decision-making
Published: 2019-02-14
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Systems Biology
Multifunctional landscapes provide multiple ecosystem services and are managed collaboratively to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem function and support human wellbeing. Linking ecological patterns across systems is essential to advance ecosystem services research and inform ecologically-sustainable landscape management. Network theory provides a robust, accessible framework to build knowledge [...]
Does aggression towards rivals contribute to mate guarding in Drosophila melanogaster?
Published: 2019-02-14
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Mate guarding (MG) mediated by aggression towards rivals can be a significant contributor to male reproductive fitness in many animal species. However, establishing the MG effect of aggression in species without explicit MG can be difficult. While aggression in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is well documented, only recently has it been connected to MG. Interestingly, males of this species [...]
Predation risk and social factors influence vigilance in a social bird species
Published: 2019-02-04
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Predation is a critical selective force, facilitating the evolution of anti-predatory behaviours, such as vigilance. However, this behaviour can also be used to monitor conspecifics. Here we evaluate the antipredator and social functions of vigilance in Siberian jays. In this bird species, groups can include retained offspring that remain with their parents well beyond independence, as well as [...]
Size-selective harvesting and individual personality in a social fish
Published: 2019-02-04
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
In fisheries worldwide, larger fish are subjected to substantially greater fishing mortality than smaller fish. Body length and behavioral traits are often correlated, such that fisheries-induced changes in either behaviour or morphology can also alter other traits as result of direct or indirect selection. Consistent behavioral differences among individuals, known as personality traits, provide [...]
Seeing rare birds where there are none: self-rated expertise predicts correct species identification, but also more false rarities
Published: 2019-02-04
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Biodiversity, Life Sciences, Ornithology
The use of crowdsourced data is growing rapidly, particularly in ornithology. Citizen science greatly contributes to our knowledge, however, little is known about the reliability of data collected in that way. We found, using an online picture quiz, that self-proclaimed expert birders were more likely to misidentify common British bird species as exotic or rare species, compared to people who [...]
Complexity revealed in the greening of the Arctic
Published: 2019-02-04
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Life Sciences, Other Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
As the Arctic warms, vegetation is responding and satellite measures indicate widespread greening at high latitudes. This ‘greening of the Arctic’ is among the world’s most significant large-scale ecological responses to global climate change. However, a consensus is emerging that the underlying causes and future dynamics of so-called Arctic greening and browning trends are more complex, [...]
Social genetic effects (IGE) and genetic intra- and intersexual genetic correlation contribute to the total heritable variance in parental care
Published: 2019-02-01
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
The social environment can influence phenotypes through indirect genetic effects (IGEs), whereby genetic variance among interacting individuals explains some of the phenotypic variance. Empirical studies of wild populations often ignore IGEs especially among unrelated individuals, probably due to data limitations. This is problematic because IGEs can crucially affect estimates of heritable [...]
Be prudent if it fits you well: male mate choice depends on male size in a golden orb-weaver spider
Published: 2019-01-31
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Male preference for high-quality females is expected to evolve when male reproductive potential is restricted. However, when there is competition among males, some models predict the evolution of assortative male mate choice, in which good competitors choose high quality females while poor competitors choose lower quality females to avoid competition. In Trichonephila clavipes spiders, males have [...]
Replication alert: behavioural lateralisation in a detour test is not repeatable in fishes
Published: 2019-01-29
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Behavioural lateralisation, defined as the asymmetric expression of cognitive functions, is reported to enhance key fitness-relevant traits such as predator escape performance, multitasking abilities, and group coordination. Therefore, studies reporting negative effects on lateralisation in fish due to environmental stressors such as ocean acidification, hypoxia, and pollutants are worrisome. [...]
A comparative study of differential selection pressure over the nesting cycle in birds
Published: 2019-01-29
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Reproductive allocation varies greatly across species and is determined by their life-history and ecology. This variation is usually assessed as the number of eggs or propagules (hereafter: fecundity). However, in species with parental care, individuals face trade-offs that affect the allocation of resources among the stages of reproduction as well as to reproduction as a whole. Thus, it is [...]