Preprints
There are 1649 Preprints listed.
A photographic guide for determining egg incubation stage in the Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus)
Published: 2024-01-18
Subjects: Life Sciences
When monitoring the nesting biology of wild birds, nests are often found after the eggs have been laid and incubation has commenced. Candling—the use of a bright light to illuminate egg contents—is a useful method for estimating embryo development and incubation stage. This information is used to estimate when incubation started and predict when eggs will hatch. As the focus of several long-term [...]
Use of a communal display area by Rufous Whistlers (Pachycephala rufiventris)
Published: 2024-01-18
Subjects: Life Sciences
A universal DNA barcode for the Tree of Life
Published: 2024-01-18
Subjects: Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Genomics, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Species identification using DNA barcodes has revolutionized biodiversity sciences and society at large. However, conventional barcoding methods do not reflect genomic complexity, may lack sufficient variation, and rely on limited genomic loci that are not universal across the Tree of Life. Here, we develop a novel barcoding method that uses exceptionally low-coverage genome skim data to create a [...]
No time to die: Temporal patterns of nest predation in a multi-brooded Southern Hemisphere passerine bird
Published: 2024-01-18
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Ornithology
1. Nest predation is frequently the primary cause of early-life mortality in wild avian populations, generating selection for optimising the timing of reproduction to reduce predation risk. Investigating temporal patterns of nest predation is therefore necessary for understanding the intricate relationships between birds and their predators. 2. In this study, we considered the role of temporal [...]
Opportunity Begets Opportunity to Drive Macroevolutionary Dynamics of a Diverse Lizard Radiation
Published: 2024-01-18
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Evolution proceeds unevenly across the tree of life, with some lineages accumulating diversity more rapidly than others. Explaining this disparity is challenging as similar evolutionary triggers often do not result in analogous shifts across the tree, and similar shifts may reflect different evolutionary triggers. We used a combination of approaches to directly consider such context-dependency [...]
neonPlantEcology: an R package for preparing NEON plant data for use in ecological research
Published: 2024-01-17
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a continental-scale endeavor of ecological data collection for 30 years. We created a software package, neonPlantEcology that automatically arranges the raw data from the plant presence and percent cover (DP1.10058.001) data product from NEON into tables familiar to plant ecologists. Because of the broad scale of the observatory, it is [...]
Challenges and opportunities in applying AI to evolutionary morphology
Published: 2024-01-16
Subjects: Life Sciences
Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to transform many aspects of society, and the study of evolutionary morphology is no exception. Classical AI methods such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Cluster Analysis have been commonplace in evolutionary morphology for decades, but the last decade has seen increasing application of Deep Learning to ecology and evolutionary biology, opening up [...]
Asteraceae in isolation: diversity and island biogeography of the largest plant family
Published: 2024-01-16
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
The hyperdiverse plant family Asteraceae, with over 32,000 species globally, forms an iconic component of island floras, including many spectacular radiations, but a global picture of their insular diversity is lacking. Here, we uncover the global biogeographical and evolutionary patterns of Asteraceae on islands to reveal the magnitude and potential causes of their evolutionary success. We [...]
A big data and machine learning approach for monitoring the condition of ecosystems
Published: 2024-01-16
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Sciences, Forest Biology, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Statistical Methodology, Statistical Models, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Ecosystems are highly valuable as a source of goods and services and as a heritage for future generations. Knowing their condition is extremely important for all management and conservation activities and public policies. Until now, the evaluation of ecosystem condition has been unsatisfactory and thus lacks practical implementation for most countries. We propose that ecosystem integrity is a [...]
The cytoarchitecture of the telencephalon of Labroides dimidiatus (Labridae)
Published: 2024-01-16
Subjects: Life Sciences
As evidence for advanced cognitive abilities in fishes steadily increases, cytoarchitectonic studies of the Actinopterygian telencephalon receive increasing interest by neuro-ethologists. However, the amount of information concerning brain organization in this group is still rather small. Here, we present a cytoarchitectonic analysis of the telencephalon of Labroides dimidiatus, a species showing [...]
Incubation behaviour of a boreal, food-caching passerine nesting in sub-zero temperatures
Published: 2024-01-14
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Our understanding of avian incubation behaviour is primarily derived from species that nest in the temperate conditions of spring and summer. This leaves uncertainties about strategies employed by a relatively small number of species adapted to breed under sub-zero, winter-like conditions. We used in-nest temperature loggers (iButtons) to monitor incubation behaviours of Canada Jays, [...]
Dense Sampling Phylogenomics Reveals Highly Dynamic Evolution of Batesian Mimicry Accuracy in Two Clades of Myrmecomorphic Spiders
Published: 2024-01-14
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics and Genomics
Batesian mimicry is an impressive example of convergent evolution driven by predation. However, the observation that many mimics only superficially resemble their models despite strong selective pressures is an apparent paradox. Here, we tested whether inaccurate mimicry represents an optimized or transitional stage at the macro-evolutionary scale by performing the hereto largest phylogenetic [...]
The moulting arthropod: a complete genetic toolkit review
Published: 2024-01-14
Subjects: Life Sciences
Exoskeletons are a defining character of all arthropods that provide physical support for their segmented bodies and appendages as well as protection from the environment and predation. This ubiquitous yet evolutionarily variable feature has been instrumental in facilitating the adoption of a variety of lifestyles and the exploitation of ecological niches across all environments. Throughout the [...]
The power of touch: from survival to enduring, prosocial cooperation
Published: 2024-01-14
Subjects: Life Sciences
Cooperation is a pivotal biological phenomenon that occurs in many forms. In species that engage in helping, individuals vary in association time and the extent of physical proximity, influencing the extent of touching between individuals. Here, we emphasize the importance of touch in the development and maintenance of parenting and mate bonds, and its link to cooperation. Touch activates a [...]
Animal social networks are robust to changing association definitions
Published: 2024-01-12
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Ornithology
The interconnecting links (edges) between individuals (nodes) in an animal social network are often defined by discrete, directed behaviours (interactions). However, where interactions are difficult to observe, a network edge is instead defined as individuals sharing space or overlapping in time (an association). Despite an increasingly accessible toolkit to assemble and analyse animal social [...]