Preprints
There are 3916 Preprints listed.
Acquire and rewire: mobile genetic elements co-opt the bacterial core genome
Published: 2026-11-06
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics and Genomics, Microbiology
It is assumed that bacterial genomes are streamlined, with genes encoding core functions integrated with one another and with aligned fitness interests. Such genes can gain little from horizontal transfer, as any recipient would already carry its own copy better adapted to resident networks. These restrictions motivated the ‘complexity hypothesis’, which predicts that core genes are rarely [...]
Vulnerability of Atlantic salmon to climate warming across the life cycle
Published: 2026-11-06
Subjects: Life Sciences
Climate change is inducing more frequent and severe heat waves than organisms have encountered in recent evolutionary history. Predicting the consequences of extreme temperatures for biodiversity depends on understanding how thermal tolerance varies within species, yet this is limited by a lack of empirical data across all life stages, particularly those predicted to be most vulnerable: embryos [...]
A physics-forced spatial Ecopath with Ecosim model reproduces spring bloom timing in the Strait of Georgia
Published: 2026-11-06
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Marine ecosystem models rarely simulate lower trophic level (LTL) production from physical conditions; production is usually prescribed or supplied by a separate biogeochemical model. We tested whether Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) can reproduce physically controlled LTL dynamics without a dedicated biogeochemical model. The Strait of Georgia Ecosystem Model of Lower Trophic Levels (SOGEM-LTL) [...]
The Geography of Speciation Across Andean-Centred Clades
Published: 2026-11-06
Subjects: Evolution, Life Sciences
Aim: Mountains harbour a disproportionate share of global biodiversity, yet the geographic pathways through which this diversity arises remain debated. In the Andes, diversification has been linked both to geographic isolation generated by complex topography and climatic dynamics, and to ecological divergence across steep environmental gradients. Here, we assess the predominant geographic modes [...]
Seven myths about causal inference in ecology: clarifications and common ground
Published: 2026-11-06
Subjects: Life Sciences
Identifying and quantifying causal relationships from data is a central goal in ecology and conservation. To achieve this goal, ecologists are increasingly applying frameworks and methods from the broader, multidisciplinary causal inference literature. These applications have generated both enthusiasm and skepticism. Here, we address seven common sources of skepticism that we see as myths. Much [...]
Marine Group II Archaea: A Review with a Focus on the Arctic Ocean
Published: 2026-11-06
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Microbiology
Marine Group II (MGII) archaea are among the most abundant planktonic archaea in the global ocean, yet no cultured representative exists, and most of what is known about them comes from 16S rRNA gene surveys and metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs). Here we review the taxonomy, biogeography, physiology, and metabolism of MGII archaea, now proposed as the order Candidatus Poseidoniales, with its [...]
Parental divergence as a predictor of hybridization outcomes
Published: 2026-11-06
Subjects: Evolution, Genomics
Hybridization can generate both fitness benefits and genetic incompatibilities, yet predicting how these opposing effects shape hybrid fitness and genome evolution remains a major challenge in evolutionary genomics. Parental genetic divergence is expected to play a central role, as increasing divergence can promote heterosis and adaptive novelty while simultaneously increasing incompatibilities [...]
Can't see the forbs for the grasses – Forb ecology in Indian grasslands
Published: 2026-11-06
Subjects: Life Sciences
Grasslands are one of the world's most widespread and diverse ecosystems. However, ecological research in grasslands has largely focused on grasses and woody plants, while forbs, which are non-graminoid herbaceous plants, are often overlooked despite their considerable contributions to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of grasslands. In this review we synthesize current knowledge on the [...]
BioCosmos: computer vision and large language models for large-scale image-based biodiversity data and trait exploration
Published: 2026-11-06
Subjects: Life Sciences
Millions of natural history specimen images are now online, but poor discoverability keeps their rich phenotypic and evolutionary data out of reach for most users. We developed BioCosmos, a web platform that combines conventional biodiversity databases with emerging computer vision and large language models for image retrieval, visual feature recognition, and natural language queries. Its first [...]
Energy landscapes, stopover networks and reproductive constraints: a mathematical framework in the Arctic bird migration under Climate Change
Published: 2026-11-06
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Arctic-breeding waterbirds depend on fat stores gained at stopover sites during spring migration, and climate change is altering the winds, food timing and wetland quality along their routes. We present a compact mathematical model of spring migration from a wintering area to an Arctic breeding site, built to test five hypotheses about how these changes act on migration energetics and [...]
Resurrecting host–microbiome interactions: combining resurrection ecology and microbiome transplants to test temporal local adaptation
Published: 2026-11-03
Subjects: Life Sciences
Host-associated microbiomes can influence fitness, respond rapidly to environmental change, and potentially contribute to host adaptation. Yet, determining whether host–microbiome associations evolve adaptively over ecological timescales remains challenging because historical host genotypes and their associated microbial communities are rarely available for experimental comparison. Resurrection [...]
Mixed evidence that protected areas slow declines of threatened plant species in Germany
Published: 2026-11-03
Subjects: Life Sciences
1. A central credo of plant conservation is that the most effective way to protect native plants is to conserve the habitats in which they occur. Protected areas are therefore a cornerstone of plant conservation, and much research has focused on optimizing their representativeness across species. Far fewer studies, however, have tested whether protected populations actually persist over time. [...]
The Illusion of Structural Gain: Identifiability and estimator calibration in a bounded energy-structure model
Published: 2026-11-03
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Systems Biology
In evolutionary biology and ecological modeling, inferring adaptive shifts or structural gain from time-series data is critical for understanding system resilience under resource constraints. However, the mathematical estimators used to diagnose these shifts can produce fundamentally misleading scalar metrics. This paper demonstrates the "illusion of structural gain" in bounded energy-structure [...]
Co-producing biodiversity data infrastructures: Mexico’s Agrobiodiversity Information System as a case study
Published: 2026-11-03
Subjects: Biodiversity, Science and Technology Studies
Agrobiodiversity data, rooted in place and in community, expose tensions around sustaining the involvement of data collectors across the data lifecycle and embedding their context-specific expertise as data are mobilized beyond their sites of origin. These challenges extend to biodiversity data infrastructures that integrate diverse socio-ecological information. We examine how a co-production [...]
Cave spider trophic dynamics, network structure and competition: cave zone, taxonomy and bat presence drive hypogean interactions
Published: 2026-11-03
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Zoology
Cave ecosystems are shaped by unique environmental constraints, influencing species distributions and trophic interactions. Spiders are often the dominant predators in caves, but their diet is restricted by local parameters that likely intensify competition and other intraguild interactions, including the confinement of energy flows to detrital and chemoautotrophic pathways. The hypogean [...]