Preprints

There are 1954 Preprints listed.

The nitroplast and its relatives support a universal model of features predicting gene retention in endosymbiont and organelle genomes

Iain Johnston

Published: 2024-04-22
Subjects: Evolution, Genomics

Endosymbiotic relationships have shaped eukaryotic life. As endosymbionts coevolve with their host, towards full integration as organelles, their genomes tend to shrink, with genes being completely lost or transferred to the host nucleus. Modern endosymbionts and organelles show diverse patterns of gene retention, and why some genes and not others are retained in these genomes is not fully [...]

THE CURRENT KNOWLEDGE OF TUBERCULOSIS IN PINNIPEDS

Ailin Sosa Drouville, Martha Patricia Rincón-Díaz, Soledad Barandiaran, et al.

Published: 2024-04-20
Subjects: Life Sciences

Infectious diseases and zoonoses, particularly, are in the spotlight after the 17 COVID-19 pandemic. Under this scenario, the One Health approach becomes of fundamental relevance to understanding, analyzing, interpreting, and, ideally, preventing future scenarios of the spread of infectious agents. It is estimated that about 60% of human infectious diseases are caused by zoonotic agents. A clear [...]

Leveraging AI to improve evidence synthesis in conservation

Oded Berger-Tal, Bob B M Wong, Carrie Ann Adams, et al.

Published: 2024-04-20
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences

Systematic evidence syntheses (systematic reviews and maps) summarize knowledge and are used to support decisions and policies in a variety of applied fields, from medicine and public health to biodiversity conservation. However, conducting these exercises in conservation is often expensive and slow, which can impede their use and hamper progress in addressing the biodiversity crisis. With the [...]

Environmental connectivity influences the origination of adaptive processes

John Shea, Sydney Leither, Max Foreback, et al.

Published: 2024-04-18
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Spatial structure is hypothesized to be an important factor in the origin of life, wherein encapsulated chemical reaction networks came together to form systems capable adaptive complexification via Darwinian evolution. In this work, we use a computational model to investigate how different patterns of environmental connectivity influence the emergence of adaptive processes in simulated systems [...]

Using causal diagrams and superpopulation models to correct geographic biases in biodiversity monitoring data

Rob James Boyd, Marc Botham, Emily Dennis, et al.

Published: 2024-04-18
Subjects: Life Sciences

1. Biodiversity monitoring schemes periodically measure species’ abundances and distributions at a sample of sites to understand how they have changed over time. Often, the aim is to infer change in an average sense across some wider landscape. Inference to the wider landscape is simple if the species’ abundances and distributions are similar at sampled to non-sampled locations. Otherwise, the [...]

COVID-19 could accelerate the decline in recreational hunting: a natural experiment from Northern Italy

Jacopo Cerri, Carmela Musto, Marco Ferretti, et al.

Published: 2024-04-16
Subjects: Agricultural and Resource Economics, Environmental Studies, Sociology

Although many studies highlighted the potential of COVID-19 to reshape existing models of wildlife management, empirical research on this topic has been scarce, particularly in Europe. We investigated the potential of COVID-19 pandemic to accelerate the ongoing decline in an aging population of recreational hunters in Italy. Namely, we modeled spatiotemporal trends between 2011 and 2021 in the [...]

Sixty years since Silent Spring: a map of meta-analyses on organochlorine pesticides reveals urgent needs for improving methodological quality.

Kyle Morrison, Yefeng Yang, Lorenzo Ricolfi, et al.

Published: 2024-04-16
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring inspired a wave of research on the impacts of organochlorine pesticides, followed by a subsequent wave of meta-analyses. These meta-analyses are now routinely used to inform policy decisions. However, the methodological quality of meta-analyses on organochlorine pesticides remains largely unknown. Here, our study systematically maps and evaluates the methodological [...]

How can biodiversity strategy and action plans incorporate genetic diversity concerns, plans, policies, capacity, and commitments?

Sean Hoban, Christina Hvilsom, Aissi Abdeldjalil, et al.

Published: 2024-04-12
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences

Globally, national, subnational, and supranational entities are creating Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans, to develop concrete commitments and actions to curb biodiversity loss, meet international obligations and achieve a society in harmony with nature. In light of policy makers' increasing recognition of genetic diversity in helping species and ecosystems adapt and be resilient during [...]

The natural history of luck: A synthesis study of structured population models

Christina Maria Hernandez, Stephen P Ellner, Robin E. Snyder, et al.

Published: 2024-04-12
Subjects: Life Sciences, Population Biology

Chance pervades life. In turn, life histories are described by probabilities (e.g., survival, breeding) and averages across individuals (e.g., mean growth rate, age at maturity). In this study, we explored patterns of luck in lifetime outcomes by analyzing structured population models for a wide array of plant and animal species. We calculated four response variables: variance and skewness in [...]

MetaR, a global database on metabolic rates of ectotherms

Felix P. Leiva, Wilco C.E.P. Verberk, Piero Calosi, et al.

Published: 2024-04-12
Subjects: Life Sciences

Whole-organism metabolic rate is a key trait for understanding ectotherms’ responses to ongoing environmental change. It represents the interface through which organisms interact with their environment and therefore allows for making predictions across various levels of biological organisation. While much of the variation in metabolic rates is explained by body size and temperature, a [...]

Faster than expected: Release of nitrogen and phosphorus from decomposing wood

Baptiste Joseph Wijas, William K Cornwell, Jeff R Powell, et al.

Published: 2024-04-12
Subjects: Biochemistry, Forest Biology, Other Plant Sciences

● Deadwood represents globally important carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus pools. Current wood nutrient dynamics models are extensions of those developed for leaf litter decomposition. However, tissue structure and dominant decomposers differ between deadwood and litter, and recent evidence suggests that decomposer stoichiometry in combination with litter quality may affect nutrient [...]

The global protected area network does not harbor genetically diverse populations

Chloé Schmidt, Eleana Karachaliou, Amy Vandergast, et al.

Published: 2024-04-12
Subjects: Biodiversity, Evolution, Life Sciences

Global biodiversity conservation targets include expanding protected areas and maintaining genetic diversity within species by 2030. However, the extent to which existing protected areas capture genetic diversity within species is unclear. We examined this question using a global sample of nuclear population-level genetic data comprising georeferenced genotypes from 2,513 local populations, [...]

Technique of ultra-extensive urban greening using mosses

Yann Fragnière

Published: 2024-04-11
Subjects: Other Life Sciences

The greening of impermeable surfaces, such as rooftops and unused concrete areas, offers multifaceted benefits to urban environments (biodiversity, temperature regulation, water retention, aesthetics). An innovative "ultra-extensive" greening technique, centered on promoting moss growth, provides a lightweight, cost-effective, and low-maintenance solution. The aim of this paper is to describe [...]

Guidance framework to apply best practices in ecological data analysis: Lessons learned from building Galaxy-Ecology

Coline Royaux, Jean-Baptiste Mihoub, Marie Jossé, et al.

Published: 2024-04-11
Subjects: Bioinformatics, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Numerous conceptual frameworks exist for best practices in research data and analysis (e.g. Open Science and FAIR principles). In practice, there is a need for further progress to improve transparency, reproducibility, and confidence in ecology. Here, we propose a practical and operational framework for researchers and experts in ecology to achieve best practices for building analytical [...]

Effectiveness of toxic baiting for the control of canines and felines

Yong Zhi Foo, Daniel W.A. Noble, Patrick Leo Taggart

Published: 2024-04-11
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

Toxic baiting has been widely adopted for the control of exotic canines and felines. However, high variability in findings make it difficult to gauge the overall efficacy of this control method. We conducted a meta-analysis of the efficacy of baiting for the feral cat, red fox and dingo; our outcome of interest was apparent predator survival. Our dataset contained 121 effects from 34 studies, [...]

search

You can search by:

  • Title
  • Keywords
  • Author Name
  • Author Affiliation