Preprints
There are 2909 Preprints listed.
Scaling from Metawebs to Realised Webs: A Hierarchical Approach to Network Ecology
Published: 2026-01-22
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Ecological networks provide a critical framework for understanding the architecture of biodiversity and predicting ecosystem responses to environmental change. However, the application of network ecology is often hindered by a lack of clarity regarding the assumptions inherent in different network representations. Here, we present a hierarchical framework that distinguishes between ‘metawebs’ [...]
The missing branches of the bee Tree of Life: addressing global Darwinian shortfalls and their drivers
Published: 2026-01-22
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Understanding the Darwinian shortfall (i.e., the lack of knowledge about phylogenetic relationships) can help us to guide future biodiversity research and conservation efforts. Overcoming this shortfall is essential to develop robust strategies to preserve the Tree of Life while facing the ongoing biodiversity crisis. Here, we present the first global assessment of Darwinian shortfalls and their [...]
A framework for understanding how and why animals die
Published: 2026-01-20
Subjects: Biology
Mortality is a fundamental demographic process that shapes both populations and ecological communities. Yet, how and why animals die is just as important as the simple fact of whether or not they do. A richer understanding about drivers of death across taxa is needed to advance ecological theory and to improve conservation practice. Both require identifying the causal pathways that lead to death; [...]
A Practitioner-Led Transdisciplinary Process for Adaptive Fire Management in Madagascar’s Protected Areas
Published: 2026-01-20
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation
ABSTRACT Fire management in protected areas is constrained by gaps between scientific knowledge, practitioner experience, and institutional frameworks. Such constraints restrict how existing expertise is mobilised, formalised, and translated into alternative fire management practice, meaning fire management plans frequently fail to reflect the diverse socio-ecological contexts in which [...]
Delivering Nature Positive outcomes through landscape conservation: credible actions and shared responsibility in the mining sector
Published: 2026-01-20
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Sustainability
The mining sector is increasingly expected to align their corporate nature commitments with global biodiversity goals. Emerging Nature Positive frameworks require companies not only to mitigate impacts of direct operations, but also to contribute to biodiversity recovery at the landscape scale, where impacts, dependencies and conservation priorities intersect. Yet expectations for credible [...]
Developmental density shapes adult mate guarding strategies in an invertebrate
Published: 2026-01-20
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Evolution, Life Sciences
Post-copulatory mate guarding is a widespread reproductive strategy that reduces sperm competition but can generate sexual conflict when male and female optima diverge. While mate guarding is known to respond plastically to immediate social conditions, the extent to which early-life social environments of both sexes shape adult guarding behaviour remains poorly understood. We experimentally [...]
Different migration patterns of European anchovy and sardine around Iberian Peninsula revealed by eye lens isotopes
Published: 2026-01-20
Subjects: Marine Biology
Small pelagic fish are key components of productive coastal ecosystems, yet their migration ecology remains poorly understood, causing challenges for management. We applied stable carbon and nitrogen isotope (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) analyses of eye lenses to investigate movements of European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) and sardine (Sardina pilchardus) around the Iberian Peninsula. Muscle isotopes [...]
From the province-based Fish Management Plan to the first steps of a catchment-based Fish Management Plan in Sicily: the Ragusa experience.
Published: 2026-01-20
Subjects: Life Sciences
In Italy, the Fish Management Plan (FMP) is considered the fundamental document for the conservation and management of inland fish fauna and fisheries, as well as for the planning of the territory in which aquatic environments are located. There are two phases of the Fish Management Plan: the regional or provincial FMP and the catchment-based FMP. In Sicily, no catchment-based FMP had yet been [...]
How does the rate of environmental change affect density-dependent population dynamics?
Published: 2026-01-20
Subjects: Dynamic Systems, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Numerical Analysis and Computation, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Population Biology
Natural populations experience variable environments. Anthropogenically driven environmental change, in particular, is expected to impose trends on key demographic parameters such as reproduction and survival. Theoretical studies of how such environmental changes affect populations have highlighted dynamical phenomena including bifurcation-related tipping points – typically identified by [...]
How Large Cooperative Groups Avoid Local Competition
Published: 2026-01-20
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution
Large cooperative groups are a common sight in nature. Their existence is puzzling, however, because local competition should keep groups relatively small. A simple but untested way large groups can avoid local competition is by increasing their resource base. We conducted a systematic review and phylogenetic meta-analysis to look for evidence of this effect in wild populations of cooperatively [...]
Introducing relative pollen productivity estimates for Iberian taxa: methodological insights and implications for landscape modelling in the Western Mediterranean
Published: 2026-01-20
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Understanding the impact of ongoing global change on plant communities requires long-term quantitative reconstructions of past vegetation dynamics. Fossil pollen records offer one of the most powerful tools to reconstruct past landscapes, yet for their accurate interpretation it is important to take into account the differential pollen productivity of plant taxa. For southern Europe, and [...]
Life-history evolution and uninvadable mortality schedules with and without intergenerational energy transfers
Published: 2026-01-20
Subjects: Evolution
Intergenerational energy transfers are widespread in nature, yet most life history theory assumes that organisms balance energy production and consumption at each age, leaving the evolutionary consequences of transfers underexplored. We develop a life history model under two energy budget constraints: (i) no transfers, where production equals consumption at each age, and (ii) transfers, where [...]
Morphological feminization in hermit crabs (family Paguridae) induced by parasitic peltogastrid barnacles (Crustacea: Cirripedia: Rhizocephala)
Published: 2026-01-20
Subjects: Marine Biology
Rhizocephalan barnacles are highly specialized parasitic crustaceans that profoundly alter the morphology, physiology, and reproduction of their decapod hosts. In hermit crabs (Paguridae), parasitism by peltogastrid rhizocephalans has been reported to induce feminization of male secondary sexual traits, such as the development of female-specific pleopods and the reduction of cheliped size; [...]
Phylogenetic Perspectives on Heavy Metal Hyperaccumulation in Fungal Lineages
Published: 2026-01-20
Subjects: Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences, Other Microbiology, Other Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health
Across the fungal kingdom, the ability to hyperaccumulate and sequester toxic heavy metals from the environment appears to have evolved multiple times. Although in plants, animals, and bacteria the evolution of heavy metal hyperaccumulation is well studied, and despite potential applications of hyperaccumulation in mycoremediation, fungi are under-investigated. Here, we compile a novel dataset [...]
The evolution of niche construction in social species
Published: 2026-01-20
Subjects: Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Niche construction is a behaviour where the local environment is changed by individuals, often to improve reproductive success (e.g. nests or burrows). In social species, the niche construction behaviour of an individual also changes the local environment of others. In such cases, individuals could cheat and not contribute to the social behaviour, but instead make use of the efforts of others. [...]