Preprints
There are 1532 Preprints listed.
Are microbes colimited by multiple resources?
Published: 2024-03-02
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Life Sciences, Microbiology, Systems Biology
Resource colimitation --- the dependence of growth on multiple resources simultaneously --- has become an important topic in microbiology due both to the development of systems approaches to cell physiology and ecology, and to the relevance of colimitation to environmental science, biotechnology, and human health. Empirical tests of colimitation in microbes suggest that it may be common in [...]
Agency in the Evolutionary Transition to Multicellularity
Published: 2024-03-02
Subjects: Life Sciences
This review explores the concept of agency. Behavior intrinsic to an organism and initiated by it may be taken as evidence of agency, though, as we will discuss, the word has wider ramifications. An organism’s agential behavior has aspects that are both characteristic of its species and idiosyncratic. We ask how agential features exhibited by cells might change concomitantly with the evolutionary [...]
Behavioural plasticity shapes population ageing patterns
Published: 2024-02-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Studying the mechanisms shaping age-related changes in behaviour (“behavioural ageing”) is important for understanding population dynamics in our changing world. Yet, studies that capture within-individual behavioural changes in wild populations of long-lived animals are still scarce. Here, we used a 15-year GPS-tracking dataset of a social obligate scavenger, the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), [...]
Evaluating Compatibility between the Key Biodiversity Area Proposal Process and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Environmental Priorities with evidence from Canada and Mi'kma'ki (Nova Scotia)
Published: 2024-02-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration, Social and Behavioral Sciences
This report will demonstrate that no meaningful (non-random) compatibility exists between the Key Biodiversity Area proposal process – as it now exists and is being implemented globally and in Canada – and the biocultural priorities of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP&LC’s)*. It is precisely because it is a global standard that no claim that KBA proposal meaningfully (non-randomly) [...]
Minimum reporting standards can promote animal welfare and data quality in biologging research
Published: 2024-02-28
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Biologging best practices have been carefully considered since the field’s inception six decades ago. The biologging research community has reduced instrument impacts on study animals by miniaturizing devices, employing sophisticated release mechanisms, and developing novel technological advancements. However, the field still needs standardized best practices for balancing data quality and animal [...]
The metabolite transporters of C4 photosynthesis.
Published: 2024-02-28
Subjects: Plant Biology
C4 photosynthesis is a highly efficient form of photosynthesis that utilises a biochemical pump to concentrate CO2 around rubisco. Although variation in the implementation of this biochemical pump exists between species, each variant of the C4 pathway is critically dependent on metabolite transport between organelles and between cells. Here we review our understanding of metabolite transport in [...]
Quantifying taxon-specific habitat connectivity requirements of urban wildlife using structured expert judgement
Published: 2024-02-28
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Urban planning which enhances native biodiversity in and around cities is needed to address the impacts of urbanisation and conserve urban biodiversity. The “Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design” (BSUD) framework incorporates ecological knowledge into urban planning to achieve positive biodiversity outcomes through improved urban design and infrastructure development. BSUD includes principles to [...]
Harnessing Large Language Models for Coding, Teaching, and Inclusion to Empower Research in Ecology and Evolution
Published: 2024-02-28
Subjects: Life Sciences
1. Large language models (LLMs) are a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that can perform various natural language processing tasks. The adoption of LLMs has become increasingly prominent in scientific writing and analyses because of the availability of free applications such as ChatGPT. This increased use of LLMs raises concerns about academic integrity, but also presents opportunities for the [...]
Biologging for the future: how biologgers can help solve fundamental questions, from individuals to ecosystems
Published: 2024-02-25
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Archival instruments attached to animals (biologgers) have enabled exciting discoveries and have promoted effective conservation and management for decades. Recent research indicates that the field of biologging is poised to shift from pattern description to process explanation. Here we describe how biologgers have been - and can be - used to test hypotheses and challenge theory in behavior and [...]
Satellite derived trait data slightly improves tropical forest biomass, NPP and GPP predictions
Published: 2024-02-25
Subjects: Biology, Forest Sciences, Life Sciences
Improving tropical forest biomass predictions can accurately value tropical forests for their ecosystem services and establish confidence in carbon trading schemes such as REDD+. Optical remote sensing estimates of tropical forest biomass have produced spatially contradictory results that differ from ground plot biomass data. Recently, the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) lidar was [...]
The response of trophic interaction networks to multiple stressors in a marine latitudinal gradient of the Southern Hemisphere
Published: 2024-02-24
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Marine Biology
Ecological networks offer valuable insights into community structure, key species identification, and ecosystem management for biodiversity conservation. Understanding how these networks react to environmental and anthropogenic stressors, especially along geographical gradients, is of increasing interest. This review presents a pioneering analysis of stressor responses in marine food webs from [...]
Mind the lag: understanding delayed genetic erosion
Published: 2024-02-23
Subjects: Life Sciences
The delay between environmental changes and the corresponding genetic responses within populations is a common but surprisingly overlooked phenomenon in ecology, evolutionary and conservation genetics. This time lag problem can lead to erroneous conservation assessments when solely relying on genetic data. We identify population size, life-history traits, reproductive strategies and the severity [...]
Sex-specific discrimination of familiar and unfamiliar mates in the Tokay gecko
Published: 2024-02-23
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Social animals need to keep track of other individuals in their group to be able to adjust their behaviour accordingly and facilitate group cohesion. This recognition ability varies across species and is influenced by cognitive capacities such as learning and memory. In reptiles, particularly Squamates (lizards, snakes, and worm lizards), pheromonal communication is pivotal for territoriality, [...]
Layers of latency in social networks and their implications for comparative analyses
Published: 2024-02-22
Subjects: Life Sciences
Animal social systems are remarkably diverse. Linking this diversity to its ecological and evolutionary drivers and consequences has been a major focus of biological research. Initial efforts have been done within groups, populations, and species. Equipped with this information, researchers are now turning to investigations of social structure that are comparative in nature. However, comparing [...]
Survival of the luckiest
Published: 2024-02-22
Subjects: Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Opposite dynamics are behind natural selection and sexual selection. When considering natural and sexual selection separately, the fittest individuals survive. However, when these processes interact, luck often determines the survivor. As a result, chance has a greater impact on evolution. Published. Cite as: Da Silva, Sergio. Survival of the Luckiest, International Review of Economics 71 [...]