Preprints
There are 3670 Preprints listed.
Human Settlement and Water Availability at the Qa’ Shubayqa during the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene: Comparing Hydrological Models and Archaeological Data
Published: 2026-09-04
Subjects: Desert Ecology, History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology, Hydrology
There is increasing evidence that wetland ecosystems played a key role in the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture in southwest Asia. Yet, while they are ecologically rich, wetlands are also fragile and vulnerable to climate change and disruption by humans. Reconstructing the relationship between wetlands, human settlement and climate is therefore crucial to gain a better [...]
From pixels to plants: linking remotely sensed habitat data to roe deer diet from DNA metabarcoding in Scottish forest landscapes
Published: 2026-09-04
Subjects: Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Understanding how landscape characteristics influence herbivore diet selection is fundamental to predicting ecological impacts and developing effective wildlife management strategies. We linked remotely sensed habitat data and dietary DNA metabarcoding to test whether landcover classifications can explain variation in European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) diet across Scottish forest landscapes. [...]
Seasonal warming and marine heatwaves shape thermal acclimation and growth of juvenile European plaice in a coastal nursery habitat
Published: 2026-09-04
Subjects: Life Sciences
Global climate change is driving ocean warming and exposing shallow coastal nursery habitats to increasingly frequent marine heatwaves. The European plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) is a flatfish that settles in shallow sandy bays of the Northeast Atlantic in spring and remains until late summer migration, experiencing peak seasonal temperatures during a critical period for juvenile growth. We [...]
Social transmission of fear is disrupted by pharmaceutical pollution
Published: 2026-09-04
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Social information transfer enables rapid responses to threats and underpins collective predator avoidance across taxa. Yet whether the growing threat of environmental pollutants, such as pharmaceuticals, disrupt this process remains unknown. Here, we show that the widespread antidepressant pollutant amitriptyline disrupts fear contagion—the automatic matching of an individual’s behavioural state [...]
Validation of Japanese Collision Risk Models Using Post-Construction Carcass Survey Data
Published: 2026-09-04
Subjects: Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Collision risk models (CRMs) are widely used to predict bird collisions with wind turbines; however, few studies have evaluated their performance using post-construction monitoring data. In this study, we assessed the validity of two collision risk models commonly used in Japan, the Ministry of the Environment model (CRMmoe) and the Yui and Shimada (2013) model (CRMyui), by comparing model [...]
Temperature extremes in the Gulf of Maine: A synthesis of marine heatwaves, cold-spells, and ecological impacts
Published: 2026-09-04
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Marine Biology, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
Long-term environmental change has been altering ecosystem function and phenology globally. Short-term temperature pulses, often called extreme temperature events, can accelerate impacts of long-term change on ecosystems by forcing rapid changes in food webs, triggering range shifts, and disrupting reproductive cycles. Marine ecosystems at the confluence of large global currents are particularly [...]
Socioeconomic policy and large mature trees are vital for moor macaque (Macaca maura) conservation in anthropogenically-modified landscapes
Published: 2026-09-01
Subjects: Biodiversity, Energy Policy, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation, Population Biology, Zoology
Despite conservation efforts, intensifying anthropogenic pressure is transforming tropical forests into anthropogenically-dominated landscapes. We investigated how current anthropogenic pressure and socioeconomic-climate policies influence tropical forest ecology, using the Endangered moor macaque (Macaca maura) in southwestern Sulawesi, Indonesia, as an example species. Deploying camera traps [...]
Humans simplified trophic structures in island lake ecosystems
Published: 2026-09-01
Subjects: Life Sciences
Lakes on oceanic islands are exceptionally vulnerable ecosystems and serve as natural archives of long-term environmental change, yet long-term reconstructions spanning multiple trophic levels remain rare. We reconstruct 2,000 years of ecological change across nine Azorean lakes by analysing sediment records of community composition and trophic-guild richness for aquatic producers and consumers, [...]
Populations of cooperatively breeding birds are buffered against annual variation in precipitation and temperature
Published: 2026-09-01
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Cooperative breeding is a reproductive system wherein other than parents care for offspring. It has been suggested to provide advantages in harsh and unpredictable climates. Support for this idea stems from detailed population studies, or phyla-wide comparative studies, but both approaches are insufficient to assess the demographic benefits of cooperative breeding. Here, we use abundance [...]
What’s in flower? Phenological temperature sensitivities in a restricted alpine flora
Published: 2026-09-01
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Plant Sciences
As climate warming continues, cues for shifts in plant reproductive timing will be a key mediator of species success. To examine the links between temperature and flowering time in the Australian alpine, we used climate records and 18,000 flowering observations spanning 12 years for 52 alpine plant species from the Snowy Mountains, Australia. We modelled three phenological traits (flowering [...]
Beneath the surface: physiology, behaviour, and performance of fossorial amphibians and reptiles
Published: 2026-09-01
Subjects: Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology, Integrative Biology
Fossoriality has evolved recurrently in amphibians and reptiles, exposing organisms to a distinctive physical environment that has favoured diverse morphological, physiological, behavioural, and biomechanical adaptations to enable life beneath the surface. Despite substantial progress over recent decades, research has largely examined these traits independently, limiting our understanding of how [...]
Why we need ecology and evolution for a better understanding of misdirected behaviour
Published: 2026-09-01
Subjects: Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Animal behaviour emerges from the complex interaction between internal states, as well as biotic and abiotic environmental conditions. When observed behavioural responses differ from researchers’ expectations, they are often described as “misdirected behaviour” and potentially maladaptive. However, several factors including genetic background and developmental conditions, sensory perception and [...]
Prevalence of Gastrointestinal Parasites in Goats and Sheep in Mbula Kuli, Adamawa State, Nigeria
Published: 2026-09-01
Subjects: Life Sciences
Gastrointestinal (GI) parasitism is a major constraint to small ruminant productivity in Nigeria, causing reduced growth, weight loss, and economic losses to herders. This study assessed the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in goats and sheep in Mbula Kuli, Adamawa State, Nigeria, between 2025 and 2026. A total of 110 faecal samples (40 from goats and 70 from sheep) were collected and [...]
Interacting effects of canopy geometry and display activity timing shape conditions for visual signalling in Victoria’s riflebird
Published: 2026-09-01
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Integrative Biology, Ornithology, Zoology
Lighting conditions in forests are highly variable in both space and time and depend on the interacting effects of canopy geometry, weather, and the time of day. This has strong implications for visual signalling, because different species sharing the same forest habitat may display in dramatically different microhabitats favouring disparate signal phenotypes. However, relatively little is known [...]
Modelling Invasive Insect Spread with Citizen Science Data: A Dynamic Occupancy-Detection Model
Published: 2026-09-01
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Biostatistics, Statistical Models
Human-mediated biological invasions are accelerating worldwide, but detecting early incursions and tracking their spread remains difficult. Opportunistic citizen science platforms, such as iNaturalist and eBird, generate large volumes of presence-only records, offering new opportunities to detect and monitor invasive species. However, these data come with uneven sampling effort, strong spatial [...]