Preprints
There are 3483 Preprints listed.
Sniffing for fungi: Use of a conservation dog uncovers high regional truffle diversity
Published: 2026-07-09
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biology, Botany, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Forest Biology, Forest Sciences, Plant Sciences, Research Methods in Life Sciences, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Hypogeous aromatic fungi (‘truffles’) contribute significantly to overall fungal diversity but are difficult to find using traditional survey methods because they fruit underground, leading to under-documentation and a lack of understanding of truffle ecology. Truffles evolved to emit strong aromatic compounds to attract mycophagists for spore dispersal, a trait that culinary truffle harvesters [...]
Efficient Bayesian Estimation for Open Population Capture-Recapture Models Without Data Augmentation
Published: 2026-07-09
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Longitudinal Data Analysis and Time Series, Natural Resources and Conservation, Population Biology, Statistical Methodology, Statistical Models
1. Bayesian estimation of abundance with capture-recapture data has been dominated for nearly 20 years by the parameter-expansion data-augmentation (PX-DA) ap- proach. The PX-DA approach expands the parameter set to include the latent true states of the individuals. PX-DA allows straightforward coding of models in MCMC software such as JAGS (Just Another Gibbs Sampler) or nimble, however, this [...]
Dark fragmentation: daylighting hidden disconnections in river networks
Published: 2026-07-09
Subjects: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
River fragmentation is a central driver of freshwater biodiversity loss, yet its true extent is often underestimated due to incomplete barrier inventories, static river maps, and simplified assumptions about barrier passability. We propose dark fragmentation as the hidden component of river-network disconnection arising from three interacting dimensions: inventory darkness caused by unmapped [...]
Mammal diversity survey in Dakatcha Woodland, Kenya: Results from a four-year camera trap survey (2019-2022)
Published: 2026-07-09
Subjects: Zoology
The Dakatcha Woodland is one of the largest formally unprotected coastal forests in the Northern Swahili Coastal Forests bioregion and faces severe threats from widespread deforestation. To develop a comprehensive mammal checklist for the area, we deployed 10 camera traps over four years (2019 –2022), totalling 122 deployments and 6,779 trap days. This survey identified 28 mammal species, [...]
A comprehensive dataset on plant-associated invertebrates and gardening activities, from 100 sites across five urban green space types in Zurich, Lugano, and Geneva, Switzerland
Published: 2026-07-09
Subjects: Life Sciences
This dataset describes plant-associated invertebrates, gardening activities, and habitat diversity across five urban green spaces (UGS) types in the cities of Zurich, Lugano, and Geneva, Switzerland. The UGS types, namely allotment lot, private garden, residential estate, park, and ruderal area, cover different purposes, ownership, and management regimes. While Zurich was the core study region, [...]
Threat intensification reshapes trait-response relationships in birds and mammals
Published: 2026-07-09
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Predicting which species are most at risk of extinction, and by which threats, is central to effective biodiversity management (1). Trait-based frameworks, linking species traits to extinction risk, are increasingly used to predict global biodiversity trends, with applications from species-specific prioritisations (2) to estimations of global diversity loss (3). However, despite the strong [...]
Cetaceans of the Black and Azov Seas as Indicators of Habitat Quality via Stacked Species Distribution Models
Published: 2026-07-07
Subjects: Life Sciences
Habitat degradation and biodiversity loss in the Black and Azov Seas necessitate improved tools for spatially explicit conservation planning. We employed stacked species distribution modelling (SSDM) to assess habitat quality for the three resident cetacean species—the common dolphin (Delphinus delphis ponticus), the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus ponticus), and the harbour porpoise [...]
Timing isn’t everything: impacts of maximum abundance and duration of a seasonal resource on consumer fitness
Published: 2026-07-07
Subjects: Life Sciences
Phenological advances are among the most apparent biotic responses to warmer springs in mid- to high-latitude regions, with evidence that consumers are advancing less than the resources they rely on. Here, we extend the match/mismatch hypothesis to predict how the mean timing, maximum abundance and duration of the resource phenological distribution impacts on consumer fitness. Using data from 44 [...]
Analysis of in-situ biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management in Twenty-three selected Sacred Groves of Manipur within Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot : Bio-legal aspects
Published: 2026-07-07
Subjects: Biodiversity, Botany, Environmental Law, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
In Manipur, Sacred Groves (SGs), known as “Umang Lai," which literally means ‘forest deities’, are worshipped in forest or thick vegetation areas. A total of 365 SGs have been officially reported in Manipur, a biodiversity hotspot of India. The concept of SG is founded on the traditional religious belief systems which aid in the sustainable and restrictive utilization of resources within it. [...]
Estimating the density dependence of stage-specific survival and fecundity using Integrated Population Models
Published: 2026-07-07
Subjects: Population Biology, Statistical Models
The density dependence of survival and reproduction parameters can change with age or stage, which is key to understand population regulation mechanisms. However, the multiplication of parameters in structured demographic models makes their estimation challenging. Integrated population models (IPMs) provide an interesting solution to this issue by combining different data sources. IPM simulation [...]
RSV G selection analyses support constraint of the CX3C/cystine-noose core and diversification in mucin-like regions
Published: 2026-07-07
Subjects: Evolution
The RSV attachment (G) glycoprotein is a highly variable surface antigen and an important target of humoral immunity, yet it contains a short central conserved region (CCR; RSV-A2 residues 157-198) with a CX3C chemokine-mimic motif and disulfide-bonded cystine noose. A pre-specified hypothesis was tested: FEL-positive diversifying sites are enriched in the CCR and/or the CX3C motif. Using a [...]
From a review to the field: Alternative coping styles under urbanisation
Published: 2026-07-06
Subjects: Animal Sciences, Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Endocrinology, Life Sciences, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Physiology, Population Biology, Systems and Integrative Physiology Life Sciences, Zoology
Under human-induced rapid environmental changes, behavioural and physiological responses of organisms are key to maintain homeostasis and minimise fitness loss. Both responses can be integrated, into among-individual correlations forming stress-coping styles or syndromes (SCS). Such SCS emerge from genetic correlations or adaptive trade-offs. In the context of environmental challenges, more [...]
What’s in a name? Bioinformatics and the challenge of using eDNA metabarcoding to report non-indigenous species detections
Published: 2026-07-06
Subjects: Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is increasingly employed for surveillance of non-indigenous species (NIS), offering the promise of simultaneous multi-taxon de-tection, scalability, and the capacity for early detection before populations become es-tablished. The sensitivity of metabarcoding that makes it attractive for NIS surveil-lance also creates a meaningful risk of erroneous detections [...]
Taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity of a Sierra Nevada subalpine meadow community along soil hydrological gradient
Published: 2026-07-04
Subjects: Life Sciences
Mountain meadows occupy about 2% of the Sierra Nevada Range but house many narrow endemic and imperiled species. In this study, we investigated plant community structure and assessed species, phylogenetic, and functional diversity of Dog Valley Meadow, a subalpine meadow in the northern Sierra Nevada Range, California. Variation in groundwater level creates three distinct meadow-type habitats – [...]
Drivers of temporal beta diversity and ecological resilience of plant communities across the United States
Published: 2026-07-04
Subjects: Life Sciences
Long-term monitoring surveys offer more reliable assessments of biodiversity responses to climate change. In this study, we evaluated community shifts in 1105 1 m2 plots across 20 NEON sites, representing each of the 20 eco-climatic domains across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, using long-term plant surveys (5-10 years). We computed alpha, spatial and temporal beta, and gamma diversity for the plots [...]