Preprints
There are 2953 Preprints listed.
The true scope of global wildlife trade is obscured by data gaps
Published: 2026-01-29
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Overexploitation of wildlife is a major driver of biodiversity loss. International wildlife trade is regulated and monitored at local, national, regional and global scales through a variety of mechanisms, including Multilateral Environment Agreements (MEAs), with CITES playing a key role. Whilst databases and systems are available to measure, monitor, and manage legal trade, the data for species [...]
Population dynamics and disease-linked host use of the sea urchin symbiont Dactylopleustes yoshimurai (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Pleustidae) on Strongylocentrotus intermedius
Published: 2026-01-29
Subjects: Marine Biology, Population Biology
Dactylopleustes yoshimurai is an echinoid-associated amphipod that frequently aggregates on disease lesions of the short-spined urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius in Otsuchi Bay, northeastern Japan. However, its life history and use of diseased hosts remain poorly understood. We combined four years of monthly SCUBA surveys (Jan 2020–Jan 2024) with quantitative sampling of diseased and healthy [...]
Environmental DNA reveals differential geologic isolation effects on plant and fungal Communities in the Hengduan Mountains
Published: 2026-01-29
Subjects: Life Sciences
Species range limits are typically constrained by their tolerance to abiotic factors such as climate, as well as by dispersal limitations due to geographic barriers like mountain ridges and river valleys. Montane regions, which are hyperdiverse in many different clades, characterised by high turnover, and complex topography, provide ideal systems for investigating the drivers of range limits. In [...]
Fire as a regeneration filter: contrasting effects of heat and smoke on Arctic seed germination.
Published: 2026-01-29
Subjects: Life Sciences
The rapid warming of the Arctic is increasing the frequency, intensity, and spatial extent of fires. Because fire has historically been rare in this region, most Arctic plant species are unlikely to have evolved traits that confer tolerance to fire, and the consequences for early life-history stages such as seed germination remain largely unknown. Here, we experimentally tested the effects of two [...]
Birds on Fire: Heavy disturbance by fireworks affecting wintering gulls, waterbirds and passerines
Published: 2026-01-29
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Ornithology
Fireworks are a global anthropogenic disturbance, yet their impacts on wildlife remain poorly understood. Despite frequent media coverage and growing public concern of mass bird disturbances around New Year, scientifically robust assessments of nocturnal behavioural responses on the ground are lacking. Here, I quantified immediate and mid-term responses of urban birds with a focus on Black-headed [...]
Beyond timescale separation: An eco-evolutionary consumer-resource theory of host-microbe symbioses
Published: 2026-01-29
Subjects: Life Sciences
Symbiotic associations between microorganisms and hosts are universal and dynamic. However, current ecological and evolutionary theory often simplistically analyzes hosts and symbionts as either separate or fully integrated entities. This entrenchment obscures a central research challenge: to understand symbioses across varying degrees of interaction, integration, and functional dependence. We [...]
Mapping the limits of trap construction: LiDAR quantification of substrate moisture effects on pit construction and quality morphometrics in Myrmeleon larvae
Published: 2026-01-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
We examined the effect of substrate moisture on pit construction in Myrmeleon larvae across four treatments (0.0–1.5%). Construction success, pit diameter, and slope angle were quantified using LiDAR-derived morphometrics and analysed via χ² and ANCOVA. Increasing moisture significantly inhibited construction and reduced pit dimensions, with failures restricted to ≥1.0% moisture. These results [...]
The overlooked small terrestrial mammal taxa (Rodentia, Eulipotyphla, and Lagomorpha) in the evolution of coronaviruses
Published: 2026-01-29
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Genetics and Genomics, Life Sciences, Molecular Genetics, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Coronaviruses have been extensively detected in bats over the past few decades. However, increasing evidence suggests that other taxa, such as Rodentia, Eulipotyphla, and Lagomorpha, may have played a significant role in the ecology and evolution of some coronaviruses. Here, we compile recent contributions illuminating these mammals' enigmatic role in coronavirus evolution. We highlight how [...]
Psilocybin and the Evolutionary Significance of Altered Neural States: Interaction-Based Perspectives Beyond Deterrence Models
Published: 2026-01-29
Subjects: Behavioral Neurobiology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Neuroscience and Neurobiology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Psilocybin is a psychoactive tryptamine produced by a phylogenetically discontinuous yet ecologically diverse subset of fungi. Despite decades of chemical, pharmacological, and ethnobiological research, the evolutionary forces driving the emergence and persistence of this compound remain insufficiently explained. Recent hypotheses proposing that psilocybin evolved primarily as a deterrent against [...]
An Interpretation, Survey, and Outlook of Microbial Macroecology
Published: 2026-01-29
Subjects: Life Sciences
The construction of a predictive theory of the dynamics and structure of microbial communities requires the consideration of repeatable, robust empirical patterns. The investigation of such patterns in ecology has historically been the domain of the subdiscipline of macroecology. However, the application of macroecology to microorganisms is not straightforward, as there is not a unified view of [...]
SPECIES OF PASSIONATE INTEREST: Practicing Biocultural Conservation and Eco-social Transformation Together
Published: 2026-01-28
Subjects: Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Species of Passionate Interest expands on the concept of the "cultural keystone species," reviewing its intellectual history and proposing future applications in the field of biodiversity conservation. The paper critiques the classic view of the "keystone" species in Western conservation science, emphasizing the need to consider the dynamic cultural context and the diversity of emotional [...]
Reversing the gaze on nature in an era of technological innovation
Published: 2026-01-27
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Geography, Social and Behavioral Sciences
How nature is understood and ‘seen’ by governing institutions influences how it is managed. The rise of new digital and remote sensing technologies has reinforced a global gaze ‘from above’ that separates the seer from the people and places seen. This gaze has generated critical data on global climate and biodiversity trends and informed ambitious environmental targets. Yet it also obscures a [...]
Diversity in viral resistance emerges from host genotype and infection order effects
Published: 2026-01-27
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Plant Pathology, Virology
• While viruses are predicted to be the most diverse group of parasites wild plant hosts encounter, the extent and mechanisms maintaining viral resistance diversity remains poorly understood. Here, we test the hypothesis that allocation trade-offs maintain genetic variation in viral resistance and assess whether phenotypic resistance variation may may arise from altered expression under multiple [...]
Is within-host viral community assembly shaped by local adaptation?
Published: 2026-01-27
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Evolution, Life Sciences, Virology
Host-parasite coevolution describes the continuous reciprocal selection driving host defense and parasite infectivity, with direct consequences for disease dynamics. While abundant evidence exists for coevolution shaping host-parasite dynamics within the ‘one host-one parasite’ framework, hosts are typically infected by multiple parasites and the extent to which coevolutionary processes shape [...]
An open occurrence dataset for European subterranean spiders
Published: 2026-01-27
Subjects: Life Sciences
Spiders are remarkably diverse in caves and other subterranean habitats, where they play key ecological roles as generalist predators and strongly influence local food webs. They have been instrumental as model organisms for testing various eco-evolutionary hypotheses. Furthermore, strictly subterranean species exhibiting narrow ranges and high endemism are particularly significant for [...]