Preprints
There are 2828 Preprints listed.
Gaps in global alien plant trait data and how to fill them
Published: 2024-10-17
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Aim Functional traits help to understand the ecological processes underlying biological invasions. The extent to which trait data are available for alien plants at the global scale is unknown. In this study, we assess the availability of trait data and identify global gaps and biases Location Global Time Period Present Major taxa studied Vascular plants Methods We used the GloNAF database to get [...]
Should I stay or should I go: Transmission trade-offs in mobile genetic elements
Published: 2024-10-17
Subjects: Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Microbiology
Mobile genetic elements (MGEs), including temperate bacteriophages and conjugative plasmids, are major vectors of virulence and antibiotic resistance in bacterial populations. To maximize reproductive fitness, MGEs have to optimize horizontal and vertical transmission. Yet, the cost of horizontal transmission (e.g. phage lysis) puts these transmission modes at odds. Using virulence-transmission [...]
Urban bumblebees diversify their foraging strategy to maintain nutrient intake
Published: 2024-10-17
Subjects: Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Entomology, Life Sciences
Anthropogenic ecosystems can alter individual functions and ecological processes such as resource use and species interactions. While variability on morphological traits involved in diet and resource use has been observed between urban and non-urban populations of pollinators, the consequences on the dietary and pollen transportation patterns remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate the [...]
Acclimatisation affects synchrony in space use and the frequentation of multiple colonies in translocated Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus)
Published: 2024-10-17
Subjects: Behavior and Ethology, Zoology
Translocations are fundamental for the conservation of large raptors, including Old-World vultures. Different release methods are usually assessed by comparing the movement patterns and survival of released individuals. However, these approaches fail to capture important aspects related to the gregarious behaviour of many vulture species. We compared the effect of long (15 months, n = 7) and [...]
Filosofía Fungi
Published: 2024-10-17
Subjects: Arts and Humanities, Life Sciences
Muchos conceptos en ecología y evolución se han construido en base a observaciones zoológicas y, en menor medida, botánicas, mientras que una visión fúngica en estas áreas es prácticamente inexistente. Mucho menos se han indagado aspectos de la filosofía de la biología en base a los hongos. Sin embargo, en este artículo mostramos que dadas sus características particulares, el Reino Fungi [...]
The Fish Challenge to Vertebrate Cognitive Evolution
Published: 2024-10-17
Subjects: Life Sciences
There is tremendous taxonomic variation in the size, shape, and structure of vertebrate brains. While many studies aim at identifying the ecological factors (social and environmental) that explain brain size variation within taxa, a more fundamental divide exists between endotherm and ectotherm vertebrates. Ectotherms have ten times smaller brains than endotherms. The existing hypotheses cannot [...]
Cooperation, status, and altruism in a mixed society of Amazonian parrots
Published: 2024-10-17
Subjects: Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Parrots are a highly intelligent taxon whose complex behaviors in wild societies require description. Here we observed 12 species of parrots, macaws, and parakeets in mixed flocks foraging on exposed cliffs in southeast Perú. For each species, we developed a single bootstrapped index of sociality from 9 derived metrics of abundance, chronology, functional roles, and agonistic interactions. This [...]
Towards repeated clear-cutting of boreal forests - a tipping point for biodiversity?
Published: 2024-10-15
Subjects: Life Sciences
Boreal forests are important carbon sinks and host a diverse array of species that provide important 14 ecosystem functions. Boreal forests have a long history of intensive forestry, in which even-aged 15 management with clear-cutting has been the dominating harvesting practice for the past 50–80 16 years. As a second cycle of clear-cutting is emerging, there is an urgent need to review the [...]
Understanding deforestation dynamics in Amazonian protected areas through land-use change models informed by conservation discourses
Published: 2024-10-14
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Studies
The Amazon Basin’s agricultural frontiers – many of which overlap with protected areas (PAs) – experience deforestation for agriculture and pasture. Responses to PA deforestation require understanding the region-wide and PA-specific socio-environmental factors that increase forest conversion. Standard, quantitative approaches to land-use change (LUC) modeling may omit some factors, constraining [...]
Cooperation in non-family groups as a strategy for reproducing in variable climates
Published: 2024-10-13
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
The global climate is changing to be more extreme and less predictable, threatening many species. Cooperative breeding is more common under such conditions, indicating it may improve resilience to challenging climates. However, whether specific features of cooperative breeding systems, such as how groups form and how large they become, evolved to cope with particular climates is unclear. We test [...]
Revisiting Adaptive Introgression at the HLA Genes in Lithuanian Genomes with Machine Learning
Published: 2024-10-12
Subjects: Life Sciences
Narrow roads to Fern Land: revisiting the paradox of sexual reproduction
Published: 2024-10-12
Subjects: Life Sciences
Following some major thought on the evolutionary maintenance of sex leads to a new hypothesis about the role of life cycles. Organisms with a heterogonic life cycle, like strawberries, propagate contrary to what would be adaptive under red-queen selection from micro-parasites. Their recombinant offspring disperses, but their clonal offspring stays close to the parent. In diplohaplontic organisms, [...]
Inbreeding and adaptation to captivity depress the response to stress
Published: 2024-10-12
Subjects: Life Sciences
The success of reintroductions using captive-bred populations of wild species is potentially impacted by adaptations to non-natural captive environments. Little research has been done into how physiological traits change from wild to captive populations. We do not yet understand how glucocorticoid secretion patterns, a critical aspect of the stress response and other underlying life-history [...]
Handle with care! Morphology of spines and milking practices in venomous fishes
Published: 2024-10-12
Subjects: Life Sciences
Venomous fish have independently evolved venom-delivery systems multiple times throughout their evolution. Despite the remarkable convergence of such structures, a large variety in venom-delivery structures morphology does occur across species. This review is aimed at delving into species’ peculiarities, exploring the diversity of venom glands and the potential ecological roles in relation to [...]
Background nutrient concentration determines phytoplankton bloom response to marine heatwaves
Published: 2024-10-12
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Ocean temperature extreme events such as marine heatwaves are expected to intensify in coming decades due to anthropogenic global warming. Reported ecological and economic impacts of marine heatwaves include coral bleaching, local extinction of mangrove and kelp forests, and elevated mortalities of invertebrates, fishes, seabirds, and marine mammals. In contrast, little is known about the impacts [...]