Preprints
There are 2714 Preprints listed.
Jurassic Park @ 35: Reflections on evolutionary genetics, de-extinction, and the science-society interface
Published: 2025-10-13
Subjects: Life Sciences
On the 35th anniversary of the release of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, I reflect on both technical and cultural themes of the novel that resonate in the current moment. First, I offer a concise review of three evolutionary concepts—plasticity, pleiotropy, and epistasis—that complicate our efforts to engineer organisms with desirable phenotypes. I show how these ideas play out in the [...]
The relative roles of in situ diversification and lineage dispersal underlying diversity patterns at the assemblage level
Published: 2025-10-10
Subjects: Life Sciences
Speciation, extinction, and dispersal are the historical processes influencing the spatial distribution of lineages and strongly influence diversity patterns. Here, we apply a recently developed methodological approach to quantify the relative legacies in situ diversification history (i.e. diversification occurring in the biogeographical region) and historical dispersal (inferred from ex-situ [...]
Understanding the socio-ecological system (SES) of Arctic Reindeer husbandry
Published: 2025-10-09
Subjects: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Arctic reindeer husbandry is a socio-ecological system (SES) of vital regional significance that is naturally connected to the cultural heritage, spiritual identity, and food security of Indigenous peoples throughout the Circumpolar North. This review integrates the multifaceted challenges and adaptive strategies of this complex adaptive system (CAS), which is increasingly exposed to accelerating [...]
Beyond distribution: environmental justice challenges of Indigenous communities across the Circumpolar North
Published: 2025-10-09
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
The Circumpolar North is warming at an unprecedented pace, accelerating entrenched environmental injustices against Indigenous peoples. Although the disproportionate distribution of these harms is paramount, in this review, we contend that an exclusive emphasis on distribution is analytically inadequate. An inclusive multidimensional framework of environmental justice has been introduced that [...]
Complete de novo assembly of Wolbachia endosymbiont of contemporary Drosophila simulans using long-read genome sequencing.
Published: 2025-10-09
Subjects: Evolution, Genomics
We present a contemporary high-quality, complete de novo assembly of Wolbachia pipientis (wRi Merrill 23, CP199298), an alphaproteobacterial endosymbiont of Drosophila simulans. This assembly was generated using long read sequencing of wRi-infected D. simulans embryos collected from the Merrill College at the University of California, Santa Cruz in October 2023.
Legumes of the Koffler Scientific Reserve and Their Rhizobia
Published: 2025-10-09
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
In this document, we have consolidated information on the legumes of the Koffler Scientific Reserve (KSR, the University of Toronto’s biological research station, 44° 01' N, 79° 31' W; King Township, ON, Canada) and their associated rhizobia. The list of associated rhizobia was originally compiled in 2020 by J. Wang under the supervision of J.R. Stinchcombe, J.A. Boyle, and T.L. Harrison, and [...]
Monitoring ecosystem services requires a redesign of siloed monitoring programmes
Published: 2025-10-09
Subjects: Life Sciences
1. Monitoring ecosystem services is essential for achieving sustainability and biodiversity goals, yet existing monitoring programmes are fragmented, siloed, and not designed to detect or attribute change in ecosystem services. 2. We applied the Essential Ecosystem Service Variables (EESV) framework within a social-ecological network model to integrate three decades of ecological, economic, and [...]
Resetting the rules: Sex chromosome turnover as an escape hatch for mitonuclear conflict
Published: 2025-10-08
Subjects: Life Sciences
Mitochondrial and nuclear genomes must remain coadapted to sustain oxidative phosphorylation, yet their distinct inheritance often fosters conflict. Sex chromosomes are a key arena for these dynamics: by biasing co-transmission between nuclear-encoded mitochondrial (N-mt) genes and maternally inherited mtDNA, they can amplify or suppress mitonuclear incompatibilities. Existing syntheses emphasize [...]
Linking hosts, landscapes, and climate to advance zoonotic arbovirus forecasting
Published: 2025-10-08
Subjects: Life Sciences
Forecasting zoonotic mosquito-borne viruses remains a critical challenge because transmission depends on dynamic, multitrophic interactions among vectors, hosts, pathogens, and the environment. Here, we integrate long-term sentinel chicken surveillance across much of Florida with environmental data to build a predictive framework for eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV), a zoonotic mosquito [...]
A Typology of Corporate Actions for a Nature-Positive Future
Published: 2025-10-08
Subjects: Biodiversity, Environmental Studies, Sustainability
Reaching the global goal of halting and reversing biodiversity loss will require a step-change in corporate action. Whilst clear guidance already exists for companies to take responsibility for and mitigate biodiversity loss caused by their own operations, delivering global nature-positive outcomes requires higher ambition and extended accountability for impacts beyond companies’ direct control. [...]
A systematic map of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on anthropogenic noise impact on wildlife
Published: 2025-10-08
Subjects: Life Sciences
As systematic reviews on the effects of anthropogenic noise on wildlife increasingly inform policy, a critical evaluation of this secondary evidence is essential. We assessed the coverage, methodological quality, and policy relevance of existing syntheses in this field. Following a preregistered protocol, we conducted a systematic search using Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, that [...]
Ecosystem structure can affect human health: a longitudinal study on Green Prescriptions
Published: 2025-10-08
Subjects: Biodiversity, Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Health Psychology, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences
The role of Nature in supporting human life, health, and well-being has been recognized and appreciated since ancient times and has recently undergone scientific investigation, which highlighted the human dependence on Nature to nurture mental and physical health. Among Nature-based interventions that aim at exposing people to the natural environment, Green Prescriptions (GRx) represent a [...]
Challenges faced by ecologists: gender-based perceptions throughout the stages of the academic career in Brazil
Published: 2025-10-07
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Although women often outnumber men in the early stages of academic careers in ecology, they remain significantly underrepresented in senior positions. In Brazil, women comprise the majority of graduate students in ecological sciences but hold fewer senior academic roles, receive less research funding, and face greater obstacles to visibility and recognition. To understand the factors contributing [...]
Mapping California woodland-chaparral ecosystems following wildfire with diverse drone images and computer vision
Published: 2025-10-07
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences
Fire is a key driver of vegetation dynamics in California's woodland-chaparral ecosystems, and its role has become ever more important in recent decades as wildfire extents and frequencies increase. Understanding post-fire vegetation transitions and the likelihood of type conversion is essential for effective land management. Remote sensing represents a powerful tool to map vegetation cover and [...]
Reconciling short- and long-term predictions for ecosystem management
Published: 2025-10-07
Subjects: Life Sciences
1. Management plans grounded in scientific evidence can be used to limit the impacts of ongoing global changes on socio-ecological systems. In this framework, modeling tools play a crucial role in informing and supporting management strategies. 2. While the urgency of implementing evidence-based actions directed most scientific efforts towards short-term ecological forecasting (ranging from [...]