Preprints
There are 2990 Preprints listed.
Diversity comes at a cost: multifaceted diversity reduces plant community stability in peatlands
Published: 2026-02-02
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
1. Understanding how ecological stability relates to diversity is of crucial importance under global change. Greater biodiversity is expected to stabilize aggregate community properties through compensatory dynamics, as species fluctuate asynchronously and offset one another. Yet, diversity-stability relationships are not straightforward and can vary across and within ecosystems, particularly in [...]
Creating opportunities for coexistence to overcome the food–biodiversity challenge
Published: 2026-02-02
Subjects: Life Sciences
Coexistence with biodiversity in agricultural landscapes is a global vision by 2050. However, the co-occurrence of wildlife and human food production often results in conflicts which require resolution. Therefore, agroecological landscapes that emerge when sharing land ultimately require achieving human-nature coexistence. We conceptualize human-nature coexistence as an n-dimensional space [...]
Integrating evolutionary theory into a framework for the mechanistic evaluation of candidate anti-aging interventions
Published: 2026-01-30
Subjects: Life Sciences
Despite decades of research into the molecular hallmarks of aging, geroscience lacks a unifying framework to guide the development of effective anti-aging interventions. Here, we integrate two leading evolutionary theories—the Disposable Soma Theory and Hyperfunction Theory—into a layered model of aging biology, the “Aging Onion”. In this framework, aging arises both from persistent activity of [...]
Growth–reproduction trade-offs are common but changing in woody plants: a meta-analysis
Published: 2026-01-30
Subjects: Life Sciences
Growth and reproduction draw on a common resource pool, yet empirical studies of woody plants report widely differing relationships between seed production and growth. Here we synthesize 685 estimates from 78 studies covering 79 woody species to test how growth–reproduction correlations vary across time, species, and environments. Growth and reproduction measured within the same year were [...]
Multi-provenance assisted seed dispersal slows range contractions under climate change.
Published: 2026-01-30
Subjects: Life Sciences
Rapid climate warming threatens the persistence of temperate European forests, raising urgent questions about whether traditional reliance on local seed sources remains viable. Using Quercus petraea in France as a model system, we combined provenance-specific species distribution models with a dynamic range-shift model (simRShift) to evaluate climate-informed assisted dispersal under SSP5-8.5 [...]
One dataset, four meta-analyses: synthesising mean effects, within-population variability, and between-population heterogeneity in ecology
Published: 2026-01-30
Subjects: Agriculture, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Ecological syntheses (meta-analysis) usually ask "what is the average effect?", but many ecological questions also depend on whether outcomes become more or less variable and whether effects are predictable across contexts. We show how the same dataset can support a coherent workflow that separates: (i) within-population variability (dispersion among individuals or sampling units inside studies) [...]
Decoding Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities in Freshwater Ecosystems Leveraging Environmental DNA
Published: 2026-01-29
Subjects: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Benthic macroinvertebrates are key indicator groups within freshwater ecosystems, with their community being closely tied to ecosystem functioning. Environmental DNA (eDNA) technology, with its high sensitivity and non-invasive nature, provides a promising tool for studying the spatiotemporal dynamics of benthic macroinvertebrate communities, their responses to anthropogenic disturbances, and the [...]
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: 2026-01-28
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: 2026-01-28
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: 2026-01-28
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: 2026-01-28
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: 2026-01-28
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: 2026-01-28
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 [...]