Preprint Feed – Ecology

by Gruenert, U., Benda, J., Bossdorf, O., Raeder, U. on May 9, 2025 at 12:00 am

This article explores the close relationship between dissolved inorganic carbonate ion concentration (DIC) and the calcification state of Phacotus lenticularis, a globally abundant freshwater phytoplankton that is responsible for a significant part of modern lake carbonate production during bloom formation. We cultured 12 freshly isolated P. lenticularis strains under an ecologically relevant range of DIC (0.2 to 12 mmol l-1 total scale) for 14 days. From this experiment we gained information […]

by Bire, Y. N., Zahouli, J. Z. B., Dibo, J. D. K., Coulibaly, P. N., Manouana, P. G., Mavoungou, J. F., Hellhammer, F., Maganga, G. D., Djogbenou, L. S., Adegnika, A. A., Borrmann, S., Becker, S. C., Toure, M. on May 8, 2025 at 12:00 am

Background In Cote dIvoire, Aedes vector studies and arboviral outbreak responses have mostly focused on urbanized neighborhoods including intra-urban villages, but have often neglected peripheral villages. We assessed and compared Aedes aegypti population dynamics and dengue (DEN) and yellow fever (YF) epidemic risks among peri-urban and intra-urban villages during the 2023-2024 DEN outbreaks in Cocody-Bingerville, southern Cote dIvoire. Methods From August 2023 to July 2024, we sampled Aedes […]

by Hopkins, J. R., Vizzari, G., Bennett, A. E., Malacrino, A. on May 8, 2025 at 12:00 am

Fire is a globally pervasive force reshaping ecosystems, yet its influence on the ecological processes structuring soil microbiomes remains poorly understood. Using a meta-analysis of >2,600 amplicon sequencing samples across 19 global studies, we tested whether fire alters soil microbiome assembly processes, diversity, and ecological selection for pyrophilic specialists. Contrary to prevailing assumptions, we found that fire did not significantly shift ecological selection processes in […]

by Song, M. J., Tribble, C. M., Gonzalez-Ramirez, I., Freund, F., Li, F.-W., Rothfels, C. J. on May 8, 2025 at 12:00 am

Azolla was collected and sequenced across California as a part of the California Conservation Genomics Project. We identify three major populations of Azolla in the state. Out of these groups, we are able to confidently identify one as Azolla filiculoides. The other two taxa are seemingly newly reported to California and are not the same as the taxa currently treated by the Jepson Manual; specifically, they are not members of the A. microphylla/mexicana clade. We infer patterns of Azolla […]

by Amberkar, P., Mandke, S. on May 8, 2025 at 12:00 am

Delineating the distribution ranges of a species and understanding factors affecting them is not only a central theme in biogeography but is also important for their conservation. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assess the extinction risk of species using species range size as one of the criterion. The White-striped viper gecko (Hemidactylus albofasciatus) was categorised as Vulnerable under this criterion. However, the assessment was inaccurate and based […]

by Tebelmann, H., Kaefer, S., Pages, A. S., Ruiz, A. C., Volkart, N. S., Ganslosser, U. on May 8, 2025 at 12:00 am

Feral dogs (Canis familiaris) are an emerging threat to biodiversity on Navarino Island, Chile, where they have become apex predators in the absence of natural carnivores. This study evaluated the spatial distribution of feral dogs and their impacts on native species, including guanacos (Lama guanicoe), upland geese (Chloephaga picta), and flightless steamer ducks (Tachyeres pteneres). Presence-only data collected during two field expeditions were analysed using species distribution models […]

by Cattaneo, N., Krokene, P., Astrup, R. on May 7, 2025 at 12:00 am

The European spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus (L.)) poses a growing threat to Norways forests under climate change, particularly in extensive spruce-dominated forests. Because controlling active outbreaks is notoriously difficult, reducing forest susceptibility through proactive management is essential. In this study, we used high-resolution simulations covering all of Norways forested land (120,000 km2) to explore how different harvesting strategies affect long-term forest susceptibility to […]

by Tournayre, O., Littlefair, J. E., Garrett, N. R., Brown, A. S., Allerton, J. J., Cristescu, M. E., Clare, E. L. on May 7, 2025 at 12:00 am

Human activities have significantly modified habitats, resulting in a global biodiversity crisis. Here, we leveraged the first national-scale biodiversity survey based on airborne environmental DNA, comparing the effects of three human pressure indices increasing in complexity and scope across diverse vertebrates, insects, plants and fungi. While most taxa exhibited higher diversity in urban areas compared to rural ones, we uncovered more complex patterns using the landscape-pollution and human […]

by Chelbi, I., Zhioua, E., Shocket, M., Hamilton, J. G. C. on May 7, 2025 at 12:00 am

Phlebotomus papatasi is a vector of Leishmania major, the etiologic agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis, a disfiguring and debilitating disease. In this study, we identified fatty acids found on the exterior of eggs laid by female P. papatasi that could be potential oviposition pheromones. We tested the effect of different treatments on 1) the number of eggs laid and 2) the spatial distribution of eggs laid. The treatments included three quantities of eggs (80, 160 and 320), hexane […]

by Roman, E. D., Nebhut, A. N., Fukami, T. D., Gould, A. L. on May 7, 2025 at 12:00 am

Symbiotic microbial communities often appear highly variable in their composition and function in ways that environmental factors alone cannot explain. One potential reason for this variability is priority effects, where historical contingency in arrival order affects how symbionts assemble into communities. Focusing on the luminous bacterium (Photobacterium mandapamensis) in the light organ of the sea urchin cardinalfish (Siphamia tubifer), we studied how priority effects might influence […]

by Mande, M., Joshi, A. A., Paramjyothi, H., Ratnam, J., Sankaran, M. on May 7, 2025 at 12:00 am

Tropical grassy biomes (TGBs) cover a substantial portion of the land surface area of Earth and support a rich diversity of fauna and flora. Yet, despite their importance for biodiversity and human livelihoods, the TGBs of South Asia, including India, have historically been undervalued, and as result, understudied. Here, we address this gap with the first subcontinental-scale analyses of grass species richness and distribution across the Indian region. Using data on species occurrences collated […]

by Shattuck, A. V., Hollingsworth, B. D., Skrotzki, J., Campbell, S. R., Romano, C. L., Murdock, C. C. on May 7, 2025 at 12:00 am

Climate and land use changes have resulted in range expansion of many species. In this shifting disease landscape, it is important to leverage tools that can predict the potential distributions of invading vectors to target surveillance and control efforts and identify at risk populations. Species Distribution Models (SDMs) are widely used to predict ranges of invasive species; however, invasive species often violate assumptions of equilibrium and niche conservatism. Moreover, these studies are […]

by Harlin, H., Larsson, K., Diehl, S. on May 7, 2025 at 12:00 am

Basin morphometry can strongly affect lake-internal processes relevant for productivity, such as turbulent mixing, photosynthetic energy acquisition, sedimentation, and nutrient recycling. Yet, in both empirical and theoretical studies of whole-lake primary production, lake morphometry is often simplified to a single 1-dimensional measure – lake mean depth. Using the conceptual, process-based model ‘Lake2D’, we addressed the question: To what extent can pelagic and benthic producer dynamics, […]

by Cotterill, G., Keinath, D., Graves, T. on May 6, 2025 at 12:00 am

Bayesian hierarchical models are ubiquitous in ecology. Random effect model structures are often employed that treat individual effects as deviations from larger population-level effects. In this way individuals are assumed to be exchangeable samples. Ecologists may address this exchangeability assumption intuitively, but might in certain modeling contexts ignore it altogether, including in situations where it may have large implications for study design. Multispecies occupancy models based on […]

by Perry, R. W., Plumb, J. M. on May 6, 2025 at 12:00 am

Restoration of salmon populations in the upper Lewis River Basin depends on a trap-and-haul program owing to the Lewis River Hydroelectric Project (Project) operated by PacifiCorp and Cowlitz PUD (Utilities), which has been a barrier to salmon passage since the 1930s. Thus, sustaining the Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) population upstream of the Project currently depends on two fundamental factors: (1) the collection of upstream migrating adult Coho salmon at Merwin Dam, the lower most dam […]

by Remington, M., Clark, R. W., Hanscom, R. J., Higham, T. E., Sukumaran, J. on May 6, 2025 at 12:00 am

Terrestrial ectotherms use dynamic behavioral thermoregulation strategies that typically rely on finding thermal refugia to avoid unfavorable conditions. Traditional analytic approaches rely on analysis of thermal indices to describe thermal conditions organisms may or may not choose, though computational simulations could potentially be used to analyze thermoregulatory behavior explicitly. Here, we leverage a novel simulation framework that integrates data from operative thermal models […]

by Karjanto, N., Peng, A. on May 5, 2025 at 12:00 am

The Lotka-Volterra equations, a cornerstone of predator-prey modeling, provide a valuable frame-work for understanding sustainable population dynamics. This chapter explores how these equations, through analysis of dynamic equilibrium and stability, illuminate sustainability principles within ecological systems. By analyzing predator-prey interactions, we gain important insights into population management, resource conservation, and the delicate balance of ecosystems. Furthermore, we discuss […]

by Hansford, T. A., Higgs, V., Gaffney, V., Kistler, L., Allaby, R. G. on May 5, 2025 at 12:00 am

Sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) has become an important tool in Quaternary Science, but still little is understood of its taphonomy and whether sedaDNA represents the local vicinity or originates from distant sources. Here we show key insights can be made about the origins of sedaDNA by integrating sedimentological and sedaDNA data into a sediment influx depositional model. We reconstruct contrasting taphonomic regimes of lacustrine, alluvial, terrestrial and permafrost systems. Lacustrine […]

by Erana, T., Kebede, A., Deressa, C. T., Yewhalaw, D., Simma, E. A. on May 5, 2025 at 12:00 am

Malaria, a major vector-borne disease transmitted by female Anopheles mosquitoes, remains a critical public health challenge in tropical and subtropical regions. Climate change influences vector distribution, abundance, and disease transmission patterns. This study examined the influence of temperature and humidity on the development, abundance, and survival of Anopheles arabiensis, a key malaria vector in Ethiopia. Laboratory reared susceptible An. arabiensis strain mosquitoes were reared […]

by Medina-van Berkum, P., Albracht, C., Brocher, M., Solbach, M. D., Stein, G., Bonkowski, M., Buscot, F., Heintz-Buschart, A., Ebeling, A., Eisenhauer, N., El-Madany, T. S., Huang, Y., Kuebler, K., Meyer, S. T., Gershenzon, J., Unsicker, S. B. on May 5, 2025 at 12:00 am

Studies have investigated the interactions between plants through competition and resource sharing to understand the mechanisms behind the positive effects of plant diversity on productivity. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are important info-chemicals in plant-plant interactions, but they have so far rarely been considered in this context. Here, we measured VOC emissions at both community and species levels (Plantago lanceolata) in experimental plant communities of varying diversity (The […]

by Lear, L., Buckling, A., Hesse, E. on May 5, 2025 at 12:00 am

Successful biological invasions are dependent on the invader being able to grow and reproduce in the new environment. One way that microbial invaders may facilitate this is to use cooperative public goods, such as metal-binding siderophores. However, siderophore production can be exploited by non-producing cheats who benefit from production without paying any associated costs. Here, we test the importance of cooperation for the success of Pseudomonas aeruginosa invading a 5-species microbial […]

by Kajin, M., Tuljapurkar, S. D., ZUO, W., Jaggi, H., Gascoigne, S., Salguero-Gomez, R. on May 4, 2025 at 12:00 am

In ecology and evolutionary biology, understanding the relationship between vital rates (e.g., survival, development, reproduction) and population growth is essential to elucidate how life history strategies are shaped by natural selection. However, the established demographic methods to decipher the relationship between vital rates and population growth often analyse only the linear changes in population fitness as a result of changes in vital rates, thus simplifying the complexities of said […]

by Matsumura, K., Noda, T., Sharma, M. D., Okada, K., Miyatake, T., Hosken, D. J. on May 4, 2025 at 12:00 am

Exaggerated sexually selected traits are thought to be energetically costly to produce and to maintain. This is especially true of sexually selected weapons, traits that are frequently positively allometric, and therefore likely to be especially energetically costly. However, there have been few studies that directly measure these putative costs. Here we tested for the associations between resting metabolic rate, during development and adulthood, and the size of a weapon used during adult […]

by Hera, D., Cooper, J., Buchanan, P. K., Dhami, M. K., Dickie, I. A. on May 3, 2025 at 12:00 am

Increased demand of cultivated oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus species) in Aotearoa New Zealand has led to the importation of exotic species, which pose potential invasion risks. Gaps in taxonomic knowledge of this genus have complicated biosecurity decisions and cultivation efforts. To address this, we collected 84 wild and cultivated New Zealand Pleurotus specimens for multi-locus phylogenetic analysis (ITS, LSU, RPB1, RPB2, and Tef) and morphological examination. We describe P. pulmonarius var. […]

by Santos, B. F., Srivathsan, A., Neves, K., Meier, R. on May 3, 2025 at 12:00 am

The diversity of many well-studied taxa increases toward the tropics, but the available data are biased toward organisms larger than 5 mm, excluding most multicellular species. To address this bias, we analyzed DNA barcode data for 1.35 million specimens of flying insects, representing over 130,000 putative species collected using 101 Malaise traps in 27 countries across six continents. We find that the same ten insect families, consisting mostly of small species, dominate the abundance and […]

by Gronwald, F., Weinberger, F., Bouma, T. J., Karez, R. on May 3, 2025 at 12:00 am

Predicting macroalgal sedimentation and drag sensitivity is essential for ecological and geochemical modeling, and for optimizing seaweed cultivation. However, despite the diversity of macrophyte forms, models incorporating their specific morphology and hydrodynamic effects are largely lacking. To develop a broadly applicable model, we tested whether the drag response of diverse macrophyte morphologies and plastic objects can be accurately predicted by approximating them as ellipsoids and […]

by Keerthi, M. C., Firake, D. M., Wagh, Y. S., K, A., Naga, K. C., Prasad, K. V., Pandit, S. on May 3, 2025 at 12:00 am

The blossom midge Contarinia maculipennis is a devastating pest of ornamental and vegetable crops, yet its population ecology remains poorly understood. This study employs an age-stage two-sex life table model to analyze its life history with additional focus on below-ground soil environment. Tuberose (Agave amica), a newly identified host, was selected for study. The average fecundity of C. maculipennis was 39.13 eggs, with an intrinsic rate of increase (r) of 0.137, and a mean generation time […]

by Iyer, V., Prasad, A. on May 1, 2025 at 12:00 am

What constitutes a single species is ultimately arbitrary, resulting in idiosyncrasies in taxonomic praxis determining species counts. One consequence of this arbitrariness is taxonomic synonymization, wherein variation determined not unique enough to constitute distinct species gets merged into one. Synonymization is non-random and subject to taxon and trait-specific biases. We explore these trends using a comprehensive dataset of the worlds marine species for all large phyla and Animalia. We […]

by Scavo, N. A., Vasquez, C., Multini, L. C., Mutebi, J.-P., Wilke, A. B. B. on May 1, 2025 at 12:00 am

Gentrification is occurring across urban areas in the United States and poses threats to marginalized and vulnerable communities through displacement, disruption of social networks, and worsening health outcomes. Gentrification is both a social and environmental process, affecting socioecological factors responsible for driving mosquito abundance and community composition. Our study aims to investigate how gentrification in Miami-Dade County, Florida, affects the alpha and beta diversity of […]

by Goyal, N., Sharma, A., Jagati, V., Herur, A., Jain, A., Gopal, A., Joshi, J., Robin, V. V. on May 1, 2025 at 12:00 am

Biodiversity is structured via complex interactions among ecological, geological, and climatic processes. Regions with high heterogeneity in climate and topography are known to harbor fine scale patterns in diversity which are often overlooked in global scale analyses. Here, we investigate spatial phylogenetic patterns of forest bird diversity across peninsular India, a region with high topographic and climatic heterogeneity. Using a comprehensive global bird phylogeny, we employ metrics such […]