🌿 Category

ecology

429 papers

Ecology explores the intricate relationships between living organisms and their environments, revealing how life adapts, interacts, and sustains itself across the planet. From microscopic soil communities to vast migratory patterns, this field examines the delicate balance that keeps ecosystems functioning and resilient. Understanding these connections is vital for addressing urgent challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss.

At Gist.Science, we make the latest research from bioRxiv accessible to everyone. We process every new preprint in this category as it appears, offering both clear plain-language explanations and detailed technical summaries to suit every reader. This approach ensures that groundbreaking findings in ecological science are not locked behind complex terminology but are available for immediate understanding and discussion.

Below are the latest papers in ecology, curated to help you stay informed about the evolving story of life on Earth.

🌿 ecology

Immediate methane and carbon dioxide release from exposed permafrost at an active retrogressive thaw slump in the Canadian Arctic

This study demonstrates that active retrogressive thaw slumps in the Canadian Arctic immediately release significant amounts of trapped biogenic methane and carbon dioxide upon exposure, suggesting that current permafrost carbon feedback models underestimate greenhouse gas emissions by overlooking the direct release of gases stored within frozen soil matrices.

Joyce, L., Lapham, L. L., MacLeod, R., Phillips, M. R., Norooz Oliaee, J., Gillespie, A. W., Morse, P., Dallimore, S., G (…)2026-06-19
🌿 ecology

Beyond competence: a mechanistic model of avian demographic drivers in West Nile virus dynamics

This study employs mathematical modeling to demonstrate that avian demographic traits, particularly breeding timing and offspring production, significantly influence West Nile virus transmission dynamics in northern Italy, highlighting the critical role of non-corvid species and the need for surveillance strategies that account for seasonal variations in competent host abundance.

Fesce, E., Cattaneo, E., Marini, G., Rosa, R., Lelli, D., Cerioli, M. P., Ilahiane, L., Rubolini, D., Chiari, M., Ferrar (…)2026-06-18
🌿 ecology

OPULATION CHARACTERISATION AND PROPAGATION STRATEGYFOR WILD Coffea eugenioides IN NYUNGWE AND CYAMUDONGO FORESTS, RWANDA: A field assessment of mother trees and an evidence-based seed-source pathway.

Based on a field assessment revealing low and variable reproductive output in wild *Coffea eugenioides* populations in Rwanda, the report recommends shifting the seed orchard strategy from traditional seed collection to a clonal approach using grafting to ensure reliable germplasm conservation and restoration.

Shema, Y.2026-06-18
🌿 ecology

Laser scanning identifies large trees as a major source of uncertainty in mangrove carbon accounting

This study demonstrates that current allometric equations systematically underestimate the biomass of large mangrove trees, creating significant uncertainty in carbon accounting, and highlights terrestrial laser scanning as a critical tool for improving these estimates to support effective mangrove conservation.

Jackson, T. D., Feyen, J., Lozano-Arias, L., Caicedo-Garcia, J.-P., Sierra-Correa, P. C., Montes-Chaura, C. C., Sanjur (…)2026-06-16
🌿 ecology

Anthropogenic disturbance inverts microclimate stratification in tropical forests

This study demonstrates that anthropogenic fire disturbance in Amazonian forests inverts the natural vertical stratification of microclimates, causing the understorey to become significantly hotter than the canopy during the day and cooler at night, with the capacity for temperature buffering being positively linked to aboveground carbon stocks.

Nunes, C. A., Berenguer, E., do Nascimento, R. O., Martins, R. G., Metcalf, O. C., Lees, A. C., Smith, M. N., Ferreira (…)2026-06-15
🌿 ecology

Higher methanotroph abundance and bottom-water methane in ponds with floating photovoltaic arrays

In experimental ponds with 70% floating photovoltaic coverage, bottom-water methane concentrations doubled due to altered cycling dynamics, yet surface emissions remained low because the arrays promoted massive blooms of methanotrophs that consumed dissolved methane before it could reach the atmosphere.

Ray, N., Aredas, S., Grodsky, S. M., Canino, A., Cardoso, S. J., Holgerson, M. A., Theus, M., Schmidt, M. L.2026-06-10
🌿 ecology

Climate change drives contrasting redistribution patterns in endemic and endangered Himalayan Gentiana

This study uses species distribution models to demonstrate that while the endemic *Gentiana cachemirica* faces severe habitat contraction due to its narrow niche and limited dispersal, the critically endangered *Gentiana kurroo* exhibits scenario-dependent responses ranging from modest expansion to decline, highlighting how climatic niche breadth and dispersal capacity mediate species' vulnerability to climate change in the Himalayas.

Gillani, S. W., Ahmad, M., Manzoor, M., Khan, R. W. A., Sohail, A., Salguero-Gomez, R.2026-06-06
🌿 ecology

Widespread evidence for plasticity and recent evolution of plasticity in the breeding phenology of Finnish birds

This study analyzes six decades of data from 44 Finnish bird species to demonstrate that while their breeding phenology is strongly plastic, there is also widespread evidence for the recent evolution of this plasticity, enabling birds to increasingly adjust their egg-laying timing in response to rising temperatures.

Hallfors, M. H., Lehikoinen, A., Phillimore, A. B.2026-06-05