368 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.
This study analyzes 11 years of California steelhead angler data to reveal that the fishery exhibits extreme catch inequality (Gini coefficient of 0.81) driven largely by zero-catch anglers, while also establishing a methodological framework for determining the minimum sample sizes needed for robust inequality estimation in recreational fisheries management.
The paper introduces NeMO, a flexible R package that utilizes Bayesian multi-species occupancy models to address detection uncertainty in eDNA metabarcoding by accounting for nested sampling structures, estimating key detection parameters, and optimizing survey design for effective biodiversity monitoring.
This global synthesis of over 30,000 species reveals that while most organisms avoid urban environments, the relationship between body size and urban affinity is highly heterogeneous across taxa, with larger plants generally thriving in cities while animals show variable responses, underscoring the need for tailored strategies to support urban biodiversity.
MetaBeeAI is an open-source, modular pipeline that integrates large language models with expert-in-the-loop validation to enable transparent, reproducible, and scalable extraction of structured evidence from complex biological literature.
This study refutes the hypothesis that increased precipitation causes declining methane uptake in forest soils through diffusion limitation, as 27 years of data from the Baltimore Ecosystem Study and 14 years from Hubbard Brook show precipitation explains negligible variance in flux, pointing instead to chronic biological degradation driven by nitrogen inhibition and invasive earthworm activity.
By analyzing a massive HPAI outbreak in a threatened Dalmatian pelican population, this study reveals that the 2022 panzootic was driven by a single introduction and exhibits higher transmissibility and shedding duration than previous subtypes, while demonstrating that current control measures like carcass removal and manual vaccination are largely ineffective for wildlife management.
This study presents the first cradle-to-farm-gate Life Cycle Assessment of broiler chicken production in India's North Eastern Himalayan region, revealing that feed production (particularly maize) is the primary environmental hotspot and establishing a global warming potential of 3.77 kg CO2-eq per kilogram of live weight.
An integrated risk assessment and species distribution modeling study reveals that 15 non-native fish species, particularly tilapias, pose a high invasion risk to the Shadegan International Wetland and lower Tigris Basin, with climate change potentially expanding their suitable habitats and underscoring the urgent need for coordinated transboundary management.
This study utilizes the TPS-ISK screening tool to assess 34 non-native urban tree species in continental Europe, revealing that while nearly 30% currently pose a high invasion risk, climate change projections significantly elevate these threats, necessitating urgent proactive management and monitoring strategies.
This study analyzes over 34,000 images of 10,400 ant species worldwide to demonstrate that their coloration is driven by multiple independent environmental factors—such as UV radiation, precipitation, and temperature—rather than a single macroecological rule like Gloger's rule.