🌿 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

Belowground functional traits predict population temporal stability in grasslands

By analyzing 17 years of data from German grasslands, this study demonstrates that belowground functional traits, particularly root diameter, hair incidence, specific root length, and tissue density, are stronger and more consistent predictors of plant population temporal stability than traditional aboveground traits, with these relationships significantly modulated by land use intensity, especially mowing.

Golshani, S., Bergmann, J., Gresse, J., Liancourt, P., Majekova, M.2026-09-28
🌿 ecology

Age-specific Jensen contrasts reveal how ontogenetic responses to thermal variability shape lifetime performance in Daphnia magna

This study demonstrates that in *Daphnia magna*, age-specific responses to thermal variability can reverse over an organism's lifetime, leading to a net reduction in expected lifetime reproduction despite early-life benefits, thereby highlighting the limitations of using static thermal performance curves or mean temperatures to forecast life-history outcomes in variable environments.

Shimadzu, H., Day Dell Olio, I., Barbosa, M.2026-09-28
🌿 ecology

First density and abundance estimate for the only East African Population of Western bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus eurycerus) in Semuliki National Park, Uganda

This study presents the first density and abundance estimates for the only known East African population of Western bongo in Uganda's Semuliki National Park, using camera-trap data and spatially explicit capture-recapture modeling to identify approximately 56 individuals and underscore the urgent need for structured monitoring to support their conservation.

Sandri, T., Matthews, N., Isoke, S., Vyalengerera, M., Asiimwe, C., Aruho, R., von Hardenberg, A., Nixon, S.2026-09-24
🌿 ecology

Demographic changes and behavioural responses shape vulnerability to infectious disease outbreaks

Using an age-structured model and the Republic of Korea as a case study, this paper demonstrates that while population ageing can reduce the risk of major infectious disease outbreaks by lowering contact rates, this protective effect is significantly modified by age-specific biological susceptibility and behavioural adaptations such as extended workforce participation.

Evans, A., Hart, W. S., Jung, E., Nah, K., Bonic-Babic, K., Jung, S.-m., Thompson, R. N.2026-09-23
🌿 ecology

Optimizing plant species selection for automated monitoring of plant-pollinator interactions

This study demonstrates that automated monitoring of plant-pollinator interactions can be efficiently optimized by selecting 12–15 flowering plant species based on abundance, a strategy that effectively captures key network metrics and supports the development of targeted AI classifiers for large-scale biodiversity monitoring.

Zhong, Y., B. Lanuza, J., Heuschele, J. M., Glenny, W., Rakosy, D., Knight, T.2026-09-23
🌿 ecology

Assessing the impact of data uncertainty on remote sensing estimation of plant functional diversity

Using simulations from the BOSSE experiment, this study reveals that random errors impact plant functional diversity estimates more than systematic errors, demonstrating that standardizing metric computation and quantifying uncertainties separately at the reflectance level are crucial for optimizing remote sensing assessments of plant functional diversity.

Pacheco-Labrador, J., Rossi, C., Santos, M. J.2026-09-22