2025 Hyper Recent •CC0 1.0 Universal

This work is dedicated to the public domain. No rights reserved.

Access Preprint From Server
July 4th, 2025
Version: 1
Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Johannes Gutenberg University
ecology
biorxiv

A MammaLian Demographic Database for comparative analyses of evolutionary biodemography: malddaba

Ronget, V.Open in Google Scholar•Lemaitre, J.-F.Open in Google Scholar•Spataro, B.Open in Google Scholar•Humblot, L.Open in Google Scholar•Gaillard, J.-M.Open in Google Scholar

The question of how individual age influences demographic transition rates, such as survival probabilities and reproduction rates, has long been a main question for demographers and evolutionary ecologists. This has resulted in the accumulation of studies estimating the age-specific demographic transition rates across the tree of life over the last few decades. Although this accumulation of studies has enabled comparative demographic analyses to be developed, such analyses remain difficult to perform because age-specific data are scattered across literature. Here, we present a new open-access database, malddaba, which compiles age-specific demographic rates for mammals in the wild from published information. Currently, the database encompasses 170 species from 250 publications, representing 428 age- and sex-specific survival series and 199 age- and sex-specific reproduction series. Each series is reported using a standardized approach aimed at facilitating the extraction and use of that dataset by anyone interested in comparative biology. We show how malddaba can be used to address a variety of questions, ranging from comparative ageing with the assessment of actuarial and reproductive senescence patterns in a wide diversity of mammals. We can also address questions related to comparative population dynamics. For this purpose, in addition to the raw demographic rate records, we were able to build 43 population-specific life tables using malddaba records, which allow demographic outputs to be estimated accurately, such as population growth rate and generation time for those species. The malddaba database will be regularly updated to keep adding new demographic estimates and bring a comprehensive and dynamic view of the diversity of demographic trajectories across mammals.

Similar Papers

biorxiv
Sat Jul 05 2025
Age Classification of White-tailed Deer Via Computer Vision and Deep Learning
This study explores the use of Computer Vision models in predicting the age of male whitetail deer from trail camera imagery. More than fifty classification algorithms were evaluated, spanning traditional machine learning approaches to Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)-based deep learning methods. While traditional classifiers reached a maximum accuracy of 57%, transfer learning with CNN ensemble...
Pung, A. J.
biorxiv
Sat Jul 05 2025
Feeding activity of soil oligochaetes under different soil moisture regimes assessed by the bait-lamina test.
The bait-lamina test is an easy and efficient method to quantify the feeding activity of soil invertebrates, commonly performed under field conditions to measure the impact of chemicals on soils. However, under natural conditions, feeding activity is also influenced by environmental factors such as soil moisture content. The extent of this influence on the results of the bait-lamina test is still ...
Dell'Ambrogio, G.
•
Campiche, S.
•
Wong, J. M. Y.
•
Renaud, M.
...•
Ferrari, B. J. D.
biorxiv
Sat Jul 05 2025
Citizen science suggests decreased diversity of insects in Mexico, a megadiverse country.
An analysis of iNaturalist data on several taxonomic groups of insects in Mexico is presented. I found evidence of a decreasing trend in diversity of species per year, for four families of butterflies, the bumblebees and the dragon and damselflies. I performed the anlayses on several of the Potential Vegetation types of J. Rzedowsky, and explore the role of deforestation and pesticide use on the t...
Soberon, J. L.
biorxiv
Sat Jul 05 2025
ABC for high-dimensional modular models via MCMC samples
Many complex systems are modelled using modular models, where individual sub-models are estimated separately and then combined. While this simplifies inference, it fails to account for interactions between components. A natural solution is to estimate all components jointly, but this is often impractical due to intractable likelihoods. Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) provides a likelihood-f...
Zhu, Z.
•
Christodoulou, M. D.
•
Steinsaltz, D.
biorxiv
Sat Jul 05 2025
Maximizing vegetation representation of the catchment in sedimentary DNA with targeted cores in small lakes
Sedimentary DNA is becoming an invaluable tool for biodiversity assessments across spatial and temporal scales. Accurate interpretation, however, requires a clear understanding of its origin and taphonomy, from transport to preservation processes within lake systems. Insights into these processes are crucial for developing efficient sampling methods for precise ecological monitoring. Our analysis ...
Ataman, T. G. G.
•
Lammers, Y.
•
Alsos, I. G.
•
Rijal, D. P.
•
Brown, A. G.
biorxiv
Sat Jul 05 2025
Biomes do not show a clear-cut phylogeny
Shifts between biomes, the broad types of ecosystems, are far less understood than other ecological transitions. In this study, we aimed at identifying a possible and preliminary lineage between terrestrial biomes on Earth by using up-to-date phylogenetic methods. Although a deep statistical power was lacking, we built on expert knowledge a double-entry table filled by a variety of traits characte...
Gaucherel, C.
•
Nous, C.
•
Hely, C.
biorxiv
Sat Jul 05 2025
Uncovering Fusarium species diversity, distribution and pathogenicity associated with cotton and corn fields in recently expanded cotton-growing areas of the Northern High Plains of Texas
The recent expansion of cotton acreage in the Northern High Plains of Texas has raised concerns about the occurrence of a diverse Fusarium community, particularly Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum race 4, which is favored by cool early-season temperatures that often occur in the region. This study investigated the diversity, distribution, and pathogenicity of Fusarium species associated with c...
Khaliq, I.
•
Anderson, N.
biorxiv
Sat Jul 05 2025
High pathogenicity avian influenza virus transmission is shaped by inter-specific social network structure.
The continued emergence of zoonotic and epizootic diseases among wild animals is a recurrent and often intractable threat to human and animal health, threatening pandemic preparedness 1,2 . Predicting transmission pathways in multi-host systems, like wild birds, where ecological and behavioural diversity interact 3-5, is a particular challenge to surveillance 6-8. As a result, study of disease in ...
Dunning, J.
•
Gamza, A.
•
Firth, J.
•
Ashton-Butt, A.
...•
Ward, A.
biorxiv
Sat Jul 05 2025
Identification and performance of environmentally-driven recruitment relationships in state space assessment models
Environmentally-driven recruitment relationships are important for understanding fisheries responses to climate change; however they are difficult to estimate due in part to large variability in the recruitment process. State space models provide a promising way forward in allowing the characterization of multiple sources of stochastic variability. Here we conducted a large simulation-estimation s...
Britten, G.
•
Brooks, E.
•
Miller, T.
biorxiv
Sat Jul 05 2025
Tracking West Nile virus dynamics using viral loads from trapped mosquitoes
West Nile virus (WNV) persists in an enzootic cycle between birds and mosquitoes. Human infections are incidental and usually sub-clinical with some cases of neuroinvasive disease. Mitigation relies on surveillance to guide decision making, including RT-qPCR testing pools of mosquitoes. Cycle threshold (Ct) values from these pools---semi-quantitative proxies for viral load---are binarised to estim...
Alahakoon, P.
•
Marchinton, I.
•
Fauver, J. R.
•
Hay, J. A.