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Data set for: Leaf trait association in relation to herbivore defense, drought resistance, and economics in a tropical invasive plant
<p><strong><span>Premsie</span></strong><span>: </span><span>Exploring how functional traits vary and covary is important to understand plant responses to environmental change. However, we have limited understanding of the ways multiple functional traits vary and covary within invasive species.</span></p> <p><strong><span>Methods</span></strong><span>:</span> <span>We measured 12 leaf traits of an invasive plant <em>Chromolaena odorata</em>, associated with plant or leaf economics, herbivore defense, and drought resistance on 10 introduced populations from Asia and 12 native populations from America, selected across a broad range of climatic conditions, and grown in a common garden</span><span>.</span></p> <p><strong><span>Results</span></strong><span>: </span><span>Species'</span> <span>range and climatic conditions influenced leaf traits, but trait variation across climate space differed between the introduced and native ranges. Traits that confer defense against herbivores and drought resistance were associated with economic strategy, but the patterns differed by range. Plants from introduced populations that were at the fast-return end of the spectrum (high photosynthetic capacity) had high physical defense traits (high trichome density), whereas plants from native populations that were at the fast-return end of the spectrum had high drought escape traits (early leaf senescence and high percentage of withered shoots).</span></p> <p><strong> <span>Conclusions</span></strong><span>:</span> <span>Our results indicate that invasive plants can rapidly adapt to novel environmental conditions. <em>C. odorata</em> showed multiple different functional trait covariation patterns and clines in the native and introduced ranges. Our results emphasize that interaction between multiple traits or functions should be considered when investigating the adaptive evolution of invasive plants.</span></p>
Ecological speciation by sympatric host shifts in a clade of herbivorous sea slugs, with introgression and localized mitochondrial capture between species
<p>Host shifting in insect-plant systems was historically important to the development of ecological speciation theory, yet surprisingly few studies have examined whether host shifting drives the diversification of marine herbivores. When small-bodied consumers feed and also mate on a preferred host, disruptive selection can split a population into host races despite gene flow. Support for host shifts is notably lacking for invertebrates associated with macroalgae, where the scale of dispersal by planktonic larvae often far exceeds the grain of host patchiness, and adults are typically less specialized than terrestrial herbivores. Here, we present a candidate example of ecological speciation in a clade of sea slugs that primarily consume green algae in the genus <em>Caulerpa</em>, including highly invasive species. Ancestral character state reconstructions supported 'sea grapes' (<em>C. racemosa</em>, <em>C. lentillifera</em>) as the ancestral host for a tropical radiation of 12 <em>Elysia</em> spp., with one shift onto alternative <em>Caulerpa</em> spp. in the Indo-Pacific. A Caribbean radiation of three species included symaptric host shifts to <em>Rhipocephalus brevicaulis </em>in the ancestor of<em> E. pratensis</em> Ortea & Espinosa, 1996, and to <em>C. prolifera</em> in <em>E. hamanni</em> Krug, Vendetti & Valdes 2016, plus a niche expansion to a range of <em>Caulerpa</em> spp. in<em> E. subornata</em> Verrill, 1901. All three species are broadly sympatric across the Caribbean but are host-partitioned at a fine grain, and distinct by morphology and at nuclear loci. However, non-recombining mtDNA revealed a history of gene flow between <em>E. pratensis</em> and <em>E. subornata</em>: COI haplotypes from<em> E. subornata</em> were 10.4% divergent from<em> E. pratensis</em> haplotypes from four sites, but closely related to all <em>E. pratensis </em>haplotypes sampled from six Bahamian islands, indicating historical introgression and localized "mitochondrial capture." Disruptive selective likely fueled divergence and adaptation to distinct host environments, indicating ecological speciation may be an under-appreciated driver of diversification for marine herbivores as well as epibionts and other resource specialists.</p>
Data from: Individual heterogeneity in fitness in a long-lived herbivore
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Heterogeneity in the intrinsic quality and nutritional condition of individuals affects reproductive success and consequently fitness. Black brant (<i>Branta bernicla nigricans</i>) are long-lived, migratory, specialist herbivores. Long migratory pathways and short summer breeding seasons constrain the time and energy available for reproduction, thus magnifying life-history trade-offs. These constraints, combined with long lifespans and trade-offs between current and future reproductive value, provide a model system to examine the role of individual heterogeneity in driving life-history strategies and individual heterogeneity in fitness. We used hierarchical Bayesian models to examine reproductive trade-offs, modeling the relationships between within-year measures of reproductive energy allocation and among-year demographic rates of individual females breeding on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska using capture-recapture and reproductive data from 1988 to 2014. We generally found that annual survival tended to be buffered against variation in reproductive investment, while breeding probability varied considerably over the range of clutch size-laying date combinations. We provide evidence for relationships between breeding probability and clutch size, breeding probability and nest initiation date, and an interaction between clutch size and initiation date. Average lifetime clutch size also had a weak positive relationship with apparent survival probability. Our results support the use of demographic buffering strategies for black brant. These results also indirectly suggest associations among environmental conditions during growth, fitness, and energy allocation, highlighting the effects of early growth conditions on individual heterogeneity, and subsequently, lifetime reproductive investment.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Urban environments have species-specific associations with invasive insect herbivores
<p>Urban areas are expanding rapidly, with the majority of the global and US population inhabiting them. Urban forests are critically important for providing ecosystem services to the growing urban populace, but their health is threatened by invasive insects. Insect density and damage are highly variable in different sites across urban landscapes, such that trees in some sites experience outbreaks and are severely damaged while others are relatively unaffected. To protect urban forests against damage from invasive insects and support future delivery of ecosystem services, we must first understand the factors that affect insect density and damage to their hosts across urban landscapes. This study explores how a variety of environmental factors that vary across urban habitats influence density of invasive insects. Specifically, we evaluate how vegetational complexity, distance to buildings, impervious surface, canopy temperature, host availability, and density of co-occurring herbivores impact three invasive pests of elm trees: the elm leaf beetle (<em>Xanthogaleruca luteola</em>), the elm flea weevil (<em>Orchestes steppensis</em>), and the elm leafminer (<em>Fenusa ulmi</em>). Except for building distance, all environmental factors were associated with density of at least one pest species. Furthermore, insect responses to these factors were species-specific, with direction and strength of associations influenced by insect life history. These findings can be used to inform future urban pest management and tree care efforts, making urban forests more resilient in an era where globalization and climate change make them particularly vulnerable to attack. Keywords: urban forest, invasive species, impervious surface, temperature, species interactions.</p>
Weissflog et al. - Daytime but not plant trichomes provide herbivores with enemy-free space: of plasticine caterpillars, superheroes, and natural enemies.
<p>RAW DATA</p> <p>We use artificial prey to quantify spatial and temporal variation in predation pressure on insect herbivores in two tropical rainforest sites in Panama. </p> <p>We measured temporal and spatial variation in predation in the understory of the lowland rainforest of Barro Colorado Island in Panama [79°49.79´S, 9°9.48´E; 2600 mm yr<sup>-1</sup> rainfall, 3 mo dry season; = island experiment) in February 2020 by comparing diurnal and nocturnal attacks on plasticine caterpillars and hulks placed on glabrous and pubescent plants. We used model prey to measure predation pressure. Caterpillars (50 x 4 mm) and hulks (with a height of 30 mm that equaled the maximum height of the bent caterpillars) were molded from green, (to humans) odorless, non-toxic Newplast (Newclay Products Ltd., Newton Abbot, UK). Caterpillars were shaped and bent to mimic the posture of common geometrid caterpillars. Hulks resembled small (but fearsome) superhero figurines, known from the Marvel comics (Marvel Worldwide Inc.), and were shaped using custom made plastic molds. We used hulks as a control to the more naturally shaped caterpillar models to test whether objects resembling natural prey are indeed recognized as such by potential predators. All objects were modeled and handled using surgical gloves to avoid leaving unwanted cues (i.e., scent or other distracting contaminants) to predators. A hundred caterpillars and a hundred hulks were individually placed on 50 plants per host species. Objects were attached close to the midrib on the upper surface of plant leaves with a small amount of fast-setting glue, 30-80 cm from the ground. For four consecutive days (total of 96 h), the plasticine objects were inspected in 12 hour intervals at dusk and dawn (18:15 and 06:15 hours) to differentiate diurnal from nocturnal predation.</p> <p>Further, we conducted a follow-up experiment in a close-by mainland forest site in Gamboa, Parque Nacional Soberanía (79°43.38 S, 9°8.24 E; = mainland study) in early-March 2021. Following the same procedure as for the island experiment described above, we glued 27 caterpillars, 27 hulks, and 27 small caterpillars (30 x 2 mm) close to the midrib onto the upper side of leaves of tree saplings. In this follow-up experiment, we did however not select specific plant species, but chose saplings that were naturally growing in the field site. All plants were of similar size, with simple, elliptic to ovate, smooth-edged leaves, and without any foliar or stem pubescence. As before, all objects were carefully inspected for attack marks at 12 hour intervals at 18:15 and 06:15 hours for four consecutive days.</p>
Data from: Effects of climate change on plant resource allocation and herbivore interactions in a Neotropical rainforest shrub
<p>Data from "Effects of climate change on plant resource allocation and herbivore interactions in a Neotropical rainforest shrub" published in <em>Ecology and Evolution. </em>doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9198</p>
Circum-Arctic distribution of chemical anti-herbivore compounds arctic shrubs
Spatial variation in plant chemical defence towards herbivores can help us understand variation in herbivore top-down control of shrubs in the Arctic and possibly also shrub responses to global warming. Less defended, non-resinous shrubs could be more influenced by herbivores than more defended, resinous shrubs. However, sparse field measurements limit our current understanding of how much of the circum-Arctic variation in defence compounds is explained by taxa or defence functional groups (resinous/non-resinous). We measured circum-Arctic chemical defence and leaf digestibility in resinous (Betula glandulosa, B. nana ssp. exilis) and non-resinous (B. nana ssp. nana, B. pumila) shrub birches to see how it varies among and within taxa and functional groups. Using LC-MS metabolomic analyses and in-vitro leaf digestibility via incubation in cattle rumen fluid, we analysed defence composition and leaf digestibility in 128 samples from 44 tundra locations. We found biogeographical patterns in anti-herbivore defence where mean leaf triterpene concentrations and twig resin gland density were greater in resinous taxa and mean concentrations of condensing tannins were greater in non-resinous taxa. This indicates a biome-wide trade-off between triterpene or tannin dominated defences. However, we also found variations in chemical defence composition and resin gland density both within and among functional groups (resinous/non-resinous) and taxa, suggesting these categorisations only partly predict chemical herbivore defence. Complex tannins were the only defence compounds negatively related to In-Vitro Digestibility, identifying this previously neglected tannin group as having a potential key role in birch anti-herbivore defence. We conclude that circum-Arctic variation in birch anti-herbivore defence can be partly derived from biogeographical distributions of birch taxa, although our detailed mapping of plant defence provides more information on this variation and can be used for better predictions of herbivore effects on arctic vegetation.
Data for: Soil microbiota explain differences in herbivore resistance between native and invasive populations of a perennial herb
<p><span>Soil microbiota can either slow down or facilitate plant invasions through their effects on plant performance. Associations with soil microbiota can also modify other plant traits such as herbivore resistance, which can indirectly affect the outcome of plant introductions. </span></p> <p><span>We studied the effects of soil microbiota on the perennial herbaceous legume <em>Lupinus polyphyllus</em> that hosts nitrogen-fixing mutualistic bacteria. We compared the plant performance, herbivore resistance, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of plants from native (North American) and invasive (Finnish) populations of the species that were inoculated with intact or autoclaved soil from an invasive population. </span></p> <p><span>We found that plants of both origins greatly benefited from the intact soil inoculum with respect to all performance measures considered, suggesting that beneficial nitrogen-fixing rhizobia in the soil play a major role in shaping plant phenotypes. For three traits, effects of the intact soil inoculum were stronger in plants of native origin than in plants of invasive origin (number of leaves, herbivore resistance, and total biomass). With the intact soil inoculum, plants of invasive origin were more resistant to snails than plants of native origin. Strikingly, differences in resistance to snails between plants of different origins disappeared entirely when soil microbes were reduced. Soil inoculum treatment altered the composition of the leaf VOC bouquet similarly regardless of plant origin. </span></p> <p><span>Synthesis: These results demonstrate the ability of <em>L. polyphyllus</em> to associate with and benefit from putatively novel soil microbiota including rhizobia, which has likely contributed to its invasion success. Furthermore, it appears that the invasive populations have adapted to be less reliant on their symbionts, which further facilitates species spread. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that differences in herbivore resistance between native and invasive plant populations of the same species can depend entirely on soil microbiota.</span></p>
Data from: Integrating herbivore assemblages and woody plant cover in an African savanna to reveal how herbivores respond to ecosystem management
<p>African savannas are experiencing anthropogenically-induced stressors that are accelerating the increase of woody vegetation cover. To combat this, land managers frequently implement large-scale clearing of trees, which can have a cascading influence on mammalian herbivores. Studies rarely focus on how differences in woody cover influence the herbivore assemblage, making it difficult to assess how aggressive measures, or the lack of management, to counteract increasing woody cover affect the local composition and biodiversity of herbivores. We address this knowledge gap by applying a model-based clustering approach to field observations from to identify multiple herbivore–vegetation ‘configurations,’ defined as unique sets of herbivore assemblages (i.e., groups of herbivores) associated with differing woody plant covers. Our approach delineated how tree-clearing influences the distribution and abundance of the herbivore community in relation to surrounding savanna areas, which represent a natural mosaic of varying woody cover. Regardless of season, both intensively managed areas cleared of trees and unmanaged areas with high tree cover contained configurations that had depauperate assemblages of herbivores (low species richness, low abundance). By contrast, habitats with intermediate cover of woody vegetation had much higher richness and abundance. These results have substantial implications for managing African savannas in a rapidly changing climate.</p>
Seascapes and foraging success: movement and resource discovery by a benthic marine herbivore
<p>1. Spatially concentrated resources result in patch-based foraging, wherein the detection and choice of patches as well as the process of locating and exploiting resource patches involve moving through an explicit landscape composed of both resources and barriers to movement. An understanding of behavioural responses to resources and barriers is key to interpreting observed ecological patterns.</p> <p>2. We examined the process of resource discovery in the context of a heterogeneous seascape using sea urchins and drift kelp in urchin barrens as a model system. Under field conditions, we manipulated both the presence of a highly valuable resource (drift kelp) and a barrier to movement (sandy substratum) to test the interacting influence of these two factors on the process of resource discovery in barren grounds by urchins. We removed all foraging urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) from replicate areas and monitored urchin recolonization and kelp consumption. We tested two hypotheses: 1) unstable substratum is a barrier to urchin movement and 2) the movement behaviour of sea urchins is modified by the presence of drift kelp.</p> <p>3. Very few urchins were found on sand, sand was a permeable barrier to urchin movement, and the permeability of this barrier varied between sites. In general, partial recolonization occurred strikingly rapidly, but sand slowed the consumption of drift kelp by limiting the number of urchins. Differences in the permeability of sand barriers between sites could be driven by differences in the size structure of urchin populations, indicating size-specific environmental effects on foraging behaviour.</p> <p>4. We demonstrate the influence of patchy seascapes in modulating grazing intensity in barren grounds through modifications of foraging behaviour. Behavioural processes modified by environmental barriers play an important role in determining grazing pressure, the existence of refuges for new algal recruits, and ultimately the dynamics of urchin-algal interactions in barren grounds.</p>
The generality of cryptic dietary niche differences in diverse large-herbivore assemblages
<p>Ecological niche differences are necessary for stable species coexistence but are often difficult to discern. Models of dietary niche differentiation in large mammalian herbivores invoke the quality, quantity, and spatiotemporal distribution of plant tissues and growth-forms but are agnostic towards food-plant species identity. Empirical support for these models is variable, suggesting that additional mechanisms of resource partitioning may be important in sustaining large-herbivore diversity in African savannas. We used DNA metabarcoding to conduct a taxonomically explicit analysis of large-herbivore diets across southeastern Africa, analyzing ~4,000 fecal samples of 30 species from 10 sites in 7 countries over 6 years. We detected 893 food-plant taxa from 124 families, but just two families—grasses and legumes—accounted for the majority of herbivore diets. Nonetheless, herbivore species almost invariably partitioned food-plant taxa; diet composition differed significantly in 97% of pairwise comparisons between sympatric species, and dissimilarity was pronounced even between the strictest grazers (grass eaters), strictest browsers (non-grass eaters), and closest relatives at each site. Niche differentiation was weakest in an ecosystem recovering from catastrophic defaunation, indicating that food-plant partitioning is driven by species interactions, and stronger at low rainfall, as expected if interspecific competition is a predominant driver. Diets differed more between browsers than grazers, which predictably shaped community organization: grazer-dominated trophic networks had higher nestedness and lower modularity. That dietary differentiation is structured along taxonomic lines complements prior work on how herbivores partition plant parts and patches and suggests that common mechanisms govern herbivore coexistence and community assembly in savannas.</p>
Chronic browsing by an introduced mammalian herbivore in a tropical island alters species composition and functional traits of forest understory plant communities
<p>Mammalian herbivores have large-scale impacts on vegetation, altering structure and species composition, especially in tropical grasslands and savannas. However, there is limited understanding of the potential impacts of mammalian herbivores in tropical wet forests, where they are typically less abundant. We investigated the effects of an introduced mammalian herbivore chital (<em>Axis axis</em>) on vegetation structure, composition and leaf functional traits of tropical evergreen forests of the Andaman Islands, India. Across seven islands, representing a gradient of herbivore densities, increasing chital presence was associated with decreased understory richness, understory density and adult tree richness, but was not related to adult tree density or size class distributions. We also found a significant decrease in community-level leaf palatability traits (specific leaf area decreased and leaf thickness increased) with increasing chital habitat use. This community-level shift in leaf trait values was better explained by intra-specific variation in leaf traits across islands rather than changes in species composition. In summary, we show persistent long-term impacts of an introduced mammalian herbivore on understory tropical tree communities although there is little impact on adult tree communities. Our results also show that functional traits of species can be altered in response to novel herbivory, even at herbivore densities where there are no detectable impacts on adult forest structure or composition. Such altered functional traits may potentially alter ecosystem functioning in these forests even without changes in vegetation structure.</p>
Niche overlap between two large herbivores across landscape variability using dietary eDNA metabarcoding: Raw sequences of European bison and red deer – Bialowieza
<p><span>Understanding the trophic ecology of herbivore species is key to assess their environmental requirements and to improve management policies, but measuring their trophic interactions remains challenging. Among the methods available, quantifying the plant composition of a species' diet provides a detailed picture of how species exploit the resources in their environment and their associated niche overlap. Yet, most studies focusing on herbivore trophic ecology ignore the influence that landscape variability may have. Here, we studied how landscape variability influences trophic interactions through niche partitioning. We used eDNA metabarcoding to quantify the diet composition of two large herbivores of the Bialowieza Forest, red deer (<em>Cervus elaphus</em>) and European bison (<em>Bison bonasus</em>, hereafter referred to as bison) to investigate how increasing habitat quality and predation risk in their environment influence their diet composition and niche partitioning. We found red deer to have an overall greater diet variability and lower niche overlap within species compared to bison. Moreover, our findings indicate herbivore interactions are non-homogeneous across the landscape. Higher habitat quality was associated with higher niche overlap only within bison. We also detected an increase in niche overlap with increasing predation risk within red deer, indicating they modify their diet choice as a reaction to wolf predation risk. This study provides evidence of eDNA dietary metabarcoding as a useful tool for wildlife management to assess the status of species in an ecosystem based on known environmental factors. We suggest future studies to integrate the environments' variability when studying trophic ecology of herbivores to capture the whole extent of species interaction in order to improve conservation and management guidelines. </span></p>
Wild herbivores enhance resistance to invasion by exotic cacti in an African savanna
<p>1. Whether wild herbivores confer biotic resistance to invasion by exotic plants remains a key question in ecology. There is evidence that wild herbivores can impede invasion by exotic plants, but it is unclear whether and how this generalises across ecosystems with varying wild herbivore diversity and functional groups of plants, particularly over long-term (decadal) time frames.</p> <p>2. Using data from three long-term (13- to 26-year) exclosure experiments in central Kenya, we tested the effects of wild herbivores on the density of exotic invasive cacti, <em>Opuntia stricta</em> and <em>O. ficus-indica</em> (collectively, <em>Opuntia</em>), which are among the worst invasive species globally. We also examined relationships between wild herbivore richness and elephant occurrence probability with the probability of <em>O. stricta</em> presence at the landscape level (6,150 km<sup>2</sup>).</p> <p>3. <em>Opuntia</em> densities were 74% to 99% lower in almost all plots accessible to wild herbivores and increased more rapidly in plots excluding wild herbivores. These effects were largely driven by megaherbivores (≥1,000 kg), particularly elephants.</p> <p>4. At the landscape level, modelled <em>Opuntia</em> occurrence probability was negatively correlated with estimated species richness of wild herbivores and elephant occurrence probability. On average, O. stricta occurrence probability fell from ~0.56 to ~0.45 as wild herbivore richness increased from 6 to 10 species and fell from ~0.57 to ~0.40 as elephant occurrence probability increased from ~0.41 to ~0.84. These multi-scale results suggest that any facilitative effects of <em>Opuntia</em> by wild herbivores (e.g., seed/vegetative dispersal) are overridden by suppression (e.g., consumption, uprooting, trampling).</p> <p>5. <em>Synthesis</em>. Our experimental and observational findings that wild herbivores confer resistance to invasion by exotic cacti add to evidence that conserving and restoring native herbivore assemblages (particularly megaherbivores) can increase community resistance to plant invasions.</p>
Predation strongly limits demography of a keystone migratory herbivore in a recovering transfrontier ecosystem
<p>Large herbivore migrations are imperiled globally; however, the factors limiting a population across its migratory range are typically poorly understood. Zambia's Greater Liuwa Ecosystem (GLE) contains one of the largest remaining blue wildebeest (<em>Connochaetes</em> <em>taurinus</em> <em>taurinus</em>) migrations, yet the population structure, vital rates, and limiting factors are virtually unknown. We conducted a long-term demographic study of GLE wildebeest from 2012–2019 of 107 collared adult females and their calves, 7,352 herd observations, 12 aerial population surveys, and concurrent carnivore studies. We applied methods of vital rate estimation and survival analysis within a Bayesian estimation framework. From herd composition observations, we estimated rates of fecundity, first-year survival, and recruitment as 68%, 56%, and 38% respectively, with pronounced inter-annual variation. Similar rates were estimated from calf detections with collared cows. Adult survival rates declined steadily from 91% at age 2 years to 61% at age 10 years thereafter dropping more sharply to 2% at age 16 years. Predation, particularly by spotted hyena, was the predominant cause of death for all wildebeest ages and focused on older animals. Starvation only accounted for 0.8% of all unbiased known natural causes of death. Mortality risk differed substantially between wet and dry season ranges, reflecting strong spatio-temporal differences in habitat and predator densities. There was substantial evidence that mortality risk to adults was 27% higher in the wet season, and strong evidence that it was 45% higher in the migratory range where predator density was highest. The estimated vital rates were internally consistent, predicting a stable population trajectory consistent with aerial estimates. From essentially zero knowledge of GLE wildebeest dynamics, this work provides vital rates, age structure, limiting factors, and a plausible mechanism for the migratory tendency, and a robust model-based foundation to evaluate the effects of potential restrictions in migratory range, climate change, predator-prey dynamics, and poaching.</p>
Global patterns and drivers of herbivorous eriophyoid mite species diversity
<p><span><span><strong>Aim</strong>:</span> Environmental drivers and host richness play key roles in affecting herbivore diversity. However, the relative effects of these factors and their effects on lineages characterized by high host specificity are not well known. In this study, we explored the extent to which contemporary climate, Quaternary climate change, habitat heterogeneity, and host plants determine the species richness and endemism patterns of herbivorous eriophyoid mites.</span></p> <p><span><strong>Location</strong>: </span><span>Global.</span></p> <p><span><strong>Taxon</strong>: </span><span>Eriophyoid mites (Acari: Eriophyoidea).</span></p> <p><span><strong>Methods</strong>: </span><span>We compiled a dataset comprising 4,278 eriophyoid mite species from 22,973 occurrence sites based on a comprehensive search of the published literature and the </span><span>Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) as a basis for predicting their global distribution patterns</span><span>. We measured the association of environmental variables and host plant richness with species richness and endemism of eriophyoid mites through multiple regression analyses using a simultaneous autoregressive (SAR) model, an ordinary least squares (OLS) model, and a random forest model. We examined the direct and indirect effects of these environmental variables and the host plant richness on eriophyoid mite diversity using structural equation models (SEMs).</span></p> <p><span><strong>Results</strong>: </span><span>The species richness and </span><span>endemism patterns of eriophyoid mites are concentrated in temperate regions. Contemporary climate, Quaternary climate change, habitat heterogeneity, and host plants all significantly affected eriophyoid mite richness, while Quaternary climate change, habitat heterogeneity, and host plants contributed to the eriophyoid mite endemism. Abiotic factors indirectly influenced the species richness and endemism of eriophyoid mites, via biotic factors—host plants.</span></p> <p><span><strong>Main conclusions:</strong> </span><span>The </span><span>species richness and endemism of eriophyoid mites peak in temperate regions, opposite to the patterns of plants and some other organisms. Complex interactions among biotic and abiotic factors shape the current eriophyoid mite species diversity.</span></p>
Eco-evolutionary consequences of living with close relatives: Resistance to herbivores and climatic stress increases with investment into mycorrhiza in adult oaks
<p><span>1. Mycorrhizas are known to increase plant resistance to herbivores and climatic stress. However, it is unknown if particularly hostile environments select for increased investment of plants into mycorrhiza. </span></p> <p><span>2. We studied hostile biotic environments: phylogenetically proximate neighbourhoods known to increase herbivory and pedoclimatic stress. In a common garden, we studied the resistances, tri-trophic interactions and microclimate of 28-years-old oaks (Quercus petraea), descending from provenances of contrasting phylogenetic neighbourhoods.</span></p> <p><span> 3. We found that oaks descending from phylogenetically proximate neighbourhoods had increased ectomycorrhizal enzymatic activities without affecting mycorrhization rate of root tips. We also found that increased ectomycorrhizal enzymatic activity decreased damages by one group of specialist herbivores (leaf-miners), without affecting another (galls) or generalists (ectophages). Consistently, descendants from phylogenetically proximate neighbourhoods showed decreased damage by leaf miners. We finally found that oaks descending from phylogenetically proximate neighbourhoods were most capable of maintaining leaf chlorophyll under heat-induced drought, reflecting their increased ectomycorrhizal enzymatic activities. </span></p> <p><span>4. Synthesis. Overall, oaks living with closely related neighbours can rapidly evolve increased investment into ectomycorrhizas and thereby resistances to herbivores and climatic stress, ultimately facilitating coexistence among closely related neighbours. </span><span>While phylogenetically diverse forests remain essential for maintaining biodiversity, the selection regimes in less diverse forests can be used as a source of native genotypes resistant to future climate change, rather than using exotic populations and species as a source pool.</span></p>
Native and non-native insect herbivores associated with native and non-native European trees
<p>We compiled a list of all native and non-native insect species known to feed on 77 tree species in Europe. For each tree species, a list of insects known to utilize that species as a host was compiled using a variety of sources. The resulting list consists of 7,598 tree species -insect species pairs. Each insect was researched to determine its taxonomic groupings, feeding guild (gall-maker, folivore, reproductive plant feeder, sap-feeder, or phloem/wood-borer), and whether it was native to Europe or non-native.</p>
Ecosystem-wide responses to fire and large mammal herbivores in an African savanna
<p>Fire and large mammal herbivores (LMH) are the principal top-down forces maintaining savanna structure. Nonetheless, experiments designed to investigate interactions between fire and LMH are rare in savannas, and relationships between environmental variation and biodiversity in the context of fire and LMH are poorly understood. This study addresses these gaps by manipulating the presence of LMH and early and late dry season fires in a tropical African savanna. In addition, this work simultaneously explores environmental variables including soil and foliar quality, vegetation cover, and nearby water sources to more holistically describe factors affecting savanna functioning and biodiversity. </p> <p>After one year of experimental treatments, changes in vegetation were already apparent. Shrub abundance and richness and grass richness were higher in the absence of LMH, while grass biomass increased three-fold in burned plots as compared to unburned plots. Foliar nutrients tended to increase in open plots, while phenolics decreased. Amphibian abundance decreased with early burns and was higher with LMH. In contrast, small mammal abundance and richness increased without LMH and with time since fire. Richness and foraging of LMH were highest after late burns.</p> <p>These results demonstrate ecosystem-wide effects of LMH, illustrating the importance of considering multiple taxa when designing fire management programs. For example, burning negatively affected amphibians and small mammals and changed vegetation at the same time it increased LMH foraging. In the long-term, this experiment will shed light on interacting effects of fire and LMH on savanna biodiversity and function. </p>
Data from: Patterns of constitutive and induced herbivore defense are complex, but share a common genetic basis in annual and perennial monkeyflower
<p>Despite multiple ecological and evolutionary hypotheses that predict patterns of phenotypic relationships between plant growth, reproduction, and constitutive and/or induced resistance to herbivores, these hypotheses do not make any predictions about the underlying molecular genetic mechanisms that mediate these relationships. We investigated how divergent plant life-history strategies in the yellow monkeyflower and a life-history altering locus, DIV1 influence plasticity of phytochemical herbivory resistance traits in response to attack by two herbivore species with different diet breadth. Life-history strategy (annual vs. perennial) and the DIV1 locus significantly influenced levels of constitutive herbivory resistance, as well as resistance induction following both generalist and specialist herbivory. Perennial plants had higher total levels of univariate constitutive and induced defense than annuals, regardless of herbivore type. Annuals induced less in response to generalist herbivory than did perennials, while induction response was equivalent across the ecotypes for specialist herbivory. The effects of the DIV1 locus on levels of constitutive and induced defense were dependent on genetic background, the annual versus perennial haplotype of DIV1, and herbivore identity. The patterns of univariate induction due to DIV1 were non-additive and did not always match expectations based on patterns of divergence for annual/perennial parents. For example, perennial plants had higher levels of constitutive and induced defense than did annuals, but when the annual DIV1 was present in the perennial genetic background induction response to herbivory was higher than for the perennial parent lines. Patterns for multivariate defense arsenals generally echoed those of univariate, with annual and perennial monkeyflowers and those with alternative versions of DIV1 differing significantly in constitutive and induced resistance. Like univariate resistance, induced multivariate defense arsenals were affected by herbivore identity. Our results highlight the complexity of the genetic mechanisms underlying plastic response to herbivory. While a genetic locus underlying substantial phenotypic variation in life-history strategy and constitutive defense also influences defense plasticity, the induction response also depends on genetic background. This result demonstrates the potential for some degree of evolutionary independence between constitutive and induced defense, or induced defense and life-history strategy, in monkeyflowers.</p>
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.