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5,828 results for “Traits”

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dryad32/100

Data from: A century of intermittent eco-evolutionary feedbacks resulted in novel trait combinations in invasive great lakes Alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus)

<p>Species introductions provide opportunities to quantify rates and patterns of evolutionary change in response to novel environments. Alewives (<em>Alosa pseudoharengus</em>) are native to the East Coast of North America where they ascend coastal rivers to spawn in lakes, and then return to the ocean. Some populations have become landlocked within the last 350 years and diverged phenotypically from their ancestral marine population. More recently alewives were introduced to the Laurentian Great Lakes (~150 years ago), but these populations have not been compared to East Coast anadromous and landlocked populations. We quantified 95 years of evolution in foraging traits and overall body shape of Great Lakes alewives and compared patterns of phenotypic evolution of Great Lakes alewives to East Coast anadromous and landlocked populations. Our results suggest that gill raker spacing in Great Lakes alewives has evolved in a dynamic pattern that is consistent with responses to strong but intermittent eco-evolutionary feedbacks with zooplankton size. Following their initial colonization of Lakes Ontario and Michigan, dense alewife populations likely depleted large-bodied zooplankton, which drove a decrease in alewife gill raker spacing. However, the introduction of large, non-native zooplankton to the Great Lakes in later decades resulted in an increase in gill raker spacing, and present-day Great Lakes alewives have gill raker spacing patterns that are similar to the ancestral East Coast anadromous population. Conversely, contemporary Great Lakes alewife populations possess a gape width consistent with East Coast landlocked populations. Body shape showed remarkable parallel evolution with East Coast landlocked populations, likely due to a shared response to the loss of long-distance movement or migrations. Our results suggest the colonization of a new environment and cessation of migration can result in rapid parallel evolution in some traits, but contingency also plays a role, and a dynamic ecosystem can also yield novel trait combinations.</p>

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →
dryad32/100

Data set for: Behavioral traits that define social dominance are the same that reduce social influence in a consensus task

<p>Dominant individuals are often most influential in their social groups, affecting movement, opinion, and performance across species and contexts. Yet behavioral traits like aggression, intimidation, and coercion, which are associated with and in many cases define dominance, can be socially aversive. The traits that make dominant individuals influential in one context may therefore reduce their influence in other contexts. Here we examine this association between dominance and influence using the cichlid fish <i>Astatotilapia burtoni</i>, comparing the influence of dominant and subordinate males during normal social interactions and in a more complex group-consensus association task. We find that phenotypically dominant males are aggressive, socially central, and that these males have a strong influence over normal group movement, whereas subordinate males are passive, socially peripheral, and have little influence over normal movement. However, subordinate males have the greatest influence in generating group-consensus during the association task. Dominant males are spatially distant and have lower signal-to-noise ratios of informative behavior in the association task, potentially interfering with their ability to generate group-consensus. In contrast, subordinate males are physically close to other group members, have a high signal-to-noise ratio of informative behavior, and equivalent visual connectedness to their group as dominant males. The behavioral traits that define effective social influence are thus highly context-specific and can be dissociated with social dominance. Thus, processes of hierarchical ascension in which the most aggressive, competitive, or coercive individuals rise to positions of dominance may be counter-productive in contexts where group-performance is prioritized.</p>

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →
dryad32/100

Data from: Climate and soil nutrients differentially drive multidimensional fine root traits in ectomycorrhizal‐dominated alpine coniferous forests

<ol> <li><span><span>Fine root traits vary greatly with environmental changes, but the understanding of root-trait variation and its drivers is limited over broad geographical scales, especially for ectomycorrhizal (ECM)-dominated conifers in alpine forests. Herein, the covariation patterns of and environmental controls for fine root traits among ECM-dominated conifers were examined to test whether and how climate and soil nutrients differentially affect fine root trait variations.</span></span></li> <li><span><span>Eight traits of first- and second-order roots were measured, i.e., root diameter (RD), specific root length (SRL), branching intensity (BRI), root tissue density (RTD), mycorrhizal colonization rate (MCR), and concentrations of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), across 76 alpine coniferous populations on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, China.</span></span></li> <li><span><span>Our results showed that variations of the fine root traits fell into two major dimensions: the first dimension (32.39% of the total variance) was mainly represented by RD and SRL, potentially conveying a tradeoff between root lifespan and efficiency of resource foraging; the second dimension (23.70% of the variance) represented coordinated variation for root nutrients (i.e., N and P) and RTD, which depicts the conservation-acquisition tradeoff in resource uptake, i.e., root economic spectrum (RES). Variations in RD and SRL were mainly driven by climatic variables, characterized by a significant increase in RD and a decrease in SRL with increasing mean annual precipitation. In contrast, variations in fine root nutrients (i.e., N and P) and RTD were primarily driven by soil fertility, showing a significant increase in root N and P concentrations but a decrease in RTD with increasing soil resource levels.</span></span></li> <li><span><span><i>Synthesis. </i>Our study clearly shows two distinct dimensions of the variation of fine root traits in ECM-dominated alpine coniferous forests, providing further evidence of the inherent multidimensionality of root traits. Moreover, our findings highlight different roles of climatic and soil variables in driving the variation of fine root traits, potentially leading to the multidimensionality of root traits. This study provides new insights for understanding and predicting shifts in plant belowground strategies in climate-sensitive alpine forests worldwide.</span></span></li> </ol>

opencc-zeroApr 2020View details →
dryad32/100

Male reproductive traits among natural populations of P. guentheri

<p>Ejaculate traits vary extensively among individuals and species, but little is known about their variation among populations of the same species. Here, we investigated patterns of intraspecific variation in male reproductive investment in the terrestrial-breeding frog <i>Pseudophryne guentheri</i>. Like most anurans, breeding activity in <i>P. guentheri</i> is cued by precipitation, and therefore the timing and duration of breeding seasons differ among geographically separated populations, potentially leading to differences in the level of sperm competition. We therefore anticipated local adaptation in sperm traits that reflect these phenological differences among populations. Our analysis of six natural populations across a rainfall gradient revealed significant divergence in testes and ejaculate traits that correspond with annual rainfall and rainfall seasonality; males from the northern and drier edge of the species range had significantly smaller testes <span>containing fewer, smaller and less motile sperm compared to those from mesic central populations. These findings may reflect spatial variation in the strength of postcopulatory sexual selection, likely driven by</span><span> local patterns of precipitation.</span></p>

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →
dryad32/100

Data from: The standard metabolic rate of a land snail (Cepaea hortensis) is a repeatable trait and influences winter survival

<p>Phenotypic selection on physiological parameters is an underrepresented topic in studies of evolutionary biology. There is especially a lack of studies involving invertebrate organisms. We studied the repeatability of the standard metabolic rate (SMR) and the effect of individual variation in SMR on the subsequent winter survival in a terrestrial shell-bearing mollusc, the white-lipped snail (<i>Cepaea hortensis</i>) in mid-Norway. SMR was measured twice during the autumn and – after an experimental overwintering at controlled conditions – twice during the following spring. We found a significant repeatability of SMR over all three time periods tested, with a clear effect of time, with a high repeatability of 0.56 over 4 days during spring, 0.44 over 12 days in the autumn and 0.17 over 194 days from autumn to spring. That SMR is a repeatable physiological trait across the winter period during which a possible selection might occur, suggests that SMR could be a potential target of natural selection. We indeed found that the autumn SMR significantly influenced the probability of survival during the winter period, with a combination of a positive linear (P = 0.011) and a quadratic stabilizing (P = 0.001) effect on SMR. Our results hence support the view that metabolic rate is an important physiological component influencing the fitness of an organism.</p>

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →
dryad32/100

Functional traits: Adaption of ferns in forest

<p>Ferns evolved from 400 million years ago show various functional traits and ecological strategies in extant species, and over 80% of them belong to the youngest order Polypodiales. How the functional traits and strategies of ferns have changed during their evolutionary history remains unexplored. Here, we measured functional traits that sensitive to environmental light and water availability of 345 fern species across the fern phylogeny, and reconstructed their evolutionary histories. We found that ferns, mainly Polypodiales, have developed diversified functional traits in response to forest environments. Terrestrial species, especially Thelypteridaceae and Athyriaceae in eupolypods II, showed decreased leaf mass per area (LMA) and area-based leaf nitrogen (N<sub>area</sub>) but increased mass-based leaf nitrogen (N<sub>mass</sub>) than early-derived polypods since the late Jurassic. Epiphytic species, mainly those in Polypodiaceae, showed reductions in N<sub>mass</sub> and individual leaf area (Area) since the late Cretaceous. The adaptation of functional traits of Polypodiales to forest environment may have played a crucial role in fern radiation since the late Jurassic. Integrative analysis of functional traits especially the numerical ones may shed new light on plant evolution.</p>

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →
zenodo32/100

FIGURE 2 in Discrimination of Uranotaenia species (Diptera: Culicidae) from Madagascar based on morphology and wing morphometric traits

FIGURE 2. Twelve landmarks on the wing of the Uranotaenia specimens used in the morphometric analyses.

opennotspecifiedJun 2020View details →
zenodo32/100

FIGURE 5 in Discrimination of Uranotaenia species (Diptera: Culicidae) from Madagascar based on morphology and wing morphometric traits

FIGURE 5. Variation of the centroid size of the wing for Uranotaenia sp1 from the Anorana forest (1) and the Maromizaha forest (2). Each box shows the group of median values separating the 10th and 90th quartiles.

opennotspecifiedJun 2020View details →
dryad32/100

Functional trait table for mixed-species flocking birds in the Western Andes of Colombia

<p>These data represent functional traits relevant to the foraging ecology and habitat preferences of mixed-species flock joining bird species from the Western Andes of Colombia. We collected these data based on published data for the species from the <em>Handbook of the Birds Alive</em> online database (del Hoyo et al. 2020), supplemented with additional natural history references were available, with the objective of calculating the functional richness contained in mixed-species flock compositions sampled across a patch size gradient of subtropical forest fragments in the Serriania de los Paraguas, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia. We tabulated foraging data from 99 bird species observed at least once in a mixed-species flock, including body mass, nest type and clutch size, relative use of four different diet categories, use of different foraging attack maneuvers, foraging substrates, and elevational strata within the forest. We used these data in Jones and Robinson (2020) to calculate the Functional Richness and Functional Dispersion indices for each flock composition.</p>

opencc-zeroJan 2021View details →
dryad32/100

Data from: Joint effect of phylogenetic relatedness and trait selection on the elevational distribution of Rhododendron species

<p>Congeneric species may coexist at fine spatial scales through niche differentiation, however, the magnitude to which the effects of functional traits and phylogenetic relatedness contribute to their distribution along elevational gradients remains understudied. To test the hypothesis that trait and elevational range overlap can affect local speciesʼ coexistence, we first compared phylogenetic relatedness and trait (including morphological traits and leaf elements) divergence among closely related species of <em>Rhododendron</em> L. on Yulong Mountain, China. We then assessed relationships between the overlap of multiple functional traits and the degree of elevational range overlap among species pairs in a phylogenetic context. We found that phylogeny was a good predictor for most functional traits, where closely related species showed higher trait similarity and occupied different elevational niches at our study site. Species pairs of <em>R</em>. subgen. <em>Hymenanthes</em> (Blume) K. Koch showed low elevational range overlap and some species pairs of <em>R</em>. subgen. <em>Rhododendron</em> showed obvious niche differentiation. Trait divergence is greater for species in <em>R.</em> subgen. <em>Rhododendron</em>, and it plays an important role between species pairs with low elevational range overlap. Trait convergent selection takes place between co-occurring closely related species that have high elevational range overlap, which share more functional trait space due to environmental filtering or ecological adaptation in more extreme habitats. Our results highlight the importance of evolutionary history and trait selection for species coexistence at fine ecological scales along environmental gradients.</p>

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →
dryad32/100

Data from: Ageing and senescence across reproductive traits and survival in superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus)

Why do senescence rates of fitness-related traits often vary dramatically? By considering the full ageing trajectories of multiple traits we can better understand how a species' life-history shapes the evolution of senescence within a population. Here, we examined age-related changes in sex-specific survival, reproduction, and several components of reproduction using a long-term study of a cooperatively-breeding songbird, the superb fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus). We compared ageing patterns between traits by estimating standardized rates of maturation, the age of onset of senescence, and rates of senescence, while controlling for confounding factors reflecting individual variability in life-history. We found striking differences in ageing and senescence patterns between survival and reproduction, as well as between reproductive traits. In both sexes, survival started to decline from maturity onwards. In contrast, all reproductive traits showed improvements into early adulthood, and many showed little or no evidence of senescence. In females, despite senescence in clutch size, number of offspring surviving to independence did not decline in late life, possibly due to improvements in maternal care with age. Superb fairy-wrens have exceptionally high levels of extra-group paternity, and male extra-group reproductive success showed much greater changes with age than did within-group reproductive success, suggesting that male reproductive ageing is driven by sexual selection. We discuss how the superb fairy-wrens' complex life history may contribute to the disparate ageing patterns across different traits.

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →
dryad32/100

Data from: Intraspecific variation in host plant traits mediates taxonomic and functional composition of local insect herbivore communities

<p class="abstract_para">Host plant phenotypic traits affect the structure of the associated consumer community and mediate species interactions. We compare herbivore assemblages from the canopy of the phenotypically variable tree <em class="fi">Metrosideros polymorpha</em> on Hawai'i Island. Multiple distinct varieties of <em class="fi">M. polymorpha</em> frequently co‐occur, with variation in morphological traits. Using this system, we identify host and insect traits that underlie patterns of herbivore abundance and quantify the strength of host‐insect trait interactions.</p> <p class="abstract_para">The dataset includes host plant phenotypic traits (specific leaf area, leaf water content, foliar nutrients, trichome presence), as well as collection information. The dataset also contains the herbivorous insect community associated with this host plant, their abundances and life history traits. R code for analyses in this article is also included.</p>

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →
dryad32/100

Data from: Using text-mined trait data to test for cooperate-and-radiate co-evolution between ants and plants

Mutualisms may be "key innovations" that spur lineage diversification by augmenting niche breadth, geographic range, or population size, thereby increasing speciation rates or decreasing extinction rates. Whether mutualism accelerates diversification in both interacting lineages is an open question. Research suggests that plants that attract ant mutualists have higher diversification rates than non-ant associated lineages. We ask whether the reciprocal is true: does the interaction between ants and plants also accelerate diversification in ants, i.e. do ants and plants cooperate-and-radiate? We used a novel text-mining approach to determine which ant species associate with plants in defensive or seed dispersal mutualisms. We investigated patterns of lineage diversification across a recent ant phylogeny using BiSSE, BAMM, and HiSSE models. Ants that associate mutualistically with plants had elevated diversification rates compared to non-mutualistic ants in the BiSSE model, with a similar trend in BAMM, suggesting ants and plants cooperate-and-radiate. However, the best-fitting model was a HiSSE model with a hidden state, meaning that diversification models that do no account for unmeasured traits are inappropriate to assess the relationship between mutualism and ant diversification. Against a backdrop of diversification rate heterogeneity, the best-fitting HiSSE model found that mutualism actually decreases diversification: mutualism evolved much more frequently in rapidly diversifying ant lineages, but then subsequently slowed diversification. Thus, it appears that ant lineages first radiated, then cooperated with plants.

opencc-zeroOct 2019View details →
dryad32/100

Data from: Drought affects the coordination of belowground and aboveground resource-related traits in Solidago canadensis in China

Quantifying patterns of variation and coordination of plant functional traits can help to understand the mechanisms underlying both invasiveness and adaptation of plants. Little is known about the coordinated variations of performance and functional traits of different organs in invasive plants, especially in response to their adaptation to environmental stressors. To identify the responses of the invasive species Solidago canadensis to drought, 180 individuals were randomly collected from 15 populations and 212 ramets were replanted in a greenhouse to investigate both the response and coordination between root and leaf functional traits. Drought significantly decreased plant growth and most of the root and leaf functional traits, i.e. root length, surface area, volume and leaf size, number, and mass fraction, except for the root length ratio and root mass fraction. Phenotypic plasticity was higher in root traits than in leaf traits in response to drought, and populations did not differ significantly. The plasticity of most root functional traits, i.e., root length (RL), root surface area (RSA), root volume (RV), and root mass fraction (RMF), were significantly positively correlated with biomass between control and drought. However, the opposite was found for leaf functional traits, i.e. specific leaf area (SLA), leaf area ratio (LAR), and leaf mass fraction (LMF). Drought enhanced the relationship between root and leaf, i.e., 26 pairwise root-leaf traits were significantly correlated under drought, while only 15 pairwise root-leaf traits were significantly correlated under control conditions. Significant correlations were found between biomass and all measured functional traits except for leaf size. RV, root length ratio, RMF, total area of leaves, and LMF responded differently to water availability. These responses enable S. canadensis to cope with drought conditions and may help to explain the reason of the vast ecological amplitude of this species.

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →
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Data from: How gut microbiome interactions affect nutritional traits of Drosophila melanogaster

<p>Most research on the impact of the gut microbiome on animal nutrition is designed to identify the effects of single microbial taxa and single metabolites of microbial origin, without considering the potentially complex network of interactions among co-occurring microorganisms. Here, we investigate how different microbial associations and their fermentation products affect host nutrition, using Drosophila melanogaster colonized with three gut microorganisms (the bacteria Acetobacter fabarum and Lactobacillus brevis and the yeast Hanseniaspora uvarum) in all seven possible combinations. Some microbial effects on host traits could be attributed to single taxa (e.g. yeast-mediated reduction of insect development time), while other effects were sex-specific and driven by among-microbe interactions (e.g. male lipid content determined by interactions between the yeast and both bacteria). Parallel analysis of nutritional indices of microbe-free flies administered different microbial fermentation products (acetic acid, acetoin, ethanol and lactic acid) revealed a single consistent effect: that the lipid content of both male and female flies is reduced by acetic acid. This effect was recapitulated in male flies colonized with both yeast and Acetobacter, but not for any microbial treatment in females nor in males with other microbial complements. These data suggest that the effect of microbial fermentation products on host nutritional status is strongly context-dependent, with respect to both the combination of associated microorganisms and host sex. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that among-microbe interactions can play a critically important role in determining the physiological outcome of host-microbiome interactions in Drosophila and, likely, in other animal hosts.</p>

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →
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Identification and characterization of QTLs for fruit quality traits in peach through a multi-family approach

Background <p>Fruit quality traits have a significant effect on consumer acceptance and subsequently on peach (<i>Prunus persica</i> (L.) Batsch) consumption. Determining the genetic bases of key fruit quality traits is essential for the industry to improve fruit quality and increase consumption. Pedigree-based analysis across multiple peach pedigrees can identify the genomic basis of complex traits for direct implementation in marker-assisted selection. This strategy provides breeders with better-informed decisions and improves selection efficiency and, subsequently, saves resources and time.</p> Results <p>Phenotypic data of seven F<sub>1</sub> low to medium chill full-sib families were collected over 2 years at two locations and genotyped using the 9 K SNP Illumina array. One major QTL for fruit blush was found on linkage group 4 (LG4) at 40–46 cM that explained from 20 to 32% of the total phenotypic variance and showed three QTL alleles of different effects. For soluble solids concentration (SSC), one QTL was mapped on LG5 at 60-72 cM and explained from 17 to 39% of the phenotypic variance. A major QTL for titratable acidity (TA) co-localized with the major locus for low-acid fruit (<i>D</i>-locus). It was mapped at the proximal end of LG5 and explained 35 to 80% of the phenotypic variance. The new QTL for TA on the distal end of LG5 explained 14 to 22% of the phenotypic variance. This QTL co-localized with the QTL for SSC and affected TA only when the first QTL is homozygous for high acidity (epistasis). Haplotype analyses revealed SNP haplotypes and predictive SNP marker(s) associated with desired QTL alleles.</p> Conclusions <p>A multi-family-based QTL discovery approach enhanced the ability to discover a new TA QTL at the distal end of LG5 and validated other QTLs which were reported in previous studies. Haplotype characterization of the mapped QTLs distinguishes this work from the previous QTL studies. Identified predictive SNPs and their original sources will facilitate the selection of parents and/or seedlings that have desired QTL alleles. Our findings will help peach breeders develop new predictive, DNA-based molecular marker tests for routine use in marker-assisted breeding.</p>

opencc-zeroDec 2019View details →
dryad32/100

Dataset - A complex network of additive and epistatic quantitative trait loci underlies natural variation of Arabidopsis thaliana quantitative disease resistance to Ralstonia solanacearum under heat stress

<p>Plant immunity is often negatively impacted by heat stress. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly characterized. Based on a genome-wide association mapping approach, this study aims to identify in <em>Arabidopsis thaliana</em> the genetic bases of robust resistance mechanisms to the devastating pathogen<em> Ralstonia solanacearum</em> under heat stress. A local mapping population was phenotyped against the <em>R. solanacearum</em> GMI1000 strain at 27 and 30 °C. To obtain a precise description of the genetic architecture underlying natural variation of quantitative disease resistance (QDR), we applied a genome-wide local score analysis. Alongside an extensive genetic variation found in this local population at both temperatures, we observed a playful dynamics of quantitative trait loci along the infection stages. In addition, a complex genetic network of interacting loci could be detected at 30 °C. As a first step to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms, the atypical meiotic cyclin <em>SOLO DANCERS</em> gene was validated by a reverse genetic approach as involved in QDR to <em>R. solanacearum </em>at 30 °C. In the context of climate change, the complex genetic architecture underlying QDR under heat stress in a local mapping population revealed candidate genes with diverse molecular functions.</p>

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →
dryad32/100

Functional traits of avian frugivores have shifted following species extinction and introduction in the Hawaiian Islands

<p>The extinction and introduction of species can alter ecological processes owing to the loss or gain of species roles. In vertebrate-dependent seed dispersal, mutualisms between frugivores and fruiting plants depend, in part, on matching of functional traits. High species turnover of frugivores has occurred on the Hawaiian Islands, owing to both the loss of native frugivores and the introduction of a new suite of frugivores. How this turnover has altered the functional traits of frugivores and the potential impacts on seed dispersal remain unclear.</p> <p>We investigated how avian frugivore traits differed between historic and modern assemblages of the Hawaiian Islands. We also tested how traits shifted within foraging guilds (ground versus arboreal) to distinguish potential impacts on plants within low versus high forest strata.</p> <p>Compared to historic frugivores, the modern assemblage is smaller in gape width and body mass in both ground and arboreal guilds. Wing shape did not significantly change between assemblages. From results, we postulate that changes in the frugivore community have likely altered seed dispersal processes by reducing (1) the size of seeds consumed, (2) frugivory rates per animal, and (3) seed dispersal distances.</p> <p>Owing to seed size placing strong constraints on consumption, we reviewed recent studies on frugivory by modern birds in the Hawaiian Islands and compared the size of seeds consumed versus seeds available. We found that larger-seeded plants (&gt;8.1mm seed width) were not consumed by modern birds and were more likely to be of conservation risk compared to smaller-seeded plants. Consequently, dispersal limitation may threaten Hawaiian plant communities, with larger-seeded plants at greatest risk of extinction.</p> <p>Broadly, we show that extensive turnover within assemblages may lead to significant changes in functional traits, with potential knock-on effects for mutualistic interactions and communities.</p>

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →
dryad32/100

Data from: Incorporating alternative interaction modes, forbidden links and trait-based mechanisms increases the minimum trait dimensionality of ecological networks

<ol> <li>Individual-level traits mediate interaction outcomes and community structure. It is important, therefore, to identify the minimum number of traits that characterise ecological networks, i.e. their 'minimum dimensionality'. Existing methods for estimating minimum dimensionality often lack three features associated with increased trait numbers: alternative interaction modes (e.g. feeding strategies such as active vs. sit-and-wait feeding), trait-mediated 'forbidden links' and a mechanistic description of interactions. Omitting these features can underestimate the trait numbers involved, and therefore, minimum dimensionality. We develop a 'minimum mechanistic dimensionality' measure, accounting for these three features.</li> <li>The only input our method requires is the network of interaction outcomes. We assume how traits are mechanistically involved in alternative interaction modes. These unidentified traits are contrasted using pairwise performance inequalities between interacting species. For example, if a predator feeds upon a prey species via a typical predation mode, in each step of the predation sequence the predator's performance must be greater than the prey's. We construct a system of inequalities from all observed outcomes, which we attempt to solve with mixed integer linear programming. The number of traits required for a feasible system of inequalities provides our minimum dimensionality estimate.</li> <li>We applied our method to 658 published empirical ecological networks including primary consumption, predator–prey, parasitism, pollination, seed dispersal and animal dominance networks, to compare with minimum dimensionality estimates when the three focal features are missing. Minimum dimensionality was typically higher when including alternative interaction modes (54% of empirical networks), 'forbidden interactions' as trait-mediated interaction outcomes (92%), or a mechanistic perspective (81%), compared to estimates missing these features. Additionally, we tested minimum dimensionality estimates on simulated networks with known dimensionality. Our method typically estimated a higher minimum dimensionality, closer to the actual dimensionality, while avoiding the overestimation associated with a previous method.</li> <li>Our method can reduce the risk of omitting traits involved in different interaction modes, in failure outcomes, or mechanistically. More accurate estimates will allow us to parameterise models of theoretical networks with more realistic structure at the interaction outcome level. Thus, we hope our method can improve predictions of community structure and structure-dependent dynamics.</li> </ol>

opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →
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Data from: Linking coordinated hydraulic traits to drought and recovery responses in a tropical montane cloud forest

Understanding plant hydraulic functioning and water balance during drought has become key in predicting species survival and recovery. However, the insightful studies that couple physiological and morphological attributes do not exist in many ecosystems, such as the vulnerable Tropical Montane Cloud Forests (TMCF). In this study, we evaluate drought resistance and recovery for saplings for five tree species spanning deciduous to evergreen habits from a Mexican TMCF. Methods Drought treatments withheld water until plants reached species-specific P50 or P88 values (pressures required to induce a 50 or 88 percent loss in hydraulic conductivity), at which point they were rewatered. Drought resistance were considered within the isohydric-anisohydric framework and compared to leaf gas exchange, water status, pressure-volume curves, specific leaf area, and stomatal density. Results TMCF species closed stomata well before significant losses in hydraulic conductivity (isohydric). Yet, despite the coordination of these traits, they did not predict how long it took species to reach critical hydraulic thresholds. Instead, maximum photosynthesis rates explained these times reinforcing the linkage between hydraulic and carbon dynamics. Despite varying hydraulic conductivities, stomatal responses, and times to hydraulic thresholds, all study plants except for two individuals (out of 60) recovered following rewatering. The recovery of photosynthesis and stomatal conductance was explained by the P50 values and isohydry. Conclusions This study raises new questions surrounding drought management strategies, recovery processes, and how lethal thresholds are defined. Further studies need to consider the role of water and carbon balance in allowing for both survival and recovery to drought.

opencc-zeroSep 2020View details →

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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.

allen-brain-atlas
neuroscienceopenDocumentation, web resources, and API references are available online.
Last verified 2026-04-30Open record

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.

abode-home-cage
behavioral-neuroscienceopenThe DataShare record exposes download links for annotations, documentation, license text, and the zipped per-snippet data directory.
Last verified 2026-04-30Open record

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.

dandi-nwb
electrophysiologyopenPublished Dandiset metadata and archive endpoints are available through the production DANDI API.
Last verified 2026-04-30Open record

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.

ibl
behavioral-neuroscienceopenPublic sessions can be searched and loaded from the IBL public data server through ONE.
Last verified 2026-04-29Open record

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.

openneuro
neuroscienceopenPublished datasets are available on demand over the internet.
Last verified 2026-04-29Open record

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