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opennotspecifiedJan 2011View details →

Figure 3 in Comparative morphology, phylogenetic relationships, and historical biogeography of plesiolebiasine seasonal killifishes (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae)

Figure 3. Hyoid and branchial arches: left hyoid bar, lateral view, of Plesiolebias filamentosus (A); basihyal and ventral part of branchial arches (fifth ceratobranchial excluded), central and left portion, dorsal view, of Pl. filamentosus (B), and Pituna poranga (C); urohyal, left lateral view, of Papiliolebias bitteri (D), and Rivulus pictus (E); dorsal branchial arches, anterior portion, ventral view, of Maratecoara splendida (F), and Pi. poranga (G); dorsal branchial arches, posterior portion, ventral view, of M. splendida (H), and Pa. bitteri (I). Numbers in brackets are characters and character states numbered according to Appendix S2. Larger stippling indicates cartilage. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.

opennotspecifiedJan 2011View details →

Figure 6 in Comparative morphology, phylogenetic relationships, and historical biogeography of plesiolebiasine seasonal killifishes (Teleostei: Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae)

Figure 6. Frontal scales (A–H) and cephalic squamation patterns amongst plesiolebiasines: A, Pituna obliquoseriata; B, Maratecoara lacortei; C, Plesiolebias xavantei. Abbreviations: an, anterior supraorbital series, posterior-most neuromast; pn, posterior supraorbital series, anterior-most neuromast. Scale bars = 1.0 mm.

opennotspecifiedJun 2021View details →

Figure 1 in Seasonal diets of Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) in the Khangchendzonga National Park, Eastern Himalaya India

Figure 1. Map showing the study area of Khangchendzonga National Park (Sikkim) and its surrounding with scat collection location points.

opennotspecifiedJun 2021View details →

Figure 4 in Seasonal diets of Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) in the Khangchendzonga National Park, Eastern Himalaya India

Figure 4. Percentage of food items presence in the U. thibetanus based on the scats collected from KNP and surrounding areas.

opennotspecifiedJun 2021View details →

Figure 3 in Seasonal diets of Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) in the Khangchendzonga National Park, Eastern Himalaya India

Figure 3. Altitudinal distribution pattern of recorded signs of U. thibetanus in the KNP and surrounding areas.

Uptake of nitrogen forms by diploid and triploid white poplar depends on seasonal carbon use strategy and elevated summer ozone

This dataset contains data from an experiment described in the paper: "Miaomiao Wang, Guolei Li, Zhaozhong Feng, Yong Liu, Yansen Xu, Mercedes Uscola. Uptake of nitrogen forms by diploid and triploid white poplar depends on seasonal carbon use strategy and elevated summer ozone. Journal of Experimental Botany, erab317, https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erab317". In the study, we investigated the mechanisms of N forms acquisition in response to developmental phase allowing us to analyze the plasticity in N forms preferences due to internal plant N demands that are modified by growth rates. As a second objective we evaluate the effects of O3 enriched atmosphere during summer on the N forms uptake rates, which is a major air pollutant harmful to terrestrial vegetation and to human health. Main results of the experiments are that (1) Both ploidy levels had the physiological capacity to absorb intact glycine, and differed in growth, C and N acquisition patterns and N forms preferences. (2) Diploid, with six times higher RGR in spring than in summer, but similar absolute growth between seasons, showed plasticity on N forms preferences in response to seasons, shifting from no preferences in spring to strong preference on NO3- in summer. (3) Triploid, with only two times higher RGR in spring than in summer, but strongly higher absolute growth in summer than in spring, showed no plasticity among N forms in response to season and an overall preference for NO3-. (4) In response to O3, both ploidy levels decreased their NO3- uptake rates as a consequence of C acquisition reduction. However, while diploid was not able to modify its preferences among N forms, and therefore decreased total N uptake rate, triploid was able to compensate the reduction in NO3- uptake by increasing NH4+ and glycine acquisition, further decreasing the cost of N uptaken metabolism. (5) The different plasticity on N forms preferences across seasons and in response to elevated O3 between ploidy levels was attributed to different C and N use strategy among nutrients functions in plants, i.e. mass growth, N uptake and metabolism and nutrient reserve, including repair or detoxication in response to O3. Those strategies are deeply explored in the discussion.

Seasonality in Kgalagadi lizards: inferences from legacy data

This data set compiles field and dietary data on Kagalagadi lizards, collected in 1969-70. The data are used in: Huey, R. B., D. B. Miles, and E. R. Pianka. 2021. Seasonality in Kgalagadi lizards: Inferences from llegacy data. American Natualist in press. This paper addresses whether legacy data -- or other data that had been gathered for unrelated purposes -- can be relevant to contemporary ecological issues. The data used here were gathered a half-century ago. Natural-history data were compiled for 18 species of Kgalagadi lizards and then used to explore aspects of the seasonal ecology of these lizards, emphasizing winter. The data include species, body size (snout-to-vent length, SVL in mm, mass in g), sex, date, time of day, body temperature (°C), air temperature (°C), and food volume (ml). These natural history data were not gathered with a study of seasonal ecology in mind but nonetheless inform diverse seasonal patterns for a major community of lizards. The paper discussed challenges and ambiguities in using repurposed data (whether recent or legacy).

Seasonal variation in community composition and distributional ranges of birds along a subtropical elevation gradient in China

Aim Seasonal variation in community composition and species distributional ranges along elevational gradients remain poorly known but are essential to inform conservation. In this study, we aim to understand how species richness, community composition, and elevational ranges of montane birds change between the breeding and the non-breeding season. Location The east slope of the southern Gaoligong Mountains, Yunnan, southwestern China, elevational range: 700 - 3400 m a.s.l.; latitudinal range: 24°56´- 26°09´ N. Methods We compared bird species richness and community composition in nine 300-m elevational bands in the breeding (April - May) and non-breeding (December - January) seasons. We also calculated seasonal elevational shifts of 97 species with sufficient data recorded in both seasons and assessed how species' traits influenced these shifts. Results Species richness declined in high and low elevations between the breeding and non-breeding season. The temporal beta diversity shift from the breeding to the non-breeding season was mainly caused by species losses rather than species gains in high- and low- elevation communities. Communities in middle elevations showed a contrasting pattern, with seasonal composition change resulting mainly from species gains. We also found that species' seasonal distribution shifts were mainly associated with breeding elevation and diet. Notably, high- and middle-elevation breeders and insectivores significantly shifted their elevational ranges downslope in the non-breeding season. In addition, species that participate in mixed-species flocks and that rely on forests also showed significant downslope shifts in the non-breeding season. Main Conclusions These results show complex patterns of the interconnectedness of bird communities along the elevational gradient. Keeping forests at middle elevations intact appears especially important as they are used in winter by species that breed at both high and middle elevations. Furthermore, our results suggested conservation actions maintaining connectedness in low and middle elevations are urgently needed to conserve regional biodiversity and highlight the importance of seasonality in montane ecosystem research.

Data from: Variation in seasonal timing traits and life history along a latitudinal transect in Mimulus ringens

Seasonal timing traits are commonly under recurrent, spatially-variable selection, and are therefore predicted to exhibit clinal variation. Temperate perennial plants often require vernalization to prompt growth and reproduction; however, little is known about whether vernalization requirements change across the range of a broadly distributed species. We performed a critical vernalization duration study in Mimulus ringens, coupled with population genomic analysis. Plants from 8 populations spanning the latitudinal range were exposed to varying durations of 4°C vernalization between 0-56 days, and flowering response was assessed. RADSeq was also performed to generate 1,179 polymorphic SNPs, which were used to examine population structure. We found unexpected life history variation, with some populations lacking vernalization requirement. Population genomic analyses show that these life history variants are highly divergent from perennials, potentially revealing a cryptic species. For perennial populations, minimum vernalization time was surprisingly consistent. However, once vernalized, northern populations flowered almost 3 weeks faster than southern. Further, southern populations exhibited sensitivity to vernalization times beyond flowering competency, suggesting an ability to respond adaptively to different lengths of winter. M. ringens therefore reveals evidence of clinal variation, and provides opportunities for future studies addressing mechanistic and ecological hypotheses both within and between incipient species.

Seasonal and daily movement patterns of an alpine passerine suggest high flexibility in relation to environmental conditions

Mountains naturally offer variable habitat conditions, but their biodiversity is currently facing the extra challenge of adapting to rapid environmental shifts that are much more pronounced than in the lowlands. Among adaptive responses, intra- and inter-seasonal movements represent potentially important coping strategies for wildlife that remain largely unexplored. We investigated the seasonal and daily movements of the ring ouzel Turdus torquatus, a European mountain bird species that is declining in many parts of its distribution. We tracked individuals breeding in the Swiss Alps using light-level geolocators and multi-sensor loggers. Of the birds traced to their non-breeding grounds, two thirds reached the Atlas Mountains while one third stayed in Spain, a region potentially more significant for overwintering than previously thought. The birds remained mostly above 1000 m throughout the annual cycle, highlighting a strict association of ring ouzels with mountain habitats. We also evidenced flexible daily elevational movements, especially upon spring arrival on the breeding grounds in relation to date and snowfall occurrence, suggesting adaptive potential in response to environmental variation. This study shows how modern technology can deliver deeper and valuable insights into movements, behavioural patterns, and life-history strategies for relatively little-studied animal species. By doing so, it paves the way for refined assessments of species' vulnerability to ongoing global change while providing basic conservation guidance.

Seasonal variation of population and individual dietary niche in the avivorous bat, Ia io

The variation in niche breadth can affect how species respond to environmental and resource changes. However, there is still no clear understanding of how seasonal variability in food resources impacts the variation of individual dietary diversity, thereby affecting the dynamics of a population's dietary niche breadth. Optimal foraging theory (OFT) and the niche variation hypothesis (NVH) predict that when food resources are limited, the population niche breadth will widen or narrow due to increased within-individual dietary diversity and individual specialization or reduced within-individual dietary diversity, respectively. Here, we used DNA metabarcoding to examine the composition and seasonality of diets of the avivorous bat Ia io. Furthermore, we investigated how the dietary niches changed among seasons and how the population niche breadth changed when the availability of insect resources was reduced in autumn. We found that there was differentiation in dietary niches among seasons and a low degree of overlap, and the decrease of insect resource availability and the emergence of ecological opportunities of nocturnal migratory birds might drive dietary niche shifts toward birds in I. io. However, the population's dietary niche breadth did not broaden by increasing the within-individual dietary diversity or individual specialization but rather became narrower by reducing dietary diversity via predation on bird resources that served as an ecological opportunity when insect resources were scarce in autumn. Our findings were consistent with the predictions of OFT because birds as prey for bats provided extremely different resources from those of insects in size and nutritional value. Our work highlights the importance of size and quality of prey resources along with other factors (i.e., physiological, behavioral, and life-history traits) in dietary niche variation.

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2021View details →

Raw data to "Sclerochronological evidence of pronounced seasonality from the late Pliocene of the southern North Sea Basin, and its implications"

Raw isotope and increment data, with corresponding shell heights

opencc-zeroNov 2022View details →

Capture history data for: Sub-seasonal correlation between growth and survival in three sympatric aquatic ectotherms

Animals experience seasonally changing conditions in temperate regions, thus population vital rates change seasonally. However, knowledge is lacking on patterns of seasonal correlation between growth and survival in sympatric ectotherms, and this knowledge gap limits our understanding of environmental change impacts on animal populations and communities. Here, we investigated sub-seasonal (2-month intervals) correlation between growth and survival in three stream fishes (bluehead chub Nocomis leptocephalus, creek chub Semotilus atromaculatus, and mottled sculpin Cottus bairdii) in South Carolina, USA, via a mark-recapture survey over 28 months. We found that the patterns of temporal correlation between growth and survival differed among the sympatric species. Growth increased and survival decreased with water temperature in two eurythermal species (bluehead chub and creek chub), resulting in a negative correlation between growth and survival. Growth peaked in sub-seasons with an intermediate water temperature range in a third stenothermal species (mottled sculpin), while survival decreased with water temperature for this species too. Consequently, there was no significant negative or positive correlation between sub-seasonal growth and survival in the stenothermal species. Negative correlation among population vital rates stabilizes population size over time and buffers animal populations from environmental change because the vital rates are not affected simultaneously in the same direction, indicating some degree of resiliency in the face of climate changes in the two eurythermal species. However, such a demographic mechanism of resiliency could be maintained so long as climate warming does not exceed optimal growth temperature, above which a negative correlation between growth and survival may no longer be maintained.

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2022View details →

On the predictability of the extreme drought in East Africa during the short rains season

The SINTEX-F2 re-forecast data for our manuscript "On the predictability of the extreme drought in East Africa during the short rains season" in Geophysical Research Letters.

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2022View details →

The warm-season ground surface temperature - surface air temperature over China mainland

This is a dataset for describing warm-season ground surface temperature - surface air temperature over China mainland.

opencc-zeroDec 2022View details →

Data for: Seasonal home range and habitat selection patterns of sika deer Cervus nippon in southern Hokkaido, Japan

In 1980 and 1981, eight and nine individual sika deer Cervus nippon were reintroduced in southern Hokkaido, Japan, respectively, to address population declines in this species during 1900s. As recent population growth has led to human–wildlife conflicts, this study investigated the responses of sika deer to resource availability and geomorphic factors during the summer and winter seasons in southern Hokkaido. Global positioning system-collared data collected from 2016 to 2018 were used to assess the home range patterns and habitat selection of 14 female sika deer located in Mount Esan and Shiriuchi. The core home range size was defined using a 50% kernel density estimation that indicated a larger home range in winter than summer for all deer. Habitat selection was assessed using generalized linear mixed models. The results showed variation in habitat selection between resident deer of Mount Esan and Shiriuchi, as well as migratory deer in Shiriuchi during summer. Resident deer in Mount Esan and Shriuchi preferred areas closer to crops during summer. Interaction effects revealed that migratory deer utilized natural grassland close to forest edge habitat in Shiriuchi. By contrast, resident deer in Shiriuchi selected forest edge habitat and natural grasslands close to crops. In winter, low elevation was the most important habitat factor for all deer across the study area. Thus, sika deer habitat selection depends on resource availability in summer and topographic factors in the winter.

opencc-zeroDec 2022View details →

Habitat use and foraging parameters of breeding Skylarks indicate no seasonal decrease in food availability in heterogeneous farmland

Reduced food availability during chick raising is a major driver of farmland bird declines. For the Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis), food availability is determined by various factors (i.e., arthropod abundance/diversity, accessibility of the vegetation, distance to foraging sites). In modern farmland, it is supposed to decrease over the breeding season due to less penetrable vegetation. We explored foraging habitat selection by chick-raising Skylarks with a focus on the seasonal dynamics of habitat use and food availability. We investigated i) habitat selection concerning prey biomass/diversity, vegetation cover, and distance to foraging sites, ii) the overall and seasonal habitat use, and iii) seasonal developments of foraging parameters (e.g., the feeding frequency) as indicators of food availability. We collected data on foraging habitats and foraging parameters of chick-raising Skylark pairs at 51 nests from a Central European population in 2018 and 2019. Prey biomass/diversity and vegetation cover were measured for all habitats around 42 of these nests. As revealed by multivariate and compositional analyses, Skylarks mainly selected foraging habitats based on the proximity to nests. The most frequent habitats within home ranges could not be ranked according to an overall importance for foraging and their use partially changed over time. The feeding frequency increased throughout the breeding season, while other foraging parameters did not show significant changes. In contrast to our expectations, our data indicated therefore an increase, not a decrease in food availability in the late breeding season. This also implies that the habitat use was constantly suitable to raise offspring. We interpret this to be a consequence of the heterogeneous farmland composition of the study area that enabled Skylarks to establish a diverse home range and to benefit from synergetic effects of neighboring habitat types. Thus, our findings provide support for the high importance of crop diversity in Skylark conservation.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2022View details →

Large-scale movement patterns in a social vulture are influenced by seasonality, sex, and breeding region

Dataset (in RData format) and Scripts corresponding to each of the analyses carried out for the manuscript entitled "Large-scale movement patterns in a social vulture are influenced by seasonality, sex, and breeding region".

opencc-zeroJan 2023View details →

Seasonal community stability increased with water addition and shrub removal but reduced with nitrogen addition in semi-arid grassland

1. Stability is a useful indicator of the functioning and sustainability of an ecosystem, and many studies have explored the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on the inter-annual stability of plant communities. However, the effects of multiple anthropogenic stressors on seasonal community stability have not been clearly elucidated, especially for vulnerable semi-arid grasslands. 2. During the growing season in the 5th year of the experiment, we determined how nitrogen (N) addition, water addition, and shrub removal altered seasonal community stability in a semi-arid grassland dominated by the shrub Caragana microphylla on the Mongolian Plateau. 3. We found that shrub removal, N addition, and water addition had different effects on the stability of the community and plant functional groups (PFGs). Shrub removal increased seasonal community stability mostly via increases in the stability of perennial forbs and C4 plants, and shrub removal did not alter the effects of N addition or water addition on seasonal community stability or PFG stability. 4. N addition decreased seasonal community stability mostly via decreases in the stability of perennial rhizome grasses and C4 plants. Water addition increased seasonal community stability mostly via increases in the stability of annuals and biennials, perennial forbs, perennial rhizome grasses, dominant species, and C4 plants. Species asynchrony and PFG stability but not species richness or soil abiotic or biotic variables helped to maintain seasonal community stability under N addition or water addition. 5. Our findings indicate that future scenarios of increases in N deposition and shrub encroachment will strongly reduce community stability in drylands, and that future scenarios of increases in precipitation together with shrub removal might help to maintain the stability of this and other dryland ecosystems.