Find research datasets worth reusing

opencc-zeroFeb 2020View details →

Contrasting sensitivity of nestling and fledgling Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica body mass to local weather conditions

Local weather can influence the growth and development of young birds, either indirectly, by modifying prey availability, or directly, by affecting energetic trade‐offs. Such effects can have lasting implications for life history traits, but the nature of these effects may vary with the developmental stage of the birds, and over timescales from days to weeks. We examined the interactive effects of temperature, rainfall and wind speed on the mass of nestling and fledgling Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica, both on the day of capture and averaging weather across the time since hatching. At the daily timescale, nestling mass was negatively correlated with temperature, but the strength of this association depended on the level of rainfall and wind speed; nestlings were typically heavier on dry or windy days, and the negative effect of temperature was strongest under calm or wet conditions. At the early lifetime timescale (i.e. from hatching to post‐fledging), nestling mass was negatively correlated with temperature at low wind speed. Fledgling body mass was less sensitive to weather; the only weather effects evident were a negative correlation with temperature at the daily scale under high rainfall that became slightly positive under low rainfall. These changes are consistent with weather effects on availability and distribution of insects within the landscape (e.g. causing high concentrations of flying insects), and with the effects of weather variation on nest microclimate. These results together demonstrate the impacts of weather on chick growth, over immediate (daily) and longer term (nestling/fledgling lifetime) timescales. This shows that sensitivity to local weather conditions varies across the early lifetime of young birds (nestling‐fledgling stages) and illustrates the mechanisms by which larger scale (climate) variations influence the body condition of individuals.

opencc-zeroJul 2021View details →

CarniFOSS: A database of the body mass of fossil carnivores

Motivation: Body mass is one of the most important determinants of animal ecology. Unlike other important traits it is also readily inferable from fossils and it is therefore one of the only traits that can be directly analyzed and compared between fossil and contemporary communities. Despite this, no comprehensive database of the body mass of larger clades of extinct species exists. Analysis of fossils has therefore been restricted to small clades or to smaller, potentially biased, subsets of species. We here describe CarniFoss, an open-access database of body masses of all 1322 extinct species of non-pinniped Carnivoramorpha and two related extinct groups of carnivorous mammals, Hyaenodonta, and Oxyaenida. Main types of variables contained: We gathered lengths of teeth of fossil and extant species and body mass for extant species and a few of the best-known fossil species. Following this we estimated body mass for all species through phylogenetic imputation. Spatial location and grain: Global, terrestrial Time period and grain: We collected data on all known species within the focal groups. The known species all lived in the Paleogene, Neogene or Quaternary (i.e. the last 66 Mya). Major taxa and level of measurement: We searched for data on reported tooth size of all described species of Carnivoramorpha (excluding pinnipeds) and selected extinct related groups (Hyaenodonta and Oxyaenidae). We combined this with measured body mass for all extant species and inferred body mass based on long-bones for selected extinct species, as well as a species-level phylogeny including all extant and extinct species in the group, and inferred the body mass for all species using phylogenetic imputation. Software format: Data is provided as a series of .csv files, with all metadata in a separate PDF file.

opencc-zeroAug 2021View details →

Sex-specific genetic (co)variances of standard metabolic rate, body mass and locomotor activity in Drosophila melanogaster

A longstanding focus in evolutionary physiology concerns the causes and consequences of variation in maintenance metabolism. Insight into this can be gained by estimating the sex-specific genetic architecture of maintenance metabolism alongside other, potentially correlated traits on which selection may also act, such as body mass and locomotor activity. This may reveal potential genetic constraints affecting the evolution of maintenance metabolism. Here, we used a half-sibling breeding design to quantify the sex-specific patterns of genetic (co)variance in standard metabolic rate (SMR), body mass, and daily locomotor activity in Drosophila melanogaster. There was detectable additive genetic variance for all traits in both sexes. As expected, SMR and body mass were strongly and positively correlated, with genetic allometry exponents (bA±se) of 0.66±0.16 in females and 0.58±0.32 in males. There was a significant and positive genetic correlation between SMR and locomotor activity in males, suggesting that alleles that increase locomotion have pleiotropic effects on SMR. Sexual differences in the genetic architecture were driven in large part by a difference in genetic variance in locomotor activity between the sexes. Overall, genetic variation was mostly shared between males and females, setting the stage for a potential intralocus sexual conflict in the face of sexually antagonistic selection.

Figure 1 in How common is gigantism in insular fossil shrews? Examining the 'Island Rule' in soricids (Mammalia: Soricomorpha) from Mediterranean Islands using new body mass estimation models

Figure 1. Diagram of Mediterranean Islands showing endemic genera and species of soricids from the Plio–Quaternary to the present: white shrew silhouettes, current species; grey shrew silhouettes, extinct or with presence in the fossil record. From west to east: species of Nesiotites (extinct) from the Gymnesic Islands; species of Asoriculus (extinct) from the Corso-Sardinian complex; Asoriculus burgioi (extinct) from Sicily; Crocidura sicula sicula (present in the fossil record and extant) and Crocidura sicula esuae (extinct) from the Sicilian–Maltese archipelago; Crocidura zimmermanni (present in the fossil record and extant) from Crete; and Crocidura suaveolens praecypria (extinct) from Cyprus. See text for references.

Figure 2 in How common is gigantism in insular fossil shrews? Examining the 'Island Rule' in soricids (Mammalia: Soricomorpha) from Mediterranean Islands using new body mass estimation models

Figure 2. Chronological framework of the species used in the study: in black, species related to the tribe Nectogalini; in grey, Crocidura species. The circles highlight the species analysed from different sites sorted biochronologically (connected by a thick line), the squares highlight the species analysed from only one site, and the empty squares highlight the mainland (ancestor) species. Below the species: the site, locality, and molar/s used for estimating body mass are listed.

Figure 4 in How common is gigantism in insular fossil shrews? Examining the 'Island Rule' in soricids (Mammalia: Soricomorpha) from Mediterranean Islands using new body mass estimation models

Figure 4. Estimations of body masses (in g) of Nesiotites species (row A, lower molars) and Crocidura zimmermanni (row B, lower molars; and row C, upper molars) from different sites ordered chronologically (see Table 2 for site acronyms). The first column shows the predictions of body mass using all of the estimators (white square, LM1; black circle, WM1; grey circle, TRLM1; grey square, AAM1; white circle, TRAAM1) and the following columns represent each measurement separately (LM1, WM1, TRLM1, AAM1, and TRAAM1, respectively). In order to observe the fluctuation of the points, we linked the points with a line. Dotted lines in Nesiotites diagrams (row A) separate the three statistically different subgroups.

Figure 3 in How common is gigantism in insular fossil shrews? Examining the 'Island Rule' in soricids (Mammalia: Soricomorpha) from Mediterranean Islands using new body mass estimation models

Figure 3. Measurements of mandible, cranium, and postcranial bones. A, cranium: WOC, width of the occipital condyles. B, mandible: TRLM/1, tooth row length of lower molars. C, femur: FL, femur length; FTDp, proximal femoral transversal diameter; FAPDd, distal femoral anteroposterior diameter; FTDd, distal femoral transversal diameter. D, humerus: HL, humerus length; HAPDp, proximal humeral anteroposterior diameter; HAPDd, distal humeral anteroposterior diameter; HTDd, distal humeral transversal diameter. E, tibia: TL, tibia length; TAPDp, proximal tibia anteroposterior diameter; TTDp, proximal tibia transversal diameter; TTDd, distal tibia transversal diameter.

Figure 5 in How common is gigantism in insular fossil shrews? Examining the 'Island Rule' in soricids (Mammalia: Soricomorpha) from Mediterranean Islands using new body mass estimation models

Figure 5. Diagrams comparing the body mass (in g) of extant relatives and fossil species: A, extinct Asoriculus and Nesiotites species and the extant species of the tribe Nectogalini; B, extinct and extant Crocidura species. Lines indicate the body mass range of groups. See the legend for symbols.

opencc-zeroSep 2021View details →

Raw data set of pigeon body mass measurements

1. Animal-borne logging devices are now commonly used to record and monitor the movements, physiology and behaviours of free-living animals. It is imperative that the impacts these devices have on the animals themselves is minimised. 2. One important consideration is the interaction between the body mass of the animal, and the mass of the device. 3. Using captive homing pigeons, we demonstrate that birds lose the equivalent amount of body mass compared to that of the logging device attached. With our experiments, we calculated that the compensatory mass loss because of the logging device equates to a total loss of 1,140 kJ of energy to the bird, over the 25-day period. This equates to 32% per day of their total daily energy budget. 4. We suggest that practitioners of biologging give due consideration to the possibility of a device-induced decrease in body mass when making decisions regarding device size, and when considering the period of the time of the year at which devices are attached. 5. It appears, based on the results of the present study, that device attachment is likely to be most disruptive during periods of regulated mass change, especially when periods of mass gain precede periods in which stored energy reserves are extensively utilised. 6. These findings have significant consequences for anyone using biologging technology on both wild and captive volant animals. Further studies utilising captive birds are now needed to fully understand how context- and species-dependent physiological responses to externally attached devices are.

opencc-zeroSep 2021View details →

Context dependent fitness costs of reproduction despite stable body mass costs in an Arctic herbivore

1. The cost of reproduction on demographic rates is often assumed to operate through changing body condition. Several studies have found that reproduction depresses body mass more if the current conditions are severe, such as high population densities or adverse weather, than under benign environmental conditions. However, few studies have investigated the association between the fitness and body mass costs of reproduction. 2. Using 25 years of individual-based capture-recapture data from Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus), we built a novel Bayesian state-space model that jointly estimated inter-annual change in mass, annual reproductive success, and survival, while accounting for incomplete observations. The model allowed us to partition the differential effects of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on both non-reproductive mass change and the body mass cost of reproduction and to quantify their consequences on demographic rates. 3. Contrary to our expectation, the body mass cost of reproduction (mean = 5.8 kg) varied little between years (CV = 0.08) whereas the between-year variation in body mass changes, that were independent of the previous year's reproductive state, varied substantially (CV = 0.4) in relation to autumn temperature and the amount of rain-on-snow in winter. This mass loss led to a cost of reproduction on the next reproduction, which was amplified by the same environmental covariates, from a 10% reduction in reproductive success in benign years, to a 50% reduction in harsh years. The reproductive mass loss also resulted in a small reduction in survival. 4. Our results show how demographic costs of reproduction, driven by inter-annual fluctuations in individual body condition, result from the balance between body mass costs of reproduction and body mass changes that are independent of previous reproductive state. We illustrate how a strong context dependent fitness cost of reproduction can occur, despite a relatively fixed body mass cost of reproduction. This suggests that female reindeer display a very conservative energy allocation strategy, either aborting their reproductive attempt at an early stage or weaning at a relatively constant cost. Such a strategy might be common in species living in a highly stochastic food limited environment.

opencc-zeroDec 2022View details →

Effects of multiple types' ecological factors on the body mass of small rodents in a forest ecosystem

The body mass of animals is directly or indirectly affected by multiple ecological factors. However, the effects of ecological factors on body mass are controversial, and a comprehensive study dealing with diverse ecological factors is rare. This study was performed to determine the effects of ecological factors on the body mass of small rodents in a natural deciduous forest located on Mt. Gariwang, Pyeongchang, and Jeongseon, South Korea from May 2019 to October 2020. We classified ecological factors into topographic, climatic, cover, and demographic factors. Three forest-dwelling small rodent species, striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius), Korean field mouse (A. peninsulae), and red-backed vole (Myodes regulus), were captured using the capture-mark-recapture method. The findings showed that the body mass of three rodent species was not regulated by topographic factors. In addition, a high ambient temperature resulted in a heavy body mass for A. agrarius and A. peninsulae, and the A. agrarius body mass was negatively affected by extreme rainfall. The body mass of each rodent species had a specific response to the cover factors: ground vegetation, understory vegetation, or downed trees. The three species showed sexual dimorphism and two Apodemus species competed with each other. This study reveals that ecological factors affecting body mass differ among species. Our findings contribute to enhancing the understanding of variation in the body mass of animals, particularly small rodents, in response to diverse ecological factors.

opencc-zeroFeb 2023View details →

Effect of temperature on the post-diapause development rate, survival, and body mass of the solitary wasp Isodontia elegans

We examined the relationship of post-diapause rearing temperature to developmental rate, survival, and adult body mass of the solitary wasp Isodontia elegans using prepupae from trap-nests. Isodontia elegans is a member of a genus often found in trap-nests in North America and Europe. Trap-nests are commonly used tools for studying cavity-nesting solitary wasps and bees. In temperate zones, progeny in nests usually overwinter as fully prepupae before pupating and emerging as adults. An important aspect of properly using trap-nests is determining temperatures that affect survival and health of developing offspring. After overwintering >600 cocoons containing prepupae after the summers of 2015 and 2016, we placed cocoons on a laboratory thermal gradient where offspring experienced one of 19 constant temperatures from 643°C; emergence of adults was monitored for 100 days. Our conservative estimate for the critical thermal minimum for development is 14°C, whereas that for the critical maximum is ~33°C. Prepupae transitioned to adults most rapidly at 29–33°C, but developmental rate was lower for some progeny exposed to temperatures ≥30°C. Offspring successfully reached the adult stage in <100 days at of temperatures of ~19–33°C. Adults from cocoons reared at lower temperatures weighed on average 6-10% more than expected based on their head widths, whereas those reared at higher temperatures weighed 4–10% less than expected. The difference may be due to greater rates of water loss and lipid metabolism during development at higher temperatures. Pre-overwintering cocoon mass was a significant predictor of relative adult body mass, indicating that adult health is partly related to their condition before overwintering. The trends we observed were similar to those for the bee Megachile rotundata, which we previously studied on the same gradient apparatus. However, data are needed on many other species of wasps and bees from a diversity of environments.

opencc-zeroFeb 2023View details →

Data from: Can body mass and skull morphology predict seed and fruit ingestion potential for mammal species? A test using extant species and its application to extinct species

Larger animals are assumed to ingest larger seeds and consume larger fruits, but empirical studies reveal inconsistent trends between body mass and the average size of fruits and seeds ingested. Further, no studies have explored seed size relationships with morphological traits, such as skull dimensions. Such characteristics might provide more reliable estimates of ingestion ability and allow for accurate predictions of seed dispersal capacity in species for which we lack empirical data, especially extinct species. To determine whether (i) mammalian skull dimensions are better predictors of the maximum size of ingested seeds and fruits, compared to body mass and (ii) body mass are the better predictors of mean fruit and seed sizes, we studied these relationships across three mammalian orders: Chiroptera, Primates, and Carnivora. We collected novel data on skull dimensions and collated available data on body mass and maximum and mean sizes of ingested fruits and seeds for mammals (N=100) across the Neotropics, Asia, Africa, and Madagascar. We explored the relationships between anatomical traits and fruit and seed sizes of extant species and made predictions for five extinct species. Our results revealed that body mass and skull dimensions are essential determinants of ingested fruit and seed size in mammals. The latter traits can generate predictions for extinct species, especially coronoid height and maximum jaw gape. Nevertheless, body mass predicted larger ingested fruits and seeds than skull dimensions and explained a greater part of the variance for both maximum and mean sizes in our dataset. Our results show how body mass and cranial anatomy constrain seed size and reinforce the importance of maintaining functional diversity in seed dispersers to maintain tropical forest structure. We also show that scientists can use morphological characteristics to predict the seed dispersal potential of extinct mammals allowing better inferences on past and future consequences of frugivore extinctions within tropical forests.

opencc-by-4.0Mar 2023View details →

Body mass, take-off speed and survival of Parus major at permanent and irregular feeders

In this study, we tested whether the body mass of wintering Great Tits (Parus major) was higher under conditions of less predictable food resources. We compared body mass, body mass index, the speed at take-off, and survival of Great Tit adult males wintering in small urban areas either near feeders providing permanent access to food for months or near feeders providing irregular access to food.

Fig. 2 in Explaining mammalian abundance and elevational range size with body mass and niche characteristics

Fig. 2.—Relationship between ABD (mean abundance) and ER (elevational range size) of small mammals along the (a) Wolong, (b) Luoji, (c) Gongga, (d) Baima Snow, and (e) Sejila gradients. ABD and ER were log10(x + 1) transformed. Open circles indicate individual species (n value represents the number of species), and the best fitted line as calculated by linear regression analysis (not accounting for the effects of phylogeny) is shown.

Fig. 4 in Explaining mammalian abundance and elevational range size with body mass and niche characteristics

Fig. 4.—Scatterplots illustrating the relationships between NP (niche position) and ABD (mean abundance, a–e) and ER (elevational range size, f–j) of small mammals along the Wolong, Luoji, Gongga, Baima Snow, and Sejila gradients. All the three variables were log10(x + 1) transformed. Open circles indicate individual species, and the best fitted line as calculated by linear regression analysis (not accounting for the effects of phylogeny) is shown.

Fig. 1 in Explaining mammalian abundance and elevational range size with body mass and niche characteristics

Fig. 1.—Alternative path models used in phylogenetic path analysis to assess the relationships among body mass (MASS), niche breadth (NB), niche position (NP) on mean abundance (ABD) and elevation range size (ER) of species. The hypothesized relationships among variables are described via regression formulas shown at the top of each model and depicted by the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 in Explaining mammalian abundance and elevational range size with body mass and niche characteristics

Fig. 3.—Scatterplots illustrating the relationships between MASS (body mass) and ABD (mean abundance, a–e) and ER (elevational range size, f–j) of small mammals along the Wolong, Luoji, Gongga, Baima Snow, and Sejila gradients. All the three variables were log10(x + 1) transformed. Open circles indicate individual species, and the best fitted line as calculated by linear regression analysis (not accounting for the effects of phylogeny) is shown.

Fig. 5 in Explaining mammalian abundance and elevational range size with body mass and niche characteristics

Fig. 5.—Scatterplots illustrating the relationships between NB (niche breadth) and ABD (mean abundance, a–e) and ER (elevational range size, f–j) of small mammals along the Wolong, Luoji, Gongga, Baima Snow, and Sejila gradients. All the three variables were log10(x + 1) transformed. Open circles indicate individual species, and the best fitted line as calculated by linear regression analysis (not accounting for the effects of phylogeny) is shown.

Fig. 6 in Explaining mammalian abundance and elevational range size with body mass and niche characteristics

Fig. 6.—Best supported model from phylogenetic path analysis along the five gradients. Arrows represent the effects of MASS (body mass), NP (niche position), and NB (niche breadth) on ABD (mean abundance) and ER (elevational range size), and values aside are standardized regression coefficients. Red arrows indicate positive effects and blue arrows indicate negative effects. See the results of all six candidate models for each gradient in Supplementary Data SD7.