Find research datasets worth reusing

Figure 5 in Carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plants are a rich food source for a diverse vertebrate community

Figure 5. (a, b) lesser tree shrew (Tupaia minor) collecting nectar from the lower lid surface of Nepenthes gracilis pitchers in Tutong site II.

Figure 4 in Carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plants are a rich food source for a diverse vertebrate community

Figure 4. Sunbirds foraging on Nepenthes nectar in Tutong site II. (a) Female olive-backed sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis) and (b) male brown-throated sunbird (Anthreptes malacensis) drinking nectar from the peristomes of N. rafflesiana pitchers. (c, d) Male brown-throated sunbird (A. malacensis) harvesting nectar from the underside of the pitcher lid of N. gracilis.

Figure 3 in Carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plants are a rich food source for a diverse vertebrate community

Figure 3. Experimental setup to measure nectar production. Pitchers were enclosed in gauze bags to exclude visitors, and roofed with custom-made plastic umbrellas to prevent the nectar from being washed off by rain.

Figure 2 in Carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plants are a rich food source for a diverse vertebrate community

Figure 2. (a) Typical habitat (Tutong site I) where we observed sunbirds and a tree shrew foraging on nectar of Nepenthes rafflesiana and N. gracilis pitchers. (b) Temperature and humidity measurements from the same site. The peak foraging times coincided with the times of high relative humidity from sunrise to about 10:30, and from about 17:00 until sunset. (c) The Belait site was less open, and surrounded by mature forest. We never observed vertebrates foraging on pitcher nectar in this site.

Figure 1 in Carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plants are a rich food source for a diverse vertebrate community

Figure 1. (a) A typical Nepenthes trap (here N. rafflesiana) consists of a fluid-filled pitcher body (B), a collar-shaped peristome (P) and a roof-like lid (L). Insects are attracted by nectar secreted onto the peristome, and fall into the trap where they drown and are digested by the plant. This 'standard' trap design has been considerably modified in species that engage in mutualistic relationships with mammals: the pitchers of N. hemsleyana (b) are elongated and contain only very little fluid, making them a preferred daytime roost for woolly bats. (c) N. lowii attracts tree shrews (Tupaia montana) that harvest nectar from the inside of the pitcher lid. The lid is bent backwards to allow the tree shrew to access the nectar while sitting on top of the large and sturdy pitcher. The wide-open funnel shape of the pitcher ensures that the shrew droppings end up in the trap. (d) N. rajah pitchers show similar adaptations and have been shown to be visited by tree shrews and nocturnal rats.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: Spatiotemporal scaling of plant species richness and functional diversity in a temperate semi-natural grassland

The accumulation of biodiversity in space and time has been modelled extensively using the species-area relationship and the species-time relationship, respectively. Recently, these models have been combined into time-area curves in order to investigate spatiotemporal scaling of species richness. This study expands on previous research by applying these spatiotemporal models to functional diversity. Understanding spatiotemporal dynamics of ecological traits is important due to their crucial role in ecosystem functioning and mediating species responses to environmental change. We present a new function based on the semi-logarithmic species-area relationship, which was applied with a power function to vegetation survey data from Scottish machair grassland for both species richness and two measures of functional diversity. When taking a whole-study approach using non-linear mixed effects models, the semi-logarithmic function used here shows a positive time-area interaction for species richness, contrasting with the negative interaction of the power law found in previous investigations. Although there was a negative time-area interaction for functional diversity measures at the whole-study scale, parameter estimates were inconsistent at the individual site level. Overall, the results reveal differing spatiotemporal dynamics of species and their traits and suggest that the appropriate scale for space-for-time substitutions depends on the aspect of biodiversity being investigated. The new model developed in this study, and the novel application to functional diversity, opens up future possible research into spatiotemporal dynamics of biodiversity.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Linkage of plant trait space to successional age and species richness in boreal forest understory vegetation

Determining the changes in within- and between-species functional diversity in plant communities, and their contribution to overall species trait overlap, can enhance efforts at understanding mechanisms of species coexistence. However, little is known about how variation in species functional diversity influences variation in species trait overlap among contrasting environments. Here, we studied the understorey vegetation in a well-characterized 5000-year-old chronosequence involving 30 forested islands that differ greatly in size, soil fertility, and species diversity. Across this chronosequence we expected consistent changes in both within- and between-species functional diversity that would lead to decreasing overall species trait overlap with increasing successional age, species richness, understorey vegetation density and spatial heterogeneity of soil resources. For each island we measured specific leaf area (SLA) of each of ten individuals of each plant species present. Using a variance decomposition method, we partitioned the total community functional diversity of SLA on each island into within- and between-species functional diversity. Further, we estimated overall species trait overlap as the ratio of within-species functional diversity to total functional diversity. Using regression analyses we then explored relationships of within- and between-species functional diversity, and of overall species trait overlap, with several environmental variables across the 30 islands. Consistent with our hypotheses, overall species trait overlap decreased with successional age due to a statistically significant decrease in within-species functional diversity, and decreased with species richness due to a simultaneous decrease in within-species functional diversity and increase in between-species functional diversity. Against our predictions, overall species trait overlap increased in more competitive environments and did not change with increasing spatial heterogeneity of soil N or P. Synthesis: Our study suggests niche packing as a key mechanism for species coexistence in plant communities. Using SLA as an integrator of plant ecological strategy we show that community successional age and species richness are significantly linked to trait space distribution of plant individuals of boreal forest understorey vegetation and therefore to local species coexistence. Our results also suggest that the trait space of dominant and subordinate species may respond differently to local environmental variables.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →

Data from: Exploring the relationships between mutation rates, life history, genome size, environment and species richness in flowering plants

A new view is emerging of the interplay between mutation at the genomic level, substitution at the population level, and diversification at the lineage level. Many studies have suggested that rate of molecular evolution is linked to rate of diversification, but few have evaluated competing hypotheses. By analyzing sequences from 130 families of angiosperms, we show that variation in the synonymous substitution rate is correlated among genes from the mitochondrial, chloroplast, and nuclear genomes and linked to differences in traits among families (average height and genome size). Within each genome, synonymous rates are correlated to nonsynonymous substitution rates, suggesting that increasing the mutation rate results in a faster rate of genome evolution. Substitution rates are correlated with species richness in protein-coding sequences from the chloroplast and nuclear genomes. These data suggest that species traits contribute to lineage-specific differences in the mutation rate that drive both synonymous and nonsynonymous rates of change across all three genomes, which in turn contribute to greater rates of divergence between populations, generating higher rates of diversification. These observations link mutation in individuals to population-level processes and to patterns of lineage divergence.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

Data from: Phylogenetic diversity is maintained despite richness losses over time in restored tallgrass prairie plant communities

Ecosystem restoration is an important tool for mitigating biodiversity loss and recovering critical ecosystem services to humanity, but restoration rarely takes into account the evolutionary attributes of the community being restored. Phylogenetic diversity (PD) represents a potentially valuable measure of restoration success because it can correlate with functional trait diversity that drives ecosystem function. However, PD patterns in restored communities are rarely assessed. We surveyed plant communities in restored tallgrass prairies 2–19 years old and calculated two PD measures, SESMNTD and SESMPD, of the communities and seed mixture applied to sites. We also identified high-threat exotic species present in each site to determine whether PD of the seed mixture applied was related to resistance against invasion. We show that PD in North American tallgrass prairie restorations, as measured by both SESMNTD and SESMPD, is maintained over time even as richness declines. Neither the resulting community PD nor invasion by high-threat exotic species was affected by PD of the seed mixture used in site restoration. Thus, simply maximizing PD of seed mixtures without considering the particular component species is unlikely to help achieve restoration goals. Synthesis and applications. These results suggest that species losses over time are not biased towards species with or without close relatives in the community. If phylogenetic diversity (PD) reflects functional trait diversity in communities, then local declines in species richness may not necessarily mean the loss of ecosystem function in restoration projects. However, PD of restored communities may be limited by low establishment rates for most species. Conservation practitioners should consider PD with careful planning to maintain overall community diversity and potentially maximize ecosystem function and services in restorations. This perspective will require a deeper understanding of the relationships between phylogenetic relatedness and traits associated with competition and fitness.

opencc-zeroDec 2021View details →

Local plant richness predicts bee abundance and diversity in a study of urban residential yards

Understanding the drivers of biodiversity in cities is a central goal of urban ecology. There is currently intense scientific and public interest in the factors that influence pollinator diversity in cities and their surroundings. Existing studies point to a variety of landscape and local factors as potentially important, including urbanization (often defined as impervious surface cover in the surrounding lands), tree canopy cover and the diversity and abundance of locally flowering plants. However, few studies have sought to weigh the relative importance of these predictors of bee community metrics. Using a set of 27 residential yards chosen to represent a gradient of both urbanization and tree canopy cover at a landscape scale, we used pan trapping and netting to assess the abundance and diversity of local bee communities across the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Surprisingly, the landscape factors (urbanization and tree cover) described only a tiny fraction (< 1%) of the total variance in bee abundance and diversity across sites. This was true regardless of the scale of analysis at which the landscape factors were measured. Instead, a yard's floral richness, and, to a somewhat lesser extent, its floral abundance, emerged as the most important predictors of a yard's bee community abundance and diversity. Our study offers an important counterpoint to a growing body of work emphasizing the impacts of landscape factors on bee communities. Instead, our research suggests that improving bee floral resources by increasing the plant species richness and abundance locally is a powerful tool to support bee conservation, regardless of the level of urbanization or tree cover in the surrounding landscape. Our work highlights that the practice of promoting 'bee-friendly' plantings in private yards, currently being undertaken by a number of non-profits around the world, can play an important role in restoring and maintaining urban pollinator communities.

opencc-zeroMar 2022View details →

Introduced honey bees increase host plant abundance but decrease native bumble bee species richness and abundance

Long-term variation in the population density of introduced honey bees (Apis mellifera) has been shown to be associated with variations in floral traits in alpine lotus (Saussurea nigrescens). However, it remains to be determined whether a high density of honey bees affects the abundance of nectariferous plants and the species richness and abundance of native bumble bees. We predicted that a high density of introduced honey bees lasting three decades would decrease the species richness and abundance of native bumble bees but increase the abundance of honeybee host plant species. Here, the field experiments were conducted to examine the diversity of nectariferous plants and native bumble bees along the typical gradients of honey bee density (high density of honey bee at close apiary and low density of honey bee at distant of apiary). We investigated nectariferous plant abundance, floral and seed traits, bumble bee species richness and abundance at sites with either a high or low honey bee density in an alpine meadow. Our results demonstrated that an increased population of introduced honey bees was associated with increased host plant abundance and flower/capitula number per plant but decreased nectar volume per flower, seed mass, species richness and abundance of native bumble bees. The bumble bee visitation rate was positively correlated with nectar volume per flower at sites close to and far from apiaries. The honey bee visitation rate was positively correlated with flower/capitula number per plant at sites close to apiaries and nectar volume per flower at sites far from apiaries. Seed mass was negatively correlated with nectariferous plant abundance. Our findings showed that introduced honey bees decreased the species richness and abundance of native bumble bees, attributed to evolutionary decrease nectar resources among honey bee host plant species, but increased the abundance of nectariferous plants, attributed to the production of many small seeds by plants. This suggests that long-term high-density beekeeping affects the biodiversity of honey bee host plants and native bumble bees. Our results provide new insights into the mechanisms of maintaining the biodiversity of nectariferous plants and native bumble bees.

opennotspecifiedJan 2021View details →

FIGURE 2 in Exploring plant species richness along the Tiber River within the city of Rome

FIGURE 2. Spectrum based on percent values of preference habitats of the collected species.

ClinicalTrials.gov28/100

Use of Patiromer to Transition Chronic Kidney Disease Patients With Hyperkalemia to a Plant-rich Diet.

ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT03183778. IPD Sharing: Not stated. Countries: 1. Publications: 0.

restrictedIPD-UNDECIDEDFeb 2026View details →