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1,723 results for “Alpine”
Competitors alter selection on alpine plants exposed to experimental climate change
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Data from: Avoiding impacts of phylogenetic tip-state-errors on dispersal and extirpation rates in alpine plant biogeography
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Data from: A de novo chromosome-level genome assembly of Coregonus sp. “Balchen”: one representative of the Swiss Alpine whitefish radiation
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Plant dispersal strategies of high tropical alpine communities across the Andes
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Alpine range by species input to simulations that reveal climate and legacy effects
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Data from: Linking microenvironment modification to species interactions and demography in an alpine plant community
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Drought and heatwave mesocosm experiment on Canadian Rocky mountain periphyton communities from alpine ponds.
The accelerating rate of global climate change at higher elevations and latitudes is increasing the potential for extreme climatic events. Here, a knowledge gap exists in how the order of exposure to and duration of droughts and heatwaves affect their cumulative impact on aquatic communities. We tested experimentally for the effects of simultaneous versus sequential exposures to drought and heatwave on sediment-dwelling algal communities (epipelon) from small fishless alpine lakes. In both simultaneous and sequential exposure treatments involving drought followed by a heatwave the negative effect of drought offset the negative effect of warming on chlorophyll-inferred algal biomass and taxonomic composition. Reversal of order of exposure (i.e., heatwave followed by drought) lowered their cumulative effect on community structure. These findings highlight the potential for drought events to dominate over heatwaves in altering shallow littoral ecosystems at high elevations under a rapidly warming climate.
Data for Lynn et al. “Soil microbes that may accompany climate warming increase alpine plant production”; accepted at Oecologia
Climate change is causing species with non-overlapping ranges to come in contact, and a key challenge is to predict the consequences of such species re-shuffling. Experiments on plants have focused largely on novel competitive interactions; other species interactions, such as plant-microbe symbioses, while less studied, may also influence plant responses to climate change. In this greenhouse study, we evaluated interactions between soil microbes and alpine-restricted plant species, simulating a warming scenario in which low elevation microbes migrate upslope into the distribution of alpine plants. We examined three alpine grasses from the Rocky Mountains, CO, USA (Poa alpina, Festuca brachyphylla, Elymus scribneri). We used soil inocula from within (resident) or below (novel) the plants' current elevation range and examined responses in plant biomass, plant traits, and fungal colonization of roots. Resident soil inocula from the species' home range decreased biomass to a greater extent than novel soil inocula. The depressed growth in resident soils suggested these soils harbor more carbon-demanding microbes, as plant biomass generally declined with greater fungal colonization of roots, especially in resident soil inocula. Although plant traits did not respond to the provenance of soil inocula, specific leaf area declined and root:shoot ratio increased when soil inocula were sterilized, indicating microbial mediation of plant trait expression. Contrary to current predictions, our findings suggest that if upwardly migrating microbes were to displace current soil microbes, alpine plants may benefit from this warming-induced microbial re-shuffling.
A dataset for methane concentrations and fluxes for alpine permafrost streams and rivers on the East Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
This dataset is a collation of 3-year direct measurement values of CH4 concentrations and fluxes for EQTP streams and rivers, along with information on location, hydrological, physical, and chemical conditions of the study sites. Given the rarity and high value of this EQTP data set, it will be very valuable for the next update to global C flux estimates.
Plant colonization of moss-dominated soils in the alpine: Microbial and biogeochemical implications
A major impact of global climate change is the decline of mosses and lichens and their replacement by vascular plants. Although we assume this decline will greatly affect ecosystem functioning, particularly in alpine and arctic areas where cryptogams make a substantial amount of biomass, the effects of this change in vegetation on soil microbial communities remains unknown. We asked whether changes in bacterial community composition and enzyme ratios were consistent across two sites in moss versus vascular plant dominated areas. Using data from treeline and subnival ecosystems, we compared bacterial community composition, enzyme activity, and soil chemistry in moss dominated and vascular plant dominated plots of two unique alpine environments. Further, we used a time series to examine plots that actively transitioned from moss dominated to vascular plant dominated over a seven-year time period. Bacterial community composition in the soils under these two vegetation covers was significantly different in both environments and changed over time due to plant colonization. Microbial activity was limited by carbon and phosphorus in all plots and there were no differences in BG:AP enzyme ratios; however, there were significantly higher NAG:AP and BG:AP ratios in vascular plant plots at one site, suggesting the potential for shifts toward microbial N acquisition in vascular plant dominated areas in the alpine. As vascular plants replace mosses under warming conditions, bacterial community composition and nutrient availability shift in ways that may result in changes to biogeochemical cycling and biotic interactions in these vulnerable ecosystems.
Vegetation data along alpine pasture-shrub gradients
<p>Columns of dataset:</p> <ul> <li>Species_richness: Number of species per plot</li> <li>Species_evenness: Pielou's eveness of species cover values</li> <li>Heterogeneity: Beta-diversity, average Jaccard distance to the other three plots within cover zone</li> <li>Nutrient_index: Cover-weighted average nutrient indicator value</li> <li>Light_index: Cover-weighted average light indicator value</li> <li>Water_index: Cover-weighted average humidity indicator value</li> <li>Gradients_ID: gradient identifier</li> <li>Dominant_shrub: Dominant shrub species (3 categories)</li> <li>Zonal_cover: Value of zonal cover in percent</li> <li>Plot_cover: Value of plot cover in percent</li> <li>Geology_4level: Substrate of parent material (4 categories)</li> <li>Geology_2level: Substrate of parent material (2 categories)</li> <li>Aspect_3level: Aspect (3 categories)</li> <li>Elevation: Elevation in m above sea level</li> <li>Steepness_perc: Terrain slope in percent</li> <li>Precipitation: Annual precipitation sum in mm</li> <li>Temperature: Mean annual temperature in °C</li> <li>Soil_phosphorus: Soil phosphorus extracted by AA-EDTA in mg/kg</li> <li>Soil_pH: pH of soil-water suspension</li> </ul>
Data from: Climate warming drives Himalayan alpine plant growth and recruitment dynamics
<ul> <li>Understanding how climate influences plant reproduction and growth at contrasting range limits is crucial for predicting how species' ranges may shift in response to ongoing climate change. Trees and shrubs have shown warming-induced increases in performance at upper elevation limits but reduced performance at lower distributional limits due to warming-driven drought limitation. Whether these differential responses are also valid for alpine forbs exposed to accelerated warming remains largely unknown.<b> </b> </li> <li>We examined climate signal recorded in annual growth and recruitment over the past sixty years in the alpine forb <i>Potentilla pamirica</i> in Western Himalayas, and tested whether the responses to recent climate warming differ between dry steppe, wet alpine and cold subnival zone within the species 5250-5900 m elevation range. We reconstructed recruitment and growth chronologies from 1019 individuals spanning 1-73 years, and more than 21,500 annual growth rings.</li> <li>We identified contrasting climatic controls of recruitment and growth at opposite elevation range margins, as well as contrasting demographic trends identified from age distributions. In lower-elevation steppes, recruitment increased with high late-winter snowfall and decreased with high summer temperatures, while growth increased with high summer precipitation. Conversely, warm winters and summers in higher-elevation alpine and subnival zones support growth and recruitment, while snowy winters reduce them, especially at their upper elevation limit. The age distribution revealed greater numbers of younger individuals, indicating healthy growing populations, in the alpine habitat, while evidence of ageing plant populations was observed in steppe and subnival zones.</li> <li>Accelerated warming since the 1990s reduced growth and recruitment in dry steppes while supporting plant performance in the alpine habitat. The recruitment in the subnival zone did not peak during the past warmest decade due to concomitant extreme snowfall events. </li> <li>Synthesis: Our results bring novel information on population-specific climate dependency of plant recruitment, growth, and population dynamics, suggesting a high vulnerability of high elevation Himalayan ecosystems to climate change. This is partly balanced by high species longevity and slow radial growth securing a long-term population persistence. Continuing trends of extreme snowfall events at higher elevations and droughts at lower elevations may lead to species range contraction.</li> </ul>
Ancient orogenic and monsoon-driven assembly of the world's richest temperate alpine flora
<p>Understanding how alpine biotas formed in response to historical environmental change may improve our ability to predict and mitigate the threats to alpine species posed by global warming. In the world's richest temperate alpine flora, that of the Tibet-Himalaya-Hengduan region, phylogenetic reconstructions of biome and geographic range evolution show that extant lineages emerged by the early Oligocene and diversified first in the Hengduan Mountains. By the early to middle Miocene, accelerated diversification and colonization of adjacent regions were likely driven jointly by mountain building and intensification of the Asian monsoon. The alpine flora of the Hengduan Mountains has continuously existed far longer than any other alpine flora on Earth and illustrates how modern biotas have been shaped by past geological and climatic events.</p>
Data from: 'In and out of' the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Himalayas: centers of origin and diversification compared across five clades of Eurasian montane and alpine passerine birds
<p>Encompassing some of the major hotspots of biodiversity on Earth, large mountain systems have long held the attention of evolutionary biologists. The region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) is considered a biogeographic source for multiple colonization events into adjacent areas including the northern Palearctic. The faunal exchange between the QTP and adjacent regions could thus represent a one-way street ('out of' the QTP). However, immigration into the QTP region has so far received only little attention, despite its potential to shape faunal and floral communities of the QTP. In this study, we investigated centers of origin and dispersal routes between the QTP, its forested margins and adjacent regions for five clades of alpine and montane birds of the passerine superfamily Passeroidea (Johansson et al., 2008; Selvatti et al., 2015). We performed an ancestral area reconstruction using BioGeoBEARS and inferred a time-calibrated backbone phylogeny for 279 taxa of Passeroidea. The oldest endemic species of the QTP was dated to the early Miocene (ca. 18 Ma). Several additional QTP endemics evolved in the mid to late Miocene (12–7 Ma). The inferred centers of origin and diversification for some of our target clades matched the 'out of Tibet hypothesis' or the 'out of Himalayas hypothesis' for others they matched the 'into Tibet hypothesis'. Three radiations included multiple independent Pleistocene colonization events to regions as distant as the Western Palearctic and the Nearctic. We conclude that faunal exchange between the QTP and adjacent regions was bidirectional through time, and the QTP region has thus harbored both centers of diversification and centers of immigration.</p>
Data from: Effects of an experimental increase in flow intermittency on an alpine stream
<p>Flow intermittency occurs naturally in alpine streams. However, changing rainfall patterns and glacier retreat are predicted to increase the occurrence of flow intermittency in alpine catchments, with largely unknown effects on ecosystem structure and function. We conducted a flow manipulation experiment within a headwater stream of Val Roseg, a glacierized alpine catchment, to determine the effects of increased flow intermittency on aquatic macroinvertebrates, periphyton, benthic organic matter, and trophic structure. Compared to an adjacent reference channel, an increase in flow intermittency reduced macroinvertebrate density, taxa richness, and the proportion of rheophilic taxa. Density and richness remained low in the manipulated channel after resumption of natural flow. Flow intermittency did not affect organic matter standing stocks, but increased assimilation of periphyton by aquatic macroinvertebrates. Predation on aquatic invertebrates by riparian spiders also increased. We attribute many of these patterns to the timing of drying, which likely excluded summer-growing cohorts of rheophilic, aerial dispersers. This study suggests that reductions in summer glacial melt and rainfall events might increase flow intermittency and lead to fundamental changes in diversity and function of alpine fluvial networks.</p>
High elevation increases the risk of Y chromosome loss in Alpine skink populations with sex reversal
<p>The view genotypic sex determination (GSD) and environmental sex determination (ESD) are mutually exclusive states has been contradicted by the discovery that chromosomal sex and environmental influences can co-exist within the same species, hinting at a continuum of intermediate states. Systems where genes and the environment interact to determine sex present the opportunity for sex reversal to occur, where the phenotypic sex is the opposite of that predicted by their sex chromosome complement. The skink Bassiana duperreyi has XX:XY sex chromosomes with sex reversal of the XX genotype to a male phenotype in response to exposure to cold incubation temperatures. Here we studied the frequency of sex reversal in B. duperreyi in response to climatic variation, using elevation as a surrogate for environmental temperatures. We demonstrate sex reversal for the first time in free-ranging adults of a reptile species with XX/XY sex determination. The highest frequency of sex reversal occurred at the highest elevation location, Mount Ginini (18.64%) and decreases in frequency with elevation. We model the impact of this under Fisher's frequency dependent selection to show that, only at the highest elevations, populations risk the loss of the Y chromosome and a transition to TSD. This study contributes to our understanding of the risks of extinction from climate change in species subject to sex reversal by temperature, and will provide focus for future research to test on-the-ground management strategies to mitigate the effects of climate in local populations.</p> <div> <div> <div class="msocomtxt"> <p class="MsoCommentText"> </p> </div> </div> </div>
Data from: Steep and deep: Terrain and climate factors explain brown bear (Ursus arctos) alpine den site selection to guide heli-skiing management
<p>Winter recreation and tourism continue to expand worldwide, and where these activities overlap with valuable wildlife habitat, there is greater potential for conservation concerns. Wildlife populations can be particularly vulnerable to disturbance in alpine habitats as helicopters and snowmachines are increasingly used to access remote backcountry terrain. Brown bears (<i>Ursus arctos</i>) have adapted hibernation strategies to survive this period when resources and energy reserves are limited, and disturbance could negatively impact fitness and survival. To help identify areas of potential conflict between helicopter skiing and denning brown bears in Alaska, we developed a model to predict alpine denning habitat and an associated data-based framework for mitigating disturbance activities. Following den emergence in spring, we conducted three annual aerial surveys (2015–2017) and used locations from three GPS-collared bears (2008–2014) to identify 89 brown bear dens above the forest line. We evaluated brown bear den site selection of land cover, terrain, and climate factors using resource selection function (RSF) models. Our top model supported the hypothesis that bears selected dens based on terrain and climate factors that maximized thermal efficiency. Brown bears selected den sites characterized by steep slopes at moderate elevations in smooth, well-drained topographies that promoted vegetation and deep snow. We used the RSF model to map relative probability of den selection and found 85% of dens occurred within terrain predicted as prime denning habitat. Brown bear exposure to helicopter disturbance was evident as moderate to high intensities of helicopter flight tracking data overlapped prime denning habitat, and we quantified where the risk of these impact was greatest. We also documented evidence of late season den abandonment due to disturbance from helicopter skiing. The results from this study provide valuable insights into bear denning habitat requirements in subalpine and alpine landscapes. Our quantitative framework can be used to support conservation planning for winter recreation industries operating in habitats occupied by denning brown bears.</p>
Data from: Warm temperatures during cold season can negatively affect adult survival in an alpine bird
<p>Climate seasonality is a predominant constraint on the lifecycles of species in alpine and polar biomes. Assessing the response of these species to climate change thus requires taking into account seasonal constraints on populations. However interactions between seasonality, weather fluctuations, and population parameters remain poorly explored as they require long-term studies with high sampling frequency. This study investigated the influence of environmental covariates on the demography of a corvid species, the alpine chough Pyrrhocorax graculus, in the highly seasonal environment of the Mont Blanc region. In two steps, we estimated: 1) the seasonal survival of categories of individuals based on their age, sex, etc., 2) the effect of environmental covariates on seasonal survival. We hypothesized that the cold season – and more specifically, the end of the cold season (spring) – would be a critical period for individuals, and we expected that weather and individual covariates would influence survival variation during critical periods. We found that while spring was a critical season for adult female survival, it was not for males. This is likely because females are dominated by males at feeding sites during snowy seasons (winter and spring), and additionally must invest energy in egg production. When conditions were not favourable, which seemed to happen when the cold season was warmer than usual, females probably reached their physiological limits. Surprisingly, adult survival was higher at the beginning of the cold season than in summer, which may result from adaptation to harsh weather in alpine and polar vertebrates. This hypothesis could be confirmed by testing it with larger sets of populations. This first seasonal analysis of individual survival over the full life cycle in a sedentary alpine bird shows that including seasonality in demographic investigations is crucial to better understand the potential impacts of climate change on cold ecosystems.</p>
Data from: Transmission and temporal dynamics of anther-smut disease (Microbotryum) on alpine carnation (Dianthus pavonius)
1. Theory has shown that sterilizing diseases with frequency-dependent transmission (characteristics shared by many sexually transmitted diseases) can drive host populations to extinction. 2. Anther-smut disease (caused by Microbotryum sp.) has become a model plant pathogen system for studying the dynamics of vector and sexually transmitted diseases: infected individuals are sterilized, producing spores instead of pollen, and the disease is spread between reproductive individuals by insect pollinators. We investigated anther-smut disease in a heavily infected population of Dianthus pavonius (alpine carnation) over an eight-year period to determine disease impacts on host population dynamics. 3. Over the eight years, disease prevalence remained consistently high (>40%) while the host population numbers declined by over 50%. 4. The observed rate of vector transmission to reproductive, adult hosts was inadequate to explain the high disease prevalence. Additional density-dependent aerial transmission to highly susceptible juveniles, indicated from experimental field and greenhouse studies, is likely to play a key role in maintaining the high disease prevalence. 5. Epidemiological models that accounted for the mixed transmission mode predicted an eventual decline in disease. 6. Synthesis: Our results demonstrate that high prevalence of a sterilizing disease does not necessarily drive host populations towards extinction and also highlights the importance of demographic studies for establishing the presence of alternative transmission modes.
Data from: Offspring telomere length in the long lived Alpine swift is negatively related to the age of their biological father and foster mother
A growing body of studies is showing that offspring telomere length (TL) can be influenced by the age of their parents. Such a relationship might be explained by variation in TL at conception (gamete effect) and/or by alteration of early growth conditions in species providing parental care. In a long-lived bird with bi-parental care, the Alpine swift (Apus melba), we exchanged an uneven number of 2 to 4-day-old nestlings between pairs as part of a brood size manipulation. Nestling TL was measured at 50 days after hatching, which allowed investigation of the influence of the age of both their biological and foster parents on offspring TL, after controlling for the manipulation. Nestling TL was negatively related to the age of their biological father and foster mother. Nestling TL did not differ between enlarged and reduced broods. These findings suggest that offspring from older males were fertilized by gametes with shorter telomeres, presumably due to a greater cell division history or a longer accumulation of damage, and that older females may have provided poorer parental care to their offspring.
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
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The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.