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2,603 results for “Ecological data”
temporalNEON: Repository containing raw and cleaned-up organismal data from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) useful for evaluating the links between change in biodiversity and ecosystem stability
Organismal data include the following taxonomic groups: small mammals, fish, ground beetles, and aquatic macroinvertebrates. Data were retrieved from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) database in November 2020. We submit both raw data retrieved from NEON as .rds files, R code used to process these data, as well as processed data as .csv files.
Environmental, molecular, and life history data associated with ecological and evolutionary nematode responses to soil phosphorus availability, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
Elemental stoichiometry is a useful theoretical framework for understanding the sources and controls on nutrient availability that can structure the composition, diversity, and life history of biotic communities. One such relationship, as postulated by the growth rate hypothesis (GRH), is that organismal development rate is positively linked to cellular phosphorus (P). To test the GRH as part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, we examined the effects of phosphorus (P) availability both in situ and in vitro, on the evolution of growth and development of free-living soil nematodes (primarily Plectus murrayi) that occur in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. During the 2008-2009 austral summer, we collected soils from two glacial till sequences, the Ross Sea till and Taylor II till, occurring in the Lake Fryxell and Lake Bonney basins, respectively, of Taylor Valley. Through a variety of subsequent analyses, we generated the environmental, molecular, and life history trait data contained herein. In addition, this package contains body size and biomass data for nematodes isolated from soil samples collected during the 1999-2000 and 2004-2005 austral summers.
Climate Data Summaries for Long-Term Ecological Research Sites
This dataset contains historical climate data and climate summaries from Long-Term Ecological Research sites and other climate stations in their vicinity. It has as its basis "A Climatic Analysis Of Long-Term Ecological Research Sites" created by David Greenland, Timothy KIttel, Bruce Hayden and David Schimel in 1996 (http://climhy.lternet.edu/documents/climdes/). The dataset includes monthly data and summaries aggregating years and months to produce climatic summaries.
Data and Python script for article "A text mining analysis of the climate change literature in industrial ecology'
<p>The data and Python script are part of the forum article "A text mining analysis of the climate change literature in industrial ecology" authored by Dayeen, F.R., Sharma, A.S., and Derrible, S., and published in the <em>Journal of Industrial Ecology</em> in 2020.</p> <p>The Python script and instructions are included in the LiTCoF_v1.00-py.zip file. The original data is available in two formats: .csv and .pkl.</p> <p>Updates of the script will be posted at https://github.com/csunlab/LiTCoF and at https://csun.uic.edu/codes/LiTCoF.html. The data is also available at https://csun.uic.edu/datasets.html#AbstractsIE.</p> <p>Feel free to contact any of the authors for information and questions about the data and code.</p>
Data from: Ecological speciation in European whitefish is driven by a large‐gaped predator
<p>Lake‐dwelling fish that form species pairs/flocks characterized by body size divergence are important model systems for speciation research. Although several sources of divergent selection have been identified in these systems, their importance for driving the speciation process remains elusive. A major problem is that in retrospect, we cannot distinguish selection pressures that initiated divergence from those acting later in the process. To address this issue, we studied the initial stages of speciation in European whitefish (<i>Coregonus lavaretus</i>) using data from 358 populations of varying age (26–10,000 years). We find that whitefish speciation is driven by a large‐growing predator, the northern pike (<i>Esox lucius</i>). Pike initiates divergence by causing a largely plastic differentiation into benthic giants and pelagic dwarfs: ecotypes that will subsequently develop partial reproductive isolation and heritable differences in gill raker number. Using an eco‐evolutionary model, we demonstrate how pike's habitat specificity and large gape size are critical for imposing a between‐habitat trade‐off, causing prey to mature in a safer place or at a safer size. Thereby, we propose a novel mechanism for how predators may cause dwarf/giant speciation in lake‐dwelling fish species.</p>
Data from: Ecological regime shift preserved in the Anthropocene stratigraphic record
Paleoecological data are unique historical archives that extend back far beyond the last several decades of ecological observations. However, the fossil record of continental shelves has been perceived as too coarse and incomplete to detect processes occurring at decadal scales relevant to ecology and conservation. Here we show that the youngest (Anthropocene) fossil record on a continental shelf of the Adriatic Sea provides decadal-scale temporal resolution that is adequate for documenting an abrupt ecological shift affecting benthic communities during the 20th century. The magnitude and the duration of the 20th century shift in body size of a dominant bivalve species (Corbula gibba) is unprecedented given that this species was consistently small throughout the Holocene in the whole northern Adriatic Sea. The size shift coincided with compositional change of the benthic community, with the median per-assemblage abundance of C. gibba increasing from ~25% to ~70% in the late 20th century, and occurred at sites that experienced at least one hypoxic event per decade in the 20th century. This regime shift, which coincided with mass mortality of competitors and predators associated with higher frequency of seasonal hypoxic events, may reflect ecological release. The observed body size shift is coupled with a decline in the depth and rate of bioturbational mixing. This decline in burrowing benthic organisms resulted in the improved stratigraphic resolution of fossil assemblages, making it possible to detect sub-centennial ecological changes in the stratigraphic record on continental shelves.
Data from : Historical legacies and ecological determinants of grass naturalizations worldwide
<p>The global distribution of exotic species is the result of abiotic, biotic and dispersal<br> filtering processes that shape the movement and success of species outside their native<br> range. In this study we aim to understand how these filtering processes drive the fluxes<br> of grass species among regions, the factors that influence which species establish outside<br> of their native range, and where they do so.</p> <p><br> We used national and subnational checklists of native and introduced grass species<br> to determine the extent to which each region was a source or recipient of exotic grass<br> species. We asked how species traits may distinguish those grass species that have naturalized<br> outside their native range from those that have not, and how environmental<br> conditions are related to the distribution of exotic grass species.</p> <p><br> We found that exotic grass establishment is shaped by an array of factors including<br> characteristics of regions, traits of species and their interactions. Regions with a longer<br> history of human occupation and larger numbers of native grass species were generally<br> the most important sources of exotic species. Global flows of species were mostly<br> driven by a climate match between the native and exotic ranges, but were also highly<br> asymmetric, with regions with recent human arrival being the major hosts of exotic<br> grass species. Tall, annual and C4 grass species exhibited particularly high probabilities<br> of establishment outside their native range.</p> <p><br> Despite the idiosyncrasy and stochasticity characteristic of exotic species establishment,<br> this biogeographical analysis revealed important generalities across this large<br> plant group. Our results suggest that grass species that have co-occurred with humans<br> for a longer time may be better adapted to living in anthropogenic landscapes, explaining<br> the global asymmetry in species introductions.</p>
Data from: Quantifying shape and ecology in avian pedal claws: the relationship between the bony core and keratinous sheath
Terrestrial tetrapods use their claws to interact with their environments in a plethora of ways. Birds in particular have developed a diversity of claw shapes since they are often not bound to terrestrial locomotion and have heterogeneous body masses ranging several orders of magnitude. Numerous previous studies have hypothesized a connection between pedal claw shape and ecological mode in birds, yet have generated conflicting results, spanning from clear ecological groupings based on claw shape to a complete overlap of ecological modes. The majority of these studies have relied on traditional morphometric arc measurements of keratinous sheaths and have variably accounted for likely confounding factors such as body mass and phylogenetic relatedness. To better address the hypothesized relationship between ecology and claw shape in birds, we collected 580 radiographs allowing visualization of the bony core and keratinous sheath shape in 21 avian orders. Geometric morphometrics was used to quantify bony core and keratinous sheath shape and was compared to results using traditional arc measurements. Neither approach significantly separates bird claws into coarse ecological categories after integrating body size and phylogenetic relatedness; however, some separation between ecological groups is evident and we find a gradual shift from the claw shape of ground-dwelling birds to those of predatory birds. Further, the bony claw core and keratinous sheath are significantly correlated, and the degree of functional integration does not differ across ecological groups. Therefore, it is likely possible to compare fossil bony cores with extant keratinous sheaths after applying corrections. Finally, traditional metrics and geometric morphometric shape are significantly, yet loosely correlated. Based on these results, future workers are encouraged to use geometric morphometric approaches to study claw geometry and account for confounding factors such as body size, phylogeny, and individual variation prior to predicting ecology in fossil taxa.
Data from: A rapidly evolved shift in life history timing during ecological speciation is driven by the transition between developmental phases
<p>For insect species in temperate environments, seasonal timing is often governed by the regulation of diapause, a complex developmental program that allows insects to weather unfavorable conditions and synchronize their lifecycles with available resources. Diapause development consists of a series of distinct phases including initiation, maintenance, termination, and post-diapause development. The evolution of insect seasonal timing depends in part on how these phases of diapause development and post-diapause development interact to affect variation in phenology. Here, we dissect the physiological basis of a recently evolved phenological shift in Rhagoletis pomonella (Diptera: Tephritidae), a model system for ecological divergence. A recently derived population of R. pomonella shifted from specializing on native hawthorn fruit to earlier fruiting introduced apples, resulting in a 3-4 week shift in adult emergence timing. We tracked metabolic rates of individual flies across post-winter development to test which phases of development may act either independently or in combination to contribute to this recently evolved divergence in timing. Apple and hawthorn flies differed in a number of facets of their post-winter developmental trajectories. However, divergent adaptation in adult emergence phenology in these flies was due almost entirely to the end of the pupal diapause maintenance phase, with post-diapause development having a very small effect. The relatively simple underpinnings of variation in adult emergence phenology suggest that further adaptation to seasonal change in these flies for this trait might be largely due to the timing of diapause termination unhindered by strong covariance among different components of post-diapause development.</p>
Data from: Sexual and ecological selection on a sexual conflict gene
Sexual selection and conflict can act on genes with important metabolic functions, potentially shaping standing genetic variance in such genes, and thus evolutionary potential of populations. Here, using experimental evolution, we show how reproductive competition intensity and thermal environment affect selection on phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6Pgdh) – a metabolic gene involved in sexual selection and conflict in the bulb mite. The S allele of 6Pgdh increases male success in reproductive competition, but is detrimental to S-bearing males' partners. We found that the rate of the S allele spread increased with the proportion of males in the experimental populations, illustrating that harm to females is more easily compensated for males under more intense sexual competition. Furthermore, we found that under equal sex ratio, the S allele spreads faster at higher temperature. While the direction of selection on 6Pgdh was not reversed in any of the conditions we tested, which would be required for environmental heterogeneity to maintain polymorphism at this locus, our study highlights that ecological and sexual selection can jointly affect selection on important metabolic enzymes.
Data from: 200 million years of anuran body size evolution in relation to geography, ecology, and life history
Surprisingly little is known about body-size evolution within the most diverse amphibian order, anurans (frogs and toads), despite known effects of body size on the physiological, ecological, and life-history traits of animals more generally. Here we examined anuran body-size evolution among 2434 species with over 200 million years of shared evolutionary history. We found clade-specific evolutionary shifts to new body-size optima along with numerous independent transitions to gigantic and miniature body sizes, despite the upper limits of anuran body size remaining quite consistent throughout the fossil record. We found a weak, positive correlation between a species' body size and maximum latitude and elevation, including a dearth of small species at higher elevations and broader latitudinal and elevational ranges in larger anurans. Although we found modest differences in mean anuran body size among microhabitats, there was extensive overlap in the range of body sizes across microhabitats. Finally, we found that larger anurans are more likely to consume vertebrate prey than smaller anurans are, and that species with a free-swimming larval phase during development are larger on average than those in which development into a froglet occurs within the egg. Overall, anuran body size does not conform to geographic and ecological patterns observed in other tetrapods but is perhaps more notable for variation in body size within geographic regions, ecologies, and life-histories. Here we document this variation and propose target clades for detailed studies aimed at disentangling how and why variation in body size was generated and is maintained in anurans.
Data from: Heterospecific mating interactions as an interface between ecology and evolution
<p>Reproductive interference (costly interspecific sexual interactions) are well-understood to promote divergence in mating-relevant traits (i.e. reproductive character displacement: RCD), but it can also reduce population growth, eventually leading to local extinction of one of the species. The ecological and evolutionary processes driven by reproductive interference can interact with each other. These interactions are likely to influence whether the outcome is co-existence or extinction, but remain little studied. In this paper, we first develop an eco-evolutionary perspective on reproductive interference by integrating ecological and evolutionary processes in a common framework. We also present a simple model to demonstrate the eco-evolutionary dynamics of reproductive interference. We then identify a number of factors that are likely to influence the relative likelihoods of extinction or RCD. We discuss particularly relevant factors by classifying them into four categories: the nature of the traits responding to selection, the mechanisms determining the expression of these traits, mechanisms of reproductive interference, and the ecological background. We highlight previously underappreciated ways in which these factors may influence the relative likelihoods of RCD and local extinction. By doing so, we also identify questions and future directions that will increase our holistic understanding of the outcomes of reproductive interference.</p>
Data from: Change in sexual signalling traits outruns morphological divergence across an ecological gradient in the post‐glacial radiation of the songbird genus Junco
<p>The relative roles of natural and sexual selection in promoting evolutionary lineage divergence remains controversial and difficult to assess in natural systems. Local adaptation through natural selection is known to play a central role in promoting evolutionary divergence, yet secondary sexual traits can vary widely among species in recent radiations, suggesting that sexual selection may also be important in the early stages of speciation. Here we compare rates of divergence in ecologically relevant traits (morphology) and sexually selected signaling traits (coloration) relative to neutral structure in genome-wide molecular markers, and examine patterns of variation in sexual dichromatism to explore the roles of natural and sexual selection in the diversification of the songbird genus <i>Junco </i>(Aves: Passerellidae). Juncos include divergent lineages in Central America and several dark-eyed junco (<i>J. hyemalis</i>) lineages that diversified recently as the group recolonized North America following the last glacial maximum (c.a. 18,000 years ago). We found an accelerated rate of divergence in sexually selected characters relative to ecologically relevant traits. Moreover, sexual dichromatism measurements suggested a positive relationship between the degree of color divergence and the strength of sexual selection when controlling for neutral genetic distance. We also found a positive correlation between dichromatism and latitude, which coincides with the geographic axis of decreasing lineage age in juncos but also with a steep ecological gradient. Finally, we found significant associations between genome-wide variants linked to functional genes and proxies of both sexual and natural selection. These results suggest that the joint effects of sexual and ecological selection have played a prominent role in the junco radiation.</p>
Data from: Ecology of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) as a host for Guinea worm (Dracunculus medinensis) infection in Ethiopia
<p>The global programme for the eradication of Guinea worm disease, caused by the parasitic nematode <i>Dracunculus medinensis</i>, has been successful in driving down human cases, but infections in non-human animals, particularly domestic dogs (<i>Canis familiaris</i>), now present a major obstacle to further progress. Dog infections have mainly been found in Chad and, to a lesser extent in Mali and Ethiopia. While humans classically acquire infection by drinking water containing infected copepods, it has been hypothesised that dogs might additionally or alternatively acquire infection via a novel pathway, such as consumption of fish or frogs as possible transport or paratenic hosts. We characterised the ecology of free-ranging dogs living in three villages in Gog woreda, Gambella region, Ethiopia in April–May 2018. We analysed their exposure to potential sources of Guinea worm infection, and investigated risk factors associated with infection histories. The home ranges of 125 dogs and their activity around water sources were described using GPS tracking, and the diets of 119 dogs were described using stable isotope analysis. Unlike in Chad, where Guinea worm infection is most frequent, we found no ecological or behavioural correlates of infection history in dogs in Ethiopia. Unlike in Chad, there was no effect of variation among dogs in their consumption of aquatic vertebrates (fish or frogs) on their infection history, and we found no evidence to support hypotheses for this novel transmission pathway in Ethiopia. Dog owners had apparently increased the frequency of clean water provision to dogs in response to previous infections. Variations in dog ranging behaviour, owner behaviour and the characteristics of natural water bodies all influenced the exposure of dogs to potential sources of infection. This initial study suggests that the classical transmission pathway should be a focus of attention for Guinea worm control in non-human animals in Ethiopia.</p>
Data from: Ecological impact assessments of alien species in Norway
<ol> <li>Due to globalisation, trade and transport, the spread of alien species is increasing dramatically. Some alien species become ecologically harmful by threatening native biota. This can lead to irreversible changes in local biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and, ultimately, to biotic homogenisation.</li> <li>We risk-assessed all alien plants, animals, fungi and algae, within certain delimitations, that are known to reproduce in Norway. Mainland Norway and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard plus Jan Mayen were treated as separate assessment areas. Assessments followed the Generic Ecological Impact Assessment of Alien Species (GEIAA) protocol, which uses a fully quantitative set of criteria.</li> <li>A total of 1519 species were risk-assessed, of which 1183 were species reproducing in mainland Norway. Among these, 9% were assessed to have a severe impact, 7% high impact, 7% potentially high impact, and 49% low impact, whereas 29% had no known impact. In Svalbard, 16 alien species were reproducing, one of which with a severe impact.</li> <li>The impact assessments also covered 319 so-called door-knockers, i.e. species that are likely to establish in Norway within 50 years, and 12 regionally alien species. Of the door-knockers, 8% and 10% were assessed to have a severe and high impact, respectively.</li> <li>The impact category of most species was driven by negative interactions with native species, transformation of threatened ecosystems, or genetic contamination. The proportion of alien species with high or severe impact varied significantly across the different pathways of introduction, taxonomic groups, time of introduction and the environments colonised, but not across continents of origin.</li> <li>Given the large number of alien species reproducing in Norway and the preponderance of species with low impact, it is neither realistic nor necessary to eradicate all of them. Our results can guide management authorities in two ways. First, the use of quantitative assessment criteria facilitates the prioritisation of management resources across species. Second, the background information collected for each species, such as introduction pathways, area of occupancy and ecosystems affected, helps designing appropriate management measures.</li> </ol>
Data set for 'Lunge filter feeding biomechanics constrain rorqual foraging ecology across scale'...
<p>Fundamental scaling relationships influence the physiology of vital rates, which in turn shape the ecology and evolution of organisms. For diving mammals, benefits conferred by large body size include reduced transport costs and enhanced breath-holding capacity, thereby increasing overall foraging efficiency. Rorqual whales feed by engulfing a large mass of prey-laden water at high speed and filter it through baleen plates. However, as engulfment capacity increases with body length across species (Engulfment Volume ∝ Body Length <sup>3.57</sup>), the surface area of the baleen filter does not increase proportionally (Baleen Area ∝ Body Length<sup>1.82</sup>), and thus the filtration time of larger rorquals predictably increases because the baleen surface area must filter a disproportionally large amount of water. We predicted that filtration time should scale with body length to the power of 1.75 (Filter Time ∝ Body Length<sup>1.75</sup><i>)</i>. We tested this hypothesis on four rorqual species using multi-sensor tags with corresponding unoccupied aerial systems (UAS) -based body length estimates. We found that filter time scales with body length to the power of 1.79 (95% CI: 1.61 - 1.97). This result highlights a scale-dependent trade-off between engulfment capacity and baleen area that creates a biomechanical constraint to foraging through increased filtration time. Consequently, larger whales must target high density prey patches commensurate to the gulp size to meet their increased energetic demands. If these optimal patches are absent, larger rorquals may experience reduced foraging efficiency compared to smaller whales if they do not match engulfment capacity to the size of targeted prey aggregations.</p>
Data from: Avian ecological succession in the Amazon: a long-term case study following experimental deforestation
<p>Approximately 20% of the Brazilian Amazon has now been deforested, and the Amazon is currently experiencing the highest rates of deforestation in a decade, leading to large-scale land-use changes. Roads have consistently been implicated as drivers of ongoing Amazon deforestation and may act as corridors to facilitate species invasions. <span>Long-term data, however, are necessary to determine how ecological succession alters avian communities following deforestation and whether established roads lead to a constant influx of new species. </span> </p> <p>We used data across nearly 40 years from a large-scale deforestation experiment in the central Amazon to examine the avian colonization process in a spatial and temporal framework, considering the role that roads may play in facilitating colonization.</p> <p>Since 1979, 139 species that are not part of the original forest avifauna have been recorded, including more secondary forest species than expected based on the regional species pool. Among the 35 species considered to have colonized and become established, a disproportionate number were secondary forest birds (63%), almost all of which first appeared during the 1980s. These new residents comprise about 13% of the current community of permanent residents.</p> <p><span>Widespread generalists associated with secondary forest colonized quickly following deforestation, with few new species added after the first decade, despite a stable road connection. Few species associated with riverine forest or specialized habitats colonized, despite road connection to their preferred source habitat. </span>Colonizing species remained restricted to anthropogenic habitats and did not infiltrate old-growth forests nor displace forest birds.</p> <p>Deforestation and expansion of road networks into <i>terra firme </i>rainforest will continue to create degraded anthropogenic habitat. Even so, the initial pulse of colonization by non-primary forest bird species was not the beginning of a protracted series of invasions in this study, and the process appears to be reversible by forest succession. </p>
Data from: Current ecology, not ancestral dispersal patterns, influences menopause symptom severity
<p>All human females who reach midlife experience menopause, however, it is currently unclear why women experience this period of infertility, and why it is accompanied by many unpleasant symptoms. Using primary data from four ethnic groups in China, we test an existing theory that age of menopause and its symptoms are the result of intragenomic conflict between maternally and paternally inherited genes, with the outcome of such conflict predicted to be contingent on the ancestral post-marital residence pattern of the female (Úbeda et al., 2014). The model predicts that being ancestrally patrilocal results in less intragenomic conflict, causing a shorter, less symptomatic peri-menopause that terminates in a later menopause. Our findings show no support for this hypothesis, and suggest current, rather than ancestral, residence patterns better predict aspects of the menopausal transition. Furthermore, current patrilocality when compared to duolocality is associated with more severe menopause symptoms, which may be due to sexual, rather than intragenomic, conflict.</p>
Data from: The ecology and evolution of seed predation by Darwin's finches on Tribulus cistoides on the Galápagos Islands
Predator-prey interactions play a key role in the evolution of species traits through antagonistic coevolutionary arms-races. The evolution of beak morphology in the Darwin's finches in response to competition for seed resources is a classic example of evolution by natural selection. The seeds of Tribulus cistoides are an important food source for the largest ground finch species (Geospiza fortis, G. magnirostris, and G. conirostris) in dry months, and the hard spiny morphology of the fruits are a potent agent of selection that drives contemporary evolutionary change in finch beak morphology. Although the effects of these interaction on finches are well known, how seed predation affects the ecology and evolution of the plants is poorly understood. Here we examine whether seed predation by Darwin's finches affects the ecology and evolution of T. cistoides. We ask whether the intensity of seed predation and the strength of natural selection by finches on fruit defense traits varies among populations, islands, years, or with varying finch community composition (i.e., the presence/absence of the largest beaked species, which feed on T. cistoides most easily). We then further test whether T. cistoides fruit defenses have diverged among islands in response to spatial variation in finch communities. We addressed these questions by examining seed predation by finches in 30 populations of T. cistoides over three years. Our study reveals three key results. First, Darwin's finches strongly influence T. cistoides seed survival, whereby seed predation varies with differences in finch community composition among islands and in response to inter-annual fluctuations in precipitation. Second, finches impose phenotypic selection on T. cistoides fruit morphology, whereby smaller and harder fruits with longer or more spines exhibited higher seed survival. Variation in finch community composition and precipitation also explains variation in phenotypic selection on fruit defense traits. Third, variation in the number of spines on fruits among islands is consistent with divergent phenotypic selection imposed by variation in finch community composition among islands. These results suggest that Darwin's finches and T. cistoides are experiencing an ongoing coevolutionary arms-race, and that the strength of this coevolution varies in space and time.
Data from: Cranial evolution in the extinct Rodrigues Island owl Otus murivorus (Strigidae), associated with unexpected ecological adaptations
<p>Island birds that were victim of anthropic extinctions were often more specialist species, having evolved their most distinctive features in isolation. Here we studied a fossil cranium of the 'giant' extinct scops owl <i>Otus murivorus</i> from Rodrigues Island (Mascarene Islands, southwestern Indian Ocean), to determine any potential unique characters. The fossil and extant strigids were imaged through x-ray microtomography, providing 3D views of external and internal (endocast, inner ear) cranial structures. Geometric morphometrics and analyses of traditional measurements yielded new information about the Rodrigues owl's evolution and ecology. <i>Otus murivorus </i>exhibits a 2-tier "lag behind" phenomenon for cranium and brain evolution, both being proportionately small relative to increased body size. It also had a much more developed olfactory bulb than congeners, indicating an unexpectedly developed olfactory sense, suggesting a partial food scavenging habit. In addition, <i>O. murivorus </i>had the eyes placed more laterally than <i>O. sunia</i>, the species from which it was derived, probably a side effect of a small brain; rather terrestrial habits; probably relatively fearless behavior; and a less vertical posture (head less upright) than other owls (this in part an allometric effect of size increase). These evolutionary features, added to gigantism and wing reduction, make the extinct Rodrigues owl's evolution remarkable, and with multiple causes.</p>
ScienceDex guides
Understand access before you commit
These curated guides explain access requirements, typical timelines, costs, and reuse considerations for widely used research datasets.
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.
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.
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.