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1,271 results for “tropical forest”
Global distribution and climate sensitivity of the tropical montane forest nitrogen cycle
<p>Tropical forests are pivotal to global climate and biogeochemical cycles, yet the geographic distribution of nutrient limitation to plants and microbes across the biome is unresolved. One long-standing generalization is that tropical montane forests are nitrogen (N)-limited whereas lowland forests tend to be N-rich. However, empirical tests of this hypothesis have yielded equivocal results. Here we evaluate the topographic signature of the ecosystem-level tropical N cycle by examining climatic and geophysical controls of surface soil N content and stable isotopes (δ15N) from elevational gradients distributed across tropical mountains globally. We document steep increases in soil N concentration and declining δ15N with increasing elevation, consistent with decreased microbial N processing and lower gaseous N losses. Temperature explained much of the change in N, with an apparent temperature sensitivity (Q10) of ~1.9. Although montane forests make up 11% of forested tropical land area, we estimate they account for > 17% of the global tropical forest soil N pool. Our findings support the existence of widespread microbial N limitation across tropical montane forest ecosystems and high sensitivity to climate warming.</p>
Low-severity winds reduce tropical forest structural complexity regardless of climate, topography or forest age
<p>Forests are often exposed to regular, non-severe winds (chronic wind exposure), yet the effect of such winds on canopy structure in tropical forests remains understudied. The height and structural complexity of a forest canopy are strongly and positively correlated with biodiversity and carbon accumulation. Understanding the drivers of canopy structural complexity across broad environmental gradients can therefore improve the mapping and modeling of diversity and carbon dynamics. Here we predict the height and structural complexity of forests in the heterogeneous island of Puerto Rico, with a particular focus on the impacts of chronic wind exposure. To do so, we used remote sensing to randomly sample ~20,000, 0.28 ha forested sites stratified by forest age, and used airborne LiDAR data from 2016 to quantify canopy height and a key metric of structural complexity, rugosity – the standard deviation in canopy height. We then ran random forest models to predict canopy height and rugosity based on chronic wind exposure, forest age, mean annual precipitation, elevation, slope, soil type, soil available water storage, and exposure to two previous hurricanes (in 1989 and 1998). Canopy height was 4 m taller on average (41%) between forests aged 17-25 years and old-growth forests and by 4 m on average (41%) between 1,000 and 2,000 mm<sup>-yr</sup> precipitation, leveling off at 2,000 mm<sup>-yr</sup>. Height was 2.12 m (16%) shorter on average between sites exposed to chronic winds and protected sites after accounting for all other factors. Rugosity was 1 m (32%) greater between the tallest and shortest forests, by 0.5 m (15%) between 1,000 and 2,000 mm<sup>-yr</sup> precipitation, and smaller by 0.5 m (15%) between forests above and below 1,000 m elevation. Rugosity was highest in forests of intermediate age (25-40 years), and lowest in old-growth forests, possibly because of higher elevation and chronic wind exposure in old-growth forests. We found no effect of slope, soil characteristics or previous hurricane exposure on either height or rugosity. Our results suggest that alongside forest age and climate context, chronic wind exposure plays an integral role in shaping the structure and carbon cycle of tropical forests.</p>
Hydraulic traits are not robust predictors of tree species stem growth during a drought in a wet tropical forest
<p>Severe droughts have led to lower plant growth and high mortality in many ecosystems worldwide, including tropical forests. Drought vulnerability differs among species but there is limited consensus on the nature and degree of this variation in tropical forest communities. Understanding species-level vulnerability to drought requires examination of hydraulic traits since these reflect the different strategies species employ for surviving drought. Here we examined hydraulic traits and growth reductions during a severe drought for 12 common woody species in a wet tropical forest community in Puerto Rico to ask:</p> <p>Q1. To what extent can hydraulic traits predict growth declines during drought? We expected that species with more hydraulicly vulnerable xylem and narrower safety margins would grow less during drought.</p> <p>Q2. How do species successional association relate to levels of vulnerability to drought and hydraulic strategies? We predicted that early- and mid-successional species would exhibit more acquisitive strategies, making them more susceptible to drought than shade-tolerant species.</p> <p>Q3. What are the different hydraulic strategies employed by species and are there trade-offs between drought avoidance and drought tolerance?</p> <p>We anticipated that species with greater water storage capacity would have leaves that lose turgor at higher xylem water potential and be less resistant to embolism forming in their xylem (P50). We found a large range of variation in hydraulic traits across species; however, they did not closely capture the magnitude of growth declines during drought. Among larger trees (≥10 cm diameter at breast height—DBH), some tree species with high xylem embolism vulnerability and risk of hydraulic failure experienced substantial declines during drought but this pattern was consistent across species. We found a trade-off among species between drought avoidance (capacitance) and drought tolerating (P50) in this tropical forest community. Hydraulic strategies did not align with successional associations. Instead, some of the more drought-vulnerable species were shade-tolerant dominants in the community, suggesting that a drying climate could lead to shifts in long-term forest composition and function in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.</p>
Lianas rapidly colonize early stages of tropical forests, presumably through leaf trait diversification
<p><strong>Questions</strong>: Ecological succession is the process during which ecosystems recover after disturbances. Studies investigating community re-assembly during tropical forest succession have rarely compared lianas to trees. We addressed two questions: (1) How do changes in stem density, total basal area, and species richness of lianas and trees compare throughout a secondary succession, and to what extent does the relative basal area of lianas change along a secondary succession? (2) How do the successional trajectories of functional community trait values of lianas and trees compare?</p> <p><strong>Location</strong>: Yoko forest reserve, central Congo basin.</p> <p><strong>Methods</strong>: Using univariate Bayesian modeling techniques, we analyzed differences in successional pathways between lianas and trees in terms of community structure, and functional assembly in a replicated chronosequence spanning from young to old-growth forests.</p> <p><strong>Results</strong>: We found divergent structural trajectories between lianas and trees along the forest chronosequence. The stem density of lianas peaked at the intermediate stage, while that of trees almost linearly decreased from the early to late stages of succession. The basal area of lianas increased at a higher rate than that of trees, which translated into a marginal increase of liana relative basal area over succession. On the contrary, we observed a lower rate of increase in species richness for lianas than trees over succession. We found a progressive convergence in the responses of lianas and trees to changes with succession in terms of specific leaf area and leaf nitrogen content, but a diverging response in terms of leaf phosphorus content. These functional composition patterns most probably resulted from environmental filtering, induced by a change from nitrogen to phosphorus limitation as the succession progressed to mature forest. </p> <p><strong>Conclusions</strong>: These findings underscore the rapid colonization of tropical forests by lianas after agricultural abandonment, presumably by deploying a more diverse leaf economic spectrum early in succession.</p>
Patterns of ferns community assemblages in some Malaysian and Nigerian tropical forests
<p>Research on fern ecology has gained attention in the last decade, yet there is a paucity of information on the comparison of ferns communities across continents. This study focused on comparing the ferns community assemblages in some tropical forests of Malaysia and Nigeria, thereby assessing the patterns of species richness (SR) and phylogenetic diversity(PD) in relation to the bioclimatic drivers across the continents. The diversity and taxonomic compositions of ferns were assessed using 180 plots of 10 m x 10 m in each country. The species richness and other diversity indices were determined using the combined forests data for each country and for the individual forests. Also, the phylogenetic diversity of the ferns was assessed using the genus-based molecular sequences downloaded from the GeneBank. The patterns of the ferns SR and PD in the two countries as driven by some bioclimatic factors were evaluated using the regression analysis. The observed and rarefied–extrapolated fern species richness is significantly higher in Malaysian forests than in Nigerian forests. Also, the other diversity indices are significantly higher in Malaysian forests except for the Shannon index which showed no significant difference between the two biogeographic regions. There is a very low similarity (7.41%) in the taxonomic composition of ferns between the two biogeographic areas, although the similarity in composition increased with increasing taxonomic levels (species: 7.41%, genus: 12.77%, family: 70.96%). Terrestrial and epiphytic ferns are more dominant than the other life forms in the two countries. The precipitation variables drive the phylogenetic structure of ferns in Nigeria whereas both precipitation and temperature variables drive the phylogenetic structure of ferns in Malaysia. This indicates that ferns assemblages in Nigeria and Malaysia are driven by both climatic variables. Besides, we also hypothesize that these observed differences could be due to other historical and evolutionary processes.</p>
Biophysic and socioeconomic drivers of burned area and carbon emissions from fires in the Pantropical tropical dry forests
<p><span>The global burned area declined by nearly one-quarter between 1998 and 2015. Drylands contain a large proportion of these global fires but there are important differences within the drylands, e.g., savannas and tropical dry forests (TDF). Savannas, a biome fire-prone and fire-adapted, have reduced the burned area, while the fire in the TDF is one of the most critical factors impacting biodiversity and carbon emissions. Moreover, under climate change scenarios TDF is expected to increase its current extent and raise the risk of fires. Despite regional and global scale effects, and the influence of this ecosystem on the global carbon cycle, little effort has been dedicated to studying the influence of climate (seasonality and extreme events) and socioeconomic conditions of fire regimen in TDF. Here we use the Global Fire Emissions Database and, climate and socioeconomic metrics to better understand long-term factors explaining the variation in burned area and biomass in TDF at the Pantropical scale. On average, fires affected 1.4% of the total TDF' area (60,208 km<sup>2</sup>) and burned 24.4% (259.6 Tg) of the global burned biomass annually at Pantropical scales. Climate modulators largely influence local and regional fire regimes. Inter-annual variation in fire regime is shaped by El Niño and La Niña. During El Niño and the forthcoming year of La Niña, there is an increment in extension (35.2 and 10.3%) and carbon emissions (42.9 and 10.6%). Socioeconomic indicators such as land management and population were modulators of the size of both, burned area and carbon emissions. Moreover, fires may reduce the capability to reach the target of "half protected species" in the globe, i.e., high-severity fires are recorded in ecoregions classified as nature could reach half protected. These observations may contribute to improving fire management.</span></p>
Climate and microhabitat shape the prevalence of endozoochory in the seed rain of tropical montane forests
<p>Endozoochory, the dispersal of seeds by animal ingestion, is the most dominant mode of seed dispersal in tropical forests and is a key process shaping current and future forest dynamics. However, it remains largely unknown how endozoochory is associated with environmental conditions at regional and local scales. Here, we investigated the effects of elevation, climate and microhabitat conditions on the proportion of endozoochorous plant species in the seed rain of the tropical Andes of southern Ecuador. Over one year, we measured seed rain in 162 seed traps on nine 1-ha forest plots located at 1000 m, 2000 m, and 3000 m a.s.l. We recorded climatic conditions (mean annual temperature and rainfall) in each plot and microhabitat conditions (leaf area index and soil moisture) adjacent to each seed trap. In total, we recorded 331,838 seeds belonging to 323 morphospecies. Overall, the proportion of endozoochorous species in the seed rain decreased with elevation. Relative biomass of endozoochorous species decreased with increasing rainfall, whereas the relative seed richness of endozoochorous species increased with increasing temperature and leaf area index. These findings suggest an interplay between climate factors and microhabitat conditions in shaping the importance of endozoochorous plant species in the seed rain of tropical montane forests. We conclude that changing climatic and microhabitat conditions are likely to cause changes in the dominant dispersal modes of plant communities which may trigger changes in current and future dynamics of tropical forests.</p>
Leaf decomposition, flammability and functional trait data for tropical swamp forest tree species
<p>Decomposition and fire are major carbon pathways in many ecosystems, yet the contribution of species identity to these processes can be difficult to predict. Plant decomposability and flammability have usually been studied separately but could be linked through shared predictive traits. We explored how decomposability and flammability were related to each other and to key plant functional traits in a tropical swamp forest in Singapore.</p> <p>Full methodological details <em>in situ</em> decomposition experiment in Nee Soon freshwater swamp forest, Singapore, laboratory flammability experiment, and leaf functional trait measurements can be found in the published article and supporting information stated below.</p> <p>Nur E. B. Rahman, Stuart W. Smith, Weng Ngai Lam, Kwek Yan Chong, Matthias S. E. Chua, Pei Yun Teo, Daniel W. J. Lee, Shi Yu Phua, Cheryl Y. Aw, Janice S. H. Lee, David A. Wardle. Leaf decomposition and flammability are largely decoupled across species in a tropical swamp forest despite sharing some predictive leaf functional traits. <em>New Phytologist</em></p> <p>In this data repository, we have uploaded the following decomposition, flammability and trait data as well as secondary data used in our statistical analyses to generate the findings presented in the paper. Specific datasets include the following:</p> <ul> <li>litter_mass_loss.csv : raw data of leaf litterbag dry masses before and after 1 year in situ decomposition experiment in Nee Soon Swamp Forest</li> <li>flammability_leaf_temperature.csv : raw data of temperature recorded during flammability experiments of leaf litter and fresh leaves</li> <li>flammability_timings.csv : raw data of timings of flammability events, namely smouldering and pyrolysis recorded from video footage of flammability experiments</li> <li>senesced_leaf_dryweights_area.csv : senesced leaf raw data for calculating physical traits</li> <li>senesced_leaf_dryweights.csv: senesced leaf dry weights raw data</li> <li>freshtraits_measurements.csv: fresh leaf raw data for calculating physical traits</li> <li>decomposition_constants.csv: derived decomposition constants (k) for each species from the analysis of decomposition experiments.</li> <li>functional_traits_z_standardized.csv : all traits required for the analysis, consolidated following z-standardized transformation</li> <li>functional_traits_untransformed_decomposition_flammability.csv : all traits required for the analysis, untransformed (for back transforming axis labels) and species decomposition and flammability variables</li> </ul> <p>Raw leaf litter mass loss and leaf flammability data are associated meta-data file explaining the column headers and variables. For all other datasets please refer to the paper and supporting information.</p>
Successional and phenological effects on plant-floral visitor interaction networks of a tropical dry forest
<p>1. Plant-pollinator interactions are fundamental to ecosystem functioning; however, the role that succession and phenology have on these interactions is poorly understood, particularly in endangered tropical ecosystems. In highly diverse ecosystems such as tropical dry forests (TDF), variation in water and food availability determines the life cycles of animal pollinators. Therefore, understanding patterns of flowering phenology and plant-pollinator interactions across seasons in successional environments is key to maintaining and restoring TDF.</p> <p>2. We analysed the functional dynamics of plant-floral visitor interactions at the community level across a successional gradient in a Mexican TDF. We evaluated changes in the diversity of blooming plant species and floral visitors, phenological patterns, interaction network metrics, and beta diversity among early, intermediate, and late successional stages, between dry and rainy seasons.</p> <p>3. We found a higher diversity of blooming plant species and a higher richness of animal species in the intermediate and late successional stages. Peak abundance of floral visitors overlapped with flowering peaks in the late successional stages, but this was not consistently the case in the early and intermediate stages. Plant-floral visitors networks differed in structure according to successional stage and season, but specialisation metrics were higher in late successional stages. Interaction networks were more dissimilar between dry and rainy seasons within successional stages than within seasons between successional stages, suggesting connectivity across successional sites during each season. In addition, closely related plant species do not share the same pollination systems in any successional stage.</p> <p>4. Synthesis. Our results showed that plant-floral visitor interactions are dynamic and vary with flowering phenology and with successional changes in plant and animal diversity. Plant-floral visitor interactions were more diverse and specialised in the late successional stages. In the rainy season, differences in network structure among successional stages are due to interaction rewiring, while in the dry season, it is caused by species turnover. Our results demonstrate that seasonality plays a key role in community diversity and network structure and highlight the importance of conserving mature forests to ensure the maintenance of critical pollination interactions across all successional stages.</p>
Tropical bat ectoparasitism in continuous versus fragmented forests: A gap analysis and preliminary meta-analysis
<p><span>Tropical regions are experiencing rapid rates of forest fragmentation, which can have several effects on wildlife, including altered parasite dynamics. Bats are a useful host group to consider these effects of fragmentation because they are abundant in the tropics, serve important ecological roles, and harbour many parasites. Nevertheless, research on the effects of fragmentation on bat ectoparasites is still limited. To help guide ongoing and future research efforts, this study had two objectives: (1) conduct a gap analysis to characterize the state of currently available research on fragmentation effects on bat ectoparasites, and (2) conduct a preliminary meta-analysis to identify current trends. We systematically highlighted several research gaps: studies comparing the effects of fragmented versus continuous forests on ectoparasites are limited and have primarily been conducted in the Neotropics, with a focus on bats in the superfamily Noctilionidea (especially frugivorous phyllostomids). Our preliminary meta-analysis suggested that ectoparasite prevalence (but not the mean or variance in intensity) was higher in fragments than in continuous forests. Moreover, prevalence increased with increasing roost duration, and mean intensity was higher for bats with higher wing aspect ratios. Intensity variance was affected by an interaction between forest type and wing aspect ratio, such that variance increased for bats with high wing aspect ratios in continuous forests but decreased in fragments. These results suggest that fragmentation can shape aspects of bat ectoparasitism and could have implications for the ecology, health, and conservation of bats in fragmented landscapes. However, existing research gaps could bias our current understanding of habitat change and bat health, and future research should thus investigate these effects in the Paleotropics and with other bat families. </span><span><br></span></p>
A new, disjunct species of Bahiana (Euphorbiaceae-Acalyphoideae): Phytogeographic connections between the seasonally dry tropical forests of Peru and Brazil, and a review of spinescence in the family
<p><em>Bahiana</em> is expanded from 1 to 2 species with the description of <em>B. occidentalis</em> K. Wurdack, <strong>sp. nov.</strong> as a new endemic of the seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTFs) of Peru. The disjunct distribution of Bahiana with populations of <em>B. occidentalis</em> on opposite sides of the Andes in northwestern Peru (Tumbes, San Martín) and B. pyriformis in eastern Brazil (Bahia) adds to the phytogeographic links among the widely scattered New World SDTFs. Although <em>B. occidentalis</em> remains imperfectly known due to lack of flowering collections, molecular phylogenetic results from four loci (plastid <em>matK</em>, <em>rbcL</em>, and <em>trnL-F</em>; and nuclear ITS) unite the two species as does gross vegetative morphology, notably their spinose stipules, and androecial structure. Spinescence in Euphorbiaceae was surveyed and found on vegetative organs in 25 genera, which mostly have modified sharp branch tips. Among New World taxa, spines that originate from stipule modifications only occur in <em>Bahiana</em> and <em>Acidocroton</em>, while the intrastipular spines of <em>Philyra</em> are of uncertain homologies.</p>
Soil nutrient dissimilarity and litter nutrient limitation as major drivers of home field advantage in riparian tropical forests
<p><span>Decomposition is a key process driving carbon and nutrient cycling in ecosystems worldwide. The home field advantage effect (HFA) has been found to accelerate decomposition rates when litter originates from "home" when compared to other ("away") sites. It is still poorly known how HFA plays out in tropical, riparian forests, particularly in forests under restoration. We carried out three independent reciprocal litter transplant experiments to test how litter quality, soil nutrient concentrations and successional stage (age) influenced HFA in tropical riparian forests. These experimental areas formed a wide gradient of soil and litter nutrients, which we used to evaluate the more general hypothesis that HFA varies with dissimilarity in soil nutrients and litter quality. We found that HFA increased with soil nutrient dissimilarity, suggesting that litter translocation uncouples relationships between decomposers and litter characteristics; and with litter N:P, indicating P limitation in this system. We also found negative HFA effects at a site under restoration that presented low decomposer ability, suggesting that forest restoration does not necessarily recover decomposer communities and nutrient cycling. Within each of the independent experiments, the occurrence of HFA effects was limited and their magnitude was not related to forest age, nor soil and litter quality. Our results imply that HFA effects in tropical ecosystems are influenced by litter nutrient limitation and soil nutrient dissimilarity between home and away sites, but to further disentangle major HFA drivers in tropical areas, a gradient of dissimilarity between litter and soil properties must be implemented in future experimental designs.</span></p>
Data from: Effects of tree functional traits on soil respiration in tropical forest plantations
<p>The study covers four plantations stands of Acacia auriculiformis (A), Eucalyptus urophylla (E), Hopea odorata (H), and X. xylocarpa (X) through a sample plot (50 m x 50 m) in each stand from July 2015 until June 2016. Physical and chemical soil properties were collected at two depths (0-15 cm, 15-30 cm) at the beginning of the study (soil_properties_initial.csv). Additional samplings of topsoil pH, bulk density (BD, g cm-3), organic matter (OM, %), total carbon (TC, %), and nitrogen (TN, %) were conducted monthly (mo_yr) at five random locations (soil_properties_month.csv). Soil respiration (SR) was measured at the beginning of each month (mo_yr) at 12 locations (Point) within each species sample plot (Species) for ten hours (h_time) simultaneously with soil temperature (ST, C), air temperature (AT, C), relative humidity (RH), and soil moisture (SM, %) (soil_respiration.csv). The location of each soil respiration measurement point within the sample plots is provided as well (soil_respiration_location.csv). All trees within each sample plot were mapped (X, Y) and their stem basal area (BA_cm2) and height (H) were measured (stand_inventories.csv).</p>
Data from: Biotic pressures and environmental heterogeneity shape beta-diversity of seedling communities in tropical montane forests
<p>Many theories have been proposed to explain the high diversity of plants in the tropics. However, we lack an understanding of the processes that drive plant diversity and community assembly at different spatial scales. Here, we applied beta-diversity partitioning to test how biotic and abiotic factors are associated with seedling beta-diversity in a tropical montane forest in Southern Ecuador. We recorded seedling communities on 81 subplots at nine plots located at three elevations along a 2000-m elevational gradient. We measured biotic pressures (i.e. herbivory and fungal pathogen attacks) and environmental conditions (i.e. soil moisture and canopy closure) at all subplots and related them to species turnover and richness differences in seedling communities within and between elevations. We found that species turnover increased with differences in biotic dissimilarity within elevations, while differences in species richness within elevations increased with increasing environmental dissimilarity. Between elevations, species turnover increased with increasing environmental dissimilarity. Our findings show that species turnover and changes in species richness are related differently to abiotic and biotic factors, and that the importance of these factors for shaping seedling diversity is scale-dependent. Our study contributes to better understand the processes driving seedling beta-diversity and the assembly of plant communities in highly diverse tropical montane forests.</p>
Sunda-Sahul floristic exchange and pathways into the Southwest Pacific: New insights from wet tropical forest trees
<p><strong>Aim</strong> Recent investigations on the floristic exchange between Southeast Asia and Australia have shown a clear dispersal directionality bias (West to East) of wet-adapted plant taxa. However, dispersal routes and directions of wet forest taxa into the South Pacific remain insufficiently known. We here aimed to establish the most likely routes and directions of plant dispersal into the Southwest Pacific islands.</p> <p><strong>Location</strong> Southeast Asia, East Asia, Australia, Southwest Pacific.</p> <p><strong>Taxon</strong> <em>Dysoxylum</em> s.l. (Meliaceae). This includes <em>Dysoxylum</em> s.s., <em>Didymocheton</em>, <em>Epicharis</em>, <em>Goniocheton</em>, <em>Pseudocarapa</em> and <em>Prasoxylon</em>.</p> <p><strong>Method</strong> We sampled 75% of the species diversity in <em>Dysoxylum</em> s.l., covering the entire distribution range, all genera and major lineages. Phylogenetic relationships of 149 accessions were reconstructed using Bayesian Evolutionary Analysis and two internal constraints. The dispersal–extinction–cladogenesis variant, founder-event speciation (DEC+J), was used for reconstructing the biogeographic history, and 100 BSMs were simulated.</p> <p><strong>Results</strong> <em>Dysoxylum</em> s.l. originated and firstly diversified in the western part of its current distribution range (incl. Indochina) during the Miocene to Pliocene, followed by an overall eastern range expansion towards Malesia, Australia and the Southwest Pacific in the Pliocene.</p> <p><strong>Main</strong> <strong>conclusions</strong> The south-eastward expansion of lineages into Wallacea and Australia is in temporal agreement with the convergence of the Asian and Australian tectonic plates since the Miocene. Long-distance dispersal is the main mechanism that led to the current distribution. Two dispersal pathways into the Southwest Pacific are identified, (1) through New Guinea and the Solomon Islands to Fiji, and (2) from New Zealand to Fiji. For both routes, Fiji was an important secondary source area for dispersal into the Southwest Pacific.</p>
Input data and model implementation from: How do terrestrial wildlife communities respond to small-scale Acacia plantations embedded in harvested tropical forest?
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>To offset the declining timber supply from shifting towards more sustainable forestry practices, industrial tree plantations are expanding in tropical production forests. The conversion of natural forest to tree plantation is generally associated with loss of biodiversity and shifts toward more generalist and disturbance tolerant communities; but effects of mixed-landuse landscapes integrating natural and plantation forest remain little understood. Using camera traps, we surveyed the medium-to-large bodied terrestrial wildlife community across two mixed-land-use forest management areas in Sarawak, Malaysia Borneo which include areas dedicated for logging of natural forest and adjacent planted <em>Acacia</em> forests. We analysed data from a 25-wildlife species community using a Bayesian community occupancy model to assess species richness and species-specific occurrence responses to <em>Acacia</em> plantations at a broad scale, and to remote-sensed local habitat conditions within the different forest land-use types. All species were estimated to occur in both land-use types, but species-level percent area occupied and predicted average local species richness were slightly higher in the natural forest management areas compared to licensed planted forest. Similarly, occupancy-based species diversity profiles and defaunation indices for both a full community and only threatened and endemic species suggested the diversity and occurrence were slightly higher in the natural forest management areas. At the local scale, forest quality was the most prominent predictor of species occurrence. These associations with forest quality varied among species but were predominantly positive. Our results highlight the ability of a mixed-land-use landscape with small-scale<em> Acacia</em> plantations embedded in natural forest to retain terrestrial wildlife communities while providing an alternate source of timber. Nonetheless, there was a tendency towards reduced biodiversity in planted forests, which would likely be more pronounced in plantations that are larger or embedded in a less natural matrix.</span></p>
UAV-Based Height Measurement and Height-Diameter Model integrating Taxonomic Effects: Exploring Vertical Structure of Aboveground Biomass and Species Diversity in a Malaysian Tropical Forest
<p>These Excel files are the dataset used for the analysis in the submitted paper</p> <p>Dataset S1: Data for 6-ha pot in Pasoh Forest Researve</p> <p>Dataset S2: Data for height–diameter (HD) models</p>
Eighteen-year nitrogen addition does not increase plant phosphorus demand in a nitrogen-saturated tropical forest
<ol> <li><span>Nitrogen (N) deposition usually increases plant tissue N concentrations and thus phosphorus (P) demand in young and/or N-limited forests, but the N-deposition effect on plant P demand has rarely been assessed in N-saturated forests.</span></li> <li><span>Impacts of 18-year external N additions (Control: 0, Low N: 50, Moderate N:100, and High N: 150 kg N ha<sup>-1</sup> yr<sup>-1</sup>) on leaf P of four plant life-forms (tree, shrub, herb, and liana), P fractions of bulk and rhizosphere soils were examined in a N-saturated mature tropical forest in southern China. </span></li> <li><span>Leaf N, P, and N: P ratios of all plant life-forms remained stable under three N-additions. Among soil P fractions, moderate labile organic P increased by 25-33% across three N-additions; and soil total P was increased by 11.76 % under Low N, and 8.87% under High N, compared with the control. The PLS-PM results showed that the path coefficient of microbial community to available P significantly increased and of inorganic P to available P significantly decreased under N additions than control. N additions improved soil P availability through microbe-mediated P transformation: Low N significantly increased soil microbial taxonomic diversity, and a higher microbial diversity could enlarge the sources of nutrient acquisition and stimulate decomposition of recalcitrant organic matters; while High N significantly decreased soil microbial taxonomic diversity, the remaining microorganisms that were screened by N-rich environments had the characteristics of resisting the N-addition effects and maintained efficient P acquisition.</span></li> <li> <span><em>Synthesis</em>.</span><span> Our findings provide a novel line of evidence that long-term N deposition did not increase plant P demand in a N-saturated mature tropical forest. The underlying mechanism is that plants did not increase N uptakes therefore nor increase P uptakes (a stable leaf N: P stoichiometry) in an already N-saturated ecosystem. Different N addition rates regulated soil P transformation via microbial community transition. These findings help improve the understanding of plant P acquisition and modeling of biogeochemical N-P cycling and vegetation productivity in N-rich forest ecosystems, particularly considering the fact that chronic N deposition may likely lead to soil N richness and even saturation of many forests in the future.</span> </li> </ol>
18S rDNA OTU table of fungal community in a tropical forest
<p>This study aims to elucidate how fungal community responses to N deposition</p>
Tropical forests are approaching critical temperature thresholds
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>The critical temperature beyond which<strong> </strong>photosynthetic machinery in tropical trees begins to fail averages ~<span>46.7°C </span>(T<sub>crit</sub>) <sup>1</sup>. However, it remains unclear whether leaf temperatures experienced by tropical vegetation approach this threshold or soon will under climate change. We found that pantropical canopy temperatures independently triangulated from individual leaf thermocouples, pyrgeometers, and remote sensing (ECOSTRESS) have midday-peak temperatures of ~34°C during dry periods, with a long high-temperature tail that can exceed 40°C. Leaf thermocouple data from multiple sites across the tropics suggest that even within pixels of moderate temperatures, upper-canopy leaves exceed T<sub>crit</sub> 0.01% of the time. Further, upper-canopy leaf warming experiments (+2, 3, and 4°C in Brazil, Puerto Rico, and Australia) increased leaf temperatures non-linearly with peak leaf temperatures exceeding T<sub>crit</sub> 1.3% of the time (11% >43.5°C, 0.3% >49.9°C). Using an empirical model incorporating these dynamics (validated with warming experiment data), we found that tropical forests can withstand up to a 3.9 ± 0.5 °C increase in air temperatures before a potential collapse in metabolic function, but the remaining uncertainty in our understanding of T<sub>crit</sub> could reduce this to 2.6 ± 0.6°C. The 4.0°C estimate is within the "worst case scenario" (RCP-8.5) of climate change predictions<sup>2</sup> for tropical forests and therefore it is still within our power to decide (e.g., by not taking the RCP 8.5 route) the fate of these critical realms of carbon, water, and biodiversity <sup>3,4</sup>.</span></p>
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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.
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.