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110 results for “ecological response”
Extending the ecology of fear: Parasite-mediated sexual selection drives host response to parasites
<p>The 'ecology of fear' describes the negative effects natural enemies have on potential victims even when those victims are not consumed or infected. Although recent work has demonstrated parasites have non-consumptive effects (NCE) on potential hosts, how these effects vary within host populations is not well understood. We investigated how NCE vary based on host risk of infection and relative cost of infection by measuring the metabolic rate (MR) of naive <em>Drosophila nigrospiracula</em> exposed to an ectoparasite, <em>Macrocheles subbadius</em>. We tested two mutually exclusive hypotheses: 1) asymmetrical costs of infection drive adaptions for stronger responses to parasite exposure; or 2) asymmetrical risks of infection drive adaptions for stronger responses to parasite exposure. In this system, male flies have higher costs of infection relative to female flies due to parasite-mediated sexual selection; similarly, virgin females experience higher costs of infection relative to mated females. Risk of infection also varies among flies because mites preferentially infect female flies over males, and mites preferentially infect mated females over virgin females. Our results were compatible with the hypothesis that costs of infection drive the strength of response to mite risk. Female flies responded to parasite exposure with a 15.1% increase in MR, while exposed males showed a stronger response with a 31.3% increase in MR. Mated females increased their MR by 34.8% during mite exposure whereas virgin females experienced an increase of 61.2%. Our findings suggest that NCE of parasites can vary based on state-dependent costs of infection.</p>
Diversity of response and effect traits provides complementary information about avian community dynamics linked to ecological function
<p>Functional diversity metrics based on species traits are widely used to investigate ecosystem functioning. In theory, such metrics have different implications depending on whether they are calculated from traits mediating responses to environmental change (response traits) or those regulating function (effect traits), yet trait choice in diversity metrics is rarely scrutinized. Here, we compile effect and response traits for British bird species supplying two key ecological services – seed dispersal and insect predation – to assess the relationship between functional diversity and both mean and stability of community abundance over time. As predicted, functional diversity correlates with stability in community abundance of seed dispersers when calculated using response traits. However, we found a negative relationship between functional diversity and mean community abundance of seed dispersers when calculated using effect traits. Subsequently, when combining all traits together, we found inconsistent results with functional diversity correlating with reduced stability in insectivores, but greater stability in seed dispersers. Our findings suggest that trait choice should be considered more carefully when applying such metrics in ecosystem management.</p>
Data from: Boreal tree growth exhibits decadal-scale ecological memory to drought and insect defoliation, but no negative response to their interaction
1. Interactions between drought and insect defoliation may dramatically alter forest function under novel climate and disturbance regimes, but remain poorly understood. We empirically tested two important hypotheses regarding tree responses to drought and insect defoliation: 1) trees exhibit delayed, persistent, and cumulative growth responses to these stressors; 2) physiological feedbacks in tree responses to these stressors exacerbate their impacts on tree growth. These hypotheses remain largely untested at a landscape scale, yet are critical for predicting forest function under novel future conditions given the connection between tree growth and demographic processes such as mortality and regeneration. 2. We developed a Bayesian hierarchical model to quantify the ecological memory of tree growth to past water deficits and insect defoliation events, derive antecedent variables reflecting the persistent and cumulative effects of these stressors on current growth, and test for their interactive effects. The model was applied to extensive tree growth, weather, and defoliation survey data from western and eastern regions of the Canadian boreal forest impacted by recent drought and defoliation events and characterized by contrasting tree compositions, climates, and insect defoliators. 3. Results revealed persistent negative tree growth responses to past water (all trees) and defoliation (host trees) stress lasting 3-6 and 10-12 years, respectively, depending on study region. Accounting for the ecological memory of tree growth to water and defoliation stress allowed for detection of interactions not previously demonstrated. Contrary to expectations, we found evidence for positive interactions among non-host trees likely due to reduced water stress following defoliation events. Regional differences in ecological memory to water stress highlight the role of climate in shaping forest responses to drought. 4. Synthesis. Study results suggest negative feedbacks in tree responses to drought and insect attack may be weaker than predicted for defoliator-dominated boreal forest systems. Instead, insect defoliation may offset the impacts of water deficit on boreal tree growth by reducing transpirational water demand. This offset mimics increased resistance to drought following forest thinning and may lessen growth and mortality losses due to increased aridity and more severe insect damage forecast for the boreal forest under global change.
Data for: Coherent long-term body-size responses across all Northwest Atlantic herring populations to warming and environmental change despite contrasting harvest and ecological factors
<p>Body size is a key component of individual fitness and an important factor in the structure and functioning of populations and ecosystems. Disentangling the effects of environmental change, harvest, and intra- and inter-specific trophic effects on body size remains challenging for populations in the wild. Herring in the Northwest Atlantic provide a strong basis for evaluating hypotheses related to these drivers given that they have experienced significant warming and harvest over the past century, while also having been exposed to a wide range of other selective constraints across their range. Using data on mean length-at-age 4 for the sixteen principal populations over a period of 53 cohorts (1962-2014), we fitted a series of empirical models for temporal and between-population variation in the response to changes in sea surface temperature. We find evidence for a unified cross-population response in the form of a parabolic function according to which populations in naturally warmer environments have responded more negatively to increasing temperature compared with those in colder locations. Temporal variation in residuals from this function was highly coherent among populations, further suggesting a common response to a large-scale environmental driver. The synchrony observed in this study system, despite strong differences in harvest and ecological histories among populations and over time, clearly indicates a dominant role of environmental change on size-at-age in wild populations, in contrast to commonly reported effects of fishing. This finding has important implications for the management of fisheries as it indicates that a key trait associated with population productivity may be under considerably less short-term management control than currently assumed. Our study, overall, illustrates the need for a comparative approach within species for inferences concerning the many possible effects on body size of natural and anthropogenic drivers in the wild.</p>
Symbionts out of sync: decoupled physiological responses are widespread and ecologically important in lichen associations
<p>A core vulnerability in symbioses is the need for coordination between the symbiotic partners, which are often assumed to be closely physiologically integrated. We critically re-examine this assumed integration in lichen symbioses, recovering a long overlooked yet fundamental physiological asymmetry in carbon balance. We examine the physiological, ecological and transcriptional basis of this asymmetry in the lichen <em>Evernia mesomorpha</em>. This carbon balance asymmetry depends on hydration source and aligns with climatic range limits. Differences in gene expression across the <em>E. mesomorpha</em> symbiosis suggest that the physiologies of the primary lichen symbionts are decoupled. Furthermore, we use gas-exchange data to show that asymmetries in carbon balance are widespread and common across evolutionarily disparate lichen associations. Using carbon balance asymmetry as an example, we provide evidence for the wide-ranging importance of physiological asymmetries in symbioses.</p>
Data from: Ecological requirements drive the variable responses of wheat pests and natural enemies to the landscape context
<p>1. Semi-natural habitats (SNH) are considered essential for pest suppressive landscapes, but their influence on crop pests and natural enemies can be highly variable. Instead of SNH per se, the availability of resources, such as pollen and nectar, may be more relevant for supporting pest control.</p> <p>2. Here, we assessed the spatio-temporal variation of multiple insect pests (cereal leaf beetles and aphids) and natural enemies (predators and aphid parasitoids) in wheat fields and their responses to landscape context and flower availability. We combined detailed information on pollen use by natural enemies with the specific distribution of pollen-providing plants across a gradient of landscape composition and configuration.</p> <p>3. The abundance of wheat pests was tightly linked to wheat development stage. Syrphids colonised the fields early in the season, while the abundance of other enemies increased later in the season. The responses of pests to landscape structure were variable and, while some pests had low abundances in landscapes with high edge density and SNH cover, <em>Sitobion avenae</em> abundance was positively associated with SNH cover. Lacewings, syrphids and cereal leaf beetles were abundant in landscapes with diverse and abundant flower resources, whereas the abundance of parasitoids and Nabis sp. was driven by aphid abundance. We detected no significant indirect effects of landscape on pests via natural enemies.</p> <p>4. Synthesis and applications. Our findings highlight the need for conservation biological control to go beyond "one size fits all" and consider the specific ecology of the involved organisms. Landscapes with high edge density and flowering woody plants may support natural enemies, in particular syrphids, which colonised the fields early in the season. Incentives for pest-suppressive landscapes should focus on tailored strategies that disfavour pests and simultaneously enhance natural enemies according to their ecological requirements.</p>
Ecological and metabolomic responses of plants to deer exclosure in a suburban forest
<p>Trees and shrubs in suburban forests can be subject to chronic herbivory from abundant white-tailed deer, influencing survival, growth, secondary metabolites and ecological success in the community. We investigated how deer affect the size, cover, and metabolomes of four species in the understory of a suburban forest in central New Jersey, USA: the woody shrubs E<em>uonymus alatus</em> and <em>Lindera benzoin</em>, the tree <em>Nyssa sylvatica</em>, and the semi-woody shrub <em>Rosa multiflora</em>. For each species, we compared plants in 38 16 m<sup>2</sup> plots with or without deer exclosure, measuring proportion cover and mean height after 6.5 years of fencing. We scored each species in all plots for deer browsing over eight years and assessed selection by deer among the species. We did untargeted metabolomics by sampling leaves from three plants of each species in an equal number of fenced and unfenced plots, conducting chloroform-methanol extractions followed by LC-MS/MS, and conducting statistical analysis on MetaboAnalyst. The proportion of a species browsed ranged from 0.24 to 0.35. <em>Nyssa sylvatica</em> appeared most selected by and susceptible to deer; in unfenced plots both its cover and mean height were significantly lower. Only cover or height was lower for <em>E. alatus</em> and <em>L. benzoin</em> in unfenced plots, while <em>R. multiflora</em> height was greater. The metabolomic analysis identified 2,333 metabolites, which clustered by species but not fencing treatment. However, targeted analysis of the top metabolites grouped by fencing for all samples and for each species alone, and was especially clear in<em> N. sylvatica,</em> which also grouped by fencing using all metabolites. The most significant metabolites that were upregulated in fenced plants include some involved in defense-related metabolic pathways, e.g. monoterpenoid biosynthesis. In overbrowsed suburban forests, variation of deer impact on species' ecological success, potentially mediated by metabolome-wide chemical responses to deer, may contribute to changes in community structure.</p>
Intraspecific variation in mycorrhizal response is much larger than ecological literature suggests
<p>Mycorrhizal response is the most common metric for characterizing how much benefit a plant derives from mycorrhizal symbiosis. Traditionally, ecologists have used these metrics to generalize benefit from mycorrhizal symbiosis in plant species, ignoring the potential for plant intraspecific trait variation to alter the outcome of the mutualism. In order for mean trait values to be useful as a functional trait to describe a species, as has been attempted for mycorrhizal response traits, interspecific variation must be much larger than intraspecific variation. While the variation among species has been extensively studied with respect to mycorrhizal response traits, variation within species has rarely been examined. We conducted a systematic review and analyzed how much variation for mycorrhizal growth and nutrient response typically exists within a plant species. We assessed 26 publications that included 56 individual studies testing mycorrhizal response in at least five genotypes of a plant species, and we found that intraspecific trait variation for mycorrhizal response was generally very large and highly variable depending on study design. The difference between the highest and lowest growth response in a study ranged from 10% to 350% across studies, and 37 of the studies included species for which both positive and negative growth responses to mycorrhizae were observed across different genotypes. Phosphorus concentration and content were measured in 15 studies and variation was similar to variation in growth responses. We also found that plant genotype was just as important for predicting mycorrhizal response as the effects of fungal inoculant identity. Our analysis highlights not only the potential importance of intraspecific trait variation for mycorrhizal response but also the lack of research that has been done on the scale of this variation in plant species. Including intraspecific variation in research on the interactions between plants and their symbionts can increase our understanding of plant coexistence and ecological stability.</p>
Entangled Ecologies. Interactive Documentary between Living Archive, Responsible Witnessing and Relational Co-Creation
<p>The videoessay is also accessible: <a href="https://trametrami.avinus.org/publikationen/3-2023">https://trametrami.avinus.org/publikationen/3-2023</a></p> <p>Recent re-conceptualizations of participation as well as theories of digital transformation culture have shifted the notion of the archive seeing not so much as a static, institutional body but rather as a dynamic, living epistemic environments. Building on these approaches, this presentation discusses emerging phenomena in interactive documentary focusing on ecological emergency – seeing this crisis itself as a complex ecology of issues where images and conceptualization past, present and future meet. Taking paradigmatic projects addressing the issue of climate change – <em>The Shore Line</em> (2017) and <em>Climate Witness Project </em>(2019) – I suggest tentative answers to the question in which way i-docs can contribute to tackle complex change. Are there images from the past which help us to better cope with the present and to envision a more sustainable future? How can one raise awareness of immanent ecological risks when menace is almost invisible, unprecedented and un-imaginable? Is there a way to negotiate multifaceted entanglements through documentaries which are neither paralyzing ecodystopian narratives nor naive ecotopian success-stories? The hypothesis underlying my approach is that one possible solution resides in documentaries which are built on principles of pluri-perspectivity and polyphony to transcend dualisms and to build bridges leading from history to the forthcoming. Discourses from various traditions are brought into dialogue: theories of documentary film meet ecocriticism; network theory encounters reflections on the epistemic dimension of non-fiction; and concepts of co-creation and intervention are related to processes of witnessing, doing documentary and responsible action-taking.</p> <p> </p> <p>more information: <a href="https://did.avinus.org/">https://did.avinus.org/</a> and <a href="https://trametrami.avinus.org/publikationen">https://trametrami.avinus.org/publikationen </a></p>
Long-term ecological responses of a lowland dipterocarp forest to climate changes and nutrient availability at Bulusan Lake
<p>This data publication encompasses the datasets generated in a study focusing on reconstructing ecological responses to climatic and nutrient availability changes during the late Holocene in northern Philippines. The data comes from samples taken from sediment cores retrieved from Bulusan Lake, located on Luzon Island, Philippines, in March 2013. In these samples, we analyzed fossil pollen and spores (a proxy for plant taxa abundance), charcoal (a proxy for fire activity), stable carbon isotopic composition of terrestrial-lipid biomarkers (a proxy for vegetation cover), stable nitrogen and phosphate isotope composition of bulk sediments, and elemental composition of sediment cores at a high resolution (proxies for nutrient availability and volcanic activity). The dataset also includes links to records generated in a previous study on the same sediments (Prohaska <em>et al.</em> 2023), where we measured the stable hydrogen isotopic composition of terrestrial-lipid biomarkers to reconstruct past hydrological conditions, as well as the magnetic susceptibility record and AMS dates of plant macrofossils to calculate sediment accumulation ages. The data generation spanned the period from April 2013 to September 2020, and the data files are provided in Excel spreadsheet format.</p>
Biodiversity components mediate the response to forest loss and the effect on ecological processes of plant-frugivore assemblages
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Data from: Parental control: Ecology drives plasticity in parental response to offspring signals
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Long-term ecological responses of a lowland dipterocarp forest to climate changes and nutrient availability at Bulusan Lake
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Symbionts out of sync: decoupled physiological responses are widespread and ecologically important in lichen associations
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Extending the ecology of fear: Parasite-mediated sexual selection drives host response to parasites
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Coping with feast and famine: Integrated behavioral and metabolically flexible responses of wild orangutans to ecologically driven dietary variation
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Data for: Coherent long-term body-size responses across all Northwest Atlantic herring populations to warming and environmental change despite contrasting harvest and ecological factors
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Data from: Ecological requirements drive the variable responses of wheat pests and natural enemies to the landscape context
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Data from: Boreal tree growth exhibits decadal-scale ecological memory to drought and insect defoliation, but no negative response to their interaction
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Diversity of response and effect traits provides complementary information about avian community dynamics linked to ecological function
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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)
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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.