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115 results for “ecological role”
Fig. 2 in Ecology Of The Cold-Adapted Species Nebria Germari (Coleoptera: Carabidae): The Role Of Supraglacial Stony Debris As Refugium During The Current Interglacial Period
Fig. 2. Monthly temperatures on supraglacial debris, ice-free debris and atmosphere.
Data from: The roles of non-production vegetation in agroecosystems: a research framework for filling process knowledge gaps in a social-ecological context
<p>1. An ever-expanding human population, climatic changes, and the spread of intensive farming practices is putting increasing pressure on agroecosystems and their inherent biodiversity. Non-production vegetation elements, such as woody patches, riparian margins, and restoration plantings, are vital for conserving agroecosystem biodiversity. Further, such elements are key building blocks that are manipulated via land management, thereby influencing the biotic and abiotic processes that underpin functioning agroecosystems.</p> <p>2. Despite this critical role, there has been a lack of synthesis on which types of vegetation elements drive and/or support ecological processes, and the mechanisms by which this occurs. Using a systematic, quantitative literature review of 342 articles, we asked: what are the effects of non-production vegetation on agroecosystem processes and how are these processes measured within global agroecosystems?</p> <p>3. Woody patches, hedgerows and borders, riparian margins, and shelterbelts were the most studied types of non-production vegetation. The majority (61%) of studies showed positive effects of non-production vegetation on ecological processes, where the presence, level or rate of the studied process was increased or enhanced.</p> <p>4. However, four key research gaps were revealed: (1) most studies (83%) used proxies for, instead of direct measurements of, ecosystem processes related to non-production vegetation; (2) study designs used to investigate non-production vegetation effects on ecosystem processes directly were largely limited to observational comparisons of non-production vegetation types, farm-scale vegetation configurations, and different proximities to vegetation in terms of the effect on ecological processes; relatively few studies used manipulative experiments (3) the relatively few studies directly measuring ecosystem processes were dominated by four process categories: invertebrate biocontrol, predator and natural enemy spillover, animal movement, and ecosystem cycling, and (4) the methods used to directly measure non-production vegetation effects comprised a surprisingly limited set of approaches.</p> <p>5. To fill key research gaps that will inform the use of non-production vegetation to enhance agroecosystem processes, we present a framework for future research that emphasises the need to combine an understanding of human decision making with carefully-designed and targeted investigations into the roles of taxa, ecosystem processes, and landscape heterogeneity related to non-production vegetation, at multiple spatial scales within agroecosystems.</p>
Fig. 3. Isolated type A coprolites viewed using transmitted-light microscopy. Scale bars 100 in The ecological role of immature phantom midges (Diptera: Chaoboridae) in the Eocene Lake Messel, Germany
Fig. 3. Isolated type A coprolites viewed using transmitted-light microscopy. Scale bars 100 µm.
Leaf angle as a leaf and canopy trait: Rejuvenating its role in ecology with new technology
<p>Life on Earth depends on the conversion of solar energy to chemical energy by plants through photosynthesis. A fundamental challenge in optimizing photosynthesis is to adjust leaf angles to efficiently use the intercepted sunlight under the constraints of heat stress, water loss, and competition. Despite the importance of leaf angle, until recently, we have lacked data and frameworks to describe and predict leaf angle dynamics and their impacts from leaves to the globe. We review the role of leaf angle in studies of ecophysiology, ecosystem ecology, and earth system science and highlight the essential yet understudied role of leaf angle as an ecological strategy to regulate plant carbon-water-energy nexus and to bridges leaf, canopy, and earth system processes. Using two models, we show that leaf angle variations have significant impacts on not only canopy-scale photosynthesis, energy balance, and water use efficiency but also light competition within forest canopy. New techniques to measure leaf angles are emerging, opening opportunities to understand the rarely-measured intraspecific, interspecific, seasonal, and interannual variations of leaf angles and their implications to plant biology and earth system science. We conclude by proposing three directions for future research.</p>
The role of sexual isolation during rapid ecological divergence: evidence for a new dimension of isolation in Rhagoletis pomonella
<p>The pace of divergence and likelihood of complete speciation may depend on how and when different types of reproductive barriers evolve. Questions remain about the evolution of reproductive barriers after initial divergence. We tested for the presence of sexual isolation (reduced mating between populations due to divergent mating preferences and traits) in <em>Rhagoletis</em> <em>pomonella</em> flies, a model system for incipient ecological speciation. We measured the strength of sexual isolation between two very recently diverged (~170 generations) sympatric populations, adapted to different host fruits (hawthorn and apple). We found that flies from both populations were more likely to mate within than between populations. Thus, sexual isolation may play an important role in reducing gene flow allowed by early-acting ecological barriers. We also tested how warmer temperatures predicted under climate change could alter sexual isolation and found that sexual isolation was markedly asymmetric under warmer temperatures – apple males and hawthorn females mated randomly while apple females and hawthorn males mated within population than between. Our findings provide a window into the early divergence process and the role of sexual isolation after initial ecological divergence, in addition to examining how environmental conditions could shape the likelihood of further divergence.</p>
Organismal effects of heat in a fixed ecological niche: Implications on the role of behavioral buffering in our changing world
<p>Increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves generate new challenges for many organisms. Our understanding of the ecological predictors of thermal vulnerability is improving, yet, at least in endotherms, we are still only beginning to understand one critical component of predicting resilience: exactly how do wild animals cope with sub-lethal heat? In wild endotherms, most prior work focuses on one or a few traits, leaving uncertainty about organismal consequences of heatwaves. Here, we experimentally generated a 2.8<span><span><span> </span></span></span><span>°</span>C heatwave for free-living nestling tree swallows (<em><span>Tachycineta bicolor</span></em>). Over a week-long period coinciding with the peak of post-natal growth, we quantified a suite of traits to test the hypotheses that (a) behavioral or (b) physiological responses may be sufficient for coping with inescapable heat. Heat-exposed nestlings increased panting and decreased huddling, but treatment effects on panting dissipated over time, even though heat-induced temperatures remained elevated. Physiologically, we found no effects of heat on: gene expression of three heat shock proteins in blood, muscle, and three brain regions; secretion of circulating corticosterone at baseline or in response to handling; and telomere length. Moreover, heat had a positive effect on growth and a marginal, but not significant, positive effect on subsequent recruitment. These results suggest that nestlings were generally buffered from deleterious effects of heat, with one exception: heat-exposed nestlings exhibited lower gene expression for superoxide dismutase, a key antioxidant defense. Despite this one apparent cost, our thorough organismal investigation indicates general resilience to a heatwave that may, in part, stem from behavioral buffering and acclimation. Our approach provides a mechanistic framework that we hope will improve understanding of species persistence in the face of climate change.</p>
Data from: Are caiman nests microhabitats? Assessing their ecological role across different levels of anthropogenic disturbance
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Data from: The roles of non-production vegetation in agroecosystems: a research framework for filling process knowledge gaps in a social-ecological context
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The role of sexual isolation during rapid ecological divergence: evidence for a new dimension of isolation in Rhagoletis pomonella
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Data from: The role of wild bees and cavity-nesting wasps as ecological indicators of the last traditionally managed meadows in Eastern Europe
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Data from: The role of hybridization during ecological divergence of southwestern white pine (Pinus strobiformis) and limber pine (P. flexilis)
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Data from: What determines the distinct morphology of species with a particular ecology? The roles of many-to-one mapping and trade-offs in the evolution of frog ecomorphology and performance
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Data from: The evolution of sex roles: The importance of ecology and social environment
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Thermal history mediates the ecological role of body size in a freshwater fish
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Organismal effects of heat in a fixed ecological niche: Implications on the role of behavioral buffering in our changing world
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Data from: Frugivory by three species of lizards in Madagascar: Implication for their ecological roles as seed dispersers
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Leaf angle as a leaf and canopy trait: Rejuvenating its role in ecology with new technology
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Dataset for: Diets of two non-native praying mantids (Tenodera sinensis and Mantis religiosa) show consumption of arthropods across all ecological roles
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The limits of convergence: the roles of phylogeny and dietary ecology in shaping non-avian amniote skulls
Cranial morphology is remarkably varied in living amniotes, ranging from short-faced mammals to the elongate snouts of crocodylians. This diversity of shapes is thought to correspond with feeding ecology, a relationship repeatedly demonstrated at smaller phylogenetic scales, but one that remains untested across amniote phylogeny. Using a combination of 2D geometric and linear morphometrics, we investigate the links between phylogenetic relationships, diet, and skull shape in an expansive dataset of extant amniotes with teeth: mammals, lepidosaurs, and crocodylians. We find that both phylogeny and diet have statistically significant effects on skull shape, although these effects differ depending on the dataset analyzed. The three major clades largely partition morphospace, each plotting in separate regions with limited overlap. Mammals and squamates extensively diversify within their respective regions. Among all three groups, dietary generalists often occupy clade-specific central regions of morphospace. Some parallel changes in skull shape occur in clades with distinct evolutionary histories but similar diets. However, members of a given clade often present distinct skull shape solutions for a given diet, and the vast majority of species retain the unique aspects of their ancestral skull plan, underscoring the limits of morphological convergence due to ecology in amniotes. These data demonstrate that certain skull shapes may provide functional advantages suited to particular diets, but accounting for both phylogenetic history and ecology can provide a more nuanced approach for inferring the ecology and functional morphology of cryptic or extinct amniotes.
Data from: Contrasting ecological roles of non-native ungulates in a novel ecosystem
Conservation has long focused on preserving or restoring pristine ecosystems. However, understanding and managing novel ecosystems has grown in importance as they outnumber pristine ecosystems worldwide. While non-native species may be neutral or detrimental in pristine ecosystems, it is possible that even notorious invaders could play beneficial or mixed roles in novel ecosystems. We examined the effects of two long-established non-native species – Philippine deer (Rusa marianna) and feral pigs (Sus scrofa) – in Guam, Micronesia, where native vertebrate frugivores are functionally absent leaving forests devoid of seed dispersers. We compared the roles of deer and pigs on seedling survival, seed dispersal, and plant community structure in limestone karst forests. Deer, even at low abundances, had pronounced negative impacts on forest communities by decreasing seedling and vine abundance. In contrast, pigs showed no such relationship, and more seeds were found in pig scats than deer scats, suggesting that pigs provide an ecosystem function – seed dispersal – that has been lost from Guam. Our study presents a surprising discrepancy between the roles of two non-native species that are traditionally managed as a single entity, suggesting that ecological function, rather than identity as a non-native, may be more important to consider in managing novel systems.
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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.