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112 results for “ecosystem ecology”
Data from: Non-native mammals are weak candidates to substitute ecological function of native avian seed-dispersers in an island ecosystem
<p>Although prominent examples exist of non-native species causing substantial ecological harm, many have neutral or positive effects, including filling surrogate roles once performed by extinct native organisms. We tested the ecological roles of two non-native mammals as seed dispersers or seed predators in Guåhan, which, due to invasive brown treesnakes (<em>Boiga</em> <em>irregularis</em>), is devoid of native seed dispersers – birds and bats. We conducted feeding trials with captive rats (<em>Rattus</em> spp.), which are present but uncommon due to predation by snakes, and pigs (<em>Sus</em> <em>scrofa</em>), which are abundant. We examined if and how they interacted with common forest fruits. We then compared how any gut-passed or handled seeds germinated compared to seeds left in whole fruit or depulped seeds.</p> <p>Rats and pigs interacted with most of the fruits and seeds (>80%) that they were fed. Of those, most seeds were destroyed – 78% for rats and 90% for pigs, across both native and non-native plant species. Compared to seeds germinating within whole fruits, rats improved germination of the seeds that they handled without ingesting, while pigs diminished the germination of seeds that they handled. The small percentage of seeds (approximately 1.5% for rats and 5% for pigs) that survived gut passage germinated in higher proportions than those in whole fruits. Percentages of seed survival to germination are lower than those found in similar studies with native avian frugivores. Our results indicate that pigs and rats have mixed effects on seeds, but are not suitable surrogates for native seed dispersers.</p>
Ecological significance of standing dead phytomass: marcescence as a puzzle piece to the nutrient cycle in temperate ecosystems
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Spatial ecology, biodiversity, and abiotic determinants of Congo’s bai ecosystem
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Data from: Antibiotics disrupt bacteria-phytoplankton symbioses: Unveiling ecological risks in aquatic ecosystems
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Ecological vs. climate uncertainty in future marine ecosystems: lessons learned from krill in a major upwelling region
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Data from: Trophic ecology of large herbivores in a reassembling African ecosystem
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Contrasting ecological mechanisms mediate the impact of land conversion on ecosystem multifunctionality
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Exploring changes in ecosystem service values in strongly human-impacted, contrasting agro-ecological environments
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Data from: Non-native mammals are weak candidates to substitute ecological function of native avian seed-dispersers in an island ecosystem
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Data from: Addressing grand ecological challenges in aquatic ecosystems: How can mesocosms be used to advance solutions?
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Experimental evidence of multiple ecosystem services and disservices provided by ecological intensification in Mediterranean agro-ecosystems
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Precipitation variability can bias estimates of ecological controls on ecosystem productivity response to precipitation change
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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.
Data from: Through the eye of a Gobi khulan – application of camera collars for ecological research of far-ranging species in remote and highly variable ecosystems
The Mongolian Gobi-Eastern Steppe Ecosystem is one of the largest remaining natural drylands and home to a unique assemblage of migratory ungulates. Connectivity and integrity of this ecosystem are at risk if increasing human activities are not carefully planned and regulated. The Gobi part supports the largest remaining population of the Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus; locally called "khulan"). Individual khulan roam over areas of thousands of square kilometers and the scale of their movements is among the largest described for terrestrial mammals, making them particularly difficult to monitor. Although GPS satellite telemetry makes it possible to track animals in near-real time and remote sensing provides environmental data at the landscape scale, remotely collected data also harbors the risk of missing important abiotic or biotic environmental variables or life history events. We tested the potential of animal born camera systems ("camera collars") to improve our understanding of the drivers and limitations of khulan movements. Deployment of a camera collar on an adult khulan mare resulted in 7,881 images over a one-year period. Over half of the images showed other khulan and 1,630 images showed enough of the collared khulan to classify the behaviour of the animals seen into several main categories. These khulan images provided us with: i) new insights into important life history events and grouping dynamics, ii) allowed us to calculate time budgets for many more animals than the collared khulan alone, and iii) provided us with a training dataset for calibrating data from accelerometer and tilt sensors in the collar. The images also allowed to document khulan behaviour near infrastructure and to obtain a day-time encounter rate between a specific khulan with semi-nomadic herders and their livestock. Lastly, the images allowed us to ground truth the availability of water by: i) confirming waterpoints predicted from other analyses, ii) detecting new waterpoints, and iii) compare precipitation records for rain and snow from landscape scale climate products with those documented by the camera collar. We discuss the added value of deploying camera collars on a subset of animals in remote, highly variable ecosystems for research and conservation.
Data from: Heterogeneity of ecological patterns, processes and funding of marine manipulative field experiments conducted in Southeastern Pacific coastal ecosystems
Ecological manipulative experiments conducted in marine coastal ecosystems have substantially improved ecological theory during the last decades, and have provided useful knowledge for the management and conservation of coastal ecosystems. Although different studies report global trends in ecological patterns worldwide, Southeastern Pacific coastal ecosystems have been poorly considered. Given that the SE Pacific coast encompasses diverse coastal ecosystems, consideration of studies conducted along this range can shed light on the heterogeneity of processes regulating coastal communities. We reviewed the biotic interactions and habitat type considered, as well as the complexity in terms of spatial and temporal extent of manipulative field experimental studies conducted along the SE Pacific coast from 0°S to 56° S (Ecuador to Chile). We test the effect of funding reported by different studies as a main factor limiting experimental complexity. From field ecological studies published from 1970 to 2016, we found that 81 studies were truly manipulative, in which one or multiple factors were "manipulated". Around 77% of these studies were located between 21°S to 40°S, and conducted in intertidal rocky habitats. An increase in experimental studies was observed between 2010 and 2015, especially focused on herbivore-alga interactions, although we found that both the temporal and spatial extent of these studies have shown a decrease in recent decades. Funding grant amount reported had a positive effect on elapsed time of field experiments, but no effect was observed on spatial extent or in the biotic interactions considered. Elapsed time of experiments was different among the main biotic interactions considered i.e. herbivory, predation, and competition. We suggest that to further progress in applied ecological knowledge, it will be necessary to consider pollution and urbanization processes explicitly using a field experimental framework. This information could improve our understanding of how ecosystems present along the SE Pacific coast respond to climate change and increased levels of human interventions.
Data from: Plant life history stage and nurse age change the development of ecological networks in an arid ecosystem
Understanding how ecological networks are organised over the course of an organism's lifetime is crucial for predicting the dynamics of interacting populations and communities across temporal scales. However, most studies so far considered only one life history stage at a time, such as adult, when studying networks of interacting species. Therefore, knowledge about how multiple life history stages affect the development and stability of plant–plant association networks is lacking. We measured the understory adult plant community and the soil seed bank across a plant age gradient of the nurse shrub Retama sphaerocarpa in an arid ecosystem in Spain. Using a multilayer network approach, we built adult understory–nurse and seed bank–nurse networks and analysed how network nestedness, species' role, and species specificity varied between them and with nurse plant age. We found that seed bank and adult understory networks changed depending on nurse plant age in two different ways. With increasing nurse plant age, adult understory networks became significantly more nested than seed bank networks. The nested architecture of seed bank networks was therefore a poor predictor of adult understory network nestedness. The contribution and specificity of species to network nestedness increased with increasing nurse plant age more in the adult understory than in seed bank networks, despite high species turnover. Our data show that life history and ontogeny affect the development of plant–plant association networks. Niche construction and environmental filtering along nurse ontogeny seem pivotal mechanisms structuring adult understory networks while the assembly of seed bank networks seems rather stochastic. We highlight the importance of mature plant communities for maintaining rare species populations and supporting the stability of ecological communities through time.
Data from: Phylogenetic signal in diatom ecology: perspectives for aquatic ecosystems biomonitoring
Diatoms include a great diversity of taxa and are recognized as powerful bioindicators in rivers. However using diatoms for monitoring programs is costly and time consuming because most of the methodologies necessitate species-level identification. This raises the question of the optimal tradeoff between taxonomic resolution and bioassessment quality. Phylogenetic tools may form the bases of new more efficient approaches for biomonitoring if relationships between ecology and phylogeny can be demonstrated. We estimated the ecological optima of 127 diatom species for 19 environmental parameters using count data from 2119 diatom communities sampled during 8 years in eastern France. Using uni- and multivariate analyses, we explored the relationships between freshwater diatom phylogeny and ecology (i.e. the phylogenetic signal). We found a significant phylogenetic signal for many of the ecological optima that were tested, but the strength of the signal varied significantly from one trait to another. Multivariate analysis also showed that the multidimensional ecological niche of diatoms can be strongly related to phylogeny. The presence of clades containing species that exhibit homogeneous ecology suggests that phylogenetic information can be useful for aquatic biomonitoring. This study highlights the presence of significant patterns of ecological optima for freshwater diatoms in relation to their phylogeny. These results suggest the presence of a signal above the species level, which is encouraging for the development of simplified methods for biomonitoring survey.
Data from: Ecosystem engineers shape ecological network structure and stability: a framework and literature review
<p>Ecosystem engineering is a ubiquitous process where species influence the physical environment and thereby structure ecological communities. However, there has been little effort to synthesise or predict how ecosystem engineering may impact the structure and stability of interaction networks. To assess the current scientific understanding of ecosystem engineering impacts via habitat forming, habitat modification, and bioturbation on interaction networks/food webs, we reviewed the literature covering marine, freshwater, and terrestrial food webs, plant-pollinator networks, and theory. We provide a conceptual framework and identify three major pathways of engineering impact on networks through changes in resource availability and energy flow, habitat heterogeneity, and environmental filtering. These three processes often work in concert and most studies report that engineering increases species richness. This is particularly marked for engineers that increase habitat heterogeneity and thereby the number of available niches. The response of network structure to ecosystem engineering varies, however some patterns emerge from this review. Engineered habitat heterogeneity leads to a higher number of links between species in the networks and increases link density. Connectance can be negatively or positively affected by ecosystem engineer impact, depending on the engineering pathway and the engineer impact of species richness. We discuss how ecosystem engineers can stabilize or destabilize communities through the changes in niche space, diversity, network structure, and the dependency on the engineering impact. Theory and empirical evidence need to inform each other to better integrate ecosystem engineering and ecological networks. A mechanistic understanding how ecosystem engineering traits shape interactions networks and their stability will be important to predict species extinctions and can provide crucial information for conservation and ecosystem restoration.</p>
FIGURE 4. Mauritian ecosystems. A in Disentangling the diversity and taxonomy of Hymenophyllaceae (Hymenophyllales, Polypodiidae) in the Mascarene archipelago, with ecological implications
FIGURE 4. Mauritian ecosystems. A. Lowland Sapotaceae rainforest, here invaded by the exotic Malagasy traveller's trees Ravenala madagascariensis (Strelitziaceae) ('Vallée d'Osterlog' forest, ~260 m). B. 'Pétrin' locality showing particular habitat with thickets of the endemic Erica brachyphylla (Ericaceae) (~670 m) (photographs by J.-Y. Dubuisson).
FIGURE 3. Particular Mascarenan ecosystems. A in Disentangling the diversity and taxonomy of Hymenophyllaceae (Hymenophyllales, Polypodiidae) in the Mascarene archipelago, with ecological implications
FIGURE 3. Particular Mascarenan ecosystems. A. Hyperhumid montane 'Avoune' vegetation dominated by the endemic Erica reunionensis (Ericaceae), with most trunks and branches fully covered by epiphytes (liverworts, mosses, peat mosses, lycopods and ferns, especially here Hymenophyllum capillare and H. inaequale, and orchids) (La Réunion, 'Pitons Mare à Boue', ~1,600 m). B. Montane 'Tamarinaie' dominated by endemic Acacia heterophylla (Fabaceae), showing as for 'Avoune' tree-trunks and branches fully covered by epiphytes, including here H. inaequale (La Réunion, 'Bélouve', ~1,520 m). C. Remnant of leeward lowland semi-dry forest (La Réunion, 'Ilet Solitude', ~550 m). D. Typical wet ravines that host lithophytic Hymenophyllaceae on the wet and shaded rocks close to streams and waterfalls. (photographs. A: J.-Y. Dubuisson; B–C: J.-M. Tamon; D: A. Mercier).
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.