Find research datasets worth reusing
Search datasets from major research repositories and use ShareScore to quickly assess how well each record supports discovery, access, and reuse.
611
datasets available to search
ShareScore release 0.9.0
Dataset results
611 results for “Body mass”
Data from: Body length of bony fishes was not a selective factor during the biggest mass extinction of all time
The Permo-Triassic mass extinction devastated life on land and in the sea, but it is not clear why some species survived and others went extinct. One explanation is that lineage loss during mass extinctions is a random process in which luck determines which species survive. Alternatively, a phylogenetic signal in extinction may indicate a selection process operating on phenotypic traits. Large body size has often emerged as an extinction risk factor in studies of modern extinction risk, but this is not so commonly the case for mass extinctions in deep time. Here, we explore the evolution of non-teleostean Actinopterygii (bony fishes) from the Devonian to the present day, and we concentrate on the Permo-Triassic mass extinction. We apply a variety of time-scaling metrics to date the phylogeny, and show that diversity peaked in the latest Permian and declined severely during the Early Triassic. In line with previous evidence, we find the phylogenetic signal of extinction increases across the mass extinction boundary: extinction of species in the earliest Triassic is more clustered across phylogeny compared to the more randomly distributed extinction signal in the late Permian. However, body length plays no role in differential survival or extinction of taxa across the boundary. In the case of fishes, size did not determine which species survived and which went extinct, but phylogenetic signal indicates that the mass extinction was not a random field of bullets.
Data from: Sexual selection, body mass, and molecular evolution interact to predict diversification in birds
Sexual selection is a powerful agent of evolution, driving microevolutionary changes in the genome and macroevolutionary rates of lineage diversification. The mechanisms by which sexual selection might influence macroevolution remain poorly understood. For example, sexual selection might drive positive selection for key adaptations that facilitate diversification. Furthermore, sexual selection might be a general driver of molecular evolutionary rate. We lay out some of the potential mechanisms that create a link between sexual selection and diversification, based on causal effects on other life-history traits such as body mass and the rate of molecular evolution. Birds are ideally suited for testing the importance of these relationships because of their diverse reproductive systems and the multiple evolutionary radiations that have produced their astounding modern diversity. We show that sexual selection (measured as the degree of polygyny) interacts with the rate of molecular evolution and with body mass to predict species richness at the genus level. A high degree of polygyny and rapid molecular evolution are positively associated with the net rate of diversification, with the two factors being especially important for explaining diversification in large-bodied taxa. Our findings further suggest that mutation rates underpin some of the macroevolutionary effects of sexual selection. We synthesize the existing theory on sexual selection as a force for diversity and propose avenues for exploring this association using genome data.
Data from: Body mass as a supertrait linked to abundance and behavioural dominance in hummingbirds: a phylogenetic approach
Body mass has been considered one of the most critical organismal traits, and its role in many ecological processes has been widely studied. In hummingbirds body mass has been linked to ecological features like foraging performance, metabolic rates, and cost of flying, among others. We used an evolutionary approach to test if body mass is a good predictor of two of the main ecological features of hummingbirds: their abundances and behavioural dominance. To determine whether a species was abundant and/or behaviourally dominant, we used information from the literature on 249 hummingbird species. For abundance we classified a species as "plentiful" if it was described as the most abundant species in at least part of its geographic distribution, while we deemed a species to be "behaviourally dominant" when it was described as pugnacious (notably aggressive). We found that plentiful hummingbird species had intermediate body masses and were more phylogenetically related to each other than expected by chance. Conversely, behaviourally dominant species tended to have larger body mass and showed a random pattern of distribution in the phylogeny. Additionally, small-bodied hummingbird species were not considered plentiful by our definition and did not exhibit behavioural dominance. These results suggest a link between body mass, abundance, and behavioural dominance in hummingbirds. Our findings indicate the existence of a body mass range associated with the capacity of hummingbird species to be plentiful, behaviourally dominant, or to show both traits. The mechanisms behind these relationships are still unclear; however, our results provide support for the hypothesis that body mass is a supertrait that explains abundance and behavioural dominance in hummingbirds.
Data from: Grazing and resource availability control soil nematode body size and abundance-mass relationship in semi-arid grassland
1. Body size is a central functional trait in ecological communities. Despite recognition of the importance of above-belowground interactions, effects of aboveground herbivores on size and abundance-size relationships in soil fauna are almost uncharted. Depending on climate and soil properties, herbivores may increase basal resources of soil food webs, or reduce pore space, mechanisms expected to have contrasting effects on soil animal body size. 2. We investigated how body size and shape of soil nematodes responded to mammalian grazers in three semi-arid grassland sites, along a gradient of soil texture and organic matter (OM) in a long-term herbivore removal study. We analysed nematode mass, length, diameter, body size distribution, and biomass distribution. We formulated two mechanistic hypotheses to assess whether resource availability or pore space was the dominant abiotic control and modulated the effects of grazing. 3. In ungrazed soils, average and maximum nematode size, as well as abundance and biomass of large nematodes, were greater in the high-OM than in the low-OM soil, and intermediate in the medium-OM soil. Grazing promoted larger sizes in the low-OM soil, where it had been shown to increase organic matter and microbial biomass, and led to more homogeneous average size and body size distribution across sites. The results support the hypothesis that nematode size was controlled by basal resource availability rather than by pore space. However, body shape might have been constrained by small pores in the fine-texture, high-OM soil, where nematodes were more elongated. 4. Grazing may facilitate larger sizes in soil nematode communities by boosting basal resources where these are limiting, with important implications for estimations of nematode biomass and contribution to carbon and nutrient cycling. These findings contribute to the insofar-limited mechanistic understanding of how herbivores can shape functional traits of soil fauna, and demonstrate that animals at one trophic level may control patterns in body size and abundance-size relationships in other trophic levels without a direct predator-prey or competitive linkage between them.
Data from: Body mass-corrected molecular rate for bird mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA remains one of the most widely used molecular markers to reconstruct the phylogeny and phylogeography of closely related birds. It has been proposed that bird mitochondrial genomes evolve at a constant rate of ~0.01 substitution per site per million years, that is that they evolve according to a strict molecular clock. This molecular clock is often used in studies of bird mitochondrial phylogeny and molecular dating. However, rates of mitochondrial genome evolution vary among bird species and correlate with life history traits such as body mass and generation time. These correlations could cause systematic biases in molecular dating studies that assume a strict molecular clock. In this study, we overcome this issue by estimating corrected molecular rates for birds. Using complete or nearly complete mitochondrial genomes of 475 species, we show that there are strong relationships between body mass and substitution rates across birds. We use this information to build models that use bird species' body mass to estimate their substitution rates across a wide range of common mitochondrial markers. We demonstrate the use of these corrected molecular rates on two recently published data sets. In one case, we obtained molecular dates that are twice as old as the estimates obtained using the strict molecular clock. We hope that this method to estimate molecular rates will increase the accuracy of future molecular dating studies in birds.
Data from: Exceptional avian herbivores: multiple transitions toward herbivory in the bird order Anseriformes and its correlation with body mass
Herbivory is rare among birds and is usually thought to have evolved predominately among large, flightless birds due to energetic constraints or an association with increased body mass. Nearly all members of the bird order Anseriformes, which includes ducks, geese, and swans, are flighted and many are predominately herbivorous. However, it is unknown whether herbivory represents a derived state for the order and how many times a predominately herbivorous diet may have evolved. Compiling data from over 200 published diet studies to create a continuous character for herbivory, models of trait evolution support at least five independent transitions toward a predominately herbivorous diet in Anseriformes. Although a nonphylogenetic correlation test recovers a significant positive correlation between herbivory and body mass, this correlation is not significant when accounting for phylogeny. These results indicate a lack of support for the hypothesis that a larger body mass confers an advantage in the digestion of low-quality diets but does not exclude the possibility that shifts to a more abundant food source have driven shifts toward herbivory in other bird lineages. The exceptional number of transitions toward a more herbivorous diet in Anseriformes and lack of correlation with body mass prompts a reinterpretation of the relatively infrequent origination of herbivory among flighted birds.
Data from: How feathered are birds? environment predicts both the mass and density of body feathers
1.Studies modelling heat transfer of bird plumage design suggest that insulative properties can be attributed to the density and structure of the downy layer, while waterproofing is the result of the outer layer, comprised of contour feathers. In this study, we test how habitat and thermal condition affect feather mass and density of body feathers (contour, semiplume and downy feathers) measured on the ventral and dorsal sides of the body, using a phylogenetic comparative analysis of 152 bird species. 2.Our results demonstrate that feather mass and the density of downy feathers are higher in species that inhabit colder environments, while total feather density is higher of species breeding under intermediate temperatures compared to the ones breeding under more extreme conditions. The density of contour feathers, depending on the body region, is either quadratically related or negatively correlated to minimum winter temperature. 3.The density of contour and downy feathers, measured on both sides of the body, is higher in aquatic than in terrestrial birds. However, among the former, diving behaviour does not select for further increases in body feather mass or density. 4.The results of this study provides key insights into how the plumage of birds is adapted to different environments and lifestyles and provides a basis for understanding the diverse range and the evolution of variation in these characteristics.
Data from: Mesocarnivores affect hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) body mass
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span>Predator communities are changing worldwide: large carnivores are declining while mesocarnivores (medium-sized mammalian predators) are increasing in number and ecological influence. Predator choice of prey is not random and different predators select prey with different characteristics. Changes in predator communities can change predation patterns experienced by prey. Little is known about how mesocarnivore communities influence prey morphology. We used 14 years of mark-recapture data to investigate how mesocarnivore exclusion affected body mass of hispid cotton rats (<i>Sigmodon hispidus</i>). Finding adult male cotton rats were 9 % heavier with mesocarnivore exclusion, we developed hypotheses to explain this observation. Greater adult male body mass in exclosures resulted from: 1) a non-significant trend of increased survival of large males, 2) faster juvenile male growth during the fall and a similar non-significant trend among adult males, and 3) spatial partitioning by size among males. Taxa-specific predation rates (i.e., rates of predation by snakes, raptors, or mesocarnivores) did not differ among male body mass classes. Mesocarnivores disproportionately preyed on large females while raptors targeted small females, but female body mass was not influenced by mesocarnivore exclusion. Changes in predator communities can result in multiple small effects that collectively result in large differences in prey morphology.</span></p>
Supplementary material for the manuscript: Associations Between Maternal Prepregnancy Body Mass Index and Maternal and Cord Blood Metabolome
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Primary data on skull and brain morphology for: Geographical patterns in seasonal changes of body mass, skull, and brain size of common shrews
<p class="Standard">Some small mammals exhibit Dehnel's Phenomenon, a drastic decrease in body mass, braincase and brain size from summer to winter, followed by regrowth in spring. This is accompanied by a reorganization of the brain and changes in other organs. The evolutionary link between these changes and seasonality remains unclear, although the intensity of change varies between locations as the phenomenon is thought to lead to energy savings during winter.</p> <p class="Standard">Here we explored geographic variation of the intensity of Dehnel's Phenomenon in <i>Sorex araneus.</i> We compiled literature on seasonal changes in braincase size, brain and body mass, supplemented by our own data from Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic.</p> <p class="Standard">We analysed the effect of geographic and climate variables on the intensity of change and patterns of brain reorganization.</p> <p class="Standard">From summer to winter the braincase height decreased by 13%, followed by 10% regrowth in spring.</p> <p class="Standard">For body mass the changes were -21%/+82%, respectively. Changes increased towards northeast. Several climate variables were correlated with these transformations, confirming a link of the intensity of the changes with environmental conditions. This relationship differed for the decrease vs. regrowth, suggesting that they may have evolved under different selective pressures.</p> <p class="Standard">We found no geographic trends explaining variability in the brain mass changes although they were similar (-21%/+10%) to those of the braincase size. Underlying patterns of change in brain organisation in north-eastern Poland were almost identical to the pattern observed in southern Germany. This indicates that local habitat characteristics may play a more important role in determining brain structure than broad scale geographic conditions.</p> <p>We discuss the techniques and criteria used for studying this phenomenon, as well as its potential presence in other taxa and the importance of distinguishing it from other kinds of seasonal variation.</p>
Female black brant body mass, ninth primary data
<p>Body mass declines during wing moult in numerous, but not all, populations of Anatidae. We assessed two leading hypotheses for body mass dynamics during the wing moult: (1) body mass dynamics are adapted to attain a target body mass at the end of the wing moult (restraint hypothesis), versus (2) body mass dynamics reflect environmental constraint on the nutrient-energy balance during wing moult (constraint hypothesis). We used regressions of mass of breeding female Black Brent, <em>Branta bernicla nigricans</em>, on ninth primary length (a measure of moult stage) for each of 16 years to assess mass dynamics during wing moult and used regression equations to predict mass at the beginning and end of wing moult each year. We also included gosling mass at 30 days (an indicator of forage availability) in models of adult mass to assess how mass dynamics varied as a function of foraging conditions.<strong> </strong>Predicted body mass (± 95% CI) at the start of wing moult (ninth primary = 0 mm) varied significantly among years ranging from 1032 ± 52g to 1169 ± 27g. Similarly, predicted mass in late wing moult (ninth primary = 142 mm) ranged from 1048 ± 25g to 1222 ± 28g. Rate of mass gain was significantly related to gosling mass at 30 days: interaction between adult ninth primary length and gosling mass = 0.0031 ± 0.0020 (P = 0.003). Females initiated wing moult at lower body masses, gained mass more rapidly, and ended wing moult heaviest when goslings were heaviest. Body mass dynamics of female Black Brent during wing moult were consistent with the constraint hypothesis. Positive association between gosling mass and rate of body mass gain by adult females during wing moult was also consistent with the constraint hypothesis. </p>
Data from: Age, state, environment and season dependence of senescence in body mass
[No abstract entered]
Data and scripts for Mellado et al. 2024 Developmental instability, body mass, and reproduction predict immunological response in short-tailed bats. Current Zoology (In Press). DOI:10.1093/cz/zoae034
<p>Data and Scripts used in Mellado et al. 2024 Developmental instability, body mass, and reproduction predict immunological response in short-tailed bats.</p> <p>Breno Mellado, Lucas de O. Carneiro, Marcelo R. Nogueira, L. Gerardo Herrera M., Ariovaldo P. Cruz-Neto, Leandro R. Monteiro</p> <p>File ReadmeFirst.txt = this desctription</p> <p>File Melladoetal2024-CurrZool_Supplementary_Materials.pdf = Supplementary figures and tables for Mellado et al. 2024.</p> <p>File Carollia_PHA.txt = data set with 139 observations. Variables are: Sex = factor with sex (M/F), BMass = Body mass in g, ForA = unsigned forearm asymmetry (absolute scale, mm), ForL = right forearm length in mm, IPHA = PHA index, BSeason = factor with period of breeding season (early/late)</p> <p>File Carollia_phaTL.txt = data set with 50 observations. Variables are: BMass = Body mass in g, ForL = right forearm length in mm, IPHA = PHA index, ForA = forearm asymmetry (absolute scale, mm), TL = testicle length in mm, BSeason = factor with period of breeding season (early/late)</p> <p>File pha36hours.txt = data set with 144 observations (24 individuals measured at 0,3,6,10,24,36 hours after injection). Variables are: Ind = Individual identifier, Hour = Hours since injection of PHA solution, IPHA: PHA index</p> <p>script_Carollia_PHA.R = R script for analyses and figures</p>
Figures 1-2 from: Azeredo LMM, Silva Ximenes M, Alves Pereira K, Aguiar Fracasso MP, Serramo Lopez LC (2019) Body mass index and glucose variations around the night in Artibeus planirostris (Chiroptera) measured under natural conditions. Zoologia 36: 1-8. https://doi.org/10.3897/zoologia.36.e28027
Figures 1-2 Correlation between (1) Glucose (mmol/L) and (2) BCI and the hours after sunset for individuals of Artibeusplanirostris (N = 70) in Reserva Biológica de Guaribas, PB.
Fig. 3 in Phylogeny and evolution of body mass in didelphid marsupials (Marsupialia: Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae)
Fig. 3 Log-transformed distribution of body mass in Didelphidae
Data from: Downsizing a giant: re-evaluating Dreadnoughtus body mass
Estimates of body mass often represent the founding assumption on which biomechanical and macroevolutionary hypotheses are based. Recently, a scaling equation was applied to a newly discovered titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur (Dreadnoughtus), yielding a 59 300 kg body mass estimate for this animal. Herein, we use a modelling approach to examine the plausibility of this mass estimate for Dreadnoughtus. We find that 59 300 kg for Dreadnoughtus is highly implausible and demonstrate that masses above 40 000 kg require high body densities and expansions of soft tissue volume outside the skeleton several times greater than found in living quadrupedal mammals. Similar results from a small sample of other archosaurs suggests that lower-end mass estimates derived from scaling equations are most plausible for Dreadnoughtus, based on existing volumetric and density data from extant animals. Although volumetric models appear to more tightly constrain dinosaur body mass, there remains a clear need to further support these models with more exhaustive data from living animals. The relative and absolute discrepancies in mass predictions between volumetric models and scaling equations also indicate a need to systematically compare predictions across a wide size and taxonomic range to better inform studies of dinosaur body size.
mass properties in A 3D interactive method for estimating body segmental parameters in animals: Application to the turning and running performance of Tyrannosaurus rex
mass properties
Body mass measurements of wild boar from two French populations
<p>Despite the importance of body growth in shaping life history tactics and population dynamics, exploring individual growth trajectories in the wild remains challenging. Here, we quantified wild boar growth trajectories at both the population and the individual levels using standard growth models (i.e. Gompertz, logistic, and monomolecular models) that encompass the expected range of growth shapes. According to current theories of life history evolution, we expect wild boar to display a sex-specific Gompertz type growth trajectory and lower size dimorphism in the poorer environment. While wild boar displayed the expected Gompertz type trajectory in the rich site at the population level, we found differences in growth shapes between the two populations and among individuals within each population. Asymptotic body mass, growth rate and timing of maximum growth rate differed as well, indicating a high flexibility of growth trajectories in wild boar. In addition, we found a cohort effect on asymptotic body mass suggesting that environmental conditions early in life shape body mass at adulthood. Our findings demonstrate that body growth trajectories in wild boar are context-, sex- and cohort-specific, differing between populations and among individuals within a population.</p>
Current nest box designs may not be optimal for the larger forest dormice; pre-hibernation increase in body mass might lead to sampling bias in ecological data
<p>Biologists commonly use nest boxes to study small arboreal mammals, including forest dormouse (Dryomys nitedula). Hibernating dormouse species often experience pronounced seasonal variations in body mass, which might lead to sampling biases if it is not taken into account when designing nest boxes. In our study of forest dormouse, we noticed that the entrance hole of nest boxes had been gnawed on. We hypothesized that this behavior was exhibited by individual dormice who had higher body mass and, therefore, were unable to pass through the entrance holes. To test our hypothesis, we categorized individual dormice present inside nest boxes based on their body mass; then compared the seasonal body mass dynamics with the timing of the gnawing behavior. We also compared nest box occupancy by forest dormouse before and after the gnawing behavior. Interestingly, we found that the gnawing behavior was displayed exclusively when part of the dormouse population increased considerably in body mass, which supports our hypothesis. Additionally, nest box occupancy decreased significantly from 20% before to 4.6% after the gnawing behavior. We suggest that researchers use nest boxes with entrance holes larger than 4 cm in future studies of forest dormouse to prevent the possible exclusion of the conspecifics that have higher body mass before hibernation. This type of sampling bias can probably happen in studies of other species, such as fat dormouse, that similarly show pronounced seasonal variations in body mass. We recommend that biologists consider the seasonal body mass dynamics of the target species when designing nest boxes to minimize bias in ecological data and improve management actions.</p>
Calf Circumference Adjusted for Body Composition to Assess Muscle Mass
ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT06829004. IPD Sharing: UNDECIDED. Countries: 0. Publications: 1.
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.