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22,710 results for “Plants for planting”
Data from: Herbivores safeguard plant diversity by reducing variability in dominance
1. Reductions in community evenness can lead to local extinctions as dominant species exclude subordinate species; however, herbivores can prevent competitive exclusion by consuming otherwise dominant plant species, thus increasing evenness. While these predictions logically result from chronic, gradual reductions in evenness, rapid, temporary pulses of dominance may also reduce species richness. Short pulses of dominance can occur as biotic or abiotic conditions temporarily favor one or a few species, manifested as increased temporal variability (the inverse of temporal stability) in community evenness. Here, we tested whether consumers help maintain plant diversity by reducing the temporal variability in community evenness. 2. We tested our hypothesis by reducing herbivore abundance in a detailed study of a developing, tallgrass prairie restoration. To assess the broader implications of the importance of herbivory on community evenness as well as potential mechanisms, we paired this study with a global herbivore-reduction experiment. 3. We found that herbivores maintained plant richness in a tallgrass prairie restoration by limiting temporary pulses in dominance by a single species. Dominance by an annual species in a single year was negatively associated with species richness, suggesting that short pulses of dominance may be sufficient to exclude subordinate species. 4. The generality of this site-level relationship was supported by the global experiment in which inter-annual variability in evenness declined in the presence of vertebrate herbivores over timeframes ranging in length from 2-5 years, preventing declines in species richness. Furthermore, inter-annual variability of community evenness was also negatively associated with pre-treatment species richness. 5. Synthesis: A loss or reduction of herbivores can destabilize plant communities by allowing brief periods of dominance by one or a few species, potentially triggering a feedback cycle of dominance and extinction. Such cycles may not occur immediately following the loss of herbivores, being delayed until conditions allow temporary periods of dominance by a subset of plant species.
Plant response to habitat amount and configuration in Swedish forests
<p><strong>Aim</strong>: There is an intense debate about whether habitat fragmentation has a negative or positive effect on biodiversity. We examined whether species richness and<br> incidence of forest plants were negatively or positively associated with fragmented forest configuration. We also analysed whether the results support the fragmentation<br> threshold hypothesis with fragmentation effects only in landscapes with small habitat amount.<br> <strong>Location</strong>: Södermanland province, south-eastern Sweden (8,388 km<sup>2</sup>).<br> <strong>Methods</strong>: Data consisted of plant distribution maps and landscape data on forest amount and configuration in 2.5 km × 2.5 km quadrats. We carried out models including<br> forest area together with clumpiness index (CL models) or edge density (ED models) as the measure of habitat configuration. We focused on plant taxa with positive association between incidence and forest area (163 taxa in CL models; 119 taxa in ED models).<br> <strong>Results</strong>: Responses to fragmented configuration were negative more often than by random (33 and 22 taxa in CL and ED models, respectively; includes only models without significant forest area × configuration interaction), whereas positive responses were rare (four taxa in both models). When forest area × configuration interaction was significant, the most common response had a negative effect of fragmented configuration when forest area was low and no effect of configuration when forest<br> area was high, which agrees with the fragmentation threshold hypothesis. Species richness also had this type of response. In another common interactive response, the<br> effect of fragmented configuration was negative at low forest area and positive at high forest area.<br> <strong>Main conclusions</strong>: Responses to fragmented forest configuration, when significant, were usually negative. When responses to fragmented configuration were modulated by forest area, they were negative when forest area was low. The findings of complex interaction between forest area and configuration have implications for selection of appropriate patch sizes in sustainable forest management.</p>
Data from: Soil microbiomes underlie population persistence of an endangered plant species
Microbiomes can dramatically alter individual plant performance, yet how these effects influence higher order processes is not well resolved. In particular, little is known about how microbiome effects on individual plants alter plant population dynamics, a question critical to imperiled species conservation. Here, we integrate bioassays, multidecadal demographic data, and integral projection modeling to determine how the presence of the natural soil microbiome underlies plant population dynamics. Simulations indicated that the presence of soil microbiomes boosted population growth rates (λ) of the endangered Hypericum cumulicola by 13% on average, the difference between population growth versus decline in 76% of patches. The greatest benefit (47% increase in λ) occurred in low nutrient, high elevation habitats, suggesting that the soil microbiome may help expand H. cumulicola's distribution to include these stressful habitats. Our results demonstrate that soil microbiomes can significantly affect plant population growth and persistence, and support the incorporation of soil microbiomes into conservation planning. plant population growth and persistence, and support the incorporation of soil microbiomes into conservation planning.
Data from: Landscape heterogeneity is key to forecasting outcomes of plant reintroduction
Conservation and restoration projects often involve starting new populations by introducing individuals into portions of their native or projected range. Such efforts can help meet many related goals, including habitat creation, ecosystem service provisioning, assisted migration, and the reintroduction of imperiled species following local extirpation. The outcomes of reintroduction efforts, however, are highly variable, with results ranging from local extinction to dramatic population growth; reasons for this variation remain unclear. Here, we ask whether population growth following plant reintroductions is governed by variation at two scales: the scale of individual habitat patches to which individuals are reintroduced, and larger among-landscape scales in which similar patches may be situated in landscapes that differ in matrix type, soil conditions, and other factors. Quantifying demographic variation at these two scales will help prioritize locations for introduction and, once introductions take place, forecast population growth. This work took place within a large-scale habitat fragmentation experiment, where individuals of two perennial forb species were reintroduced into eight replicate ~50 ha landscapes, each containing a set of five ~1 ha patches that varied in their degree of isolation (connected by habitat corridors or unconnected) and edge-to-area ratio. Using data on individual growth, survival, reproductive output, and recruitment collected one to two years after reintroduction, we developed models to forecast population growth, then compared forecasts to observed population sizes, three and six years later. Both the type of patch (connected and unconnected) and identity of the landscape to which individuals were reintroduced had effects on forecasted population growth rates, but only variation associated with landscape identity was an accurate predictor of subsequently observed population growth rates. Models that did not include landscape identity had minimal forecasting ability, revealing the key importance of variation at this scale for accurate prediction. Of the five demographic rates used to model population dynamics, seed production was the most important source of forecast error in population growth rates. Our results point to the importance of accounting for landscape-scale variation in demographic models and demonstrate how such models might assist with prioritizing particular landscapes for species reintroduction projects.
Synergistic impacts of co-occurring invasive grasses cause persistent effects in the soil-plant system after selective removal
1. Human influence on the environment is so extensive that virtually all ecosystems on the planet are now affected by biological invasions. And, often, ecosystems are invaded by multiple co-occurring non-native species. Hence, it is important to understand the impacts these invasions are producing on biodiversity and ecosystem processes. 2. Here, we present results of a two-year long field experiment where we tested the effects of co-occurring invasive C4 African grasses in a Cerrado area in central Brazil. We compared plant and arthropod communities, plant biomass, and soil nitrogen dynamics and soil chemical characteristics across five experimental treatments: Urochloa decumbens removal, Melinis minutiflora removal, both U. decumbens, and M. minutiflora removal, U. decumbens and M. minutiflora invaded plots, and uninvaded Cerrado. We hypothesized that selective removal of invasive grasses would have distinct effects on the native ecosystem structure and functioning. We expected that each invasive grass would produce a different type of impact on the native ecosystem and that their impacts would be synergistic when co-occurring. 3. Removal of M. minutiflora doubled native plant diversity and biomass when compared to invaded plots, whereas removal of U. decumbens did not alter these parameters. Cerrado plots had four times more plant species than plots cleared of invasives. Removal of invasive grasses did not affect the species richness or community composition of soil epigeal fauna. Cerrado soils had lower fertility, organic matter content, and pH than invaded soils. The effects were generally higher when both invasive grasses were removed, suggesting impacts were synergistic, but M. minutiflora had greater effects on plants and soils than U. decumbens. Both invasive species produced negative impacts, but a single species was the main driver. We also detected persistent effects of the invasive grass species on the ecosystem after two years of removal. 4. We conclude that invasive species of the same functional group have similar types of effects in native ecosystems, but the magnitude of impact was largely dependent on invasive species biomass and cover. Where multiple invasive species are present, research and management of invaded ecosystems should tackle the interacting effects of co-occurring invaders.
Data from: Sex is determined by XY chromosomes across the radiation of dioecious Nepenthes pitcher plants
Species with separate sexes (dioecy) are a minority among flowering plants, but dioecy has evolved multiple times independently in their history. The sex determination system and sex-linked genomic regions are currently identified in a limited number of dioecious plants only. Here, we study the sex-determination system in a genus of dioecious plants that lack heteromorphic sex chromosomes and are not amenable to controlled breeding: <i>Nepenthes</i> pitcher plants. We genotyped wild populations of flowering males and females of three <i>Nepenthes</i> taxa using ddRAD-seq, and sequenced a male inflorescence transcriptome. We developed a statistical tool (privacy rarefaction) to distinguish true sex-specificity from stochastic noise in read coverage of sequencing data from wild populations and identified male-specific loci and XY-patterned SNPs in all three <i>Nepenthes</i> taxa, suggesting the presence of homomorphic XY sex chromosomes. The male-specific region of the Y chromosome showed little conservation among the three taxa, except for the essential pollen development gene DYT1 which was confirmed as male-specific by PCR in additional <i>Nepenthes</i> taxa. Hence, dioecy and part of the male-specific region of the <i>Nepenthes</i> Y-chromosomes likely have a single evolutionary origin.
Data from: Soil fungi underlie a phylogenetic pattern in plant growth responses to nitrogen enrichment
1. Under increasing anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition, some plant species will thrive while others will not. Previous work has shown that plant phylogeny can predict these responses, and that interactions with mycorrhizal fungi are a mechanism that drives variation in plant responses to N enrichment. Yet, much of this work has ignored the roles of other root-associated fungi and whole soil fungal communities in driving these responses. 2. We tested whether soil fungi mediate responses of plant growth and plant-soil feedbacks (between close and distant plant relatives) to N enrichment by implementing a greenhouse experiment in which we applied factorial treatments of N fertilization, host-specific soil inocula, and fungicide to 15 eucalypt tree species that co-occur on the island state of Tasmania, Australia and form two phylogenetic lineages within the subgenus Symphyomyrtus. 3. Conspecific-conditioned soil fungi enhanced growth responses to N enrichment for plants within one lineage (lineage 1) but depressed growth responses to N enrichment for plants within another lineage (lineage 2). Lineage-specific shifts in ectomycorrhizal (ECM) colonization were consistent with previous evidence that more vs. less successful strategies under N enrichment are those where carbon allocation to mycorrhizal fungi is reduced vs. maintained, respectively. The latter was also accompanied by a stronger reduction in root colonization of non-filamentous fungi (of unknown function) under N enrichment. Plant-soil feedbacks were neutral for lineage 1 but negative for lineage 2 (i.e., greater growth in soils conditioned by opposite vs. same lineage individuals), but were not altered by N enrichment or fungicide. Lineage-level differences in root colonization suggest that these feedbacks could be driven by differential plant responsiveness to dark septate endophytes and non-filamentous fungi, the colonization of which seemed to benefit plant growth. 4. Our results confirm that interactions with soil fungi (ECM fungi in particular) underlie phylogenetic patterns in tree species' growth responses to N enrichment and may thus influence which plants win or lose under future N deposition scenarios. Yet, we provide some of the first evidence (albeit from controlled rather than natural conditions) that N deposition may not play a strong role in shifting plant-soil feedbacks.
Data from: Between-year changes in community composition shape species' roles in an Arctic plant-pollinator network
Inter-annual turnover in community composition can affect the richness and functioning of ecological communities. If incoming and outgoing species do not interact with the same partners, ecological functions such as pollination may be disrupted. Here, we explore the extent to which turnover affects species' roles --as defined based on their participation in different motifs positions-- in a series of temporally replicated plant-pollinator networks from high-Arctic Zackenberg, Greenland. We observed substantial turnover in the plant and pollinator assemblages, combined with significant variation in species' roles between networks. Variation in the roles of plants and pollinators tended to increase with the amount of community turnover, although a negative interaction between turnover in the plant and pollinator assemblages complicated this trend for the roles of pollinators. This suggests that increasing turnover in the future will result in changes to the roles of plants and likely those of pollinators. These changing roles may in turn affect the functioning or stability of this pollination network.
Data from: Functional traits, not productivity, predict openness to seedling recruitment in alpine plant communities under climatic warming
Understanding the degree to which plant communities are open to seedling recruitment is key to predicting how they will be impacted by climate change. We experimentally assessed whether communities assembled under colder climates were inherently more open to recruitment than warmer-climate communities, after controlling for differences in the current climate under which the communities were growing. We then tested whether variation in openness to recruitment could be explained by community biomass or by the plant functional traits of the community. The study was conducted in a climate grid of twelve grassland sites across southern Norway, differing systematically in temperature and precipitation. Along a 2000 mm precipitation gradient, we transplanted turfs with intact plant communities from alpine and sub-alpine sites into 2℃ warmer sites, and measured natural seedling emergence in these transplanted turfs vs. locally replanted control turfs at the transplant destination sites. Mixed effect models were used to assess the effect of origin (cold vs warm climate), biomass, and functional trait composition of the communities on seedling emergence. We further assessed variation in these effects across different climatic contexts (the temperature and precipitation gradients). Communities originating from colder climates were consistently more open to recruitment, with on average 44% more seedlings emerging, than the locally replanted control communities. The higher rates of seedling emergence in colder-climate communities were attributable to systematic differences in plant functional traits, but not in biomass. The colder-climate communities were composed of species with smaller leaves and lower maximum plant heights; traits that may make these communities less effective at excluding new recruits. These trait-related responses were not significant in the warmest sites and did not very across the precipitation gradient. Our results suggest that alpine species lack the competitive effect traits required to make their communities resistant to invasion by novel competitors under climate change.
Data from: Bayesian quantification of ecological determinants of outcrossing in natural plant populations: computer simulations and the case study of biparental inbreeding in English yew
The mating system is a central parameter of plant biology because it shapes their ecological and evolutionary properties. Therefore, determining ecological variables that influence the mating system is important for a deeper understanding of the functioning of plant populations. Here, using old concepts and recent statistical developments, we propose a new statistical tool to make inferences about ecological determinants of outcrossing in natural plant populations. The method requires co-dominant genotypes of seeds collected from maternal plants within different locations. Using extensive computer simulations, we demonstrated that the method is robust to the issues expected for real-world data, including the Wahlund effect, inbreeding and genotyping errors such as allele dropout and allele misclassification. Furthermore, we showed that the estimates of ecological effects and outcrossing rates can be severely biased if genotyping errors and genetic differentiation are not treated explicitly. Application of the new method to the case study of a dioecious tree (Taxus baccata) allowed revealing that female trees that grow in lower local densities have a greater tendency towards mating with relatives. Moreover, we also demonstrated that biparental inbreeding is higher in populations that are characterised by a longer mean distance between trees and a smaller mean trunk perimeter. We found these results to agree with both the theoretical predictions and the history of English yew.
Data from: Relatedness with plant species in native community influences ecological consequences of range expansions
Global warming is enabling many plant species to expand their range to higher latitudes and altitudes, where they may suffer less from natural aboveground and belowground enemies. Reduced control by natural enemies can enable climate warming-induced range expanders to get an advantage in competition with natives and become disproportionally abundant in their new range. However, so far studies have examined individual growth of range expanders, which have common congeneric plant species in their new range. Thus it is not known how general is this reduced effect of above- and belowground enemies and how it operates in communities, where multiple plant species also interact with each other. Here we show that range-expanding plant species with and without congenerics in the invaded habitats differ in their ecological interactions in the new range. In a community-level experiment, range-expanding plant species, both with and without congenerics, suppressed the growth of a herbivore. However, only range expanders without congenerics reduced biomass production of the native plant species. In the present study, range expanders without congenerics allocated more biomass aboveground compared to native plant species, which can explain their competitive advantage. Competitive interaction and also biomass allocation of native plants and their congeneric range expanders were similar. Our results highlight that information about species phylogenetic relatedness with native flora can be crucial for improving predictions about the consequences of climate warming-induced range expansions.
Data from: The edaphic control of plant diversity
<p>BACKGROUND: The central thesis of plant ecology is that climate determines the distribution of global vegetation. Within a vegetation type, however, finer-scale environmental features such as the physical and chemical properties of soil (edaphic variation) control plant distributions and diversity patterns.<br> <br> AIMS: Here, we review the literature to provide a mechanistic framework for the edaphic control of plant diversity. First, we review three examples where soils have known, prevalent effects on plant diversity: during soil formation, on unusual soils, and in regions with high edaphic heterogeneity. Second, we synthesize how edaphic factors mediate the relative importance of the four key processes of community assembly (speciation, ecological drift, dispersal, and niche selection). Third, we review the potential effects of climate change in edaphically heterogeneous regions. Finally, we outline key knowledge gaps for understanding the edaphic control of plant diversity. In our review, we emphasize floras of unusual edaphic areas (i.e., serpentine, limestone, granite), as these areas disproportionately contribute to the world's biodiversity hotspots.<br> <br> TAXA: Terrestrial plants<br> <br> LOCATION: Global<br> <br> CONCLUSION: Edaphic variation is a key driver of biodiversity patterns and influences the relative importance of speciation, dispersal, ecological drift, niche selection, and interactions among these processes. Research is still needed to better understand the underlying mechanisms by which edaphic variation influences these community assembly processes, and unusual soils provide excellent natural systems for such tests. Furthermore, incorporating edaphic variation into climate change research will help increase the predictive power of species distribution models, help identify potential climate refugia, and help identify species with adaptations that buffer them from climate change.</p>
Data from: Polyploid plants obtain greater fitness benefits from a nutrient acquisition mutualism
<p>Polyploidy is a key driver of ecological and evolutionary processes in plants, yet little is known about its effects on biotic interactions. This gap in knowledge is especially profound for nutrient acquisition mutualisms, despite the fact that they regulate global nutrient cycles and structure ecosystems. Generalism in mutualistic interactions depends on the range of potential partners (niche breadth), the benefits obtained, and ability to maintain benefits across a variety of partners (fitness plasticity). Here, we determine how each of these is influenced by polyploidy in the legume-rhizobium mutualism. We inoculated a broad geographic sample of natural diploid and autotetraploid alfalfa (<i>Medicago sativa</i>)<i> </i>lineages with a diverse panel of <i>Sinorhizobium </i>bacterial symbionts. To analyze the extent and mechanism of generalism, we measured host growth benefits and functional traits. Autotetraploid plants obtained greater fitness enhancement from mutualistic interactions and were better able to maintain this across diverse rhizobial partners (i.e., low plasticity in fitness) relative to diploids. These benefits were not attributed to increases in niche breadth, but instead reflect increased rewards from investment in the mutualism. Polyploid plants displayed greater generalization in bacterial mutualisms relative to diploids illustrating another axis of advantage for polyploids over diploids.</p>
Data from: Museum specimens provide novel insights into changing plant-herbivore interactions
Mounting evidence shows that species interactions may mediate how individual species respond to climate change. However, long-term anthropogenic effects on species interactions are poorly characterized due to a lack of data. Insect herbivory is a major ecological process that represents the interaction between insect herbivores and their host plants, but historical data on insect damage to plants is particularly sparse. Here, we suggest that museum collections of insects and plants can fill key gaps in our knowledge on changing trophic interactions, including proximate mechanisms and the net outcomes of multiple global change drivers across diverse insect herbivore-plant associations. We outline theory on how global change may affect herbivores and their host plants and highlight the unique data that could be extracted from museum specimens to explore their shifting interactions. We aim to provide a framework for using museum specimens to explore how some of the most diverse co-evolved relationships are responding to climate and land use change.
Plant biomass, not plant economics traits, determines responses of soil CO2 efflux to precipitation in the C4 grass Panicum virgatum
<p>1. Plant responses to major environmental drivers like precipitation can influence important aspects of carbon (C) cycling like soil CO<sub>2</sub> efflux (J<sub>CO2</sub>). These responses may be predicted by two independent classes of drivers: plant size—larger plants respire more and produce a larger quantity of labile C, and plant economics—plants possessing more acquisitive plant economics strategies (i.e., high metabolic rate and tissue nutrient content) produce higher-quality tissue that respires rapidly and decomposes quickly.</p> <p>2. At two sites in central Texas, USA with similar climates and differing soil characteristics, we examined the response of eight <i>Panicum virgatum</i> genotypes to three annual precipitation levels defined by the driest, average, and wettest years from each site's precipitation history. We evaluated the individual and joint influence of plant genotypes and precipitation on J<sub>CO2</sub> and traits related to plant economics and plant size. We then used confirmatory path analysis to evaluate whether effects of precipitation on J<sub>CO2</sub> were in part related to effects of precipitation on plant economics traits or size ('mediated' effects).</p> <p>3. These genotypes exhibited variation in plant economics traits and aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP), an aboveground measure of plant size. Increasing precipitation increased J<sub>CO2</sub> and ANPP more than plant economics traits. At both sites, ANPP was the single best predictor of J<sub>CO2</sub>. Moreover, the sites differed in the ways that plant size and plant economics traits combined with precipitation to influence J<sub>CO2</sub>. At the Austin site, the positive effect of precipitation on J<sub>CO2</sub> was mediated primarily by ANPP, offset by a smaller effect of leaf nitrogen content; no direct precipitation effect was detected. At the Temple site, increasing precipitation had positive direct and ANPP-mediated effects on J<sub>CO2</sub>. This suggests that greater water limitation at Austin may strengthen the links between plant size and J<sub>CO2</sub>.</p> <p>4. Synthesis Estimates of C cycling can be improved by accounting for mediation of precipitation effects on J<sub>CO2</sub> by plant economics traits and plant size in resource-limited environments.</p>
Data from: Disruption of plant-soil-microbial relationships influences plant growth
Differential dispersal of plant and microbial propagules may result in the geographical disassociation of plant populations from their local abiotic conditions and microbial communities, especially in the face of species introductions and changing climates. To assess the potential consequences of disrupting historical relationships between plant populations, microbial communities, and soil conditions, we grew Carpinus caroliniana seedlings from populations across the species range in combinations of sterilized soils and soil microbial communities, in soils collected from sites with or without conspecific trees. This controlled environment study simulated the consequences for seedling growth of independently or jointly disrupting the historical plant population-soil match, plant population-microbial community match, and microbial community-soil match. Seedlings grown in soils from areas without conspecifics had lower biomass, but benefited from inoculation with their historical microbial communities. For conspecific-cultured soils, growth was optimized when seedlings grew with novel microbial communities, but only when microbial communities were local with respect to abiotic soil conditions. Correlative evidence suggests that this may stem from alignment of ectomycorrhizal fungal communities to abiotic soil conditions. Synthesis: Maintaining historical plant-microbial community relationships may benefit plant species spreading into new areas; however, for movement within current ranges, maintaining the historical relationship between microbial communities and the abiotic aspects of soils may have more important consequences for early growth.
A large-scale assessment of plant dispersal mode and seed traits across human-modified Amazonian forests
1. Quantifying the impact of habitat disturbance on ecosystem function is critical for understanding and predicting the future of tropical forests. Many studies have examined post-disturbance changes in animal traits related to mutualistic interactions with plants, but the effect of disturbance on plant traits in diverse forests has received much less attention. 2. Focusing on two study regions in the eastern Brazilian Amazon, we used a trait-based approach to examine how seed dispersal functionality within tropical plant communities changes across a landscape-scale gradient of human modification, including both regenerating secondary forests and primary forests disturbed by burning and selective logging. 3. Surveys of 230 forest plots recorded 26,533 live stems from 846 tree species. Using herbarium material and literature, we compiled trait information for each tree species, focusing on dispersal mode and seed size. 4. Disturbance reduced tree diversity and increased the proportion of lower wood-density and smaller-seeded tree species in study plots. Unexpectedly, disturbance also increased the proportion of stems with seeds that are ingested by animals and reduced those dispersed by other mechanisms (e.g. wind). Older secondary forests had functionally similar plant communities to the most heavily disturbed primary forests. 5. <i>Synthesis</i>. Anthropogenic disturbance has major effects on the seed traits of tree communities, with implications for mutualistic interactions with animals. The higher importance of animal-mediated seed dispersal in disturbed and recovering forests highlights the importance of avoiding defaunation or promoting faunal recovery. The changes in mean seed width suggest larger vertebrates hold especially important functional roles in these human-modified forests. Monitoring fruit and seed traits can provide a valuable indicator of ecosystem condition, emphasising the importance of developing a comprehensive plant traits database for the Amazon and other biomes.
Data from: Changes in behavior are unable to disrupt a trophic cascade involving a specialist herbivore and its food plant
Changes in ecological conditions can induce changes in behavior and demography of wild organisms, which in turn may influence population dynamics. Black brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) nesting in colonies on the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) in western Alaska have declined substantially (~50%) since the turn of the century. Black brant are herbivores that rely heavily on Carex subspathacea (Hoppner's sedge) during growth and development. The availability of C. subspathacea affects gosling growth rates, which subsequently affect pre‐ and postfledging survival, as well as size and breeding probability as an adult. We predicted that long‐term declines in C. subspathacea have affected gosling growth rates, despite the potential of behavior to buffer changes in food availability during brood rearing. We used Bayesian hierarchical mixed‐effects models to examine long‐term (1987–2015) shifts in brant behavior during brood rearing, forage availability, and gosling growth rates at the Tutakoke River colony. We showed that locomotion behaviors have increased (β = 0.05, 95% CRI: 0.032–0.068) while resting behaviors have decreased (β = −0.024, 95% CRI: −0.041 to −0.007), potentially in response to long‐term shifts in forage availability and brood density. Concurrently, gosling growth rates have decreased substantially (β = −0.100, 95% CRI: −0.191 to −0.016) despite shifts in behavior, mirroring long‐term declines in the abundance of C. subspathacea (β = −0.191, 95% CRI: −0.355 to −0.032). These results have important implications for individual fitness and population viability, where shifts in gosling behavior putatively fail to mitigate long‐term declines in forage availability.
Data from: Ecological causes and consequences of flower color polymorphism in a self-pollinating plant (Boechera stricta)
Intraspecific variation in flower color is often attributed to pollinator-mediated selection, yet this mechanism cannot explain flower color polymorphisms in self-pollinating species. Indirect selection mediated via biotic and abiotic stresses could maintain flower color variation in these systems. The selfing forb, Boechera stricta, typically displays white flowers, but some individuals produce purple flowers. We quantified environmental correlates of flower color in natural populations. To disentangle plasticity from genotypic variation, we performed a multiyear field experiment in five gardens. In controlled conditions, we evaluated herbivore preferences and the effects of drought stress and soil pH on flower color expression. In natural populations, purple-flowered individuals experienced lower foliar herbivory than did their white-flowered counterparts. This pattern also held in the common gardens. Additionally, low-elevation environments induced pigmented flowers (plasticity), and the likelihood of floral pigmentation decreased with source elevation of maternal families (genetic cline). Viability selection favored families with pigmented flowers. In the laboratory, herbivores exerted greater damage on tissue derived from white- vs purple-flowered individuals. Furthermore, drought induced pigmentation in white-flowered lineages, and white-flowered plants had a fecundity advantage in the well-watered control. Flower color variation in selfing species is probably maintained by herbivory, drought stress, and other abiotic factors that vary spatially.
Data from: Biogenic silica accumulation varies across tussock tundra plant functional type
1. Silica (SiO2) accumulation by terrestrial vegetation is an important component of the biological silica cycle because it improves overall plant fitness and influences export rates of silica from terrestrial to marine systems. However, most research on silica in plants has focused on agricultural and forested ecosystems, and knowledge of terrestrial silica cycling in the Arctic, as well as the potential impacts of climate change on the silica cycle is severely lacking. 2. We quantified biogenic silica (BSi) accumulation in above and belowground portions of three moist acidic tundra (MAT) sites spanning a 300 km latitudinal gradient in central and northern Alaska, USA. We also examined plant silica accumulation across three main tundra types found in the Arctic (MAT, moist non-acidic tundra (MNT), and wet sedge tundra (WST)). 3. BSi concentrations in live Eriophorum vaginatum, a tussock-forming sedge that is the foundation species of tussock tundra, were not significantly (p<0.05) different across the three main sites. Concentrations of BSi in live aboveground tissue were highest in the graminoid species (0.55 ± 0.07 % BSi in sedges from WST, and 0.27 ± 0.01% in E. vaginatum across the three MAT sites). Both inter-tussock tundra species and shrubs contained substantially lower BSi concentrations than E. vaginatum. 4. Our results have implications for how shifts in vegetation cover associated with climatic warming may alter silica storage in tussock tundra vegetation. Our calculations suggest that shrub expansion via warming will increase BSi storage in Arctic land plants due to the higher biomass associated with shrub tundra, whereas conversion of tussock tundra to WST via permafrost thaw would produce the opposite effect in the terrestrial plant BSi pool. Such changes in the size of the terrestrial vegetation silica reservoir could have direct consequences for the rates and timing of silica delivery to receiving waters in the Arctic.
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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.