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1,102 results for “plant diversity”
Data from: Fire-sensitive species dominate seed rain in a long unburned Cerrado: implications for plant community diversity and woody encroachment in savannas
Woody encroachment is becoming common in tropical savannas. Seed rain data and seed addition experiments in a long unburned Brazilian savanna indicate that abundant seed rain of fire-sensitive species can surpass limitations to recruitment and lead to woody encroachment. Thus, active fire management may be required to maintain savanna diversity.
Data from: Environmental filtering explains variation in plant diversity along resource gradients
The mechanisms that shape plant diversity along resource gradients remain unresolved because competing theories have been evaluated in isolation. By testing multiple theories simultaneously across a >2-million-year dune chronosequence in an Australian biodiversity hotspot, we show that variation in plant diversity is not explained by local resource heterogeneity, resource partitioning, nutrient stoichiometry, or soil fertility along this strong resource gradient. Rather, our results suggest that diversity is determined by environmental filtering from the regional flora, driven by soil acidification during long-term pedogenesis. This finding challenges the prevailing view that resource competition controls local plant diversity along resource gradients, and instead reflects processes shaping species pools over evolutionary time scales.
Data from: Insects on plants: explaining the paradox of low diversity within specialist herbivore guilds
Classical niche theory explains the coexistence of species through their exploitation of different resources. Assemblages of herbivores coexisting on a particular plant species are thus expected to be dominated by species from host-specific guilds with narrow, coexistence-facilitating niches, rather than by species from generalist guilds. Exactly the opposite pattern is observed for folivores feeding on trees in New Guinea. The least specialized mobile chewers were most species-rich, followed by the moderately specialized semi-concealed and exposed chewers. The highly specialized miners and mesophyll suckers were the least species-rich guilds. The Poisson distribution of herbivore species richness among plant species in specialized guilds and the absence of a negative correlation between species richness in different guilds on the same plant species suggest that these guilds are not saturated with species. We show that herbivore assemblages are enriched with generalists because they are more completely sampled from regional species pools. The herbivore diversity increases as a power function of plant diversity, and the rate of increase is inversely related to their host-specificity. The relative species diversity among guilds is thus scale-dependent, as the importance of specialized guilds increases with plant diversity. Specialized insect guilds may therefore comprise a larger component of overall diversity in the tropics (where they are also poorly known taxonomically) than in the temperate zone, which has lower plant diversity.
Data from: Nitrogen deposition and multi-dimensional plant diversity at the landscape scale
Estimating effects of nitrogen (N) deposition is essential for understanding human impacts on biodiversity. However, studies relating atmospheric N deposition to plant diversity are usually restricted to small plots of high conservation value. Here, we used data on 381 randomly selected 1 km2 plots covering most habitat types of Central Europe and an elevational range of 2900 m. We found that high atmospheric N deposition was associated with low values of six measures of plant diversity. The weakest negative relation to N deposition was found in the traditionally measured total species richness. The strongest relation to N deposition was in phylogenetic diversity, with an estimated loss of 19% due to atmospheric N deposition as compared with a homogeneously distributed historic N deposition without human influence, or of 11% as compared with a spatially varying N deposition for the year 1880, during industrialization in Europe. Because phylogenetic plant diversity is often related to ecosystem functioning, we suggest that atmospheric N deposition threatens functioning of ecosystems at the landscape scale.
Data from: A metacalibrated time-tree documents the early rise of flowering plant phylogenetic diversity
The establishment of modern terrestrial life is indissociable from angiosperm evolution. While available molecular clock estimates of angiosperm age range from the Paleozoic to the Late Cretaceous, the fossil record is consistent with angiosperm diversification in the Early Cretaceous. The time-frame of angiosperm evolution is here estimated using a sample representing 87% of families and sequences of five plastid and nuclear markers, implementing penalized likelihood and Bayesian relaxed clocks. A literature-based review of the palaeontological record yielded calibrations for 137 phylogenetic nodes. The angiosperm crown age was bound within a confidence interval calculated with a method that considers the fossil record of the group. An Early Cretaceous crown angiosperm age was estimated with high confidence. Magnoliidae, Monocotyledoneae and Eudicotyledoneae diversified synchronously 135–130 million yr ago (Ma); Pentapetalae is 126–121 Ma; and Rosidae (123–115 Ma) preceded Asteridae (119–110 Ma). Family stem ages are continuously distributed between c. 140 and 20 Ma. This time-frame documents an early phylogenetic proliferation that led to the establishment of major angiosperm lineages, and the origin of over half of extant families, in the Cretaceous. While substantial amounts of angiosperm morphological and functional diversity have deep evolutionary roots, extant species richness was probably acquired later.
Data from: Impacts of grazing by different large herbivores in grassland depend on plant species diversity
1. It is well documented that large herbivores have pronounced effects on plant communities in grassland ecosystems, and the extent and course of their effects can largely depend on both plant and herbivore characteristics. Previous studies highlighted the importance of plant productivity in predicting the impact of herbivores on grasslands. Yet, there has been little consideration of how different herbivores affect plant communities that, in turn, differ in plant diversity. 2. In a 2-year grazing experiment, we tested the effects of large herbivores (cattle or sheep, or both together) on plant communities under high and low plant diversity levels in eastern Eurasian steppe. 3. We found that, for high plant diversity grassland, mixed grazing by cattle and sheep significantly increases plant diversity, but we found no effect of grazing by cattle or sheep alone. Grazing by cattle or sheep alone or mixed grazing by cattle and sheep did not significantly affect plant biomass in the high diversity grassland. However, for low plant diversity grassland, grazing by cattle alone and mixed grazing by cattle and sheep significantly increased plant diversity, but significantly decreased plant biomass. There was no significant impact on both plant diversity and biomass from sheep grazing. 4. Synthesis and applications. We conclude that the effects of grazing in grassland strongly depend on herbivore assemblages and pre-grazing plant diversity. Herbivore grazing might contribute more to the maintenance of grassland structure and ecosystem functioning under high plant diversity compared with low plant diversity. Furthermore, our data suggest that multiple-species mixed grazing regimes in grassland systems with high plant diversity could represent the optimal protocol for grazing management. This study emphasizes the importance of maintaining both plant and herbivore diversity to optimize ecosystem functioning.
Data from: Designed habitat heterogeneity on green roofs increases seedling survival but not plant species diversity
Urban areas benefit from the ecosystem services provided by low input green roofs. However, limited substrate depth on these green roofs creates challenging conditions for plant establishment and survival, leading to industry reliance on non-native succulents. Through a green roof and glasshouse study, we assessed the impact of simple design modifications to the green roof surface, including redistribution of substrate and addition of logs and pebble piles, on both substrate temperature and moisture content. We added seeds of 26 native species and quantified seedling density, species richness and composition over a single growing season. Overall effects of microsite heterogeneity on species diversity were assessed using species accumulation curves. The modifications altered substrate temperature and moisture. Deep substrate (10-12 cm) and the presence of surface features reduced temperature by 14.6°C and, while surface features had mixed effects on substrate moisture on the green roof, pebble piles slowed moisture loss during a six-week drought in the glasshouse. Following drought conditions, seedling density and species richness was greatest, relative to seeded controls, where substrate was deep on the green roof and where pebbles were present in glasshouse modules, despite high mortality overall. Design modifications did not result in differentiation of seedling communities among different microsite types. Species accumulation curves showed no difference in species richness between aggregates of modified vs. unaltered microsites. Synthesis and applications. Redistribution of green roof substrate and the addition of logs and pebble piles altered microsite conditions and created habitat heterogeneity on a green roof. These design modifications represent a minimalist strategy to ameliorate growing conditions, improve seedling survival and decrease species loss on shallow substrate green roofs.
Data from: The making of a rapid plant invader: genetic diversity and differentiation in the native and invaded range of Senecio inaequidens
To become invasive, exotic species have to succeed in the consecutive phases of introduction, naturalization and invasion. Each of these phases leaves traces in genetic structure, which may affect the species' success in subsequent phases. We examine this interplay of genetic structure and invasion dynamics in the South African Ragwort (Senecio inaequidens), one of Europe's fastest plant invaders. We used AFLP and microsatellite markers to analyze 19 native African and 32 invasive European populations. In combination with historic data, we distinguished invasion routes and traced them back to the native source areas. This revealed that different introduction sites had markedly different success in the three invasion phases. Notably, an observed lag-phase in Northern Germany was evidently not terminated by factors increasing the invasiveness of the resident population but by invasive spread from another introduction centre. The lineage invading Central Europe was introduced to sites in which winters are more benign than in the native source region. Subsequently, this lineage spread into areas in which winter temperatures match the native climate more closely. Genetic diversity clearly increases with population age in Europe and less clearly decreases with spread rate up to population establishment. This indicates that gene flow along well-connected invasion routes counteracted losses of genetic diversity during rapid spread. In summary, this study suggests that multiple introductions, environmental preadaptation and high gene flow along invasion routes contributed to the success of this rapid invader. More generally, it demonstrates the benefit of combining genetic, historical and climatic data for understanding biological invasions.
Data from: Diversity and distribution of Wolbachia in relation to geography, host plant affiliation and life cycle of a heterogonic gall wasp
Background: The maternally inherited endosymbiont Wolbachia is widespread in arthropods and nematodes and can play an important role in the ecology and evolution of its host through reproductive manipulation. Here, we survey Wolbachia in Belonocnema treatae, a widely distributed North American cynipid gall forming wasp that exhibits regional host specialization on three species of oaks and alternation of sexually and aseuxlly reproducing generations. We investigated whether patterns of Wolbachia infection and diversity in B. treatae are associated with the insect's geographic distribution, host plant association, life cycle, and mitochondrial evolutionary history. Results: Screening of 463 individuals from 23 populations including sexual and asexual generations from all three host plants across the southern U.S. showed an average infection rate of 56% with three common Wolbachia strains: wTre1-3 and an additional rare variant wTre4. Phylogenetic analysis based on wsp showed that these strains are unrelated and likely independently inherited. We found no difference in Wolbachia infection frequency among host plant associated populations or between the asexual and sexual generations, or between males and females of the sexual generation. Partially incomplete Wolbachia transmission rates might explain the occurrence of uninfected individuals. A parallel analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene in B. treatae showed high mtDNA haplotype diversity in both infected and uninfected populations suggesting an ancestral infection by Wolbachia as well as a clear split between eastern and western B. treatae mtDNA clades with a sequence divergence of > 6%. The strain wTre1 was present almost exclusively in the western clade while wTre2 and wTre3 occur almost exclusively in eastern populations. In contrast, the same strains co-occur as double-infection in Georgia and triple-infections in two populations in central Florida. Conclusions: The diversity of Wolbachia across geographically and genetically distinct populations of B. treatae and the co-occurrence of the same strains within three populations highlights the complex infection dynamics in this system. Moreover, the association of distinct Wolbachia strains with mitochondrial haplotypes of its host in populations infected by different Wolbachia strains suggests a potential role of the endosymbiont in reproductive isolation in B. treatae.
Data from: Adaptive trait divergence of annual plants in response to urban habitat diversity in a megacity
<p>Data from the common garden experiment, field environmental factors, and data for Qst-Fst comparisons.</p>
Dataset and code for the manuscript "Plant indirect interactions reduce species richness but increase phylogenetic diversity"
<p>This Zenodo repository contains the original data set and code for replicating the result published in the paper "<strong>Plant indirect interactions reduce species richness but increase phylogenetic diversity</strong>"</p><p> </p><ol><li>The "BD.xlsx" data frame contains the original data. The first column, "ID," is an ID for each one of the patches (i.e., vegetation units containing one or more individuals for the same or different species separated from other patches by bare ground). The second and third columns, "localidad" and "suelo", inform about the location where patches are found. The "species" column identifies the different species present at each patch.</li><li> The "Comb1.xlsx" data frame contains the possible combination of 4 species for each ID (concatenation of "localidad" and "suelo") for all the species found in the sampling. Besides "ID", there is one column for each of the species included in interactions ("spA", "spB", "spC", "spD") that contains the name of the species.</li><li>The "phylo.xlsx" data frame contains the taxonomic information of the species found during the sampling. For each species recorded in column "species" we assign its genus (column "genus") and family (column "family")</li><li> "ALL_IN.xlsx" is a data frame containing for each "ID" (proxy of location), the species involved in interactions ("spA", "spB", "spC" & "spD"), the "interaction sign" indicating if a given interaction is positive or negative (results based on simulation) and "Order" indicating the number of species involved in the interactions(from two to four).</li><li>"Code.R" provides the R code necessary to obtain the results. As statistics is based on simulation, every run can provide slightly different results, although differences do not affect interpretation. Please note that running time can be elevated depending on the computer used.</li></ol><p> </p>
Invasive earthworms can change understory plant community traits and reduce plant functional diversity
<p>Datasets and R script</p>
Supplementary material 1 from: Gioria M, Carta A, Balogianni V, Fornara D, Pyšek P, Osborne BA (2023) Changes in the functional and phylogenetic diversity of above- and below-ground plant communities invaded by two alien herbs. NeoBiota 88: 75-101. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.88.109185
Species lists, list of traits, and results of Bayesian phylogenetic generalized linear mixed models of species richness and abundance data in the vegetation and the soil seed bank
Vertebrate grazing can mitigate impacts of nutrient addition on plant diversity and insect abundance in a semi-natural grassland
<p>Human-induced nutrient eutrophication is a major threat to grassland biodiversity, because it promotes the dominance of fast-growing plants. Negative impacts of fertilization on plant biodiversity may be offset by grazing by large vertebrate herbivores. However, whether grazers also mitigate impacts of nutrient addition on insects is less well understood. We use a field experiment to test how plant communities and abundances of pollinators and grasshoppers respond to nutrient addition and grazing by different assemblages of large herbivores, i.e., access by all herbivores (including cattle and horses), access by wild herbivores only (wild boar and deer), no access by large herbivores. Plant biomass increased, plant diversity decreased and community composition shifted towards lower forb cover in response to fertilization, but only in the absence of all herbivores. Flower visitation by Hymenoptera (bees and wasps), i.e., the most abundant pollinator group, was reduced by nutrient addition only in the absence of all herbivores and was positively related to flowering plant richness. In contrast, flower visitation by Diptera (e.g., hoverflies) was enhanced by fertilization, but not affected by grazing. Orthoptera (grasshopper) abundance was reduced by grazing and enhanced by nutrient addition, with positive impacts of fertilization tending to be stronger in plots with only wild or no herbivores. The abundance of grasshoppers was positively related to grass biomass. We conclude that vertebrate herbivores can offset impacts of fertilization on both plant and insect communities, making grazing by large mammals an essential tool to protect insects, particularly pollinators. Most responses to nutrient addition were only apparent in plots without any large herbivores, suggesting that wild herbivores alone could already mitigate nutrient impacts. We also show that insects with contrasting feeding guilds may be favoured by fertilized, ungrazed conditions. Therefore, creating a mosaic of patches grazed at different intensities will enhance overall insect biodiversity.</p>
Spatial patterns and effects of invasive plants on soil microbial activity and diversity along river corridors - dataset
<p>environmental data, plant community data, CLPP profiles, microbial activity data</p>
Stoichiometric traits (N:P) of understory plants contribute to reductions in plant diversity following long-term nitrogen addition in subtropical forest
<p>Nitrogen enrichment is pervasive in forest ecosystems, but its influence on understory plant communities and their stoichiometric characteristics is poorly understood. We hypothesize that when forest is enriched with nitrogen (N), the stoichiometric characteristics of plant species explains changes in understory plant diversity. A 13 year field experiment was conducted to explore the effects of N addition on foliar carbon (C): N: phosphorus (P) stoichiometry and understory plant species richness in a subtropical Chinese fir forest. Four levels of N addition were applied: 0, 6, 12, and 24 g m<sup>-2</sup> yr<sup>-1</sup>. Individual plant species were categorized into resistant plants, intermediate resistant plants, and sensitive plants based on their response to nitrogen addition. Results showed that N addition significantly decreased the number of species, genera and families of herbaceous plants. Foliar N:P ratios were greater in sensitive plants than resistant or intermediate resistance plants, while intrinsic water use efficiency showed an opposite trend. However, no relationship was detected between soil available N and foliar N, and soil N:P and foliar N:P ratios. Our results indicated that long-term N addition decreased the diversity of understory plants in a subtropical forest. Through regulating water use efficiency with N addition, sensitive plants change their N:P stoichiometry and have a higher risk of mortality, while resistant plants maintain a stable N:P stoichiometry, which contributes to their survival. These findings suggest that plant N:P stoichiometry plays an important role in understory plant performance in response to environmental change of N.</p>
Data from: Individual and interactive effects of chronic anthropogenic disturbance and rainfall on taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic composition and diversity of extrafloral nectary-bearing plants in Brazilian Caatinga
<p>Chronic anthropogenic disturbance (CAD) and climate change represent two of the major threats to biodiversity globally, but their combined effects are not well understood. Here we investigate the individual and interactive effects of increasing CAD and decreasing rainfall on the composition and taxonomic (TD), functional (FD) and phylogenetic diversity (PD) of plants possessing extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) in semi-arid Brazilian Caatinga. EFNs attract ants that protect plants against insect herbivore attack and are extremely prevalent in the Caatinga flora. EFN-bearing plants were censused along gradients of disturbance and rainfall in Catimbau National Park in north-eastern Brazil. We recorded a total of 2,243 individuals belonging to 21 species. Taxonomic and functional composition varied along the rainfall gradient, but not along the disturbance gradient. There was a significant interaction between increasing disturbance and decreasing rainfall, with CAD leading to decreased TD, FD and PD in the most arid areas, and to increased TD, FD and PD in the wettest areas. We found a strong phylogenetic signal in the EFN traits we analysed, which explains the strong matching between patterns of FD and PD along the environmental gradients. The interactive effects of disturbance and rainfall revealed by our study indicate that the decreased rainfall forecast for Caatinga under climate change will increase the sensitivity of EFN-bearing plants to anthropogenic disturbance. This has important implications for the availability of a key food resource, which would likely have cascading effects on higher trophic levels.</p>
Phenotypic plasticity and genetic diversity elucidate rarity and vulnerability of an endangered riparian plant
<p><span>Anthropogenic environmental change threatens many species and can be especially challenging for rare species given their potentially limited capacity for migration and adaptation relative to more common species.</span> The ability to acclimate via phenotypic plasticity could provide an important path to persistence, especially for rare species. We investigated the responses of an endangered plant species endemic to a highly dynamic riparian habitat in southeastern Tennessee, USA, and its most widespread congener to environmental change to elucidate their current statuses and future vulnerability. Specifically, we compared the population- and species-level plasticity of rare <i>Pityopsis ruthii</i> and common <i>P. graminifolia </i>to contrasting light, temperature, and water conditions in a growth chamber experiment to evaluate their potential to acclimate to environmental change. Contrary to our expectations, <i>P. ruthii</i> had greater phenotypic plasticity than its common congener in response to both altered light and water availability. But this plasticity was not associated with increased fitness, suggesting that it was not adaptive. Concurrently, we genotyped these individuals at nine putatively neutral microsatellite loci to contrast genetic diversity across the range of each species. As expected, <i>P. ruthii </i>exhibited reduced genetic diversity relative to its more common congener. Overall, our findings accord with the narrow range and current habitat specificity of <i>P. ruthii</i>, especially its tolerance of highly variable water, and highlight its potential vulnerability to future environmental change.</p>
Disentangling the roles of plant functional diversity and plaint traits in regulating plant nitrogen accumulation and denitrification in freshwaters
<p>1. There is a growing recognition that functional measures of diversity, based on quantification of functionally important species traits, are useful for explaining variation in ecosystem processes. However, the mechanisms linking functional diversity to different processes remain poorly understood, hindering development of a predictive framework for ecosystem functioning based on species traits.</p> <p>2. The current understanding of how the functional traits of aquatic plants (macrophytes) affect nitrogen (N) cycling by regulating microbial communities and their activity in freshwater habitats is particularly limited. Denitrifying bacteria are typically associated with the roots of both aquatic and terrestrial plants and denitrification is the main cause of loss of N from ecosystems. Disentangling the interplay between plants and microbial denitrifiers is key to understanding variation in rates of denitrification from local to landscape scales.</p> <p>3. In a mesocosm experiment, we varied the species richness (monocultures or two- species mixtures) and composition of macrophytes. We quantified effects of both macrophyte functional diversity, quantified as functional trait dissimilarity, and functional trait composition, quantified as community weighted mean trait values, on N removal in wetlands. We used structural equation modelling to disentangle the direct and indirect influences of traits on N accumulation in plant biomass, denitrification activity and abundance of key bacterial denitrification genes (<i>nirS</i>and <i>nirK</i>).</p> <p>4. Both functional diversity and functional trait composition regulated N removal, explaining 70 – 94% variation in the underlying ecosystem processes. Increased macrophyte functional diversity increased plant N accumulation, and indirectly enhanced denitrification by increasing denitrification gene abundance. Among traits, greater plant relative growth rates, specific leaf area and aboveground biomass increased plant N accumulation. Denitrification activity increased with increasing belowground biomass but decreased with increasing root diameter.</p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>5. These findings improve our understanding of N removal in freshwater wetlands dominated by macrophytes, and have broad ecological implications for wetland management targeting enhanced ecosystem services. Our results highlight the potential for optimising denitrification and plant N accumulation in wetlands and thereby improving water purification by increasing macrophyte functional diversity and ensuring the presence of key traits in macrophyte assemblages.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Effects of cultivation practice on floristic and flowering diversity of spontaneously growing plant species on arable fields
<p>In the past, the floristic diversity of arable fields has been described in terms of species diversity (SD) and their degree of coverage (C), but never in combination with the recording of the actually flowered species (FS) and their flowering intensity (FI) to striking differences in the cultivation methods on arable land. In relation with SD and C, however, FS and FI may provide important additional information on the functional biodiversity of fields. The aim was therefore to investigate the effects of a) conventional, b) organic as well as c) smallholder (never application of herbicides) on the floristic diversity. Using a region in Germany, we investigated SD, C, FS and FI synchronously in a), b) and c), by 356 vegetation surveys (5x5m plots) conducted in spring and summer in 2019 in winter cereals. Statistical tests were used to analyse the differences between a), b) and c). The medians were used to compare the floristic diversity of a), b) and c) and finally relationships of FS and FI to SD were analysed in relation to the cultivation methods. Significant differences in SD, C, FS and FI were found between the a), b) and c) in spring and summer characterised by sharp declines from c) to b) to a). A drastic reduction in floristic diversity from c) 100 to b) 52 to a) 3 was determined. Plants in flower (FS, FI), were very poorly in a), moderately well to well in b) and well to very well represented in c). C) to a) was characterised by an sharp decline, and, from a) to b) by sharp increase in floristic diversity. With current acreage proportions of a) in mind, this would affect, about one-third of land area in Germany, associated with a drastic reduction in functional biodiversity for insects.</p>
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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.