Find research datasets worth reusing

FIGURE 5 in Systematics and biogeography of Tropical Eastern Pacific Chthamalus with descriptions of two new species (Cirripedia, Thoracica)

FIGURE 5. Chthamalus hedgecocki sp. nov., holotype MNRJ-19712. Right maxilla I: A- schematic (setae omitted); Bphoto of lower angle. Scale bar = 0.050 mm

FIGURE 17. Chthamalus panamensis Pilsbry, 1916 in Systematics and biogeography of Tropical Eastern Pacific Chthamalus with descriptions of two new species (Cirripedia, Thoracica)

FIGURE 17. Chthamalus panamensis Pilsbry, 1916, MNRJ-20440. Opercular plates. A–D scuta; E–H terga; A, C, E, F left plates; B, D, G, H right plates; A, B, F, G outer face; C, D, E, H inner face. Scale bar = 1mm.

FIGURE 4 in Systematics and biogeography of Tropical Eastern Pacific Chthamalus with descriptions of two new species (Cirripedia, Thoracica)

FIGURE 4. Chthamalus hedgecocki sp. nov., holotype MNRJ-19712. Left mandible: A- schematic (setae omitted); Bphoto of lower angle. Scale bar = 0.05 mm

FIGURE 9 in Systematics and biogeography of Tropical Eastern Pacific Chthamalus with descriptions of two new species (Cirripedia, Thoracica)

FIGURE 9. Chthamalus southwardorum sp. nov., holotype MNRJ-19713. Shell with opercular plates not removed. Scale bar = 1mm.

FIGURE 3 in Systematics and biogeography of Tropical Eastern Pacific Chthamalus with descriptions of two new species (Cirripedia, Thoracica)

FIGURE 3. Chthamalus hedgecocki sp. nov., holotype MNRJ-19712. Opercular plates. A-D scuta; E-H terga; A,C,E,F left plates; B,D,G,H right plates; A,B,F,G outer face; C,D,E,F inner face. Scale bar 1mm.

FIGURE 14 in Systematics and biogeography of Tropical Eastern Pacific Chthamalus with descriptions of two new species (Cirripedia, Thoracica)

FIGURE 14. Chthamalus southwardorum sp. nov., holotype MNRJ-19713. Cirri III and VI. A- schematic of cirrus III, right (setae omitted); B- schematic of cirrus VI, right (setae omitted); C- schematic draw of ninth and tenth segments of cirrus VI, outer ramus. Scale bars: A and B = 0.1 mm; C = 0.05 mm.

FIGURE 16. Chthamalus panamensis Pilsbry, 1916 in Systematics and biogeography of Tropical Eastern Pacific Chthamalus with descriptions of two new species (Cirripedia, Thoracica)

FIGURE 16. Chthamalus panamensis Pilsbry, 1916, MNRJ-20440. Shell with opercular plates not removed. Scale bar = 1mm.

FIGURE 2 in Systematics and biogeography of Tropical Eastern Pacific Chthamalus with descriptions of two new species (Cirripedia, Thoracica)

FIGURE 2. Chthamalus hedgecocki sp. nov., holotype MNRJ-19712. Shell with opercular plates not removed. Scale bar = 1mm.

FIGURE 13 in Systematics and biogeography of Tropical Eastern Pacific Chthamalus with descriptions of two new species (Cirripedia, Thoracica)

FIGURE 13. Chthamalus southwardorum sp. nov., holotype MNRJ-19713. Left cirrus II. A- schematic (setae omitted); B- schematic of inner ramus distal segment showing only the bidenticulate setae; C- photo of inner ramus distal segments. Scale bar: A = 0.2 mm; B and C = 0.05 mm.

FIGURE 18. Chthamalus panamensis Pilsbry, 1916 in Systematics and biogeography of Tropical Eastern Pacific Chthamalus with descriptions of two new species (Cirripedia, Thoracica)

FIGURE 18. Chthamalus panamensis Pilsbry, 1916, MNRJ-20440. A Mandible; B Maxilla I. Scale bar = 0.05 mm.

FIGURE 12 in Systematics and biogeography of Tropical Eastern Pacific Chthamalus with descriptions of two new species (Cirripedia, Thoracica)

FIGURE 12. Chthamalus southwardorum sp. nov., holotype MNRJ-19713. Right maxilla I. A- schematic (setae omitted); B- photo of lower angle. Scale bar = 0.05 mm.

FIGURE 11 in Systematics and biogeography of Tropical Eastern Pacific Chthamalus with descriptions of two new species (Cirripedia, Thoracica)

FIGURE 11. Chthamalus southwardorum sp. nov., holotype MNRJ-19713. Left mandible. A- schematic (setae omitted); B- photo of lower angle. Scale bar = 0.05 mm

opencc-zeroNov 2021View details →

Vertical niche and elevation range size in tropical ants: implications for climate resilience

Aim: We propose that forest trees create a vertical dimension for ecological niche variation that generates different regimes of climatic exposure, which in turn drives species elevation distributions. We test this hypothesis by statistically modelling the vertical and elevation distributions and microclimate exposure of rainforest ants. Location: Wet Tropics Bioregion, Australia Methods: We conducted 60 ground-to-canopy surveys to determine the vertical (tree) and elevation distributions, and microclimate exposure of ants (101 species) at 15 sites along four mountain ranges. We statistically modelled elevation range size as a function of ant species' vertical niche breadth and exposure to temperature variance for 55 species found at two or more trees. Results: We found a positive association between vertical niche and elevation range of ant species: for every 3 m increase in vertical niche breadth our models predict a ~150% increase in mean elevation range size. Temperature variance increased with vertical height along the arboreal gradient and ant species exposure to temperature variance explained some of the variation in elevation range size. Main Conclusions: We demonstrate that arboreal ants have broader elevation ranges than ground-dwelling ants and are likely to have increased resilience to climatic variance. The capacity of species to expand their niche by climbing trees could influence their ability to persist over broader elevation ranges. We propose that wherever vertical layering exists - from oceans to forest ecosystems - vertical niche breadth is a potential mechanism driving macrogeographic distribution patterns and resilience to climate change.

opencc-zeroJul 2021View details →

Data from: Local adaptation to herbivory within tropical tree species along a rainfall gradient

In tropical forests, insect herbivores exert significant pressure on plant populations. Adaptation to such pressure is hypothesized to be a driver of high tropical diversity, but direct evidence for local adaptation to herbivory in tropical forests is sparse. At the same time, herbivore pressure has been hypothesized to increase with rainfall in the tropics, which could lead to differences among sites in the degree of local adaptation. To assess the presence of local adaptation and its interaction with rainfall, we compared herbivore damage on seedlings of local vs non-local populations at sites differing in moisture availability in a reciprocal transplant experiment spanning a rainfall gradient in Panama. For 13 native tree species, seeds collected from multiple populations along the rainfall gradient were germinated in a shadehouse and then transplanted to experimental sites within the species range. We tracked the likelihood of herbivore attack over 1.5 years and quantified the percentage of leaf area damaged at the end of the study. Seedlings originating from local populations were less likely to be attacked and experienced lower amounts of herbivore damage than those from non-local populations, but only on the wetter end of the rainfall gradient. However, overall herbivore damage was higher at the drier site compared to wetter sites, contrary to expectation. Taken together, these findings support the idea that herbivory can result in local adaptation within tropical tree species; however, the likelihood of local adaptation varies among sites due to environmentally-driven differences in investment in defense or herbivore specialization or both.

opencc-zeroJul 2021View details →

Arboreality drives heat tolerance while elevation drives cold tolerance in tropical rainforest ants

Determining how species thermal limits correlate with climate is important for understanding biogeographic patterns and assessing vulnerability to climate change. Such analyses need to consider thermal gradients at multiple spatial scales. Here we relate thermal traits of rainforest ants to microclimate conditions from ground to canopy (microgeographic scale) along an elevation gradient (mesogeographic scale) and calculate warming tolerance in the Australian Wet Tropics Bioregion. We test the thermal adaptation and thermal niche asymmetry hypotheses to explain interspecific patterns of thermal tolerance at these two spatial scales. We tested CTmin, CTmax, and calculated CTrange using ramping assays for 74 colonies of 40 ant species collected from terrestrial and arboreal habitats at lowland and upland elevation sites and recorded microclimatic conditions for one year. Within sites, arboreal ants were exposed to hotter microclimates and on average had a 4.2°C (95% CI: 2.7 – 5.6°C) higher CTmax, and 5.3°C (95% CI: 3.5 – 7°C) broader CTrange than ground-dwelling ants. This pattern was consistent across the elevation gradient, whether it be the hotter lowlands or the cooler uplands. Across elevation, upland ants had significantly lower CTmin than lowland ants, whereas the change in CTmax was less pronounced, and CTrange did not change over elevation. Differential exposure to microclimates, due to localised niche preferences, drives divergence in CTmax while environmental temperatures along the elevation gradient drive divergence in CTmin. Our results suggest that both processes of thermal adaptation and thermal niche asymmetry are at play depending on the spatial scale of observation, and we discuss potential mechanisms underlying these patterns. Despite the broad thermal tolerance range of arboreal rainforest ants, lowland arboreal ants had the lowest warming tolerance and may be most vulnerable to climate change.

opencc-zeroOct 2021View details →

Seasonal upwelling reduces herbivore control of tropical rocky intertidal algal communities

Communities are shaped by a variety of ecological and environmental processes, each acting at different spatial scales. Seminal research on rocky shores highlighted the effects of consumers as local determinants of primary productivity and community assembly. However, it is now clear that the species interactions shaping communities at local scales are themselves regulated by large-scale oceanographic processes that generate regional variation in resource availability. Upwelling events deliver nutrient-rich water to coastal ecosystems, influencing primary productivity and algal-herbivore interactions. Despite the potential for upwelling to alter top-down control by herbivores, we know relatively little about the coupling between oceanographic processes and herbivory on tropical rocky shores, where herbivore effects on producers are considered to be strong. By replicating seasonal molluscan herbivore exclusion experiments across three regions exposed to varying intensity of seasonal upwelling, separated by hundreds of kilometers along Panama's Pacific coast, we examine large-scale environmental determinants of consumer effects and community structure on tropical rocky shores. At sites experiencing seasonal upwelling, grazers strongly limited macroalgal cover when upwelling was absent, leading to dominance by crustose algae. As nutrients increased and surface water cooled during upwelling events, increases in primary productivity temporarily weakened herbivory, allowing foliose, turf and filamentous algae to replace crusts. Meanwhile, grazer effects were persistently strong at sites without seasonal upwelling. Our results confirm that herbivores are key determinants of tropical algal cover, however, our focus on regional oceanographic conditions revealed that bottom-up processes regulate top-down control on tropical shorelines. This study expands on the extensive body of work highlighting the influence of upwelling on local ecological processes by demonstrating that nutrient subsidies delivered by upwelling events can weaken herbivory in tropical rocky shores.

opencc-zeroMar 2022View details →

Data from: Temperature and vegetation complexity structure mixed-species flocks along a gradient of elevation in the tropical Andes

Mixed-species flocks constitute community modules that can help test mechanisms driving changes to community composition across environmental gradients. Here, we examined elevational patterns of flock diversity (species richness, taxonomic diversity, species and guild composition) and asked if these patterns were reflections of the full bird community at a given elevation (open-membership hypothesis), or if they were instead structured by environmental variables. We surveyed both the overall avian community and mixed-species flocks across an undisturbed elevational gradient (~1350 – 3550 m) in the Bolivian Andes. We then tested for the role of temperature (a surrogate for abiotic stress), resource diversity (arthropods, fruits) and foraging niche diversity (vegetation vertical complexity) in structuring these patterns. Patterns for the overall and flocking communities were similar, supporting our open-membership hypothesis that Andean flocks represent dynamic, unstructured aggregations. Membership openness and the resulting flock composition, however, also varied with elevation in response to temperature and vegetation complexity. We found a mid-elevation peak in flock species richness, size, and Shannon's diversity at ~2300 m. The transition of flocking behavior towards a more open-membership system at this elevation may explain a similar peak in the proportion of insectivores joining flocks. At high elevations, increasing abiotic stress and decreasing fruit diversity led more generalist, gregarious tanagers (Thraupidae) to join flocks, resulting in larger yet more even flocks alongside a loss of vegetation structure. At lower elevations, flock species richness increased with greater vegetation complexity, but a greater diversity of foraging niches resulted in flocks that were more segregated into separate canopy and understory sub-types. This segregation likely results from increased costs of interspecific competition and activity matching (i.e., constraints on movement and foraging rate) for insectivores. Mid-elevation flocks (~2300 m) seemed, therefore, to benefit from both the open-membership composition of high-elevation flocks and the high vegetation complexity of mid- and low-elevation forests.

opencc-zeroJul 2021View details →

Data from: Tropical forests structure and diversity: a comparison of methodological choices

1. Large-scale data compilation is increasing steadily in tropical forest research, but the lack of standardized methods for data collection limits drawing inference from large datasets and cross-biome analyses. Different inclusion methods and minimum tree diameter threshold are among these varying factors. To tackle this issue, we evaluated how different approaches for tree sampling affects our understanding of diversity and functioning in different tropical vegetation types. 2. We used a unique dataset of 44 inventory plots (43.54 ha) encompassing an aridity gradient: evergreen moist forests, semideciduous and deciduous tropical forests. Data were collected using the by-tree inclusion method, in which, all stems are measured if the equivalent diameter of the tree reaches the minimum threshold. We simulated the impact of adopting different inclusion methods (by-stem and by-tree) and different minimum diameter thresholds on the estimation of number of trees and stems, biomass and species richness. We used linear mixed models to investigate the effect of minimum diameter threshold and inclusion method on our different response variables. We also evaluated species chance to be sampled under different minimum inclusion criteria. 3. Inclusion method and minimum diameter threshold mainly affect the estimation of number of trees and stems and species richness, especially in deciduous and semideciduous forests, where resprouting is a prevalent strategy. In these forests, many trees that have several stems do not reach the minimum size individually when adopting the by-stem method, yet they do reach the minimum size threshold when all stems are considered together. For these environments under water stress, our analysis showed that using large minimum sizes, such as the 10 cm typically used in rainforests, implies large sampling losses, especially when used jointly with the by-stem inclusion method. 4. The by-tree inclusion method represents an alternative approach that offers a more reliable sampling in different vegetation types, particularly in those habitats where resprouting is a widely encountered strategy along all age classes. We demonstrate the infeasibility of adopting broad and standard minimum thresholds for different tropical vegetation types, particularly considering their widely different ecological strategies.

opennotspecifiedJul 2014View details →

FIGURES 14–19 in Morphological variability of new chrysophyte stomatocyst forming a single-cyst assemblage in a low-conductivity tropical lake in the Guineo-Congolian rainforest

FIGURES 14–19. Stomatocyst #49, Piątek J. observed in SEM: mature stomatocyst. Note the well developed the first collar and the second collar indicated by white and grey arrows respectively.