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Data from: Habitat restoration promotes pollinator persistence and colonization in intensively managed agriculture
Widespread evidence of pollinator declines has led to policies supporting habitat restoration including in agricultural landscapes. Yet, little is yet known about the effectiveness of these restoration techniques for promoting stable populations and communities of pollinators, especially in intensively managed agricultural landscapes. Introducing floral resources, such as flowering hedgerows, to enhance intensively cultivated agricultural landscapes is known to increase the abundances of native insect pollinators in and around restored areas. Whether this is a result of local short-term concentration at flowers or indicative of true increases in the persistence and species richness of these communities remains unclear. It is also unknown whether this practice supports species of conservation concern (e.g., those with more specialized dietary requirements). Analyzing occupancies of native bees and syrphid flies from 330 surveys across 15 sites over eight years, we found that hedgerow restoration promotes rates of between-season persistence and colonization as compared with unrestored field edges. Enhanced persistence and colonization, in turn, led to the formation of more species-rich communities. We also find that hedgerows benefit floral resource specialists more than generalists, emphasizing the value of this restoration technique for conservation in agricultural landscapes.
Data from: Pyrodiversity promotes avian diversity over the decade following forest fire
An emerging hypothesis in fire ecology is that pyrodiversity increases species diversity. We test whether pyrodiversity—defined as the standard deviation of fire severity—increases avian biodiversity at two spatial scales, and whether and how this relationship may change in the decade following fire. We use a dynamic Bayesian community model applied to a multi-year dataset of bird surveys at 1106 points sampled across 97 fires in montane California. Our results provide strong support for a positive relationship between pyrodiversity and bird diversity. This relationship interacts with time since fire, with pyrodiversity having a greater effect on biodiversity at 10 years post-fire than at 1 year post-fire. Immediately after fires, patches of differing burn severities hold similar bird communities, but over the ensuing decade, bird assemblages within patches of contrasting severities differentiate. When evaluated at the scale of individual fires, fires with a greater heterogeneity of burn severities hold substantially more species. High spatial heterogeneity in severity, sometimes called 'mixed-severity fire', is a natural part of wildfire regimes in western North America, but may be jeopardized by climate change and a legacy of fire suppression. Forest management that encourages mixed-severity fire may be critical for sustaining biodiversity across fire-prone landscapes.
Data from: Subgrain-controlled grain growth in laser melted 316L promoting strength at high temperatures
Stainless steel 316L prepared by laser melting consisted of hierarchical austenitic microstructure with micron sized (10-25 µm) grains containing fine 1µm subgrains with a cellular structure. At high temperature thermal treatments (≥ 1100 °C), merging and growth of the 1 µm subgrains into bigger subgrains restricted the rapid grain growth and microstructure coarsening. Partial phase transformation of austenite to ferrite at temperatures ≥ 1100 °C in combination with gradual and steady growth of subgrains inside the micron sized grains and nucleation of sigma phase have promoted the tensile strength of stainless steel 316L to 300 MPa at 1100 °C compared to conventionally made 316L counterparts with tensile strength of approximately 40 MPa. The grain growth mechanism of laser melted microstructure can change the application criteria for 316L and expand the application fields for 316L.
Data from: Both male and female novel traits promote the correlated evolution of genitalia between the sexes in an arthropod
The correlated evolution of genitalia between sexes has been demonstrated in many taxa. However, it remains unclear whether female rather than male genitalia can play a key role in the correlated evolution of male and female genitalia. We conducted an extensive cross-population analysis of the divergence patterns of genital structures, weights of whole genital organs and the bodies of both sexes, and male genital length in a group of xystodesmid millipedes showing diverse genital morphologies. We demonstrate that the correlated evolution of male and female genitalia toward exaggerated states has occurred in the millipedes, which have evolved novel traits in both males (forceps-like gonopods) and females (retractable bellows). Enlargement and elongation of forceps-like gonopods may be advantageous in sperm competition, whereas enlargement and elongation of the bellows may facilitate acceptance/rejection of insemination for ensuring the female's fitness. These male and female genital parts have affected the correlated evolution in the opposite sex, resulting in diversification and exaggeration of genital morphology. Our study suggests that evolutionary novel traits in not only males but also in females could play an important role in the correlated evolution of genitalia between the sexes.
Data from: Divergent natural selection promotes immigrant inviability at early and late stages of evolutionary divergence
Natural selection's role in speciation has been of fundamental importance since Darwin first outlined his theory. Recently, work has focused on understanding how selection drives trait divergence, and subsequently reproductive isolation. 'Immigrant inviability', a barrier that arises from selection against immigrants in their non-native environment, appears to be of particular importance. Although immigrant inviability is likely ubiquitous, we know relatively little about how selection acts on traits to drive immigrant inviability, and how important immigrant inviability is at early-versus-late stages of divergence. We present a study evaluating the role of predation in the evolution of immigrant inviability in recently-diverged population pairs and a well-established species pair of Brachyrhaphis fishes. We evaluate performance in a high-predation environment by assessing survival in the presence of a predator, and swimming endurance in a low-predation environment. We find strong signatures of local adaptation and immigrant inviability of roughly the same magnitude both early and late in divergence. We find remarkably conserved selection for burst-speed swimming (important in predator evasion), and selection for increased size in low-predation environments. Our results highlight the consistency with which selection acts during speciation, and suggest that similar factors might promote initial population differentiation and maintain differentiation at late stages of divergence.
Data from: Oceanic barriers promote language diversification in the Japanese Islands
Good barriers make good languages. Scholars have long speculated that geographical barriers impede linguistic contact between speech communities, and promote language diversification in a manner similar to the process of allopatric speciation. This hypothesis, however, has seldom been tested systematically and quantitatively. Here we adopt methods from evolutionary biology and attempt to quantify the influence of oceanic barriers on the degree of lexical diversity in the Japanese Islands. Measuring the degree of beta diversity from basic vocabularies, we find that geographical proximity and, more importantly, isolation by surrounding ocean, independently explains a significant proportion of lexical variation across Japonic languages. Further analyses indicate that our results are neither a byproduct of using a distance matrix derived from a Bayesian language phylogeny nor an epiphenomenon of accelerated evolutionary rates in languages spoken by small communities. Moreover, we find that the effect of oceanic barriers is reproducible with the Ainu languages, indicating that our analytic approach as well as the results can be generalized beyond Japonic language family. The findings we report here are the first quantitative evidence that physical barriers formed by ocean can influence language diversification, and points to an intriguing common mechanism between linguistic and biological evolution.
Data from: Hunting promotes sexual conflict in brown bears
The removal of individuals through hunting can destabilize social structure, potentially affecting population dynamics. Although previous studies have shown that hunting can indirectly reduce juvenile survival through increased sexually selected infanticide (SSI), very little is known about the spatiotemporal effects of male hunting on juvenile survival. Using detailed individual monitoring of a hunted population of brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Sweden (1991–2011), we assessed the spatiotemporal effect of male removal on cub survival. We modelled cub survival before, during and after the mating season. We used three proxies to evaluate spatial and temporal variation in male turnover; distance and timing of the closest male killed and number of males that died around a female's home range centre. Male removal decreased cub survival only during the mating season, as expected in seasonal breeders with SSI. Cub survival increased with distance to the closest male killed within the previous 1·5 years, and it was lower when the closest male killed was removed 1·5 instead of 0·5 year earlier. We did not detect an effect of the number of males killed. Our results support the hypothesis that social restructuring due to hunting can reduce recruitment and suggest that the distribution of the male deaths might be more important than the overall number of males that die. As the removal of individuals through hunting is typically not homogenously distributed across the landscape, spatial heterogeneity in hunting pressure may cause source–sink dynamics, with lower recruitment in areas of high human-induced mortality.
Data from: Prescribed fire does not promote outbreaks of a primary bark beetle at low-density populations
The causes of bark beetle outbreaks – particularly the role of disturbances – are poorly understood. Stand-scale disturbances, like fires, can suddenly improve local host susceptibility and may attract beetles; however, whether such increases can lead to outbreaks in post-disturbance stands is unclear. Using low-density Dendroctonus ponderosae mountain pine beetle populations in Pinus contorta lodgepole pine forests in western Canada, we investigated whether prescribed fires promote outbreaks or provide only short-term resources. Proportionally more burned than non-burned trees were attacked. At one site, beetle attacks increased in response to a resource pulse, but the proportions of attacked trees and numbers of attacks per tree declined over four years after fire. Elsewhere, beetle attacks remained very low. As the resource (phloem) quality of burned trees remained high three years after fire, we propose that post-fire mortality, resulting in fewer available host trees, can at least partially explain why D. ponderosae did not build up populations in burned stands. Synthesis and applications. Our study emphasizes the importance of examining long-term trends in fire–bark beetle interactions, and of understanding low-density beetle populations. Because fire does not seem to promote mountain pine beetle outbreaks, we recommend the continued use of prescribed fire for the general management of P. contorta forests with low-density beetle populations.
Data from: Larger plants promote a greater diversity of symbiotic nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria associated with an Australian endemic legume
A major goal in microbial ecology is to understand the factors that structure bacterial communities across space and time. For microbes that are plant symbionts, community assembly processes can lead to either a positive or negative relationship between plant size or age and soil microbe diversity. Here, we evaluated the extent to which such relationships exist within a single legume species (Acacia acuminata) and their naturally occurring symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria (rhizobia). 2. We quantified the diversity of rhizobia that associate with A. acuminata trees of variable size spanning a large environmental gradient in southwest Australia (72 trees in 24 sites spread across ~300,000 km2), using metabarcoding. We modelled rhizobia diversity using 16S exact genetic variants, in a binomial multivariate statistical framework that controlled for climate and local soil characteristics. 3. We identified two major phylogenetic clades of rhizobia that associate with A. acuminata. Soil sampled at the base of larger Acacia trees contained a higher richness of rhizobia genetic variants. Each major clade responds differently to environmental factors (climate and soil characteristics), but the positive association between tree size and rhizobia genetic diversity was mainly driven by responses from one of the two clades. Overall tree size explained more variation than any other factor, resulting in a ~3-fold increase in total richness and clade diversity from the smallest to the largest trees. 4. Synthesis. Previous studies have shown that plant host species is important in structuring microbial soil communities in the rhizosphere. Our results show that host size or age within a single plant species can also structure diversity of at least one group of soil microbes. A positive relationship between plant host size and rhizobia diversity suggests that hosts may modify the niche space of their surrounding soil (niche construction hypothesis) enabling a higher richness of microbial taxa. That different rhizobial groups responded differently to host size and other ecological factors suggests that rhizobia is not an ecologically uniform group, and that entirely neutral explanations for our results are unlikely. Host plants may be analogous to 'islands', where larger plant hosts may accumulate diversity over time, through migration opportunities.
Data from: Soil biota and chemical interactions promote co-existence in co-evolved grassland communities
1. Plant populations can exhibit local adaptation to their abiotic environment, such as climate and soil properties, as well as biotic components such as the chemical signatures of dominant plant species and mutualistic and pathogenic microbial populations. While patterns of local adaptation in individual species are widely recorded, the importance of microevolutionary processes for plant community assembly and function is poorly understood. 2. Here we examined how a history of long-term co-existence, and thus potential for local co-adaptation, influenced the process of plant community assembly. Soil inocula and seeds of eight plant species were collected from three calcareous grasslands with a long history of grazing within a single geographical region. Mesocosm communities were established using local genotypes from a single site or an artificial mixture of genotypes from two different sites. To investigate the role of root exudates and local ("home") and non-local ("away") soil biota as mediators of plant species co-existence, the population origin treatment was combined with the addition of activated carbon, which is known to adsorb exudates from soil, and sterilisation of soil inocula. Individual-, species- and mesocosm-level responses were measured over the course of three growing seasons. 3. We found that root exudates promoted seedling survival, species co-existence and productivity in assemblages of genotypes originating from the same community but had a weak impact in mixed, novel communities. Soil biota promoted the growth of subordinate forbs and restrained the growth of dominant graminoids, particularly in communities composed of local genotypes. The effects of population origin were significant in the first two years of the experiment but were not detectable in the third year when interbreeding and new seedling establishment took place. Plant genotypes coupled with "home" microbial inoculum experienced a stronger reduction in growth compared with genotypes exposed to "away" inoculum, indicating that plants experienced home-field disadvantage in interactions with soil biota. 4. Synthesis. Our study demonstrates that the mechanisms of initial grassland community assembly depend on community history, with belowground chemical interactions and plant interactions with soil biota becoming stronger drivers of dynamics in established and potentially co-evolved communities.
Data from: Spatial storage effect promotes biodiversity during adaptive radiation
Many ecological communities are enormously diverse. Variation in environmental conditions over time and space provides opportunities for temporal and spatial storage effects to operate, potentially promoting species coexistence and biodiversity. While several studies have provided empirical evidence supporting the significance of the temporal storage effect for coexistence, empirical tests of the role of the spatial storage effect are rare. In particular, we know little about how the spatial storage effect contributes to biodiversity over evolutionary timescales. Here, we report the first experimental study on the role of the spatial storage effect in the maintenance of biodiversity in evolving metacommunities, using the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25 as a laboratory model of adaptive radiation. We found that intercommunity spatial heterogeneity promoted phenotypic diversity of P. fluorescens in the presence of dispersal among local communities, by allowing the spatial storage effect to operate. Mechanistically, greater niche differences among P. fluorescens phenotypes arose in metacommunities with intercommunity spatial heterogeneity, facilitating negative frequency-dependent selection, and thus, the coexistence among P. fluorescens phenotypes. These results highlight the importance of the spatial storage effect for biodiversity over evolutionary timescales.
Data from: Frugivory-related traits promote speciation of tropical palms
Animal-mediated seed dispersal by frugivorous birds and mammals is central to the ecology and functioning of ecosystems, but whether and how frugivory-related traits have affected plant speciation remains little explored. Fruit size is directly linked to plant dispersal capacity and therefore influences gene flow and genetic divergence of plant populations. Using a global species-level phylogeny with comprehensive data on fruit sizes and plant species distributions, we test whether fruit size has affected speciation rates of palms (Arecaceae), a plant family characteristic of tropical rainforests. Globally, the results reveal that palms with small fruit sizes have increased speciation rates compared with those with large (megafaunal) fruits. Speciation of small-fruited palms is particularly high in the understory of tropical rainforests in the New World, and on islands in the Old World. This suggests that frugivory-related traits in combination with geography and the movement behaviour of frugivores can influence the speciation of fleshy-fruited plants.
Data from: Insecticides promote viral outbreaks by altering herbivore competition
While the management of biological invasions is often characterized by a series of single-species decisions, invasive species exist within larger food webs. These biotic interactions can alter the impact of control/eradication programs and may cause suppression efforts to inadvertently facilitate invasion spread and impact. We document the rapid replacement of the invasive Bemisia MEAM1 cryptic species by the cryptic MED species throughout China, and demonstrate that MED is more tolerant of insecticides and a better vector of tomato yellow leaf curl virus ('TYLCV') than MEAM1. While MEAM1 usually excludes MED under natural conditions, insecticide application reverses the MEAM1-MED competitive hierarchy and allows MED to exclude MEAM1. The insecticide-mediated success of MED has led to TYLCV outbreaks throughout China. Our work strongly supports the hypothesis that insecticide use in China reverses the MEAM1-MED competitive hierarchy and allows MED to displace MEAM1 in managed landscapes. By promoting the dominance of a Bemisia species that is a competent viral vector, insecticides thus increase the spread and impact of TYLCV in heterogeneous agroecosystems.
Data from: Sexual fidelity trade-offs promote regulatory variation in the prairie vole brain
Individual variation in social behavior seems ubiquitous, but we know little about how it relates to brain diversity. Among monogamous prairie voles, levels of vasopressin receptor (encoded by the gene avpr1a) in brain regions related to spatial memory predict male space use and sexual fidelity in the field. We find that trade-offs between the benefits of male fidelity and infidelity are reflected in patterns of territorial intrusion, offspring paternity, avpr1a expression, and the evolutionary fitness of alternative avpr1a alleles. DNA variation at the avpr1a locus includes polymorphisms that reliably predict the epigenetic status and neural expression of avpr1a, and patterns of DNA diversity demonstrate that avpr1a regulatory variation has been favored by selection. In prairie voles, trade-offs in the fitness consequences of social behaviors seem to promote neuronal and molecular diversity.
Data from: Environmental conditions and biotic interactions acting together promote phylogenetic randomness in semi-arid plant communities: new methods help to avoid misleading conclusions
QUESTIONS: Molecular phylogenies are increasingly used to better understand the mechanisms structuring natural communities. The prevalent theory is that environmental factors and biotic interactions promote the phylogenetic clustering and over-dispersion of plant communities, respectively. However, both environmental filtering and biotic interactions are very likely to interact in most natural communities, jointly affecting community phylogenetic structure. How do environmental filters and biotic interactions jointly affect the phylogenetic structure of plant communities across environmental gradients? LOCATION: Eleven Stipa tenacissima L. grasslands located along an environmental gradient from central to southeast Spain, covering the core of the distribution area of this vegetation type in Europe. METHODS: We jointly evaluated the effects of environmental conditions and plant–plant interactions on the phylogenetic structure – measured with the mean phylogenetic distance index of the studied communities. As an indicator of environmental conditions, we used a PCA ordination including eight climatic variables. Different metrics were used to measure the following processes: (1) competition/facilitation shifts at the entire community level (species combination index), and (2) the effect of microclimatic amelioration provided by the two most important nurse plants on neighbour composition (similarity indices and comparison of the phylogenetic pattern between canopy patches and bare ground areas). RESULTS: Biotic interactions and, to a less extent, environmental conditions affected the phylogenetic pattern of the studied communities. While positive plant–plant interactions (both at community level and the scale of individual nurse plants) increased phylogenetic overdispersion, higher rainfall increased phylogenetic clustering. The opposing effects of environmental conditions and biotic interactions could be the main cause of the overall random phylogenetic structure found inmost of these communities. CONCLUSIONS: Our results illustrate, for the first time, how an overall random phylogenetic pattern may not only be promoted by the lack of influence of either environmental filtering or biotic interactions, but rather by their joint and opposing effects. They caution about making inferences on the underlying mechanisms shaping plant communities from the sole use of their phylogenetic pattern. We also provide a comprehensive set of easy-to-measure tools to avoid misleading conclusions when interpreting phylogenetic structure data obtained from observational studies.
Data from: Phylotocol: promoting transparency and overcoming bias in phylogenetics
The integrity of science requires that the process be based on sound experimental design and objective methodology. Strategies that increase reproducibility and transparency in science protect this integrity by reducing conscious and unconscious biases. Given the large number of analysis options and the constant development of new methodologies in phylogenetics, this field is one that would particularly benefit from more transparent research design. Here, we introduce phylotocol (fī·lō·´tə·kôl), an a priori protocol-driven approach in which all analyses are planned and documented at the start of a project. The phylotocol template is simple and the implementation options are flexible to reduce administrative burdens and allow researchers to adapt it to their needs without restricting scientific creativity. While the primary goal of phylotocol is to increase transparency and accountability, it has a number of auxiliary benefits including improving study design and reproducibility, enhancing collaboration and education, and increasing the likelihood of project completion. Our goal with this Point of View article is to encourage a dialogue about transparency in phylogenetics and the best strategies to bring transparent research practices to our field.
Tree diversity is key for promoting the diversity and abundance of forest‐associated taxa in Europe
<p>Plant diversity is an important driver of diversity at other trophic levels, suggesting that cascading extinctions could reduce overall biodiversity. Most evidence for positive effects of plant diversity comes from grasslands. Despite the fact that forests are hotspots of biodiversity, the importance of tree diversity, in particular its relative importance compared to other management related factors, in affecting forest‐associated taxa is not well known. To address this, we used data from 183 plots, located in different forest types, from Mediterranean to Boreal, and established along a climatic gradient across six European countries (FunDivEUROPE project). We tested the influence of tree diversity, tree functional composition (i.e. functional trait values), forest structure, climate and soil on the diversity and abundance/activity of nine taxa (bats, birds, spiders, microorganisms, earthworms, ungulates, foliar fungal pathogens, defoliating insects and understorey plants) and on their overall diversity and abundance/activity (multidiversity,multiabundance/activity). Tree diversity was a key driver of taxon‐level and overall forest‐associated biodiversity, along with tree functional composition, forest structure, climate and soil. Both tree species richness and functional diversity (variation in functional trait values) were important. The effects of tree diversity on the abundance/activity of forest‐associated taxa were less consistent. Nonetheless, spiders, ungulates and foliar fungal pathogens were all more abundant/active in diverse forests. Tree functional composition and structure were also important drivers of abundance/activity: conifer stands had lower overall multidiversity (although the effect was driven by defoliating insects), while stands with potentially tall trees had lower overall multiabundance/activity. We found more synergies than trade‐offs between diversity and abundance/activity of different taxa, suggesting that forest management can promote high diversity across taxa. Our results clearly show the high value of mixed forest stands for multiple forest‐associated taxa and indicate that multiple dimensions of tree diversity (taxonomic and functional) are important.</p>
Data from: An experimental test of whether pyrodiversity promotes mammal diversity in a northern Australian savanna
1. The increasing awareness that a fire regime that promotes biodiversity in one system can threaten biodiversity in another has resulted in a shift away from fire management based on vague notions of maximising pyrodiversity, towards determining the optimal fire regime based on the demonstrated requirements of target species. 2. We utilised a long-running, replicated fire experiment on Melville Island, the largest island off the northern Australian coast, to test the importance of pyrodiversity for native mammals in a northern Australian savanna landscape. We first developed statistical models to determine how native mammal abundance has responded to nine years of experimentally-manipulated fire frequency. Next, given each species' modelled response to fire frequency, we identified the level of pyrodiversity and optimal mix of fire frequencies that would be expected to maximise mammal diversity and abundance, and minimise extinction risk. This was done for both the entire mammal assemblage and for the mammal species currently declining on Melville Island. 3. Fire frequency was a significant predictor of abundance of the northern brown bandicoot (Isoodon macrourus), black-footed tree-rat (Mesembriomys gouldii), brush-tailed rabbit-rat (Conilurus penicillatus), grassland melomys (Melomys burtoni), pale field-rat (Rattus tunneyi), and mice/dunnarts but not for the common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). 4. The geometric mean abundance (GMA) of the entire mammal assemblage was positively associated with pyrodiversity, but peaked at an intermediate value. Hence, maximising pyrodiversity would reduce native mammal assemblage GMA below its potential maximum. The fire history for an area that maximised the entire native mammal assemblage GMA consisted of 57% long-unburnt, 43% triennially burnt and <1% annually burnt. Pyrodiversity did not reduce the extinction risk, nor increase the GMA of declining mammals above that predicted in areas entirely annually or triennially burnt. 5. Synthesis and applications: We demonstrate a useful approach with which to develop fire management strategies based on the demonstrated requirements of target species. By comparing the optimal fire regime identified for the conservation of threatened species and that identified for the entire mammal assemblage, we demonstrate the flexibility of this approach to tailor fire management to address specific management priorities in other fire-prone environments.
Data from: How the litter-feeding bioturbator Orchestia gammarellus promotes late successional salt marsh vegetation
1.Traditionally, studies on vegetation succession have focused either on plant-plant interactions, or on interactions between plants and their physical environment, e.g. through organic matter build-up and increased nutrient cycling. These interactions can change conditions for macrodetritivores that feed on plant litter, but their role in vegetation succession is rarely studied. In this paper we explore whether the bioturbating crustacean macrodetritivore Orchestia gammarellus alters soil conditions in a salt marsh ecosystem in such a way that it promotes late successional, less stress-tolerant plant species at the expense of early successional species. 2.To answer this, we performed a field and a laboratory experiment in which we manipulated abundances of O. gammarellus, and studied the consequences for soil physical and chemical parameters and for vegetation community composition. 3.Our field experiment showed that O. gammarellus stimulated nitrogen mineralization, likely resulting from the positive effect of this macrodetritivore on soil aeration and litter decomposition. Moreover, results from the laboratory experiment showed that O. gammarellus negatively affected dicot seedling survival of mainly early successional plant species, likely through grazing, thus affecting plant community composition. 4.The experiments together provided evidence that O. gammarellus promotes late successional plant species in multiple ways: by alleviation of anoxic conditions, by promoting nutrient cycling and by selective herbivory on early successional species. 5.Synthesis: By demonstrating that a species traditionally considered as part of the detrital ('brown') food web is thus an important accelerator of vegetation succession, this study documents an important but often overlooked link in food web and ecosystem ecology.
Data from: Herbivore-mediated interaction promotes the maintenance of trichome dimorphism through negative frequency-dependent selection
Natural plant populations exhibit genetic variation in defense traits against herbivores. Despite a growing body of evidence for herbivore-mediated selection on plant defenses, we still know little about how genetic variation persists in antiherbivore defense traits. Here we present field and experimental evidence for herbivore-mediated frequency-dependent selection that promotes the maintenance of trichome-producing (hairy) and trichomeless (glabrous) plants of Arabidopsis halleri subsp. gemmifera. First, in a natural population where the specialist leaf beetle Phaedon brassicae was prevalent, hairy plants were damaged less when the frequency of neighboring glabrous plants increased. Furthermore, temporal variation in the frequency of the two plant morphs showed that rarer morphs increased in frequency at the scale of 1-m-diameter patches between survey years. Using a mesocosm experiment, we demonstrated a rare-morph advantage for defense (leaf damage and herbivore abundance) and reproduction (flower and clone production) between hairy and glabrous plants in the presence of P. brassicae. However, this rare-morph advantage was not detected when beetles were absent, with glabrous plants having higher reproduction than hairy plants under these conditions regardless of frequency conditions. These findings highlight the overlooked but potentially critical role of herbivore-mediated apparent interaction in maintaining plant defense polymorphism.
ScienceDex guides
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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.