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271 results for “ecological research”
Data from: Improving access and use of climate projections for ecological research through the use of a new Python tool
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Stem data from first three censuses on the University of California Santa Cruz Forest Ecology Research Plot
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Chemical variations in Quercus pollen as a tool for taxonomic identification: implications for long-term ecological and biogeographical research
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Data from: The roles of non-production vegetation in agroecosystems: a research framework for filling process knowledge gaps in a social-ecological context
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No net insect abundance and diversity declines across US Long Term Ecological Research sites
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Congruence checks for EML-described datasets in the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network, Checks described as of 2015
These data are descriptions of all checks contributed to the LTER EML Congruence Checker as of late 2015. The EML Congruence Checker (ECC) informs contributors about the structure of the data package, indicating whether the asserted metadata accurately defines the data entity (table); this is called “structural congruence”. The checks and checking software are discussed in O'Brien, M. C, D. Costa and M. Servilla. 2016. Ensuring the quality of data packages in the LTER network data management system. Ecological Informatics. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2016.08.001. Data are organized into a flat table, with one row per check. Each check is characterized with multiple typologies including priority, justification, scope (community), response behavior type and data packaging aspect. Operational information for software includes EML path, criteria for pass/fail, response expected, sample datasets for both pass and fail responses, with failure notes. Management fields indicate if the check has been implemented or not (as of paper publication), with dates when the check was added or updated.
EML congruence checker reports from the Long Term Ecological Research Network PASTA system, 2013-2015
These data are results of LTER EML Congruence Checker reports from 9,353 data packages from 2013 to 2015, by 27 current and former LTER sites, plus ad hoc packages contributed by the Network. All data were gleaned from publicly available reports that accompany each data package at upload. These data and related checks and checking software are discussed in O'Brien, M. C, D. Costa and M. Servilla. 2016. Ensuring the quality of data packages in the LTER network data management system. Ecological Informatics. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2016.08.001. Data are organized into a denormalized flat table, with one row per check run (nultiple rows per dataset and per entity). No data for error-responses are present, since these data are from uploaded datasets, and datasets with errors are not accepted.
Data from: Visualizing connectivity of ecological and evolutionary concepts – an exploration of research on plant species rarity
<p>Understanding the ecological and evolutionary factors that influence species rarity has important theoretical and applied implications, yet the reasons why some species are rare while others are common remain unresolved. As a novel exploration of scientific knowledge, we used network analysis conceptually to visualize the foci of a comprehensive base of >800 studies on plant species rarity within the context of ecology and evolution. In doing so, we highlight existing research strengths that could substantiate novel syntheses and gaps that could inspire new research. Our results reveal strong integrated foci on population dynamics with other ecological concepts. In contrast, despite the potential for ecological and evolutionary processes to interact, few studies explored the interplay of environmental factors and microevolutionary patterns. The cellular and molecular biology, physiology, and plasticity of rare plant species within both ecological and evolutionary contexts similarly provide avenues for impactful future investigations.</p>
Data from: A social-ecological database to advance research on infrastructure development impacts in the Brazilian Amazon
Recognized as one of the world's most vital natural and cultural resources, the Amazon faces a wide variety of threats from natural resource and infrastructure development. Within this context, rigorous scientific study of the region's complex social-ecological system is critical to inform and direct decision-making toward more sustainable environmental and social outcomes. Given the Amazon's tightly linked social and ecological components and the scope of potential development impacts, effective study of this system requires an easily accessible resource that provides a broad and reliable data baseline. This paper brings together multiple datasets from diverse disciplines (including human health, socio-economics, environment, hydrology, and energy) to provide investigators with a variety of baseline data to explore the multiple long-term effects of infrastructure development in the Brazilian Amazon.
Data from: Through the eye of a Gobi khulan – application of camera collars for ecological research of far-ranging species in remote and highly variable ecosystems
The Mongolian Gobi-Eastern Steppe Ecosystem is one of the largest remaining natural drylands and home to a unique assemblage of migratory ungulates. Connectivity and integrity of this ecosystem are at risk if increasing human activities are not carefully planned and regulated. The Gobi part supports the largest remaining population of the Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus; locally called "khulan"). Individual khulan roam over areas of thousands of square kilometers and the scale of their movements is among the largest described for terrestrial mammals, making them particularly difficult to monitor. Although GPS satellite telemetry makes it possible to track animals in near-real time and remote sensing provides environmental data at the landscape scale, remotely collected data also harbors the risk of missing important abiotic or biotic environmental variables or life history events. We tested the potential of animal born camera systems ("camera collars") to improve our understanding of the drivers and limitations of khulan movements. Deployment of a camera collar on an adult khulan mare resulted in 7,881 images over a one-year period. Over half of the images showed other khulan and 1,630 images showed enough of the collared khulan to classify the behaviour of the animals seen into several main categories. These khulan images provided us with: i) new insights into important life history events and grouping dynamics, ii) allowed us to calculate time budgets for many more animals than the collared khulan alone, and iii) provided us with a training dataset for calibrating data from accelerometer and tilt sensors in the collar. The images also allowed to document khulan behaviour near infrastructure and to obtain a day-time encounter rate between a specific khulan with semi-nomadic herders and their livestock. Lastly, the images allowed us to ground truth the availability of water by: i) confirming waterpoints predicted from other analyses, ii) detecting new waterpoints, and iii) compare precipitation records for rain and snow from landscape scale climate products with those documented by the camera collar. We discuss the added value of deploying camera collars on a subset of animals in remote, highly variable ecosystems for research and conservation.
Data from: The geographical and institutional distribution of ecological research in the tropics
We reviewed 1333 papers published in Biotropica and the Journal of Tropical Ecology from 1995 to 2004. Only 62 percent of tropical countries were represented in our survey, with 62 percent of the publications based on research conducted in only ten countries. Sixty-two percent of papers had lead authors that were based at institutions outside the country where the research was conducted. Cross-national collaboration was limited, accounting for only 28 percent of papers with multiple authors. To evaluate if our choice of focal journals could have biased our results, we also reviewed 652 papers published in Ecology, Oecologia, Conservation Biology, and Biological Conservation for five randomly selected years from the same time period. While some differences in authorship and the geographic distribution of research existed, the results from these journals generally mirrored patterns observed in the two focal ones—almost 54 percent of publications were based on research conducted in only ten countries, and most studies had lead authors from a developed country. The results of our review suggest that the geographical distribution of research in the tropics is unequal, and that some important regions remain understudied. The results also suggest a need for a greater focus on establishing collaborative relationships with scientists from tropical countries.
Data from: Improper data practices erode the quality of global ecological databases and impede the progress of ecological research
<p>The scientific community has entered an era of big data. However, with big data comes big responsibilities, and best practices for how data are contributed to databases have not kept pace with the collection, aggregation, and analysis of big data. Here, we rigorously assess the quantity of data for specific leaf area (SLA) available within the largest and most frequently used global plant trait database, the TRY Plant Trait Database, exploring how much of the data were <em>applicable </em>(i.e., original, representative, logical, and comparable) and <em>traceable </em>(i.e., published, cited, and consistent). Over three-quarters of the SLA data in TRY either lacked applicability or traceability, leaving only 22.9% of the original data usable compared to the 64.9% typically deemed usable by standard data cleaning protocols. The remaining usable data differed markedly from the original for many species, which led to altered interpretation of ecological analyses. Though the data we consider here make up only 4.5% of SLA data within TRY, similar issues of <em>applicability </em>and <em>traceability </em>likely apply to SLA data for other species as well as other commonly measured, uploaded, and downloaded plant traits. We end with suggested steps forward for global ecological databases, including suggestions for both uploaders to and curators of databases with the hope that, through addressing the issues raised here, we can increase data quality and integrity within the ecological community.</p>
Supplementary dataset for a research paper "A Farewell to a Dam: ecological impacts of the Kakhovka Reservoir ravaging by warfare in Ukraine"
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Regionalized dynamic climate series for ecological climate impact research in modern controlled environment facilities
<p>Modern controlled environment facilities (CEFs) enable the simulation of dynamic microclimates in controlled ecological experiments through their technical ability to precisely control multiple environmental parameters. However, few CEF studies exploit the technical possibilities of their facilities, as climate change treatments are frequently applied by static manipulation of an inadequate number of climate change drivers, ignoring intra-annual variability and co-variation of multiple meteorological variables. We present so called Test Reference Years (TRY) that consist of typical annual cycles of temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, global radiation, photosynthetically active photon flux density, tropospheric ozone concentration and CO<sub>2</sub>. The TRYs represent possible annual cycles of a reference period (1987-2016) and the two contrasting climate scenarios RCP2.6 and RCP8.5.</p>
Datasets from the publication "Delineating the geographic context of physical activities: A systematic search and scoping review of the methodological approaches used in social ecological research over two decades"
<p>Data from research article Rinne, T., Kajosaari, A., Söderholm, M., Berg, B., Pesola, A.J., Smith, M., Kyttä, M. (2022). Delineating the geographic context of physical activities: A systematic search and scoping review of the methodological approaches used in social ecological research over two decades, <em>Health and Place</em>.</p> <p>This data includes supplementary materials 1, 2, 3 and 4, PRISMA checklist and a translated research protocol.</p>
Micro-personality traits and their implications for behavioural and movement ecology research
<ol> <li>Many animal personality traits have implicit movement‐based definitions, and can directly or indirectly influence ecological and evolutionary processes. It has therefore been proposed that animal movement studies could benefit from acknowledging and studying consistent inter-individual differences (personality), and, conversely, animal personality studies could adopt a more quantitative representation of movement patterns.</li> <li>Using high-resolution tracking data of three-spined stickleback fish (<i>Gasterosteus</i> <i>aculeatus</i>)<i>, </i>we examined the repeatability of four movement parameters commonly used in the analysis of discrete time-series movement data (time stationary, step-length, turning angle, burst frequency), and four behavioural parameters commonly used in animal personality studies (distance travelled, space use, time in free water, time near objects).</li> <li>Fish showed repeatable inter-individual differences in both movement and behavioural parameters when observed in a simple environment with two, three, or five shelters present. Moreover, individuals that spend less time stationary, take more direct paths and less commonly burst travel (movement parameters), were found to travel farther, explored more of the tank, and spent more time in open water (behavioural parameters).</li> <li>Our case-study indicates that the two approaches – quantifying movement and behavioural parameters – are broadly equivalent, and we suggest that movement parameters can be viewed as "micro-personality" traits that give rise to broad-scale consistent inter-individual differences in behaviour. This finding has implications for both personality and movement ecology research areas. For example, the study of movement parameters may <span>provide a robust way to analyse</span><span> individual </span><span>personalities in species that are difficult or impossible to study using standardised behavioural assays.</span> </li> </ol>
Cultivating scientific literacy and a sense of place through course-based urban ecology research
<p>Undergraduate research experiences have been shown to increase engagement, improve learning outcomes, and enhance career development for students in ecology. However, these opportunities may not be accessible to all students, and incorporating inquiry-based research directly into undergraduate curricula may help overcome barriers to participation and improve representation and inclusion in the discipline. The shift to online instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed even greater challenges for providing students with authentic research experiences, but the pandemic may also provide a unique opportunity for creative projects conducted remotely. In this paper, I describe a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) designed for an upper-level ecology course at California State University, Dominguez Hills during remote learning. The primary focus of student-led research activities was to explore the potential impacts of the depopulation of campus during the pandemic on urban coyotes (<em>Canis latrans</em>), of which there were increased sightings reported during this time. Students conducted two research studies, including an evaluation of urban wildlife activity, behavior, and diversity using camera traps installed throughout campus and an analysis of coyote diet using data from scat dissections. Students used the data they generated and information from literature reviews, class discussions, and meetings with experts to develop a coyote monitoring and management plan for our campus and create posters to educate the public. Using campus as a living laboratory, I aimed to engage students in meaningful research while cultivating a sense of place, despite being online. Students' research outcomes and responses to pre- and post-course surveys highlight the benefits of projects that are anchored in place-based education and emphasize the importance of ecological research for solving real-word problems. CUREs focused on local urban ecosystems may be a powerful way for instructors to activate ecological knowledge and capitalize on the cultural strengths of students at urban universities.</p>
Supplementary material 1 from: Meza-Joya FL, Morgan-Richards M, Trewick SA (2022) Relationships among body size components of three flightless New Zealand grasshopper species (Orthoptera, Acrididae) and their ecological applications. Journal of Orthoptera Research 31(1): 91-103. https://doi.org/10.3897/jor.31.79819
Supplementary material 1 from: Meza-Joya FL, Morgan-Richards M, Trewick SA (2022) Relationships among body size components of three flightless New Zealand grasshopper species (Orthoptera, Acrididae) and their ecological applications. Journal of Orthoptera Research 31(1): 91-103. https://doi.org/10.3897/jor.31.79819
Supplementary material 1 from: Talamas EJ, Pham H-T (2017) An online photographic catalog of Platygastroidea (Hymenoptera) in the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (Hanoi, Vietnam), with some taxonomic notes. In: Talamas EJ, Buffington ML (Eds) Advances in the Systematics of Platygastroidea. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 56: 225-239. https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.56.10214
Platygastroidea in IEBR : Explanation note: A table lists the species of Platygastroidea, the author of the species, how many specimens are present in IEBR, including type status, and collecting unit identifiers for specimens that have been photographed.
Supplementary material 1 from: Gherghel I, Papeş M, Brischoux F, Sahlean T, Strugariu A (2016) A revision of the distribution of sea kraits (Reptilia, Laticauda) with an updated occurrence dataset for ecological and conservation research. ZooKeys 569: 135-148. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.569.6975
Occurrence dataset of all sea krait species included in this study : Explanation note: Geodatabase of occurrence records of all sea krait species compiled in the current study.
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.