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4,157 results for “Survival.”
Data from: Low-load pathogen spillover predicts shifts in skin microbiome and survival of a terrestrial-breeding amphibian
Wildlife disease dynamics are strongly influenced by the structure of host communities and their symbiotic microbiota. Conspicuous amphibian declines associated with the waterborne fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) have been observed in aquatic-breeding frogs globally. However, less attention has been given to cryptic terrestrial-breeding amphibians that have also been declining in tropical regions. By experimentally manipulating multiple tropical amphibian assemblages harboring natural microbial communities, we tested whether Bd spillover from naturally infected aquatic-breeding frogs could lead to Bd amplification and mortality in our focal terrestrial-breeding host: the pumpkin toadlet Brachycephalus pitanga. We also tested whether the strength of spillover could vary depending on skin bacterial transmission within host assemblages. Terrestrial-breeding toadlets acquired lethal spillover infections from neighboring aquatic hosts and experienced dramatic but generally non-protective shifts in skin bacterial composition primarily attributable to their Bd infections. In contrast, aquatic-breeding amphibians maintained mild Bd infections and higher survival, with shifts in bacterial microbiomes that were unrelated to Bd infections. Our results indicate that Bd spillover from even mildly infected aquatic-breeding hosts may lead to dysbiosis and mortality in terrestrial-breeding species, underscoring the need to further investigate recent population declines of terrestrial-breeding amphibians in the tropics.
Data from: Risk of potential pesticide use to honeybee and bumblebee survival and distribution: a country-wide analysis for The Netherlands
Aim: Bees play an important role in natural ecosystems and the world's food supply. In the past decades, bee abundance and diversity have declined globally. This has resulted in decreased pollination services for natural ecosystems and the agricultural sector at the field scale. One of the causes of the decline in bee abundance and diversity is the use of pesticides. Linking pesticide use, land use and bee presence could provide crucial insights into areas and pesticides that pose a significant threat to the abundance and diversity of bees. Obtaining actual figures of farmer pesticide use is rarely possible. Therefore, we designed a method to study the effects of potential pesticide use on the survival and distribution of honey- and bumblebees. Location: The Netherlands. Methods: A pesticide risk model was implemented incorporating a hazard quotient as the risk assessment. The number of allowed pesticide active ingredients per crop that could pose a risk to honeybees and bumblebees were linked to the Dutch crop parcel locations for 2015 and 2016. The potential pesticide risk maps were analyzed using honeybee colony survival and bumblebee presence data. Results: Non-significant negative effects of potential pesticide risk on honeybee colony survival and bumblebee presence were found. A significant negative effect of greenhouses was identified for both honeybees and bumblebees. The most important factors in the models predicting honeybee colony survival and bumblebee presence were urban land areas and natural grasslands respectively, both showing a positive effect. Main conclusions: Here, the first attempt to estimate and map pesticide risk to bees in the Netherlands in a country-wide manner is presented. The results could provide crucial high-resolution insights for bee conservation action and facilitate the increase of pollination services in natural ecosystems and the agricultural sector on a local and country-wide scale.
Data from: Covert deformed wing virus infections have long-term deleterious effects on honeybee foraging and survival
Several studies have suggested that covert stressors can contribute to bee colony declines. Here we provide a novel case study and show using radiofrequency identification tracking technology that covert deformed wing virus (DWV) infections in adult honeybee workers seriously impact long-term foraging and survival under natural foraging conditions. In particular, our experiments show that adult workers injected with low doses of DWV experienced increased mortality rates, that DWV caused workers to start foraging at a premature age, and that the virus reduced the workers' total activity span as foragers. Altogether, these results demonstrate that covert DWV infections have strongly deleterious effects on honeybee foraging and survival. These results are consistent with previous studies that suggested DWV to be an important contributor to the ongoing bee declines in Europe and the USA. Overall, our study underlines the strong impact that covert pathogen infections can have on individual and group-level performance in bees.
Beak morphology predicts apparent survival of crossbills: due to selective survival or selective dispersal?
<p>Dozens of morphologically differentiated populations, subspecies and species of crossbills (genus Loxia) exist. It has been suggested that this divergence is due to variation in the conifer cones that each population specialises upon, requiring a specific beak size to efficiently separate the cone scales. If so, apparent survival should depend on beak size. To test this hypothesis, we undertook multievent capture-recapture modelling for 6,844 individuals monitored during 27 years in a Pyrenean Common crossbill (L. curvirostra) population in a forest of mountain pine (Pinus uncinata). Apparent survival was indeed related to beak width, resulting in stabilizing selection around an optimum that was close to the observed mean beak width, indicating that local crossbill beak morphology is adapted to the conifer they feed upon. Both natural selection (selective mortality) and selective emigration of maladapted individuals may explain our findings. As is often the case in capture-recapture analyses but rarely recognised, we could not formally decompose apparent survival into selective mortality versus selective permanent emigration. Nonetheless, there are several indications that selective permanent emigration should not be fully excluded. First, natural selection by itself would have to be unusually strong compared to other empirical estimates to create the observed pattern of apparent survival. Second, the observed mean beak width was a bit lower than the estimated optimum beak width. This can be explained by immigration of crossbills with smaller beaks originating from southern populations, which may subsequently have left the study area permanently in response to low food intake. This is in line with a detected transient effect in the data, yet apparently little influx from crossbills from northern Europe. When permanent emigration is phenotypically selective this will have ecological and evolutionary consequences, so this possibility deserves more attention in general.</p>
Data from: Effects of growth rate, size, and light availability on tree survival across life stages: a demographic analysis accounting for missing values and small sample sizes
Background: Plant survival is a key factor in forest dynamics and survival probabilities often vary across life stages. Studies specifically aimed at assessing tree survival are unusual and so data initially designed for other purposes often need to be used; such data are more likely to contain errors than data collected for this specific purpose. Results: We investigate the survival rates of ten tree species in a dataset designed to monitor growth rates. As some individuals were not included in the census at some time points we use capture-mark-recapture methods both to allow us to account for missing individuals, and to estimate relocation probabilities. Growth rates, size, and light availability were included as covariates in the model predicting survival rates. The study demonstrates that tree mortality is best described as constant between years and size-dependent at early life stages and size independent at later life stages for most species of UK hardwood. We have demonstrated that even with a twenty-year dataset it is possible to discern variability both between individuals and between species. Conclusions: Our work illustrates the potential utility of the method applied here for calculating plant population dynamics parameters in time replicated datasets with small sample sizes and missing individuals without any loss of sample size, and including explanatory covariates.
Data from: Identification of biomarkers for Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging and overall survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma
The aim of the current study was to identify biomarkers that correlate with the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system and prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We downloaded 4 gene expression datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo), and screened for genes that were differentially expressed between HCC and normal liver tissues, using significance analysis of the microarray algorithm. We used a weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to identify hub genes that correlate with BCLC staging, functional enrichment analysis to associate hub genes with their functions, protein-protein interaction network analysis to identify interactions among hub genes, UALCAN analysis to assess gene expression levels based on tumour stage, and survival analyses to clarify the effects of hub genes on patients' overall survival (OS). We identified 50 relevant hub genes using WGCNA; among them, 13 genes (including TIGD5, C8ORF33, NUDCD1, INSB8, and STIP1) correlated with OS and BCLC staging. Significantly enriched gene ontology biological process terms included RNA processing, non-coding RNA processing and phosphodiester bond hydrolysis, and 6 genes were found to interact with 10 or more hub genes. We identified several candidate biomarkers that correlate with BCLC staging and OS of HCC. These genes might be used for prognostic assessment and selection of HCC patients for surgery, especially those with intermediate or advanced disease.
Data from: MHC variation is related to a sexually selected ornament, survival and parasite resistance in common yellowthroats
Hamilton and Zuk (1982) proposed that females choose mates based on ornaments whose expression is dependent on their genetically based resistance to parasites. The Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) plays an important role in pathogen recognition and is a good candidate for testing the relationships between immune genes and both ornament expression and parasite resistance. We tested the hypothesis that female common yellowthroats prefer to mate with more ornamented males, because it is a signal of their MHC-based resistance to parasites and likelihood of survival. In this species, females prefer males that have larger black facial masks as extra-pair mates. Using pyrosequencing, we found that mask size was positively related to the number of different MHC class II alleles, as predicted if greater variation at the MHC allows for the recognition of a greater variety of pathogens. Furthermore, males with more MHC class II alleles had greater apparent survival, and resistance to malaria infection was associated with the presence of a particular MHC class II allele. Thus, extra-pair mating may provide female warblers with immunity genes that are related to parasite resistance, survival and the expression of a male ornament, consistent with good genes models of sexual selection.
Data from: Cell death and survival due to cytotoxic exposure modeled as a two-state Ising system
<p>Cancer chemotherapy agents are assessed for their therapeutic utility primarily by their ability to cause apoptosis of cancer cells and their potency is given by an IC50 value. Chemotherapy uses both target-specific and systemic-action drugs and drug combinations to treat cancer. It is important to judiciously choose a drug type, its dosage, and schedule for optimized drug selection and administration. Consequently, the precise mathematical formulation of cancer cells response to chemotherapy may assist in the selection process. In this paper, we propose a mathematical description of the cancer cell response to chemotherapeutic agent exposure based on a time-tested physical model of two-state multiple-component systems near criticality. We describe the Ising model methodology and apply it to a diverse panel of cytotoxic drugs administered against numerous cancer cell lines in a dose-response manner. The analyzed dataset was generated by the Netherlands Translational Research Center B.V.(Oncolines). This approach allows for an accurate and consistent analysis of cytotoxic agents' effects on cancer cell lines and reveals the presence or absence of the bystander effect through the interaction constant. By calculating the susceptibility function, we see the value of IC50 coinciding with the peak of this measure of the system's sensitivity to external perturbations.</p>
Data from: A global synthesis of survival estimates for microbats
Accurate survival estimates are needed to construct robust population models, which are a powerful tool for understanding and predicting the fates of species under scenarios of environmental change. Microbats make up 17% of the global mammalian fauna, yet the processes that drive differences in demographics between species are poorly understood. We collected survival estimates for 44 microbat species from the literature and constructed a model to determine the effects of reproductive, feeding and demographic traits on survival. Our trait-based model indicated that bat species which produce more young per year exhibit lower apparent annual survival, as do males and juveniles compared with females and adults, respectively. Using 8 years of monitoring data for two Australian species, we demonstrate how knowledge about the effect of traits on survival can be incorporated into Bayesian survival analyses. This approach can be applied to any group and is not restricted to bats or even mammals. The incorporation of informative priors based on traits can allow for more timely construction of population models to support management decisions and actions.
Data from: Deconstructing an infamous extinction crisis: Survival of Partula species on Moorea and Tahiti
Eleven of eighteen Society Island Partula species endemic to the Windward Island subgroup (Moorea and Tahiti) have been extirpated by an ill-advised biological control program. The conservation status of this critically endangered tree snail radiation is of considerable import, but is clouded by taxonomic uncertainty due to the extensive lack of congruence among species designations, diagnostic morphologies and molecular markers. Using a combination of museum, captive, and remnant wild snails, we obtained the first high-resolution nuclear genomic perspective of the evolutionary relationships and survival of fourteen Windward Island Partula species, totaling 93 specimens. We analyzed ~1,607-28,194 nuclear genomic loci collected with the double digest Restriction-site Associated sequencing method. Results from phylogenomic trees, species estimation, and population assignment tests yielded monophyly of the Windward Island subgroup. Within this group, two well-supported clades encompassing five species complexes were recovered. Clade 1 was restricted to Tahiti and contained two species complexes: "P. affinis" (three species) and "P. otaheitana" (five species). Clade 2 occurred on Moorea and on Tahiti and consisted of three species complexes: one Tahitian, "P. clara/P. hyalina"; the other two, "P. taeniata" (three species) and "P. suturalis" (six species), Moorean. Our genomic results largely corroborated previous mitochondrial DNA survival estimates for Moorea and Tahiti, with all five species complexes having members surviving in captivity and/or as remnant wild populations, although the details vary in each case. Continued, proactive conservation and management may yet ensure a phylogenetically-representative survival of the fabled Partula species of Moorea and Tahiti.
Data from: Survival by genotype: patterns at Mc1r are not black and white at the White Sands ecotone
Measuring links among genotype, phenotype and survival in the wild has long been a focus of studies of adaptation. We conducted a 4-year capture–recapture study to measure survival by genotype and phenotype in the Southwestern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus cowlesi) at the White Sands ecotone (transition area between white sands and dark soil habitats). We report several unanticipated findings. First, in contrast with previous work showing that cryptic blanched coloration in S. cowlesi from the heart of the dunes is associated with mutations in the melanocortin-1 receptor gene (Mc1r), ecotonal S. cowlesi showed minimal association between colour phenotype and Mc1r genotype. Second, the frequency of the derived Mc1r allele in ecotonal S. cowlesi appeared to decrease over time. Third, our capture–recapture data revealed a lower survival rate for S. cowlesi individuals with the derived Mc1r allele. Thus, our results suggest that selection at the ecotone may have favoured the wild-type allele in recent years. Even in a system where a genotype–phenotype association appeared to be black and white, our study suggests that additional factors – including phenotypic plasticity, epistasis, pleiotropy and gene flow – may play important roles at the White Sands ecotone. Our study highlights the importance of linking molecular, genomic and organismal approaches for understanding adaptation in the wild. Furthermore, our findings indicate that dynamics of natural selection can be particularly complex in transitional habitats like ecotones and emphasize the need for future research that examines the patterns of ongoing selection in other ecological 'grey' zones.
Data from: Surviving in mountain climate refugia: new insights from the genetic diversity and structure of the relict shrub Myrtus nivellei (Myrtaceae) in the Sahara desert
The identification of past glacial refugia has become a key topic for conservation under environmental change, since they contribute importantly to shaping current patterns of biodiversity. However, little attention has been paid so far to interglacial refugia despite their key role for the survival of relict species currently occurring in climate refugia. Here, we focus on the genetic consequences of range contraction on the relict populations of the evergreen shrub Myrtus nivellei, endemic in the Saharan mountains since at least the end of the last Green Sahara period, around 5.5 ka B.P. Multilocus genotypes (nuclear microsatellites and AFLP) were obtained from 215 individuals collected from 23 wadis (temporary rivers) in the three main mountain ranges in southern Algeria (the Hoggar, Tassili n'Ajjer and Tassili n'Immidir ranges). Identical genotypes were found in several plants growing far apart within the same wadis, a pattern taken as evidence of clonality. Multivariate analyses and Bayesian clustering revealed that genetic diversity was mainly structured among the mountain ranges, while low isolation by distance was observed within each mountain range. The range contraction induced by the last episode of aridification has likely increased the genetic isolation of the populations of M. nivellei, without greatly affecting the genetic diversity of the species as a whole. The pattern of genetic diversity observed here suggests that high connectivity may have prevailed during humid periods, which is consistent with recent paleoenvironmental reconstructions.
Data from: A pollen fatty acid enhances learning and survival in bumblebees
Learning associations between food-related stimuli and nutrients allows foragers to collect resources efficiently. In turn, the nutrients foragers consume can themselves affect learning performance, through innate preferences for pre-ingestive stimuli, as well as post-ingestive reinforcement. Bees are insect models of learning and memory, yet the vast majority of this research concerns nectar (carbohydrate) rather than pollen (protein/lipid) rewards, despite the fact that many bees collect both simultaneously. We asked how one component of pollen surface chemistry, a free fatty acid (oleic acid), affected bees' performance in a nectar-learning task. We found that ingestion of oleic acid enhanced visual learning, likely through positive post-ingestive reinforcement. This was supported by our finding that although bees did not prefer to consume the oleic acid solution, its ingestion both decreased motor activity and increased survival. These results are a step towards understanding how nutritionally complex floral rewards may affect cognitive processes that underlie pollination mutualisms.
Data from: Maiden voyage into death: are fisheries affecting seabird juvenile survival during the first days at sea?
The study of juvenile migration behavior of seabird species has been limited so far by the inability to track their movements during long time periods. Foraging and flying skills of young individuals are assumed to be inferior to those of adults, making them more vulnerable during long-distance migrations. In addition to natural oceanographic effects and intrinsic conditions, incidental seabird harvest by human fisheries is one of the main causes for worldwide seabird population declines, and it has been hypothesized that juveniles are particularly vulnerable to bycatch during their first weeks at sea after leaving the nest. We used solar powered satellite tags to track the at sea movements of adults and juveniles of Scopoli's shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) after the autumn departure from their breeding colony in Chafarinas Islands (southwestern Mediterranean Sea). Eighty percent of juvenile tags stopped transmitting during the first week at sea, within 50 km of their natal colony, in an area with one of the highest concentrations of fishing activities in the Mediterranean Sea. All adult birds tagged and only twenty per cent of juveniles migrated into the Atlantic and southwards along the coast of West Africa. The two age groups showed different habitat preferences, with juveniles travelling farther from the coast, in windier and less productive waters than adults. We conclude that Scopoli's shearwater juveniles are particularly vulnerable to mortality events, and we highlight that fisheries, along with differential age-related behavior skills between adults and juveniles, are likely causes of this mortality. Overall, our study highlights the importance of conducting tracking studies during the first stages of juvenile migration.
Data from: The influence of potential stressors on oviposition site selection and subsequent growth, survival and emergence of the non-biting midge (Chironomus tepperi)
Theory predicts that animals should prefer habitats where their fitness is maximized but some mistakenly select habitats where their fitness is compromised, that is, ecological traps. Understanding why this happens requires knowledge of the habitat selection cues animals use, the habitats they prefer and why, and the fitness costs of habitat selection decisions. We conducted experiments with a freshwater insect, the non‐biting midge Chironomus tepperi to ask: (a) whether females respond to potential oviposition cues, (b) to explore whether oviposition is adaptive in relation to metal pollution and conductivity, and (c) whether individuals raised in poor quality sites are more likely to breed in similarly poor locations. We found the following: (a) females responded to some cues, especially conductivity and conspecifics, (b) females preferred sites with higher concentrations of bioavailable metals but suffered no consequences to egg/larval survival, (c) females showed some avoidance of high conductivities, but they still laid eggs resulting in reduced egg hatching, larval survival, and adult emergence, and (d) preferences were independent of natal environment. Our results show that C. tepperi is susceptible to ecological traps, depending on life stage and the relative differences in conductivities among potential oviposition sites. Our results highlight that (a) the fitness outcomes of habitat selection need to be assessed across the life cycle and (b) the relative differences in preference/suitability of habitats need to be considered in ecological trap research. This information can help determine why habitat preferences and their fitness consequences differ among species, which is critical for determining which species are susceptible to ecological traps.
Data from: Personality drives physiological adjustments and is not related to survival
The evolutionary function and maintenance of variation in animal personality is still under debate. Variation in the size of metabolic organs has recently been suggested to cause and maintain variation in personality. Here, we examine two main underlying notions: (i) that organ sizes vary consistently between individuals and cause consistent behavioural patterns, and (ii) that a more exploratory personality is associated with reduced survival. Exploratory behaviour of captive red knots (Calidris canutus, a migrant shorebird) was negatively rather than positively correlated with digestive organ (gizzard) mass, as well as with body mass. In an experiment, we reciprocally reduced and increased individual gizzard masses and found that exploration scores were unaffected. Whether or not these birds were resighted locally over the 19 months after release was negatively correlated with their exploration scores. Moreover, a long-term mark–recapture effort on free-living red knots with known gizzard masses at capture confirmed that local resighting probability (an inverse measure of exploratory behaviour) was correlated with gizzard mass without detrimental effects on survival. We conclude that personality drives physiological adjustments, rather than the other way around, and suggest that physiological adjustments mitigate the survival costs of exploratory behaviour. Our results show that we need to reconsider hypotheses explaining personality variation based on organ sizes and differential survival.
Drosophila carboxypeptidase D (SILVER) is a key enzyme in neuropeptide processing required to maintain locomotor activity levels and survival rate
<p>Neuropeptides are processed from larger preproproteins by a dedicated set of enzymes. The molecular and biochemical mechanisms underlying preproprotein processing and the functional importance of processing enzymes are well‐characterised in mammals, but little studied outside this group. In contrast to mammals, Drosophila melanogaster lacks a gene for carboxypeptidase E (CPE), a key enzyme for mammalian peptide processing. By combining peptidomics and neurogenetics, we addressed the role of carboxypeptidase D (dCPD) in global neuropeptide processing and selected peptide‐regulated behaviours in Drosophila. We found that a deficiency in dCPD results in C‐terminally extended peptides across the peptidome, suggesting that dCPD took over CPE function in the fruit fly. dCPD is widely expressed throughout the nervous system, including peptidergic neurons in the mushroom body and neuroendocrine cells expressing adipokinetic hormone. Conditional hypomorphic mutation in the dCPD‐encoding gene silver in the larva causes lethality, and leads to deficits in starvation‐induced hyperactivity and appetitive gustatory preference, as well as to reduced viability and activity levels in adults. A phylogenomic analysis suggests that loss of CPE is not common to insects, but only occurred in Hymenoptera and Diptera. Our results show that dCPD is a key enzyme for neuropeptide processing and peptide‐regulated behaviour in Drosophila. dCPD thus appears as a suitable target to genetically shut down total neuropeptide production in peptidergic neurons. The persistent occurrence of CPD in insect genomes may point to important further CPD functions beyond neuropeptide processing which cannot be fulfilled by CPE.</p>
Data from: Food availability affects adult survival trajectories depending on early developmental conditions
Food availability modulates survival in interaction with (for example) competition, disease and predators, but to what extent food availability in natural populations affects survival independent of these factors is not well known. We tested the effect of food availability on lifespan and actuarial senescence in a large population of captive zebra finches by increasing the effort required to obtain food, reflecting natural contrasts in food availability. Food availability may not affect all individuals equally and we therefore created heterogeneity in phenotypic quality by raising birds with different numbers of siblings. Low food availability had no effect on lifespan for individuals from benign developmental conditions (raised in small broods), but shortened lifespan for individuals from harsh developmental conditions. The lifespan difference arose through higher baseline mortality rate of individuals from harsh developmental conditions, despite a decrease in the rate of actuarial senescence. We found no evidence for sex-specific environmental sensitivity, but females lived shorter than males due to increased actuarial senescence. Thus, low food availability by itself shortens lifespan, but only in individuals from harsh developmental conditions. Our food availability manipulation resembles dietary restriction as applied to invertebrates, where it extends lifespan in model organisms and we discuss possible reasons for the contrasting results.
Data from: Decline in abundance and apparent survival rates of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence
Estimates of abundance and survivorship provide quantifiable measures to monitor populations and to define and understand their conservation status. This study investigated changes in abundance and survival rates of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL) in the context of anthropogenic pressures and changing environmental conditions. A long-term data set, consisting of 35 years of photo-identification surveys and comprising more than 5,000 identifications of 507 individuals, formed the basis of this mark-recapture study. Based on model selection using corrected Akaike Information Criterion, the most parsimonious Cormack-Jolly-Seber model included a linear temporal trend in non-calf apparent survival rates with a sharp decline in the last five years of the study and a median survival rate of 0.946 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.910-0.967). To account for capture heterogeneity due to divergent patterns of site fidelity, agglomerative hierarchical cluster (AHC) analysis was employed to categorise individuals based on their annual and survey site fidelity indices. However, the negative trend in survivorship remained and was corroborated by a significant decline in the estimated super-population size from 335 (95% CI 321-348) individuals in 2004-2010 to 291 (95% CI 270-312) individuals in 2010-2016. Concurrently, a negative trend was estimated in recruitment to the population, supported by a sharp decrease in the number of observed calves. Ship strikes and changes in prey availability are potential drivers of the observed decline in fin whale abundance. The combination of clustering methods with mark-recapture represents a flexible way to investigate the effects of site fidelity on demographic variables and is broadly applicable to other individual-based studies.
Data from: Using survival models to estimate invertebrate prey identification times in a generalist stream fish
Estimates of predator feeding rates are important for understanding trophic dynamics. One common method for quantifying feeding rates in fishes combine mass-based diet data with gastric evacuation times to estimate prey mass consumed per predator. An alternative approach is to estimate rates of prey individuals consumed using prey identification times − the time period over which prey remain identifiable in a predator's stomach. One challenge with the analysis of prey identification times, however, is that the response variable is likely to be censored because the 'true' prey identification time cannot be observed directly. Here, we applied survival analysis that can incorporate censored data to estimate the effects of predator body size, water temperature, and prey characteristics (type, count and body size) on identification times in reticulate sculpin (Cottus perplexus). We focused on seven types of prey that are common in this generalist predator's diet: mayflies (Ephemeroptera), caddisflies (Trichoptera), stoneflies (Plecoptera), flies (Diptera), beetles (Coleoptera), worms (Annelida), and sculpin eggs. An information-theoretic model comparison approach indicated that an accelerated failure-time Weibull model with all five covariates provided the best relative fit to the full dataset. Prey type had a strong effect on prey identification times, with annelid worms having the shortest times (< 1 hr) and caddisflies having the longest times (> 15 hrs). Water temperature decreased prey identification times (7.5% per 1°C increase), whereas prey count (i.e. meal size) increased prey identification times (15.5% per additional prey item). Sculpin body size had a weak negative effect on prey identification times (0.04% per 1 mm increase). Body sizes of some taxa, including mayflies, caddisflies, and stoneflies, increased prey identification times, leading to an interaction between prey type and prey size. Our study highlights the utility of survival analysis to quantify variation in prey identification times in the diets of generalist predators.
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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.