Find research datasets worth reusing
Search datasets from major research repositories and use ShareScore to quickly assess how well each record supports discovery, access, and reuse.
6,335
datasets available to search
ShareScore release 0.9.0
Dataset results
6,335 results for “direct”
Data from: Indirect effects of parasitism: costs of infection to other individuals can be greater than direct costs borne by the host
Parasitic infection has a direct physiological cost to hosts but may also alter how hosts interact with other individuals in their environment. Such indirect effects may alter both host fitness and the fitness of other individuals in the host's social network, yet the relative impact of direct and indirect effects of infection are rarely quantified. During reproduction, a host's social environment includes family members who may be in conflict over resource allocation. In such situations, infection may alter how resources are allocated, thereby redistributing the costs of parasitism between individuals. Here, we experimentally reduce parasite burdens of parent and/or nestling European shags (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) infected with Contracaecum nematodes in a factorial design, then simultaneously measure the impact of an individual's infection on all family members. We found no direct effect of infection on parent or offspring traits but indirect effects were detected in all group members, with both immediate effects (mass change and survival) and longer-term effects (timing of parents' subsequent breeding). Our results show that parasite infection can have a major impact on individuals other than the host, suggesting that the effect of parasites on population processes may be greater than previously thought.
Data from: Cope's Rule in a modular organism: directional evolution without an overarching macroevolutionary trend
Cope's Rule describes increasing body size in evolutionary lineages through geological time. This pattern has been documented in unitary organisms but does it also apply to module size in colonial organisms? We address this using 1169 cheilostome bryozoans ranging through the entire 150 million years of their evolutionary history. The temporal pattern evident in cheilostomes as a whole shows no overall change in zooid (module) size. However, individual subclades show size increases: within a genus, younger species often have larger zooids than older species. Analyses of (paleo)latitudinal shifts show that this pattern cannot be explained by latitudinal effects (Bergmann's Rule) coupled with younger species occupying higher latitudes than older species (an 'out of the tropics' hypothesis). While it is plausible that size increase was linked to the advantages of large zooids in feeding, competition for trophic resources and living space, other proposed mechanisms for Cope's Rule in unitary organisms are either inapplicable to cheilostome zooid size or cannot be easily evaluated. Patterns and mechanisms in colonial organisms cannot and should not be extrapolated from the better-studied unitary organisms. And even if macroevolution simply comprises repeated rounds of microevolution, evolutionary processes occurring with lineages are not always detectable from macroevolutionary patterns.
Data from: Directional mitochondrial introgression and character displacement due to reproductive interference in two closely related Pterostichus ground beetle species
Reproductive interference due to interspecific hybridization can lead to character displacement among related species with overlapping ranges. However, no studies have examined which reproductive traits are most important in reducing reproductive interference. We conducted molecular analyses of two nuclear genes (28S and Wingless) and a mitochondrial gene (COI) from two closely related ground beetle species, Pterostichus thunbergi and P. habui (Coleoptera: Carabidae), with overlapping distributions. In addition, we examined four reproductive traits (body size, organ morphologies of intromittent and non-intromittent male genital organs, and female reproductive period) in sympatric and allopatric habitats. We compared male genital morphology using geometric morphometric analysis. The species determined by morphology were classified into separate groups based on the phylogenetic tree constructed by the nuclear gene (Wingless). However, according to the mitochondrial genes examined, P. thunbergi was not monophyletic, while at the sympatric sites these species formed a monophyletic clade. This incongruence suggests that interspecific hybridization and subsequent mitochondrial introgression from P. habui to P. thunbergi have occurred. Concerning genital morphology, both of the intromittent and non-intromittent organs of P. thunbergi differed more from P. habui at the sympatric sites than between allopatric sites, suggesting directional reproductive character displacement. Pterostichus thunbergi, which likely arrived in P. habui habitat in small numbers, would have experienced stronger selection pressures than P. habui.
Data from: Genetic variation in invasive species response to direct and indirect species interactions
Biotic resistance to invasion arises from strong species interactions that decrease the fitness and population growth rates of potential invaders. Strong, direct interactions such as predation and competition are typically thought to drive biotic resistance, but in diverse communities, indirect interactions among species may also affect biotic resistance. Further, genetic variation in traits of the invading species that affect species interactions may allow some genotypes to overcome biotic resistance. We investigated the direct and indirect effects of a native legume (Acmispon wrangelianus) and insect herbivores on the fitness of different genotypes of an invasive legume (Medicago polymorpha) in a California grassland. Insect herbivores decreased Medicago fitness, but only in the presence of Acmispon, suggesting that indirect interactions mediated through insects and Acmispon are important for deterring Medicago invasion. Some Medicago genotypes were less affected by interactions with other species, however. This genetic variance suggests that while biotic resistance reduced the reproductive success of most genotypes, a few genotypes were able to overcome these complex interactions. However, Medicago invasion was unsuccessful in all treatments at several of our sites, suggesting that factors beyond those manipulated here also play a key role at many sites. At sites where biotic resistance is important, spatial and temporal variation in community composition and the genetic composition of the invasion pool may explain the invasion success of Medicago into this community.
Data from: What keeps family physicians busy in Portugal? A multi-centre observational study of work other than direct patient contacts
Objectives: To quantify the time spent by family physicians (FP) on tasks other than direct patient contact, to evaluate job satisfaction, to analyse the association between time spent on tasks and physician characteristics, the association between the number of tasks performed and physician characteristics and the association between time spent on tasks and job satisfaction. Design: Cross-sectional, using time-and-motion techniques. Two workdays were documented by direct observation. A significance level of 0.05 was adopted. Setting: Multicentric in 104 Portuguese family practices. Participants: A convenience sample of FP, with lists of over 1000 patients, teaching senior medical students and first-year family medicine residents in 2012, was obtained. Of the 217 FP invited to participate, 155 completed the study. Main outcomes measured: Time spent on tasks other than direct patient contact and on the performance of more than one task simultaneously, the number of direct patient contacts in the office, the number of indirect patient contacts, job satisfaction, demographic and professional characteristics associated with time spent on tasks and the number of different tasks performed, and the association between time spent on tasks and job satisfaction. Results: FP (n=155) spent a mean of 143.6 min/day (95% CI 135.2 to 152.0) performing tasks such as prescription refills, teaching, meetings, management and communication with other professionals (33.4% of their workload). FP with larger patient lists spent less time on these tasks (p=0.002). Older FP (p=0.021) and those with larger lists (p=0.011) performed fewer tasks. The mean job satisfaction score was 3.5 (out of 5). No association was found between job satisfaction and time spent on tasks. Conclusions: FP spent one-third of their workday in coordinating care, teaching and managing. Time devoted to these tasks decreases with increasing list size and physician age.
Data from: Deer-mediated changes in environment compound the direct impacts of herbivory on understory plant communities
1. In forests of eastern North America, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) can directly affect, via herbivory, the presence, abundance, and reproductive success of many plant species. In addition, deer indirectly influence understory communities by altering environmental conditions. 2. To examine how deer indirectly influence understory plants via environmental modification, we sampled vegetation and environmental variables in- and outside deer exclosures (10-20 years old) located in temperate forests in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA. We assessed how excluding deer affected understory community composition and structure, the soil and light environment, and relationships between direct and indirect effects using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS), mixed linear models and non-parametric multiplicative regression (NPMR). 3. Excluding deer altered sapling communities and several aspects of the understory environment. Excluding deer from plots with lower overstory basal area increased sapling abundance, decreasing the amount of light available to groundlayer plants. Exclusion also reduced soil compaction and the thickness of the soil E horizon. 4. The composition of understory communities and the frequencies of various species and groups covaried in apparent response to the environmental factors affected by exclusion. In several common species and groups, E horizon thickness, compaction, openness, and/or total (sapling and overstory) basal area were significant predictors of plant frequency. 5. Complementary analyses revealed that deer exclusion also altered the frequency distributions of several species and groups across environmental space. Synthesis: Deer alter many facets of the understory environment, such as light availability, soil compaction and depth of the soil E horizon, which, in turn, appear to mediate variation in plant communities. Those environmental modifications likely compound direct impacts of herbivory as drivers of understory community change, having important implications for forest composition. Thus, we suggest a reexamination of the common assumption that understory community shifts stem primarily from tissue removal.
Data from: Directed flight and optimal airspeeds: homeward-bound gulls react flexibly to wind yet fly slower than predicted
Birds in flight are proposed to adjust their body orientation (heading) and airspeed to wind conditions adaptively according to time and energy constraints. Airspeeds in goal-directed flight are predicted to approach or exceed maximum-range airspeeds, which minimize transport costs (energy expenditure per unit distance) and should increase in headwinds and crosswinds. Diagnosis of airspeed adjustment is however obscured by uncertainty regarding birds' goal-directions, transport costs, interrelations with orientation strategy and the attainability of predicted behaviour. To address these issues, we tested whether gulls minimized transport costs through adjustment of airspeed and heading to wind conditions during extended inbound flight over water (180–360 km) to their breeding colony, and introduce a methodology to assess transport (energy) efficiency given wind conditions. Airspeeds, heading, flight mode and energy expenditure were estimated using GPS tracking, accelerometer and wind data. Predicted flight was determined by simulating each trip according to maximum-range airspeeds and various orientation strategies. Gulls employed primarily flapping flight (93%), and negotiated crosswinds flexibly to exploit both high altitude tailwinds and coastal soaring opportunities. We demonstrate that predicted airspeeds in heavy crosswinds depend strongly on orientation strategy and presumed preferred direction. Measured airspeeds increased with headwind and crosswind similarly to maximum-range airspeeds based on full compensation for wind drift, yet remained ∼ 30% lower than predicted by all strategies, resulting in slower and 30–35% costlier flight. Interestingly, more energy could be saved through adjustment of airspeed (median 40%) than via orientation strategy (median 4%). Therefore, despite remarkably flexible reaction to wind at sea, these gulls evidently minimized neither time nor energy expenditure. However, airspeeds were possibly over-predicted by current aerodynamic models. This study emphasizes the importance of accounting for orientation strategy when assessing airspeed adjustments to wind and indicates that either the cost or adaptive 'currency' of extended flight among gulls may require revision.
Data from: The simultaneous inducibility of phytochemicals related to plant direct and indirect defences against herbivores is stronger at low elevation
Ecological theory indicates that warmer and more stable climates should result in stronger biotic interactions. Therefore, plant species growing at lower elevations and experiencing greater herbivore pressure, should invest in higher levels of defences than those at higher elevations. Nonetheless, there are a number of studies that have found no effect of elevational gradients on plant defensive traits. Several factors might explain the lack of consistency for the altitude-defence relationships; including 1) the reduction of all defensive traits into one measure of resistance; 2) not considering plant defence as the simultaneous expression of several defensive traits; and 3) not considering the relative influence of biotic (e.g. herbivory) and abiotic (e.g. climate and soil conditions) factors associated with the ecological gradient. Here, we present a comprehensive test of the effects of elevation and its associated biotic and abiotic factors on the individual and simultaneous expression of constitutive direct and indirect defences and their inducibility (i.e. expression of defences after herbivore attack). Specifically, we estimated climatic and soil variables and measured herbivore damage and constitutive and jasmonic acid-induced glucosinolate levels in the leaves as a proxy for direct defences, and volatile emission as a proxy for indirect defences in 16 Cardamine species naturally growing along the steep elevational gradient of the Alps. Within a phylogenetic comparative framework, we found that species growing at lower elevations invested more in the simultaneous inducibility of both direct and indirect defences, whereas species growing at higher elevations invested more in constitutive direct defences. Although we found strong elevation gradients in herbivory and climatic and soil variables, these biotic and abiotic factors only partially explained elevational patterns in plant defences. Synthesis - These results highlight that the complex regulation of multiple defence traits strongly vary across elevational gradients and build towards a better understanding of the multiple mechanisms underlying trait evolution and species interactions along ecological gradients.
Data from: When and where does mortality occur in migratory birds? Direct evidence from long-term satellite tracking of raptors
1. Information about when and where animals die is important to understand population regulation. In migratory animals, mortality might occur not only during the stationary periods (e.g. breeding and wintering) but also during the migration seasons. However, the relative importance of population limiting factors during different periods of the year remains poorly understood, and previous studies mainly relied on indirect evidence. 2. Here we provide direct evidence about when and where migrants die by identifying cases of confirmed and probable deaths in three species of long-distance migratory raptors tracked by satellite telemetry. 3. We show that mortality rate was about six times higher during migration seasons than during stationary periods. However, total mortality was surprisingly similar between periods, which can be explained by the fact that risky migration periods are shorter than safer stationary periods. Nevertheless, more than half of the annual mortality occurred during migration. We also found spatiotemporal patterns in mortality: spring mortality occurred mainly in Africa in association with the crossing of the Sahara desert, while most mortality during autumn took place in Europe. 4. Our results strongly suggest that events during the migration seasons have an important impact on the population dynamics of long-distance migrants. We speculate that mortality during spring migration may account for short-term annual variation in survival and population sizes, while mortality during autumn migration may be more important for long-term population regulation (through density dependent effects).
Data from: Genomic architecture of habitat-related divergence and signature of directional selection in the body shapes of Gnathopogon fishes
Evolution of ecomorphologically relevant traits such as body shapes is important to colonize and persist in a novel environment. Habitat-related adaptive divergence of these traits is therefore common among animals. We studied the genomic architecture of habitat-related divergence in the body shape of Gnathopogon fishes, a novel example of lake–stream ecomorphological divergence, and tested for the action of directional selection on body shape differentiation. Compared to stream-dwelling Gnathopogon elongatus, the sister species Gnathopogon caerulescens, exclusively inhabiting a large ancient lake, had an elongated body, increased proportion of the caudal region and small head, which would be advantageous in the limnetic environment. Using an F2 interspecific cross between the two Gnathopogon species (195 individuals), quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis with geometric morphometric quantification of body shape and restriction-site associated DNA sequencing-derived markers (1622 loci) identified 26 significant QTLs associated with the interspecific differences of body shape-related traits. These QTLs had small to moderate effects, supporting polygenic inheritance of the body shape-related traits. Each QTL was mostly located on different genomic regions, while colocalized QTLs were detected for some ecomorphologically relevant traits that are proxy of body and caudal peduncle depths, suggesting different degree of modularity among traits. The directions of the body shape QTLs were mostly consistent with the interspecific difference, and QTL sign test suggested a genetic signature of directional selection in the body shape divergence. Thus, we successfully elucidated the genomic architecture underlying the adaptive changes of the quantitative and complex morphological trait in a novel system.
Maternal effects in zooplankton consumers are not only mediated by direct but also by indirect effects of phosphorus limitation
<p>Nutrient limitation of primary producers has repeatedly been shown to negatively affect consumers, directly through stoichiometric mismatch and indirectly via alterations in the producer's biochemical quality or palatability. In this study, we assessed whether direct and indirect impacts of phosphorus<i>-</i>limitation on a planktonic consumer are transferred to the next generation via maternal effects and whether these effects reflect an anticipatory adaptive strategy. For this, we subjected cultures of the algivorous monogonont rotifer <i>Brachionus calyciflorus</i> to three food quality treatments, i.e. P-limited (LP), P-replete (HP) and P-enriched LP algae (i.e. algae with an LP-growth history but with molar C:P ratios equal to those of HP-algae). After two generations, we subjected offspring of these cultures to each of the three food quality treatments and monitored life history traits. In addition, we tested starvation resistance. Our results showed very strong negative maternal effects of low P food on offspring performance. These negative effects prevailed irrespective of contemporary diets, suggesting transmissive and selfish maternal effects rather than anticipatory adaptive effects. The relative strength of direct and indirect maternal P-limitation effects varied among different traits. Adult body size was predominantly determined by direct effects of P-shortage in maternal as well as contemporary food (LP < LP+P and LP+P = HP). In contrast, whereas egg size was negatively affected by direct effects of P-limitation in the maternal diet, a contemporary diet of LP and LP+P algae resulted in larger eggs than HP algae. Animals born from such larger eggs showed no higher growth rates, but they were more resistant to starvation, likely as the result of higher maternal allocation of energy rich molecules to the eggs. The present study shows that maternal food conditions represent an important factor that should be taken into account in studies of stoichiometric mismatch between producers and consumers.</p>
Data from: Differences in offspring size predict the direction of isolation asymmetry between populations of a placental fish
Crosses between populations or species often display an asymmetry in the fitness of reciprocal F1 hybrids. This pattern, referred to as isolation asymmetry or Darwin's Corollary to Haldane's rule, has been observed in taxa from plants to vertebrates, yet we still know little about which factors determine its magnitude and direction. Here we show that differences in offspring size predict the direction of isolation asymmetry observed in crosses between populations of a placental fish, Heterandria formosa. In crosses between populations with differences in offspring size, high rates of hybrid inviability occur only when the mother is from a population characterized by small offspring. Crosses between populations that display similarly sized offspring, whether large or small, do not result in high levels of hybrid inviability in either direction. We suggest this asymmetric pattern of reproductive isolation is due to a disruption of parent-offspring coadaptation that emerges from selection for differently sized offspring in different populations.
Data from: Social network analysis shows direct evidence for social transmission of tool use in wild chimpanzees.
Claims of culture in animals have been stimulated by studies on a wide range of taxa revealing group-specific behavior patterns that remain stable through generations, consistent with different behavioral innovations spreading within groups by social transmission in a manner similar to human culture. In chimpanzees, 39 behaviors have been identified as 'cultural', because alternative genetic and environmental explanations for the observed regional variation appear less plausible. This interpretation is supported by experimental data from captive chimpanzee groups. However, there is no experimental evidence for social learning in the wild, nor has there been direct observation of social diffusion of spontaneously occurring behavioral innovations. Here, we document the spread of two novel tool-use variants, 'moss-sponging' and 'leaf-sponge re-use', in the Sonso chimpanzee community of Budongo Forest, Uganda. We use traditional network-based diffusion analysis (NBDA) to test whether these novel behaviors spread by social learning, as well as a newly developed dynamic version of NBDA, capable of capturing temporal aspects of acquisition, i.e. how each successive personal observations impact the subsequent acquisition of behavior. Both models provide strong evidence that diffusion patterns of moss-sponging, but not leaf-sponge re-use, are significantly better explained by social than asocial learning, therefore showing that wild chimpanzees socially learned moss-sponging from each other. The most conservative estimate of social transmission accounts for 85% of observed events with an estimated 11-fold increase in learning rate for each time a novice observed an informed individual performing moss-sponging. We conclude that group-specific behavioral variants in chimpanzees can be socially learned, suggesting this prerequisite for culture originated in a common ancestor of great apes and humans, long before the advent of modern humans.
Data from: Outlier loci highlight the direction of introgression in oaks
Loci considered to be under selection are generally avoided in attempts to infer past demographic processes as they do not fit neutral model assumptions. However, opportunities to better reconstruct some aspects of past demography might thus be missed. Here we examined genetic differentiation between two sympatric European oak species with contrasting ecological dynamics (Quercus robur and Q. petraea) with both outlier (i.e. loci possibly affected by divergent selection between species or by hitchhiking effects with genomic regions under selection) and non-outlier loci. We sampled 855 individuals in six mixed forests in France and genotyped them with a set of 262 SNPs enriched with markers showing high interspecific differentiation, resulting in accurate species delimitation. We identified between 13 and 74 interspecific outlier loci, depending on the coalescent simulation models and parameters used. Greater genetic diversity was predicted in Q. petraea (a late successional species) than in Q. robur (an early successional species) as introgression should theoretically occur predominantly from the resident species to the invading species. Remarkably, this prediction was verified with outlier loci but not with non-outlier loci. We suggest that the lower effective interspecific gene flow at loci showing high interspecific divergence has better preserved the signal of past asymmetric introgression towards Q. petraea caused by the species' contrasting dynamics. Using markers under selection to reconstruct past demographic processes could therefore have broader potential than generally recognized.
Data from: Inferring contemporary dispersal processes in plant metapopulations: comparison of direct and indirect estimates of dispersal for the annual species Crepis sancta
Analyzing population dynamics in changing habitats is a prerequisite for population dynamics forecasting. The recent development of metapopulation modeling allows the estimation of dispersal kernels based on the colonization pattern but the accuracy of these estimates compared with direct estimates of the seed dispersal kernel has rarely been assessed. In this study, we used recent genetic methods based on parentage analysis (spatially explicit mating models) to estimate seed and pollen dispersal kernels as well as seed and pollen immigration in fragmented urban populations of the plant species Crepis sancta with contrasting patch dynamics. Using two independent networks, we documented substantial seed immigration and a highly restricted dispersal kernel. Moreover, immigration heterogeneity among networks was consistent with previously reported metapopulation dynamics, showing that colonization was mainly due to external colonization in the first network (propagule rain) and local colonization in the second network. We concluded that the differences in urban patch dynamics are mainly due to seed immigration heterogeneity, highlighting the importance of external population source in the spatio-temporal dynamics of plants in a fragmented landscape. The results show that indirect and direct methods were qualitatively consistent, providing a proper interpretation of indirect estimates. This study provides attempts to link genetic and demographic methods and show that patch occupancy models may provide simple methods for analyzing population dynamics in heterogeneous landscapes in the context of global change.
Data from: Genotyping HapSTR loci: phase determination from direct sequencing of PCR products
HapSTRs combine information from a microsatellite (or simple tandem repeat, STR) with one or more single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the DNA sequence immediately flanking the STR. These loci may offer increased power for the estimation of demographic parameters, but also present some challenges for data collection and analysis. We describe a process for inferring HapSTR alleles, including the flanking haplotypes, STR alleles, and their phase relative to each other, directly from DNA sequence electropherograms of PCR products from heterozygous individuals. Our approach eliminates the need for more costly and time-consuming processes such as cloning or acrylamide gel electrophoresis to separate alleles prior to sequencing.
Spatially displaced excitation contributes to the encoding of interrupted motion by the retinal direction-selective circuit
<p>Spatially distributed excitation and inhibition collectively shape a visual neuron's receptive field (RF) properties. In the direction-selective circuit of the mammalian retina, the role of strong null-direction inhibition of On-Off direction-selective ganglion cells (ON-OFF DSGCs) on their direction selectivity is well-studied. However, how excitatory inputs influence the On-Off DSGC's visual response is underexplored. Here, we report that On-Off DSGCs have a spatially displaced glutamatergic receptive field along their horizontal preferred-null motion axes. This displaced receptive field contributes to DSGC null-direction spiking during interrupted motion trajectories. Theoretical analyses indicate that population responses during interrupted motion may help populations of On-Off DSGCs signal the spatial location of moving objects in complex, naturalistic visual environments. Our study highlights that the direction-selective circuit exploits separate sets of mechanisms under different stimulus conditions, and these mechanisms may help encode multiple visual features.</p>
Data from: Submerged macrophytes mitigate direct and indirect insecticide effects in freshwater communities
Understanding how ecological interactions mitigate the impacts of perturbations such as pesticides in biological communities is an important basic and applied question for ecologists. In aquatic ecosystems, new evidence from microcosm experiments suggests that submerged macrophytes can buffer cladocerans from pulse exposures to the widely used insecticide malathion, and that mitigation increases with macrophyte density. However, whether these results scale up to more complex aquatic communities where ecological interactions such as competition can alter toxicity is unknown. Further, macrophyte abilities to mitigate different insecticide exposure scenarios (i.e. single versus repeated pulses) have never been tested. To address these gaps, we performed a factorial mesocosm experiment examining the influence of four macrophyte treatments (0, 10, 50, or 100 Elodea Canadensis shoots planted per mesocosm) crossed with three malathion exposure scenarios (no insecticide, single pulse, repeated pulses) on aquatic communities containing zooplankton, phytoplankton, periphyton, two snail species, and larval amphibians. In the absence of macrophytes, single malathion pulses caused short-term declines in cladoceran abundance followed by their rapid recovery, which precluded any indirect effects (i.e. trophic cascades). However, repeated malathion pulses caused cladoceran extinctions, resulting in persistent phytoplankton blooms and reduced abundance of one snail species. In contrast, with macrophytes present, even at low density, malathion had no effect on any taxa. We also discovered novel effects of macrophytes on the benthic food web. In the two highest macrophyte treatments, we observed trends of reduced periphyton biomass, decreased abundance of one snail species, and decreased amphibian time to and mass at metamorphosis. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of negative submerged macrophyte effects on amphibians, a taxa of global conservation concern. Our findings suggest that facilitating macrophytes could be an important strategy for buffering freshwater communities from insecticides, though consideration of their impacts on animal species is necessary.
Data from: Do female Nicrophorus vespilloides reduce direct costs by choosing males that mate less frequently?
Sexual conflict occurs when selection to maximize fitness in one sex does so at the expense of the other sex. In the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, repeated mating provides assurance of paternity at a direct cost to female reproductive productivity. To reduce this cost, females could choose males with low repeated mating rates or smaller, servile males. We tested this by offering females a dichotomous choice between males from lines selected for high or low mating rate. Each female was then allocated her preferred or non-preferred male to breed. Females showed no preference for males based on whether they came from lines selected for high or low mating rates. Pairs containing males from high mating rate lines copulated more often than those with low line males but there was a negative relationship between female size and number of times she mated with a non-preferred male. When females bred with their preferred male the number of offspring reared increased with female size but there was no such increase when breeding with non-preferred males. Females thus benefited from being choosy, but this was not directly attributable to avoidance of costly male repeated mating.
Data from: Subordinate females in the cooperatively breeding Seychelles warbler obtain direct benefits by joining unrelated groups
1. In many cooperatively breeding animals, a combination of ecological constraints and benefits of philopatry favours offspring taking a subordinate position on the natal territory instead of dispersing to breed independently. However, in many species individuals disperse to a subordinate position in a non-natal group ("subordinate between-group" dispersal), despite losing the kin-selected and nepotistic benefits of remaining in the natal group. It is unclear which social, genetic and ecological factors drive between-group dispersal. 2. We aim to elucidate the adaptive significance of subordinate between-group dispersal by examining which factors promote such dispersal, whether subordinates gain improved ecological and social conditions by joining a non-natal group, and whether between-group dispersal results in increased lifetime reproductive success and survival. 3. Using a long-term dataset on the cooperatively-breeding Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis), we investigated how a suite of proximate factors (food availability, group composition, age and sex of focal individuals, population density) promote subordinate between-group dispersal by comparing such dispersers with subordinates that dispersed to a dominant position or became floaters. We then analysed whether subordinates that moved to a dominant or non-natal subordinate position, or became floaters, gained improved conditions relative to the natal territory, and compared fitness components between the three dispersal strategies. 4. We show that individuals that joined another group as non-natal subordinates were mainly female and that, similar to floating, between-group dispersal was associated with social and demographic factors that constrained dispersal to an independent breeding position. Between-group dispersal was not driven by improved ecological or social conditions in the new territory and did not result in higher survival. Instead, between-group dispersing females often became co-breeders, obtaining maternity in the new territory, and were likely to inherit the territory in the future, leading to higher lifetime reproductive success compared to females that floated. Males never reproduced as subordinates, which may be one explanation why subordinate between-group dispersal by males is rare. 5. Our results suggest that subordinate between-group dispersal is used by females to obtain reproductive benefits when options to disperse to an independent breeding position are limited. This provides important insight into the additional strategies that individuals can use to obtain reproductive benefits.
ScienceDex guides
Understand access before you commit
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.