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3,484 results for “Plastic”

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dryad32/100

Data from: A treefrog with reproductive mode plasticity reveals a changing balance of selection for non-aquatic egg-laying

Non-aquatic reproduction has evolved repeatedly, but the factors that select for laying eggs on land are not well understood. The treefrog Dendropsophus ebraccatus has plasticity in reproductive mode, laying eggs that successfully develop in or out of water. This permits the first experimental comparison of the selective agents that shape adult oviposition behavior and embryo developmental capacity. I quantified the sources and strength of arboreal and aquatic egg mortality, how mortality varies with weather patterns, and assessed 39 years of daily rainfall patterns to infer historic levels of egg mortality and effects of climate change on the selective balance between aquatic and non-aquatic egg deposition. Aquatic predators and desiccation were the strongest selective agents in water and air, respectively. Egg mortality varied with weather such that aquatic oviposition was advantageous when rainfall was low, but laying eggs out of water increased survival when rainfall was high. Additionally, I found that since 1972 there have been significant changes in the patterns of rainfall in central Panama, which has altered the selective landscape acting on egg-laying behavior. This work provides insight into both the evolution and maintenance of adaptive phenotypic plasticity as well as historic and current selection on reproduction.

opencc-zeroDec 2011View details →
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Data from: Disentangling the role of phenotypic plasticity and genetic divergence in contemporary ecotype formation during a biological invasion

The occurrence of contemporary ecotype formation through adaptive divergence of populations within the range of an invasive species typically requires standing genetic variation but can be facilitated by phenotypic plasticity. The relative contributions of both of these to adaptive trait differentiation have rarely been simultaneously quantified in recently diverging vertebrate populations. Here we study a case of intraspecific divergence into distinct lake and stream ecotypes of threespine stickleback that evolved in the past 140 years within the invasive range in Switzerland. Using a controlled laboratory experiment with full-sib crosses and treatments mimicking a key feature of ecotypic niche divergence, we test if the phenotypic divergence that we observe in the wild results from phenotypic plasticity or divergent genetic predisposition. Our experimental groups show qualitatively similar phenotypic divergence as those observed among wild adults. The relative contribution of plasticity and divergent genetic predisposition differs among the traits studied, with traits related to the biomechanics of feeding showing a stronger genetic predisposition, whereas traits related to locomotion are mainly plastic. These results implicate that phenotypic plasticity and standing genetic variation interacted during contemporary ecotype formation in this case.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →
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Data from: Plasticity of animal genome architecture unmasked by rapid evolution of a pelagic tunicate

Genomes of animals as different as sponges and humans show conservation of global architecture. Here we show that multiple genomic features including transposon diversity, developmental gene repertoire, physical gene order, and intron-exon organization are shattered in the tunicate Oikopleura, belonging to the sister group of vertebrates and retaining chordate morphology. Ancestral architecture of animal genomes can be deeply modified and may therefore be largely nonadaptive. This rapidly evolving animal lineage thus offers unique perspectives on the level of genome plasticity. It also illuminates issues as fundamental as the mechanisms of intron gain.

opencc-zeroDec 2010View details →
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Data from: Fear on the move: predator hunting mode predicts variation in prey mortality and plasticity in prey spatial response

1. Ecologists have long searched for a framework of a priori species traits to help predict predator-prey interactions in food webs. Empirical evidence has shown that predator hunting mode and predator and prey habitat domain are useful traits for explaining predator-prey interactions. Yet individual experiments have yet to replicate predator hunting mode, calling into question whether predator impacts can be attributed to hunting mode or merely species identity. 2. We tested the effects of spider predators with sit-and-wait, sit-and-pursue and active hunting modes on grasshopper habitat domain, activity and mortality in a grassland system. We replicated hunting mode by testing two spider predator species of each hunting mode on the same grasshopper prey species. We observed grasshoppers with and without each spider species in behavioral cages and measured their mortality rates, movements and habitat domains. We likewise measured the movements and habitat domains of spiders to characterize hunting modes. 3. We found that predator hunting mode explained grasshopper mortality and spider and grasshopper movement activity and habitat domain size. Sit-and-wait spider predators covered small distances over a narrow domain space and killed fewer grasshoppers than sit-and-pursue and active predators, which ranged farther distances across broader domains and killed more grasshoppers, respectively. Prey adjusted their activity levels and horizontal habitat domains in response to predator presence and hunting mode: sedentary sit-and-wait predators with narrow domains caused grasshoppers to reduce activity in the same-sized domain space; more mobile sit-and-pursue predators with broader domains caused prey to reduce their activity within a contracted horizontal (but not vertical) domain space; and highly mobile active spiders led grasshoppers to increase their activity across the same domain area. All predators impacted prey activity and sit-and-pursue predators generated strong effects on domain size. 4. This study demonstrates the validity of utilizing hunting mode and habitat domain for predicting predator-prey interactions. Results also highlight the importance of accounting for flexibility in prey movement ranges as an anti-predator response rather than treating the domain as a static attribute.

opencc-zeroDec 2012View details →
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Data from: Adaptive patterns of phenotypic plasticity in laboratory and field environments in Drosophila melanogaster

Identifying mechanisms of adaptation to variable environments is essential in developing a comprehensive understanding of evolutionary dynamics in natural populations. Phenotypic plasticity allows for phenotypic change in response to changes in the environment, and as such may play a major role in adaptation to environmental heterogeneity. Here, the plasticity of stress response in D. melanogaster originating from two distinct geographic regions and ecological habitats was examined. Adults were given a short-term, 5-day exposure to combinations of temperature and photoperiod to elicit a plastic response for three fundamental aspects of stress tolerance that vary adaptively with geography. This was replicated in both the laboratory and in outdoor enclosures in the field. In the laboratory, geographic origin was the primary determinant of the stress response. Temperature and the interaction between temperature and photoperiod also significantly affected stress resistance. In the outdoor enclosures, plasticity was distinct among traits and between geographic regions. These results demonstrate that short-term exposure of adults to ecologically relevant environmental cues results in predictable effects on multiple aspects of fitness. These patterns of plasticity vary among traits and are highly distinct between the two examined geographic regions, consistent with patterns of local adaptation to climate and associated environmental parameters.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →
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Data from: Carry-over effects of conditions at the wintering grounds on breeding plumage signals in a migratory bird: roles of phenotypic plasticity and selection

To understand the consequences of ever-changing environment on the dynamics of phenotypic traits, distinguishing between selection processes and individual plasticity is crucial. We examined individual consistency/plasticity in several male secondary sexual traits expressed during the breeding season (white wing and forehead patch size, UV reflectance of white wing patch and dorsal melanin colouration) in a migratory pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) population over an 11-year period. Furthermore, we studied carry-over effects of three environmental variables (NAO, a climatic index; NDVI, a vegetation index; and rainfall) at the wintering grounds (during pre-breeding moult) on the expression of these breeding plumage traits of pied flycatcher males at individual- and population-levels. While NAO correlates negatively with moisture in West Africa, NDVI correlates positively with primary production. Forehead patch size and melanin colouration were highly consistent within individuals among years, while the consistency of the other two traits was moderate. Wing patch size decreased with higher NAO and increased with higher rainfall and NDVI at the individual-level. Interestingly, small-patched males suffered lower survival during high NAO winters than large-patched males, and vice versa during low NAO winters. These counteracting processes meant that the individual-level change was masked at the population-level where no relationship was found. Our results provide a good example of how variation in the phenotypic composition of a natural population can be a result of both environment-dependent individual plasticity and short-term microevolution. Moreover, when plasticity and viability selection operate simultaneously, their impacts on population composition may not be evident.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →
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Data from: Thermal plasticity of growth and development varies adaptively among alternative developmental pathways

Polyphenism, the expression of discrete alternative phenotypes, is often a consequence of a developmental switch. Physiological changes induced by a developmental switch potentially affect reaction norms, but the evolution and existence of alternative reaction norms remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that, in the butterfly Pieris napi (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), thermal reaction norms of several life history traits vary adaptively among switch-induced alternative developmental pathways of diapause and direct development. The switch was affected both by photoperiod and temperature, ambient temperature during late development having the potential to override earlier photoperiodic cues. Directly developing larvae had higher development and growth rates than diapausing ones across the studied thermal gradient. Reaction norm shapes also differed between the alternative developmental pathways, indicating pathway-specific selection on thermal sensitivity. Relative mass increments decreased linearly with increasing temperature and were higher under direct development than diapause. Contrary to predictions, population phenology did not explain trait variation or thermal sensitivity, but our experimental design probably lacks power for finding subtle phenology effects. We demonstrate adaptive differentiation in thermal reaction norms among alternative phenotypes, and suggest that the consequences of an environmentally dependent developmental switch primarily drive the evolution of alternative thermal reaction norms in P. napi.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →
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Data from: Maternal effects in a wild songbird are environmentally plastic but only marginally alter the rate of adaptation

Despite ample evidence for the presence of maternal effects (MEs) in a variety of traits and strong theoretical indications for their evolutionary consequences, empirical evidence to what extent MEs can influence evolutionary responses to selection remains ambiguous. We tested the degree to which MEs can alter the rate of adaptation of a key life-history trait, clutch size, using an individual-based model approach parameterized with experimental data from a long-term study of great tits (Parus major). We modeled two types of MEs: (i) an environmentally plastic ME, in which the relationship between maternal and offspring clutch size depended on the maternal environment via offspring condition, and (ii) a fixed ME, in which this relationship was constant. Although both types of ME affected the rate of adaptation following an abrupt environmental shift, the overall effects were small. We conclude that evolutionary consequences of MEs are modest at best in our study system, at least for the trait and the particular type of ME we considered here. A closer link between theoretical and empirical work on MEs would hence be useful to obtain accurate predictions about the evolutionary consequences of MEs more generally.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →
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Data from: Interplay of robustness and plasticity of life history traits drives ecotypic differentiation in thermally distinct habitats

Phenotypic plasticity describes the ability of an individual to alter its phenotype in response to the environment and is potentially adaptive when dealing with environmental variation. However, robustness in the face of a changing environment may often be beneficial for traits that are tightly linked to fitness. We hypothesized that robustness of some traits may depend on specific patterns of plasticity within and among other traits. We used a reaction norm approach to study robustness and phenotypic plasticity of three life history traits of the collembolan Orchesella cincta in environments with different thermal regimes. We measured adult mass, age at maturity and growth rate of males and females from heath and forest habitats at two temperatures (12 and 22 °C). We found evidence for ecotype-specific robustness of female adult mass to temperature, with a higher level of robustness in the heath ecotype. This robustness is facilitated by plastic adjustments of growth rate and age at maturity. Furthermore, female fecundity is strongly influenced by female adult mass, explaining the importance of realizing a high mass across temperatures for females. These findings indicate that different predicted outcomes of life history theory can be combined within one species' ontogeny and that models describing life history strategies should not assume that traits like growth rate are maximized under all conditions. On a methodological note, we report a systematic inflation of variation when standard deviations and correlation coefficients are calculated from family means as opposed to individual data within a family structure.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →
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Data from: Phenotypic plasticity or evolutionary change? An examination of the phenological response of an arctic seabird to climate change

1. Phenological adjustments are an important aspect of a population's response to climate change. Changes in phenology can occur through either individual plasticity or evolutionary change within populations. Few studies have investigated both these processes in Arctic environments. 2. Using 42 years of individual and pedigree data, we evaluated the contribution of plasticity and evolution to variation in breeding phenology at a colony of a high Arctic sea-ice obligate seabird, Mandt's black guillemot (Cepphus grylle mandtii). Mean clutch initiation (first egg in a clutch) advanced 7.8 days, and both environmental (snowmelt) and demographic (years of breeding experience) factors varied among years. 3. Earlier phenology was associated with earlier snowmelt and experienced mothers. Females advanced phenology at different rates as they aged but at similar rates in response to variation in snowmelt. Heritability of clutch initiation was negligible, and there was no evidence of evolution contributing to phenological changes. 4. Earlier laying was associated with increased annual number of fledglings and annual adult survival at the individual level suggesting that the phenological changes are adaptive and are driven by phenotypic plasticity, but not genetic responses. 5. We propose that species with a constrained breeding season (like many Arctic species) may have a limited ability beyond existing plasticity to respond to changing environmental conditions.

opencc-zeroJul 2019View details →
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Data from: Migratory plasticity is not ubiquitous among large herbivores

1. The migratory movements of wild animals can promote abundance and support ecosystem functioning. For large herbivores, mounting evidence suggests that migratory behavior is an individually variable trait, where individuals can easily switch between migrant and resident tactics. The degree of migratory plasticity, including whether and where to migrate, has important implications for the ecology and conservation of large herbivores in a changing world. 2. Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) are an iconic species of western North America, but are notably absent from the body of literature that suggests large herbivore migrations are highly plastic. We evaluated plasticity of migration in female mule deer using longitudinal GPS data collected from 312 individuals across 9 populations in the western US, including 882 animal-years (801 migrants and 81 residents). 3. We followed both resident and migratory mule deer through time to determine if individual animals switched migratory behaviors (i.e., whether to migrate) from migratory to residency, or vice versa. Additionally, we examined the fidelity of individuals to their migration routes (i.e., where to migrate) to determine if they used the same routes year after year. We also evaluated if age and reproductive status affected propensity to migrate or fidelity to migratory routes. 4. Our results indicate that mule deer, unlike other large herbivores, have little or no plasticity in terms of whether or where they migrate. Resident deer remained residents, and migrant deer remained migrants, regardless of age, reproductive status, or number of years monitored. Further, migratory individuals showed strong fidelity (>80%) to their migration routes year after year. 5. Our study clearly shows that migration plasticity is not ubiquitous among large herbivores. Because of their rigid migratory behavior, mule deer may not adapt to changing environmental conditions as readily as large herbivores with more plastic migratory behavior (e.g., elk). The fixed migratory behaviors of mule deer make clear that conservation efforts aimed at traditional seasonal ranges and migration routes are warranted for sustaining this iconic species that continues to decline across its range.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →
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Data from: On the fate of seasonally plastic traits in a rainforest butterfly under relaxed selection

Many organisms display phenotypic plasticity as adaptation to seasonal environmental fluctuations. Often, such seasonal responses entails plasticity of a whole suite of morphological and life-history traits that together contribute to the adaptive phenotypes in the alternative environments. While phenotypic plasticity in general is a well-studied phenomenon, little is known about the evolutionary fate of plastic responses if natural selection on plasticity is relaxed. Here, we study whether the presumed ancestral seasonal plasticity of the rainforest butterfly Bicyclus sanaos (Fabricius, 1793) is still retained despite the fact that this species inhabits an environmentally stable habitat. Being exposed to an atypical range of temperatures in the laboratory revealed hidden reaction norms for several traits, including wing pattern. In contrast, reproductive body allocation has lost the plastic response. In the savannah butterfly, B. anynana (Butler, 1879), these traits show strong developmental plasticity as an adaptation to the contrasting environments of its seasonal habitat and they are coordinated via a common developmental hormonal system. Our results for B. sanaos indicate that such integration of plastic traits – as a result of past selection on expressing a coordinated environmental response – can be broken when the optimal reaction norms for those traits diverge in a new environment.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →
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Data from: Extensive transcriptional response associated with seasonal plasticity of butterfly wing patterns

In the eastern United States the buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia, shows seasonal wing color plasticity where adults emerging in the spring are tan, while those emerging in the autumn are dark red. This variation can be artificially induced in laboratory colonies, thus making J. coenia a useful model system to examine the mechanistic basis of plasticity. To better understand the developmental basis of seasonal plasticity we used RNA-seq to quantify transcription profiles associated with development of alternative seasonal wing morphs. Depending on the developmental stage, between 547 and 1420 transfrags were significantly differentially expressed between morphs. These extensive differences in gene expression stand in contrast to the much smaller numbers of differentially expressed transcripts identified in previous studies of genetic wing pattern variation in other species, and suggest that environmentally induced phenotypic shifts arise from very broad systemic processes. Analyses of candidate endocrine and pigmentation transcripts revealed notable genes upregulated in the red morph, including several ecdysone-associated genes, and cinnabar, a pigmentation gene implicated in color pattern variation in other butterflies. We also found multiple melanin-related transcripts strongly upregulated in the red morph, including tan and yellow-family genes, leading us to speculate that dark red pigmentation in autumn J. coenia may involve non-ommochrome pigments. While we identified several endocrine and pigmentation genes as obvious candidates for seasonal color morph differentiation, we speculate that the majority of observed expression differences were due to thermal stress response. The buckeye transcriptome provides a basis for further developmental studies of phenotypic plasticity.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →
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Data from: Within-individual plasticity explains age-related decrease in stress response in a short-lived bird

A crucial problem for every organism is how to allocate energy between competing life-history components. The optimal allocation decision is often state-dependent and mediated by hormones. Here, we investigated how age, a major state variable affects individuals' hormonal response to a standardized stressor: a trait that may reflect allocation between self-maintenance and reproduction. We caught free-living house sparrows and measured their hormonal (corticosterone) response to capture stress in consecutive years. Using a long-term ringing dataset, we determined the age of the birds, and we partitioned the variation into within- and among-individual age components to investigate the effects of plasticity versus selection or gene flow, respectively, on the stress response. We found large among-individual variation in the birds' hormone profiles, but overall, birds responded less strongly to capture stress as they grew older. These results suggest that stress responsiveness is a plastic trait that may vary within individuals in an adaptive manner, and natural selection may act on the reaction norms producing optimal phenotypic response in the actual environment and life-history stage.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →
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Data from: Adaptive plasticity and epigenetic variation in response to warming in an Alpine plant

Environmentally induced phenotypic plasticity may be a critical component of response to changing environments. We examined local differentiation and adaptive phenotypic plasticity in response to elevated temperature in half-sib lines collected across an elevation gradient for the alpine herb, Wahlenbergia ceracea. Using Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP), we found low but significant genetic differentiation between low- and high-elevation seedlings, and seedlings originating from low elevations grew faster and showed stronger temperature responses (more plasticity) than those from medium and high elevations. Furthermore, plasticity was more often adaptive for plants of low-elevation origin and maladaptive for plants of high elevation. With methylation sensitive-AFLP (MS-AFLP), we revealed an increase in epigenetic variation in response to temperature in low-elevation seedlings. Although we did not find significant direct correlations between MS-AFLP loci and phenotypes, our results demonstrate that adaptive plasticity in temperature response to warming varies over fine spatial scales and suggest the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in this response.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →
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Data from: The quantitative genetic basis of clinal divergence in phenotypic plasticity

Phenotypic plasticity is thought to be an important mechanism for adapting to environmental heterogeneity. Nonetheless, the genetic basis of plasticity is still not well understood. In Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans, body size and thermal stress resistance show clinal patterns along the east coast of Australia, and exhibit plastic responses to different developmental temperatures. The genetic basis of thermal plasticity, and whether the genetic effects underlying clinal variation in traits and their plasticity are similar, remains unknown. Here we use line-cross analyses between a tropical and temperate population of D. melanogaster and D. simulans developed at three constant temperatures (18, 25 and 29°C) to investigate the quantitative genetic basis of clinal divergence in mean thermal response (elevation) and plasticity (slope and curvature) for thermal stress and body size traits. Generally, the genetic effects underlying divergence in mean response and plasticity differed, suggesting that different genetic models may be required to understand the evolution of trait means and plasticity. Furthermore, our results suggest that non-additive genetic effects, in particular epistasis, may commonly underlie plastic responses, indicating that current models that ignore epistasis may be insufficient to understand and predict evolutionary responses to environmental change.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →
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Data from: Adaptive developmental plasticity in a butterfly: mechanisms for size and time at pupation differ between diapause and direct development

Diapause (overwintering) and direct development are alternative developmental pathways in temperate insects. Diapause necessitates physiological preparations for dormancy, while direct development is associated with strong time constraints, resulting in selection for fast development under the direct development pathway. Physiological and behavioural preparations for pupation contribute to development time, so divergent selection in them is expected between the alternative developmental pathways. Critical mass for pupation induction is a central physiological parameter for the pupation process. Here, we compare the critical masses and the characteristics of the wandering stage – wandering taking place after the cessation of growth and before pupation – between diapausing and directly developing larvae in the butterfly Pieris napi. Critical mass estimation succeeded only for diapausing individuals, among which it was lower in females than in males, indicating an inter-pathway difference in the physiology of critical mass. Directly developing individuals wandered for a shorter time and distance and lost less mass before pupation than diapausing individuals. These physiological and behavioural differences represent adaptive phenotypic plasticity and contribute to fast development under direct development. Thus, the observed developmental plasticity in physiology offers a mechanistic explanation for adaptive life-history variation between alternative developmental pathways and sexual dimorphism.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →
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Data from: Variable effects on growth and defence traits for plant ecotypic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity along elevation gradients

Along ecological gradients, phenotypic differentiation can arise through natural selection on trait diversity and magnitude, and environment-driven plastic changes. The magnitude of ecotypic differentiation versus phenotypic plasticity can vary depending on the traits under study. Using reciprocal transplant-common gardens along steep elevation gradients, we evaluated patterns of ecotypic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity of several growth and defence-related traits for two coexisting but unrelated plant species, Cardamine pratensis and Plantago major. For both species, we observed ecotypic differentiation accompanied by plasticity in growth related traits. Plants grew faster and produced more biomass when placed at low elevation. In contrast, we observed fixed ecotypic differentiation for defence and resistance traits. Generally, low elevation ecotypes produced higher chemical defences regardless of the growing elevation. Yet, some plasticity was observed for specific compounds, such as indole glucosinolates. The results of this study may suggest that ecotypic differentiation in defence traits is maintained by costs of chemical defence production, while plasticity in growth traits is regulated by temperature driven growth response maximization.

opencc-zeroDec 2018View details →
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Data from: Plant interactions as biotic drivers of plasticity in leaf litter traits and decomposability of Quercus petraea

The importance of plant litter traits and decomposability for nutrient cycling processes and plant community dynamics through plant-litter-soil feedbacks has been largely emphasized. However, the role of biotic interactions as drivers of intraspecific variability in litter traits remains surprisingly little studied. In this study, we used a large-scale, multi-site network of long-term tree removal experiments manipulating the abundance of a foundation tree species, i.e. Quercus petraea, to assess how plant interactions control intraspecific variation in oak leaf litter traits and decomposability. We studied 19 plots across eight experimental sites covering a large gradient of oak abundance, stand age and local abiotic context. Oak leaf litter quality strongly declined with tree removal in early forest successional stage. Litter became poorer in nutrients such as N and Mg and richer in secondary metabolites such as lignin and condensed tannins. This in turn slowed its decomposition. Importantly, litter N loss switched from N release to N immobilization. Variance partitioning indicated that oak abundance explained as much variation in oak leaf litter traits as oak age and twice as much as soil inherent fertility. Confirmatory path analysis revealed that the decline of oak leaf litter quality induced by tree removal was most likely driven by a shift in understory plant species composition. Plasticity of oak leaf litter traits to the shortage of nutrient supply related to the development of understory plants competitors with higher nutrient capture and retention ability could potentially explain this response pattern. Our data also give consistent but weaker support that the decline of oak leaf litter quality could be driven by alleviated competition for light among canopy trees and subsequent enhanced crown exposure to light. Overall, our study provides evidence that biotic factors such as plant interactions are major drivers of plasticity in leaf litter traits and decomposability. This finding contributes to the emerging view that phenotypic plasticity is fundamentally related to biotic interactions for sessile organisms, especially for long-lived and large plant species such as trees. Taking this source of functional diversity into account could help us to better understand plant community dynamics and ecological processes in terrestrial ecosystems.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →
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Data from: A case for a joint strategy of diversified bet hedging and plasticity in the pea aphid wing polyphenism

Phenotypic plasticity and diversified bet hedging are strategies for coping with variable environments. Plasticity is favoured when an organism can predict future conditions using environmental cues, while bet hedging is favoured when predictive cues are not available. Theoretical analyses suggest that many organisms should use a mixture of both strategies, because environments often present both scenarios. Here, we examine if the pea aphid wing polyphenism, a well-known case of plasticity, is potentially a mixture of plasticity and bet hedging. In this polyphenism, asexual females produce more winged offspring in crowded conditions, and wingless offspring in uncrowded conditions. We find that pea aphids use plasticity to respond to crowding and we find considerable genetic variation for this response. We further show that individual aphids produce both winged and wingless offspring, consistent with the variability expected in a bet hedging trait. We conclude that the pea aphid wing polyphenism system is probably a mixture of plasticity and bet hedging. Our study adds to a limited list of empirical studies examining mixed strategy usage, and suggests that mixed strategies may be common in dispersal traits.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

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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.

allen-brain-atlas
neuroscienceopenDocumentation, web resources, and API references are available online.
Last verified 2026-04-30Open record

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.

abode-home-cage
behavioral-neuroscienceopenThe DataShare record exposes download links for annotations, documentation, license text, and the zipped per-snippet data directory.
Last verified 2026-04-30Open record

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.

dandi-nwb
electrophysiologyopenPublished Dandiset metadata and archive endpoints are available through the production DANDI API.
Last verified 2026-04-30Open record

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.

ibl
behavioral-neuroscienceopenPublic sessions can be searched and loaded from the IBL public data server through ONE.
Last verified 2026-04-29Open record

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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.

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neuroscienceopenPublished datasets are available on demand over the internet.
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