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694 results for “Size effect”
Data for empirical example in: An effect size for comparing the strength of morphological integration across studies
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Transgenerational effects on body size and survival in brook charr (Salvelinus fontinalis)
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Data from: Exceptions to the temperature-size rule: No Lilliput effect in end-Permian ostracods (Crustacea) from Aras Valley (NW Iran)
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Data from: Promoting success in thin layer sediment placement: effects of sediment grain size and amendments on salt marsh plant growth and greenhouse gas exchange
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Data from: Effects of female group size on the number of males in blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis) groups
<p>The number of males per group varies substantially in group-living primates, both between and within species. In blue monkeys (<i>Cercopithecus mitis</i>), males may temporarily join groups during annual mating seasons when sexually receptive females are present. A likely determinant of the number of males per group is female group size (the number of adult females in a group). To clarify the role of female group size in driving variation in the number of males per group, we expanded on earlier observations of a wild population in the Kakamega Forest, Kenya with a larger sample of groups that varied five-fold in female group size. We found considerable flexibility in social organization, with groups experiencing multi-male episodes both during and outside mating seasons, some persisting over multi-year periods. The dichotomy between single- and multi-male mating seasons was less distinct than previously reported, suggesting greater variation in multi-male states. Across 65 group-specific conception periods, female group size strongly influenced how often multiple sexually active females and multiple males were present in a group. The number of sexually active females present on a given day related closely to the number of males in the group that same day, especially during conception periods. Results suggest that males join and remain in larger groups where mating opportunities are greater and costs of joining or staying may be lower than in smaller groups. This longitudinal study highlights intraspecific social variation within and across groups while confirming that female group size influences the number of males.</p>
Supplementary information for: The effects of geographic range size and abundance on extinction during a time of 'sluggish' evolution
<p>Geographic range size and abundance are important determinants of extinction risk in fossil and extant taxa. However, the relationship between these variables and extinction risk has not been tested extensively during evolutionarily 'quiescent' times of low extinction and speciation in the fossil record. Here we examine the influence of geographic range size and abundance on extinction risk during the late Paleozoic (Mississippian–Permian), a time of 'sluggish' evolution when global rates of origination and extinction were roughly half those of other Paleozoic intervals. Analyses used spatio-temporal occurrences for 164 brachiopod species from the North American midcontinent. We found abundance to be a better predictor of extinction risk than measures of geographic range size. Moreover, species exhibited reductions in abundance prior to their extinction, but did not display contractions in geographic range size. The weak relationship between geographic range size and extinction in this time and place may reflect the relative preponderance of larger-ranged taxa, combined with the physiographic conditions of the region that allowed for easy habitat tracking that dampened both extinction and speciation. These conditions led to a prolonged period (19 – 25 Myr) during which standard macroevolutionary rules did not apply.</p>
The effects of age on the demography of a perennial plant depend on interactions with size and environment
<p>Age-dependence of the demographic rates survival, fecundity and individual growth is a fundamental aspect of population biological theory. Knowledge about plant ageing can also be important for conservation and agriculture as it will improve the accuracy of population viability assessments and long-term performance assessments in perennial crops. Recent studies show age effects on demographic rates for several plant species, yet much remains to be learned about the patterns and mechanisms of plant ageing, particularly about how age effects interact with the environment and with plant size.</p> <p>We collected age-and-size-based demographic data, as well as individual-based environmental data, for the perennial herb Plantago lanceolata in Denmark over three annual transitions (four years). We combined frequent field monitoring of carefully mapped individuals with the underused technique of root histology to determine age of herbaceous plants. We used generalized linear mixed effects models to assess how age, soil properties, and year influenced survival, growth, and reproduction.</p> <p>Our results show no strong evidence of consistent age declines, rather, we found mostly positive effects of age on vital rates. For all vital rates, i.e. survival, growth, flowering, and reproductive output, age effects also differed significantly among years. Additionally, we detected an interactive effect of age and size in the growth model. Size, and temporal and spatial environmental variation also affected vital rates independently of age.</p> <p>Synthesis: Our study shows that age-dependence of demographic rates can depend both on individual size and environmental variation. These results suggest that a consideration of potential age-interactions may improve the accuracy of comparative studies of ageing and population projections. Moreover, this study shows that much is still unknown about how plant ageing can be affected by the environment, and illustrates how age determination using herb chronology provides an opportunity to increase our knowledge about ageing in herbaceous plants.</p>
Data from: Are acute and acclimated thermal effects on metabolic rate modulated by cell size? A comparison between diploid and triploid zebrafish larvae
Being composed of small cells may carry energetic costs related to maintaining ionic gradients across cell membranes as well as benefits related to diffusive oxygen uptake. Here we test the hypothesis that these costs and benefits of cell size in ectotherms are temperature dependent. To study the consequences of cell size for whole-organism metabolic rate we compared diploid and triploid zebrafish larvae differing in cell size. A fully factorial design was applied combining three different rearing and test temperatures that allowed us to distinguish acute from acclimated thermal effects. Individual oxygen consumption rates of diploid and triploid larvae across declining levels of oxygen availability were measured. We found that both acute and acclimated thermal effects affected the metabolic response. In comparison to triploids, diploids responded more strongly to acute temperatures, especially when reared at the highest temperature. These observations support the hypothesis that animals composed of smaller cells (i.e. diploids) are less vulnerable to oxygen limitation in warm aquatic habitats. Furthermore, we found slightly improved hypoxia tolerance in diploids. By contrast, warm-reared triploids had higher metabolic rates when they were tested at acute cold temperature, suggesting that being composed of larger cells may provide metabolic advantages in the cold. We offer two mechanisms as a potential explanation of this result, related to homeoviscous adaptation of membrane function and the mitigation of developmental noise. Our results suggest that being composed of larger cells provides metabolic advantages in cold water, while being composed of smaller cells provides metabolic advantages in warm water.
Data from: Seed size predicts global effects of small mammal seed predation on plant recruitment
<p>We conducted a global literature review and meta-analysis to evaluate whether seed size could predict post-dispersal seed predator effects on seed removal and plant recruitment, respectively. Datasets were built using data extracted from published studies focusing on seed predation by small mammals (see Methods for criteria and data extraction protocol). We found that seed size predicted small mammal seed removal rates and their impacts on plant recruitment consistent with optimal foraging theory, with intermediate seed sizes most strongly impacted globally - for both native and exotic plants. However, differences in seed size distributions among ecosystems conditioned seed predation patterns, with relatively larger-seeded species most strongly affected in grasslands (smallest seeds), and relatively smaller-seeded species most strongly affected in tropical forests (largest seeds). Such size-dependent seed predation has profound implications for coexistence among plants because it may enhance or weaken opposing life-history tradeoffs in an ecosystem-specific manner. Our results suggest that seed size may serve as a key life-history trait that can integrate consumer effects to improve understandings of plant coexistence. </p>
Different effects of mating group size as male and as female on sex allocation in a simultaneous hermaphrodite
<p>Sex allocation theory predicts that the optimal sexual resource allocation of simultaneous hermaphrodites is affected by mating group size (MGS). Although the original concept assumes that the MGS does not differ between male and female functions, the MGS in the male function (MGSm; i.e., the number of sperm recipients the focal individual can deliver its sperm to plus one) and that in the female function (MGSf; the number of sperm donors plus one) do not always coincide and may differently affect the optimal sex allocation. Moreover, reproductive costs can be split into "variable" (e.g., sperm and eggs) and "fixed" (e.g., genitalia) costs, but these have been seldom distinguished in empirical studies. We examined the effects of MGSm and MGSf on the fixed and variable reproductive investments in the sessilian barnacle <i>Balanus rostratus</i>. The results showed that MGSm had a positive effect on sex allocation, whereas MGSf had a nearly significant negative effect. Moreover, the "fixed" cost varied with body size and both aspects of MGS. We argue that the two aspects of MGS should be distinguished for organisms with unilateral mating.</p>
Exposure to exogenous egg cortisol does not rescue juvenile Chinook salmon body size, condition, or survival from the effects of elevated water temperatures
<p class="NormalThesis">Climate change is leading to altered temperature regimes which are impacting aquatic life, particularly for ectothermic fish. The impacts of environmental stress can be translated across generations through maternally-derived glucocorticoids, leading to altered offspring phenotypes. Although these maternal stress effects are often considered negative, recent studies suggest this maternal stress signal may prepare offspring for a similarly stressful environment (environmental match). We applied the environmental match hypothesis to examine whether a prenatal stress signal can dampen the effects of elevated water temperatures on body size, condition, and survival during early development in Chinook salmon <i>Oncorhynchus tshawytscha</i> from Lake Ontario, Canada. We exposed fertilized eggs to prenatal exogenous egg cortisol (1000ng*mL<sup>-1</sup> cortisol or 0ng*mL<sup>-1</sup> control) and then reared these dosed groups at temperatures indicative of current (+0°C) and future (+3°C) temperature conditions. Offspring reared in elevated temperatures were smaller and had a lower survival at the hatchling developmental stage. Overall, we found that our exogenous cortisol dose did not dampen effects of elevated rearing temperatures (environmental match) on body size or early survival. Instead, our eyed stage survival indicates that our prenatal cortisol dose may be detrimental, as cortisol-dosed offspring raised in elevated temperatures had lower survival than cortisol-dosed and control reared in current temperatures. Our results suggest that a maternal stress signal may not be able to ameliorate the effects of thermal stress during early development. However, we highlight the importance of interpreting the fitness impacts of maternal stress within an environmentally relevant context.</p>
Data from: Overcoming the challenge of small effective sample sizes in home-range estimation
Technological advances have steadily increased the detail of animal tracking datasets, yet fundamental data limitations exist for many species that cause substantial biases in home‐range estimation. Specifically, the effective sample size of a range estimate is proportional to the number of observed range crossings, not the number of sampled locations. Currently, the most accurate home‐range estimators condition on an autocorrelation model, for which the standard estimation frame‐works are based on likelihood functions, even though these methods are known to underestimate variance—and therefore ranging area—when effective sample sizes are small. Residual maximum likelihood (REML) is a widely used method for reducing bias in maximum‐likelihood (ML) variance estimation at small sample sizes. Unfortunately, we find that REML is too unstable for practical application to continuous‐time movement models. When the effective sample size N is decreased to N ≤ urn:x-wiley:2041210X:media:mee313270:mee313270-math-0001(10), which is common in tracking applications, REML undergoes a sudden divergence in variance estimation. To avoid this issue, while retaining REML's first‐order bias correction, we derive a family of estimators that leverage REML to make a perturbative correction to ML. We also derive AIC values for REML and our estimators, including cases where model structures differ, which is not generally understood to be possible. Using both simulated data and GPS data from lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris), we show how our perturbative estimators are more accurate than traditional ML and REML methods. Specifically, when urn:x-wiley:2041210X:media:mee313270:mee313270-math-0002(5) home‐range crossings are observed, REML is unreliable by orders of magnitude, ML home ranges are ~30% underestimated, and our perturbative estimators yield home ranges that are only ~10% underestimated. A parametric bootstrap can then reduce the ML and perturbative home‐range underestimation to ~10% and ~3%, respectively. Home‐range estimation is one of the primary reasons for collecting animal tracking data, and small effective sample sizes are a more common problem than is currently realized. The methods introduced here allow for more accurate movement‐model and home‐range estimation at small effective sample sizes, and thus fill an important role for animal movement analysis. Given REML's widespread use, our methods may also be useful in other contexts where effective sample sizes are small.
Using a coalescent approach to assess gene flow and effective population size of Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd. Ex Mart. in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest
<p><i>Acrocomia aculeata</i> is a tropical palm tree native to Central and South America that has significant economic, social, and environmental potential. However, land encroachment due to the expansion of agribusiness, and other factors such as urban sprawl, have resulted in the fragmentation and destruction of its habitat, leading to the loss of genes and genotypes in <i>A. aculeata</i> populations. In this context, the objective of this study was to characterize the genetic variability of <i>A. aculeata</i> populations by estimating gene flow and effective population size using an approach based on coalescent theory. Four populations located in the municipalities of Teodoro Sampaio (TSI and TSII), Rosana (RA), and Amparo (AP) in São Paulo State, Brazil, were genotyped with nine microsatellite markers. Gene flow and effective population size were estimated using a coalescent-based Bayesian inference implemented in the MIGRATE-N software. The effective population size (<i>N<sub>e</sub></i>) was obtained considering an assumed mutation rate of <a name="_Hlk6565387">5x10<sup>-5</sup>. </a>Gene flow (<i>Nm</i>) for pairwise populations ranged from 0.28 to 1.17, with higher levels of migration between the three geographically proximal locations (TSI, TSII, and RA). The estimates of effective population size (<i>N<sub>e</sub></i>) were 444, 835, 838, and 874 for AP, TSII, RA, and TSI, respectively, showing that the effects caused by genetic drift may be more pronounced when <i>N<sub>e</sub></i> is smaller. The coalescent-based results add to our understanding of <i>A. aculeata</i> population genetics and suggest that some traditional assessment methods may be ineffective in characterizing historical evolutionary processes.</p>
Data from: Body size variation in aquatic consumers causes pervasive community effects, independent of mean body size
Intraspecific phenotypic variation is a significant component of biodiversity. Body size, for example, is variable and critical for structuring communities. We need to understand how homogenous and variably-sized populations differ in their ecological responses or effects if we are to have a robust understanding of communities. We manipulated body size variation in consumer (tadpole) populations in mesocosms (both with and without predators), keeping mean size and density of these consumers constant. Size-variable consumer populations exhibited stronger antipredator responses (reduced activity), which had a cascading effect of increasing the biomass of the consumer's resources. Predators foraged less when consumers were variable in size, and this may have mediated the differential effects of predators on the community composition of alternative prey (zooplankton). All trophic levels responded to differences in consumer size variation, demonstrating that intrapopulation phenotypic variability can significantly alter interspecific ecological interactions. Furthermore, we identify a key mechanism (size thresholds for predation risk) that may mediate impacts of size variation in natural communities. Together, our results suggest that phenotypic variability plays a significant role in structuring ecological communities.
Data from: Selection for seed size: the unexpected effects of water availability and density
1. Seed size is a functional trait with important fitness consequences that potentially extend throughout the life cycle of plants. Dithyrea californica experiences selection for larger seeds in post‐germination stages but it is still uncertain how environmental factors mediate the strength and the direction of natural selection on seed size. 2. D. californica represents a unique opportunity to investigate selection on seed size in natural conditions due to a persistent seed ring that stays attached to the root throughout the plant's life. This makes it possible to unearth plants at any stage and measure the size of the seed from which they originated. 3. We conducted a factorial experiment manipulating water availability and intraspecific competition using plants that naturally germinated in the wild. 4. Selection on seed size via survivorship was nil because all individuals survived to reproduce. The strength and the direction of selection on seed size via fecundity depended on water availability and conspecific density. 5. Contrary to our predictions, increasing conspecific density relaxed directional selection favoring larger seeds, but only in the wettest conditions and an increase in water availability strengthened it, but only at low density. A possible explanation of these counter‐intuitive results relies on the observed absence of survival selection and increased plant growth rates under high water and low density. 6. Larger seeds require more resources to construct and when this cost is taken into account; there is no overall fitness increase with seed size. This nicely follows the life history theory predictions for optimal seed size. At the evolutionary equilibrium, if seeds could be larger, per seed fitness would still increase, which is what we observed. But cost corrected fitness should be flat. Maternal fitness equals per seed fitness times seed number, so any increase to per seed fitness of making a bigger seed is balanced by the resulting cost to seed number. Our results indicate flat cost corrected fitness of seed size as theory predicts.
Data from: Effects of grain size and niche breadth on species distribution modeling
Scale is a vital component to consider in ecological research, and spatial resolution or grain size is one of its key facets. Species distribution models (SDMs) are prime examples of ecological research in which grain size is an important component. Despite this, SDMs rarely explicitly examine the effects of varying the grain size of the predictors for species with different niche breadths. To investigate the effect of grain size and niche breadth on SDMs, we simulated four virtual species with different grain sizes/niche breadths using three environmental predictors (elevation, aspect, and percent forest) across two real landscapes of differing heterogeneity in predictor values. We aggregated these predictors to seven different grain sizes and modeled the distribution of each of our simulated species using MaxEnt and GLM techniques at each grain size. We examined model accuracy using the AUC statistic, Pearson's correlations of predicted suitability with the true suitability, and the binary area of presence determined from suitability above the maximum True Skill Statistic (TSS) threshold. Habitat specialists were more accurately modeled than generalist species, and the models constructed at the grain size from which a species was derived generally performed the best. The accuracy of models in the homogenous landscape deteriorated with increasing grain size to a greater degree than models in the heterogenous landscape. Variable effects on the model varied with grain size, with elevation increasing in importance as grain size increased while aspect lost importance. The area of predicted presence was drastically affected by grain size, with larger grain sizes over predicting this value by up to a factor of 14. Our results have implications for species distribution modeling and conservation planning, and we suggest more studies include analysis of grain size as part of their protocol.
Data from: Effective population size of Culex quinquefasciatus under insecticide-based vector management and following Hurricane Harvey in Harris County, Texas
<div> <em>Culex quinquefasciatus</em> is mosquito species of significant public health importance due to its ability to transmit multiple pathogens that can cause mosquito-borne diseases, such as West Nile fever and St. Louis encephalitis. In Harris County, Texas, <em>Cx. quinquefasciatus</em> is a common vector species and is subjected to insecticide-based management by the Harris County Public Health Department. However, insecticide resistance in mosquitoes has increased rapidly worldwide and raises concerns about maintaining the effectiveness of vector control approaches. This concern is highly relevant in Texas, with its humid subtropical climate along the Gulf Coast that provides suitable habitat for <em>Cx. quinquefasciatus</em> and other mosquito species that are known disease vectors. Therefore, there is an urgent and ongoing need to monitor the effectiveness of current vector control programs. In this study, we evaluated the impact of vector control approaches by estimating the effective population size of <em>Cx. quinquefasciatus</em> in Harris County. We applied Approximate Bayesian Computation to microsatellite data to estimate effective population size. We collected <em>Cx. quinquefasciatus</em> samples from two mosquito control operation areas, 415 and 802, during routine vector monitoring in 2016 and 2017. No county mosquito control operations were applied at area 415 in 2016 and 2017, whereas extensive adulticide spraying operations were in effect at area 802 during the summer of 2016. We collected data for eighteen microsatellite markers for 713 and 723 mosquitoes at eight timepoints from 2016 to 2017 in areas 415 and 802, respectively. We also investigated the impact of Hurricane Harvey's landfall in the Houston area in August of 2017 on <em>Cx. quinquefasciatus</em> population fluctuation. Although we did not detect significant effects of vector control interventions, we found considerable influences of the winter season and a major hurricane on the effective population size of <em>Cx. quinquefasciatus</em>. The fluctuations in effective population size in both areas showed a significant seasonal pattern. Additionally, the significant population expansion following Hurricane Harvey in 2017 supports the necessity for post-hurricane vector-control interventions.</div>
Effect sizes of divergence in urban noise and song minimum frequency of grey-cheeked fulvettas Alcippe morrisonia morrisonia
<p><span>Noise pollution, one of the most prominent features of urbanization, is an important factor influencing the vocal behavior of urban wildlife. Studies have reported that many songbirds raise their song minimum frequencies in response to urban noise. It has been proposed that this increased minimum frequency (IMF) of songs is an adaptation that allows urban populations to cope with the masking effect of noise pollution. However, urban populations of some songbirds do not exhibit significant IMF compared with nonurban populations; thus, the notion that IMF is an adaptation to urban noise has been questioned. Furthermore, the effects of IMF might be influenced by both noise levels and the acoustic structures of songs. Here, we employed dichotomous and gradient effect size approaches to investigate IMF regarding two distinct acoustic structures (whistled and harmonic) in songs of six grey-cheeked fulvetta (</span><em><span>Alcippe morrisonia morrisonia</span></em><span>)</span><span> populations in Taiwan, three with high noise pollution and three with low noise pollution. We found that when using the dichotomous approach, </span><span>paired populations with significant divergence in noise levels exhibited weak or insignificant divergence in the minimum frequencies for both whistled and harmonic phrases</span><span>. In contrast, we found that when using the gradient approach, the effect size of noise-level divergence was strongly correlated with the effect size of divergence in the minimum frequency of the harmonic phrase and only moderately correlated with the effect size of divergence in the minimum frequency of the whistled phrase. These findings suggest that noise pollution has a more pronounced effect on the divergence in the minimum frequency of harmonic phrases used in short-range communication compared to the whistled phrases used in long-range communication. We conclude that for population comparisons on the IMF, adopting a gradient approach could provide insights into the impact of noise pollution on the acoustic structures of songs across various communication ranges.</span></p>
Data from: Larval diet and temperature alter mosquito immunity and development: using body size and developmental traits to track carry-over effects on longevity
<p><span><strong>Background</strong>:</span><span> Estimating arbovirus transmission potential requires a mechanistic understanding of how environmental factors influence the expression of adult mosquito traits. While preimaginal exposure to environmental factors can have profound effects on adult traits, tracking and predicting these effects remains challenging. </span></p> <p><span><strong>Methods</strong>:</span><span> Using <em>Aedes albopictus</em> and a structural equation modelling approach, we explored how larval nutrition and temperature jointly affect development rate and success, body size, and whether these metrics capture carry-over effects on adult longevity. Additionally, we investigated how larval diet and temperature affect the baseline expression of ten immune genes. </span></p> <p><span><strong>Results</strong>:</span><span> We found that larval development </span><span>success</span><span> was primarily determined by diet, while temperature and diet both affected development rate, pupal wet weight, and wing length. Effects of diet on both morphometric measures and their relationships to adult longevity were asymmetrical, with wing length having a positive association and pupal weight a negative association. Larval diet indirectly affected adult longevity, and the time to pupation was negatively correlated with longevity. </span><span>The</span><span> expression of </span><span>eight </span><span>immune genes from Toll, </span><span>JAK-STAT, and Imd pathways </span><span>was enhanced in mosquitoes with higher nutrition. </span></p> <p><span><strong>Conclusions</strong>:</span><span> Our results highlight deficiencies from using a single body size measure to capture carry-over effects on adult traits. Further studies of larval development rate under varying environmental conditions and its potential for tracking carry-over effects on vectorial capacity are warranted. </span></p>
Body-size dependent effects of landscape-level resource energetics on pollinator abundance in woodland remnants
<p><span>Land use change reduces floral resource availability, thereby driving declines in important pollinators. However, the severity of land use impact varies by species, influenced by factors such as dispersal ability and resource specialization, both of which can correlate with body size. Here we test whether floral resource availability in the surrounding landscape (the 'matrix') influences bee species' abundance in isolated remnant woodlands, and whether this effect varies with body size. We sampled quantitative flower-visitation networks within woodland remnants and quantified floral energy resources (calories) available to each bee species both within woodland and the matrix. Bee abundance in woodland increased with floral energy resources in the surrounding matrix, with strongest effects on larger-bodied species. Our findings suggest important but size-dependent effects of declining matrix floral resources on the persistence of bees in remnant woodlands, highlighting the need to incorporate landscape-level floral resources in conservation planning for pollinators in threatened natural habitats. </span></p>
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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.
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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.
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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.