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262 results for “indirect effects”
Conditional indirect genetic effects of caregivers on brood in the clonal raider ant
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Data from: Indirect effects of habitat amount mediated by habitat configuration determine bat diversity at the landscape-scale in Peninsular Malaysia
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Data from: Direct and indirect effects of forest structure and management on insects and bats
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Risk of predation increases susceptibility to parasitism via trait-mediated indirect effects
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Data and code for: The role of indirect interspecific effects in the stochastic dynamics of a simple trophic system
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Data from: Disentangling direct from indirect effects of habitat disturbance on multiple components of biodiversity
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Direct and indirect effects of increased bedload on algal and detrital-based stream food webs at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory from 1997 to 1999: Tile/ sediment addition experiment, Summer 1997; Chlorophyll, AFDM, inorganics (days 5-40)
Anthropogenic sedimentation poses a significant threat to stream ecosystems throughout the world. Increases in bedload (sediment transported and deposited on the stream bottom) can be especially detrimental for benthic communities. To examine how increased bedload directly and indirectly affects stream communities, we simultaneously manipulated sediment and top-down effects of macroconsumers (fishes and crayfish) in situ in two factorial experiments, one using tiles and one using leaf packs as sampling substrates. Bedload was increased by adding small amounts of sediment (2.5 x normal levels) to localized areas (0.25 m2) of an otherwise unimpacted stream. This increase in bedload had direct effects on basal resources in both the tile and leaf pack experiments. In the tile experiment algal composition was altered by sediment addition, while in the leaf pack experiment fungal biomass declined with sediment.
Dataset from: Positive indirect effects of top-predators on the survival and behaviour of juvenile fishes
<p>Top-predators can suppress mesopredator behaviour through risk effects. However, there is limited understanding of whether such behavioural suppression can dampen the lethal and sub-lethal effects of mesopredators on bottom level prey. Here, we document a field experiment that examines whether the presence of top-predator cues (visual and chemical stimuli from a coral trout) can cascade to indirectly influence the behaviour and survival of juvenile fish prey of different species (Pomacentrus amboinensis and P. chrysurus) and size (small = 1.18 cm SL vs large = 1.32 cm SL). Results showed that habitat patches exposed to top-predator cues received fewer visits and foraging attacks from mesopredators, leading to higher space use (~46%), feeding rate (~95%), and survival (~67%) from juvenile fish prey. Survival was always higher for individuals of P. amboinensis and of large-size, independent of the presence or absence of top-predator cues. Our data indicate that predation risk from the top-predator indirectly favoured the persistence and behaviour of juvenile fishes by promoting risk-averse behavioural responses in mesopredators. This study underscores the behavioural mechanisms by which risk effects can cascade through the food web and highlights the consequences that harvesting top-predators may have on the replenishment of bottom prey populations.</p>
Signalling adjustments to direct and indirect environmental effects on signal perception in meerkats
<p><span>The efficiency of communication between animals is determined by the perception range of signals. With changes in the environment, signal transmission between a sender and a receiver can be affected both directly, where the signal's propagation quality itself is affected, and indirectly, where for example the spacing between signaller and receiver is impacted. Here we investigated how meerkats (<i>Suricata suricatta</i>) in the Kalahari Desert adjust to these challenges in the context of maintaining group cohesion through contact calls. We found that meerkats changed their calling rate when signal transmission was affected indirectly due to increased dispersion of group members as during a drought, but not under typical wet conditions, when signal transmission was directly affected due to higher vegetation density. Instead under these wetter conditions, meerkats remained within proximity to each other. Overall, both direct and indirect environmental effects on signal perception resulted in an increased probability of groups splitting. In conclusion, we provide evidence that social animals can flexibly adjust their vocal coordination behaviour to cope with direct and indirect effects of the environment on signal perception, but that these adjustments have limitations. </span></p>
Direct and indirect effects of island size and wave exposure on shoreline arthropod diversity
<p><u>Aim</u>: Available theories suggest that the species number increases with island size, but the relationship between island size and species density, the number of species per unit area, is less understood. Moreover, mechanisms connecting island size and species density are not always evident because small and large islands differ in physical characteristics other than island size. The purpose here was to disentangle direct and indirect effects of island size and wave exposure on the species density of arthropods from herb-dominated shore habitats.</p> <p><u>Location</u>: Islands in the Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden</p> <p><u>Taxon</u>: Spiders (Araneae) and beetles (Coleoptera)</p> <p><u>Methods</u>: We collected spiders and beetles on vegetated shores on islands of varying sizes, and used structural equation models to disentangle direct and indirect island size and wave exposure effects on species density.</p> <p><u>Results</u>: Island size affected diversity of web-building spiders, predatory beetles and other beetles (detritivores and omnivores), direct and indirectly. Indirect effects arose because large islands have more trees and steeper slopes than small islands, both of which affected species occurrence. Because height above the sea level reduces the effect of wave exposure, there were effects of these variables on the forest cover and on the diversity of web-building spiders. Finally, surrounding forest cover and diversity of flowering plants within sites increased diversity of herbivore beetles and cursorial spiders, likely because these sites provide more diverse resources.</p> <p><u>Main conclusions</u>: The result that predictors for species density vary between functional groups, with mechanisms that may or may not relate to island size, suggest potential developments in island biogeography theories. Future studies of island size effects should also attempt to quantify indirect effects, and not only total effects.</p>
Separating direct and indirect effects of rising temperatures on biogenic volatile emissions in the Arctic
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are released from biogenic sources in a temperature-dependent manner. Consequently, Arctic ecosystems are expected to greatly increase their VOC emissions with ongoing climate warming, which is proceeding at twice the rate of global temperature rise. Here, we show that ongoing warming has strong, increasing effects on Arctic VOC emissions. Using a combination of statistical modelling on data from several warming experiments in the Arctic tundra and dynamic ecosystem modelling, we separate the impacts of temperature and soil moisture into direct effects and indirect effects through vegetation composition and biomass alterations. The indirect effects of warming on VOC emissions were significant, but smaller than the direct effects. Furthermore, vegetation changes also cause shifts in the chemical speciation of the emissions. Both direct and indirect effects result in large geographic differences in VOC emission responses in the warming Arctic, depending on the local vegetation cover and the climate dynamics. Our results outline complex links between local climate, vegetation, and ecosystem-atmosphere interactions, with likely local-to-regional impacts on the atmospheric composition.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Herbivory of a biocontrol agent on a native plant causes an indirect trait-mediated non-target effect on a native insect
<p>Identifying food web linkages between biocontrol agents of invasive plants and native species is crucial for predicting indirect non-target effects. Biocontrol insects can integrate into food webs within recipient habitats and influence native insects through apparent competition (altering shared natural enemies) or density-mediated exploitation competition (changing density of native plants). However, whether and how trait-mediated exploitation competition (modifying native plant chemical defenses and volatiles profiles) can produce indirect non-target effects remains largely overlooked, despite plant phenotypic responses to insect herbivory being common and widely documented.</p> <p>The beetle <em>Agasicles hygrophila</em> was introduced into China for management of weedy <em>Alternanthera philoxeroides</em>, but it also attacks the native congener <em>A. sessilis</em>, which may have indirect non-target effects on the native beetle <em>Cassida piperata </em>that also feeds on <em>A. sessilis</em>. Here, we examined the relationships among the abundance of <em>A. hygrophila</em> and <em>C. piperata</em>, and <em>A. sessilis</em> coverage in the field. Then, we investigated the impact of <em>A. hygrophila</em> herbivory on <em>C. piperata</em> development and oviposition, as well as<em> A. sessilis</em> primary metabolites and leaf volatiles.</p> <p><em>Cassida piperata</em> abundance was not related to <em>A. sessilis</em> coverage, but <em>C. piperata</em> was less abundant on plants with more<em> A. hygrophila</em> in the field survey and on plants with more prior<em> A. hygrophila</em> damage in the field cage experiment. <em>Cassida piperata </em>development was inhibited by prior <em>A. hygrophila </em>herbivory in bioassays in enemy-free conditions and they preferred to oviposit on <em>A. sessilis </em>plants that had experienced little or no <em>A. hygrophila</em> damage. <em>Agasicles hygrophila</em> herbivory decreased <em>A. sessilis</em> foliar glucose and protein, and substantially changed its leaf volatile blend.</p> <p>Synthesis. Our results show that <em>A. hygrophila</em> has its major indirect non-target effects on <em>C. piperata </em>through trait-mediated exploitation competition, rather than apparent competition or density-mediated exploitation competition. Our results demonstrate a new mechanism for indirect non-target effects of biocontrol agents. Furthermore, our results indicate that minor and temporary negative impacts on non-target plants might propagate to higher trophic levels and such negative impacts can strengthen with increasing intensity of the direct non-target effect.</p>
Data from: Complex indirect effects of epiphytic bromeliads on the invertebrate food webs of their support tree
Ecosystem engineers are species that affect others through the provision of habitat rather than consumptive resources. The extent to which ecosystem engineers can indirectly affect entire food webs, however, is poorly understood. Epiphytic tank bromeliads (Bromeliaceae) are ecosystem engineers that are common throughout the Neotropics, and are associated with a variety of predatory arthropods. Here, we examine if bromeliads, by increasing predator densities, indirectly benefit their support tree through reduction in herbivorous insects and leaf damage. We observed and manipulated bromeliad densities in Costa Rican orange orchards, and measured impacts on leaf damage and arboreal and bromeliad invertebrate communities in two different seasons. Our results show that bromeliads are associated with predatory and herbivorous invertebrates but not leaf damage. Bromeliads were correlated with increased densities of their associated predators, especially ants and hunting spiders, but we could not confirm a causal link. Associations with bromeliads changed over time, with seasonal shifts interfering with responses to our manipulations. Bromeliads had a reduced association with predators in the dry season. Moreover, a null association between bromeliads and herbivorous invertebrates in the dry season unexpectedly became positive in the wet season. In summary, we have only limited evidence that bromeliads indirectly promote the top-down control of arboreal herbivores; instead, our manipulations suggest that bromeliads increase herbivore densities in the wet season. This research suggests that although bromeliads may act as ecosystem engineers, indirectly influencing the invertebrate food web on support trees, their effects are trophically complex and seasonally dependent.
Data from: Indirect effects of global change accumulate to alter plant diversity but not ecosystem function in alpine tundra
1. Environmental change can affect species directly by altering their physical environment and indirectly by altering the abundance of interacting species. A key challenge at the interface of community ecology and conservation biology is to predict how direct and indirect effects combine to influence response in a changing environment. In particular, little is known about how direct and indirect effects on biodiversity develop over time or their potential to influence ecosystem function. 2. We studied how nitrogen (N), winter precipitation (snow), and warming influenced diversity and ecosystem function over six years in alpine tundra. We used path analyses to partition direct effects of environmental manipulations from indirect effects due to changes in the abundance of two dominant plants. We hypothesize that 1) indirect effects will develop more slowly but will become stronger than direct effects over time, and 2) after six years, indirect effects will more strongly influence diversity while direct effects will influence ecosystem function. 3. Indirect effects of N on diversity were consistently stronger than direct effects and actually developed quickly, prior to direct effects. Direct effects of snow on diversity were detected in year two but then subsequently were reversed, while indirect effects were detected in year four and grew stronger over time. Overall in year six, indirect effects were much stronger than direct effects. 4. Direct effects predominated for three of four ecosystem functions we measured (productivity, N mineralization, winter N availability). The only indirect effects we found were that N and snow indirectly affected microbial biomass N by influencing Geum abundance. Across all four ecosystem measures, indirect effects were infrequent and weaker than direct effects. 5. Synthesis. Increasing indirect effects on diversity over time indicate that short-term experiments or monitoring of natural systems may underestimate the full magnitude of global change effects on plant communities. Explicitly accounting for changes in dominant plant abundance may be necessary for forecasting plant community response to environmental change. Conversely, weak indirect effects for ecosystem processes suggest that predicting ecosystem function without knowledge of plant responses to global change may be possible.
Data from: Allometric scaling of indirect effects: body size ratios predict non-consumptive effects in multi-predator systems
1. Non-consumptive effects (NCES) frequently lead to non-independent effects of multiple predators. While such emergent predator effects are ubiquitous in natural communities, the strength of these effects varies among studies and systems, making it difficult to predict a priory how changes in predator diversity influence prey suppression. Thus, identifying general scaling rules which can explain this variation of non-independent effects is vital for modeling natural communities and how they respond to biodiversity loss. 2. Body size is a key trait determining the nature and strength of ecological interactions. While great progress has been made using allometric relationships to predict the interaction strength of predator-prey pairs, it is unknown whether similar relationships explain variation in the strength of NCEs, and how they are related to consumptive effects. 3. Here we experimentally manipulate the relative size difference of multiple predators to determine whether NCEs follow general allometric scaling relationships in an aquatic multi-predator system. 4. Results demonstrate that the presence and strength of NCEs can vary dramatically across predator combinations. However, this variation scaled predictably with the size ratio of predators; increasing the size difference among predators increased NCEs. This pattern was driven by a size-mediated shift in "food web motif" from competition to intraguild predation and a positive correlation of NCEs and intraguild predation rate. 5. Results indicate that models which assume that consumers have independent effects are particularly likely to make erroneous predictions when predators differ substantially in size, but simple allometric relationships of NCEs could be used to correct this bias.
Data from: Indirect effects drive evolutionary responses to global change
Anthropogenic environmental changes pose significant threats to plant and animal populations. These changes also may affect the evolution of natural populations either directly or indirectly by altering the outcome of species interactions that are important drivers of evolution. This latter indirect pathway may be especially important for evolutionary responses to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations (eCO2), which appear to have minimal direct effects on plant evolution but have large effects on interspecific interactions, such as competition. We manipulated competitive and CO2 environments of experimental Arabidopsis thaliana populations to test whether eCO2 alters evolutionary trajectories indirectly by altering selection imposed by competitors. We found that interspecific competition increased selection on growth traits, reduced heritabilities, and altered genetic covariances between traits and that the magnitude of these effects depended upon the CO2 environment. Although eCO2 had minimal direct effects on evolutionary processes, eCO2 typically reduced the strength of selection imposed by competitors and, therefore, relaxed selection on plant traits when competitors were present. Our results indicate that global changes may affect plant evolution indirectly by altering competitive interactions and underscore the importance of conducting research in natural communities when attempting to predict population responses to global change.
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: Indirect effects of predators control herbivore richness and abundance in a benthic eelgrass (Zostera marina) mesograzer community
1. Herbivore communities can be sensitive to changes in predator pressure (top-down effects) and resource availability (bottom-up effects) in a wide range of systems. However, it remains unclear whether such top-down and bottom-up effects reflect direct impacts of predators and/or resources on herbivores, or are indirect, reflecting altered interactions among herbivore species. 2. We quantified direct and indirect effects of bottom-up and top-down processes on an eelgrass (Zostera marina) herbivore assemblage. In a field experiment, we factorially manipulated water column nutrients (with Osmocote™ slow-release fertilizer) and predation pressure (with predator exclusion cages) and measured the effects on herbivore abundance, richness and beta diversity. We examined likely mechanisms of community responses by statistically exploring the response of individual herbivore species to trophic manipulations. 3. Predators increased herbivore richness and total abundance, in both cases through indirect shifts in community composition. Increases in richness occurred through predator suppression of common gammarid amphipod species (Monocorophium acherusicum and Photis brevipes), permitting the inclusion of rarer gammarid species (Aoroides columbiae and Pontogeneia rostrata). Increased total herbivore abundance reflected increased abundance of a caprellid amphipod species (Caprella sp.), concurrent with declines in the abundance of other common species. Furthermore, predators decreased beta diversity by decreasing variability in Caprella sp. abundance among habitat patches. 4. Osmocote™ fertilization increased nutrient concentrations locally, but nutrients dissipated to background levels within 3 m of the fertilizer. Nutrient addition weakly affected the herbivore assemblage, not affecting richness and increasing total abundance by increasing one herbivore species (Caprella sp.). Nutrient addition did not affect beta diversity. 5. We demonstrated that assemblage-level effects of trophic manipulations on community structure are the result of distinct and often indirect responses of herbivore species. These results underscore the importance of understanding herbivore–herbivore interactions in a system commonly subjected to both eutrophication and overfishing.
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: 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.
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.