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5,828 results for “Traits”
Data from: Trait hierarchies are stronger than trait dissimilarities in structuring spatial co-occurrence patterns of common tree species in a subtropical forest
<p>1. The dissimilarity and hierarchy of trait values that characterize niche and fitness differences, respectively, have been increasingly applied to infer mechanisms driving community assembly and to explain species co-occurrence patterns. Here, we predict that limiting similarity should result in the spatial segregation of functionally similar species, while functionally similar species will be more likely to co-occur either due to environmental filtering or competitive exclusion of inferior competitors (hereafter hierarchical competition).</p> <p>2. We used a fully mapped 50-ha subtropical forest plot in southern China to explore how pairwise spatial associations between saplings and between adult trees were influenced by trait dissimilarity and hierarchy in order to gain insight into assembly mechanisms. We assessed pairwise spatial associations using two summary statistics of spatial point patterns at different spatial scales and compared the effects of trait dissimilarity and trait hierarchy of different functional traits on the interspecific spatial associations. These comparisons allow us to disentangle the effects of limiting similarity, environmental filtering and hierarchical competition on species co-occurrence.</p> <p>3. We found that trait dissimilarity was generally negatively related with interspecific spatial associations for both saplings and adult trees across spatial scales, meaning that species with similar trait values were more likely to co-occur and thus supporting environmental filtering or hierarchical competition. We further found that trait hierarchy outweighed trait dissimilarity in structuring pairwise spatial associations, suggesting that hierarchical competition played a more important role in structuring our forest community than environmental filtering across life stages.</p> <p>4. This study employed a novel method, by offering the integration of pairwise spatial association and trait dissimilarity as well as trait hierarchy, to disentangle the relative importance of multiple assembly mechanisms in structuring co-occurrence patterns, especially the mechanisms of environmental filtering and hierarchical competition, which lead to indistinguishable co-occurrence patterns. This study also reinforced the importance of trait hierarchy rather than trait dissimilarity in driving neighborhood competition.</p>
Predictability of thermal fluctuations influences functional traits of a cosmopolitan marine diatom
<p>Evolutionary theory predicts that organismal plasticity should evolve in environments that fluctuate regularly. However, in environments that fluctuate less predictably, plasticity may be constrained because environmental cues become less reliable for expressing the optimum phenotype. Here we examine how the predictability of +5 °C temperature fluctuations impacts the phenotype of the marine diatom <em>Thalassiosira pseudonana</em>. Thermal regimes were informed by temperatures experienced by microbes in an ocean simulation, and featured regular or irregular temporal sequences of fluctuations that induced mild physiological stress. Physiological traits (growth, cell size, complexity, pigmentation) were quantified at the individual cell level using flow cytometry. Changes in cellular complexity emerged as the first impact of predictability after only 8-11 days, followed by deleterious impacts on growth on days 13-16. Specifically, cells with a history of irregular fluctuation exposure exhibited a 50% reduction in growth compared with the stable reference environment, while growth was 3-18 times higher when fluctuations were regular. We observed no evidence of heat hardening (increasingly positive growth) with recurrent fluctuations. This study demonstrates that unpredictable temperature fluctuations impact this cosmopolitan diatom under ecologically-relevant time frames, suggesting shifts in environmental stochasticity under a changing climate could have widespread consequences amongst ocean primary producers.</p>
Data from: Traits across trophic levels interact to influence parasitoid establishment in biological control releases
<p><span>A central goal in ecology is to </span><span>predict what governs a species' ability to establish in a new environment.</span><span> One mechanism driving </span><span>establishment success</span><span> is individual species' traits, but the role of trait combinations among interacting species across different trophic levels are less clear. Deliberate or accidental species additions to existing communities provide opportunities to study larger scale patterns of establishment success. Biological control introductions are especially valuable because they contain data on both the successfully established and unestablished species. </span></p> <p><span>Here, we supplemented a recent dataset of importation biological control introductions with life-history traits for the parasitoid species and the herbivorus hosts they were released to control </span><span>to explore how life-history traits of 132 parasitoid species and their herbivorous hosts interact to affect </span><span>parasitoid establishment. </span><span>We find that</span><span> of five parasitoid and herbivore traits investigated, one</span> <span>parasitoid trait—host range—weakly predicts parasitoid establishment; parasitoids with higher levels of phylogenetic specialization have higher establishment success, though the effect is marginal. In addition, parasitoids are more likely to establish when their herbivore host has had a shorter residence time. Interestingly, we do not corroborate earlier findings that gregarious parasitoids and endo-parasitoids are more likely to establish. Most importantly, we find that life-history traits of </span><span>the parasitoid species </span><span>and their hosts can interact</span><span> to influence establishment. Specifically, parasitoids with broader host ranges are more likely to establish when the herbivore they have been released to control is also </span><span>more of </span><span>a generalist. These results provide insight into how multiple </span><span>species'</span><span> traits and their interactions</span><span>,</span><span> both within and across trophic levels</span><span>,</span><span> can </span><span>influence establishment of species of higher trophic levels</span><span>.</span></p>
Data from: The megaherbivore gap after the non-avian dinosaur extinctions modified trait evolution and diversification of tropical palms
<p><span>The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs (66 Ma) led to a 25 million year gap of megaherbivores (>1000 kg) before the evolution of megaherbivorous mammals in the Late Eocene (40 Ma). The botanical consequences of this 'Paleocene megaherbivore gap' (PMHG) remain poorly explored. We hypothesize that the absence of megaherbivores should result in changes in the diversification and trait evolution of associated plant lineages. We used phylogenetic time- and trait-dependent diversification models with palms (Arecaceae) and show that the PMHG was characterized by speciation slowdowns, decreased evolution of armature, and increased evolution of megafaunal (</span>≥<span>4cm) fruits. This suggests that the absence of browsing by megaherbivores during the PMHG may have led to a loss of defence traits, but absence of megaherbivorous seed dispersers did not lead to a loss of megafaunal fruits. Instead, increases in PMHG fruit sizes may be explained by Late Paleocene rising temperatures, rainforest expansion, and the subsequent radiation of seed dispersing birds and mammals. We show that the profound impact of the PMHG on plant diversification can be detected even with the overwriting of adaptations by the subsequent Late Eocene opening-up of megaherbivore-associated ecological opportunities. Our study provides a quantitative, comparative framework to assess </span>diversification and adaptation during one of the most enigmatic periods in angiosperm history.</p>
Experimental sexual selection affects the evolution of physiological and life history traits
<p>Sexual selection and sexual conflict are expected to affect all aspects of the phenotype, not only traits that are directly involved in reproduction. Here, we show coordinated evolution of multiple physiological and life history traits in response to long-term experimental manipulation of the mating system in populations of <em>Drosophila pseudoobscura</em>. Development time was extended under polyandry relative to monogamy in both sexes, potentially due to higher investment in traits linked to sexual selection and sexual conflict. Individuals (especially males) evolving under polyandry had higher metabolic rates and locomotor activity than those evolving under monogamy. Polyandry individuals also invested more in metabolites associated with increased endurance capacity and efficient energy metabolism and regulation, namely lipid and glycogen. Finally, polyandry males were less desiccation- and starvation- resistant than monogamy males, suggesting trade-offs between resistance and sexually selected traits. Our results provide experimental evidence that mating systems can impose selection that influences the evolution of non-sexual phenotypes such as development, activity, metabolism, and nutrient homeostasis.</p>
Morphological traits of the flora of the Canary Islands
<p><span><strong>Aim:</strong> </span><span>Functional traits can help elucidate biogeographical and ecological processes driving assemblage structure. We analysed the functional diversity of plant species of different evolutionary origins across an island archipelago, along environmental gradients and across geological age, to assess functional aspects of island biogeographic theory.</span></p> <p><strong><span>Location: </span></strong><span>Canary Islands, Spain.</span></p> <p><span><strong>Major taxa studied:</strong> </span><span>Spermatophytes.</span></p> <p><strong><span>Time period</span></strong><span><strong>:</strong> Present-day.</span></p> <p><span><strong>Methods:</strong> </span><span>We collected data for four traits (plant height, leaf length, flower length and fruit length) associated with resource acquisition, competitive ability, reproduction and dispersal ability of 893 endemic, non-endemic native and alien plant species (~43 % of the Canary Island flora) from the literature. Linking these traits to species' occurrences and composition across a 500 m x 500 m grid, we calculated functional diversity for endemic, non-endemic native and alien assemblages using multi-dimensional functional hypervolumes and related the resulting patterns to climatic (humidity) and island biogeographic (geographical isolation, topographic complexity, geological age) gradients.</span></p> <p><span><strong>Results:</strong> Trait space of endemic and non-endemic native species overlapped considerably, while alien species added novel trait combinations, expanding the overall functional space of the Canary Islands. We found that functional diversity of endemic plant assemblages was highest in geographically isolated and humid grid cells. Functional diversity of non-endemic native assemblages was highest in less isolated and humid grid cells. In contrast, functional diversity of alien assemblages was highest in arid ecosystems. Topographic complexity and geological age only had a subordinate effect on functional diversity across floristic groups.</span></p> <p><span><strong>Main conclusions:</strong> </span><span>We found that endemic and non-endemic native island species possess similar traits, while alien species tend to expand functional space in ecosystems where they have been introduced. The spatial distribution of the floristic groups' functional diversity is very distinct across environmental gradients, indicating that species assemblages of different evolutionary origins functionally thrive in dissimilar habitats.</span></p>
Data from: Above- and belowground drivers of intraspecific trait variability across subcontinental gradients for five ubiquitous forest plants in North America
<p class="MsoPlainText">Intraspecific trait variability (ITV) provides the material for species adaptation to environmental changes. To advance our understanding of how ITV can contribute to species adaptation to a wide range of environmental conditions, we studied five widespread understory forest species exposed to both continental-scale climate gradients, and local soil and disturbance gradients. We investigated the environmental drivers of between-site leaf and root trait variation, and tested whether higher between-site ITV was associated with increased trait sensitivity to environmental variation (i.e. environmental fit).</p> <p class="MsoPlainText">We measured morphological (specific leaf area: SLA, specific root length: SRL) and chemical traits (Leaf and Root N, P, K, Mg, Ca) of five forest understory vascular plant<span> </span>species at 78 sites across Canada. A total of 261 species-by-site combinations spanning ~4300 km were sampled, capturing important abiotic and biotic environmental gradients (neighbourhood composition, canopy structure, soil conditions, climate). We used multivariate and univariate linear mixed models to identify drivers of ITV and test the association of between-site ITV with environmental fit.</p> <p class="MsoPlainText">Between-site ITV of leaf traits was primarily driven by canopy structure and climate. Comparatively, environmental drivers explained only a small proportion of variability in root traits: these relationships were trait-specific and included soil conditions (Root P), canopy structure (Root N) and neighbourhood composition (SRL, Root K). Between-site ITV was associated with increased environmental fit only for a minority of traits, primarily in response to climate (SLA, Leaf N, SRL).</p> <p class="MsoPlainText">Synthesis. By studying how ITV is structured along environmental gradients among species adapted to a wide range of conditions, we can begin to understand how individual species might respond to environmental change. Our results show that generalizable trait-environment relationships occur primarily aboveground and only accounted for a small proportion of variability. For our group of species with broad ecological niches, variability in traits was only rarely associated with higher environmental fit, and primarily along climatic gradients. These results point to promising research avenues on the various ways in which trait variation can affect species performance along different environmental gradients.</p>
The influence of predator community composition on photoprotective traits of copepods
<p>Trait expression of natural populations often jointly depends on prevailing abiotic environmental conditions and predation risk. Copepods, for example, can vary their expression of compounds that confer protection against ultraviolet radiation (UVR), such as astaxanthin and mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs), in relation to predation risk. Despite ample evidence that copepods accumulate less astaxanthin in the presence of predators, little is known about how the community composition of planktivorous fish can affect the overall expression of photoprotective compounds. Here, we investigate how the (co-)occurrence of Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) and threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) affect the photoprotective phenotype of the copepod Leptodiaptomus minutus in lake ecosystems in southern Greenland. We found that average astaxanthin and MAA contents were lowest in lakes with stickleback, but we found no evidence that these photoprotective compounds were affected by the presence of charr. Furthermore, variance in astaxanthin among individual copepods was greatest in the presence of stickleback and the astaxanthin content of copepods was negatively correlated with increasing stickleback density. Overall, we show that the presence and density of stickleback jointly affect the content of photoprotective compounds by copepods, illustrating how the community composition of predators in an ecosystem can determine the expression of prey traits that are also influenced by abiotic stressors. --</p>
Quantifying eco-evolutionary contributions to trait divergence in spatially structured systems
<p>Ecological and evolutionary processes can occur at similar time scales, and hence influence one another. There has been much progress in developing metrics that quantify contributions of ecological and evolutionary components to trait change over time. However, many empirical evolutionary ecology studies document trait differentiation among populations structured in space. In both time and space, the observed differentiation in trait values among populations and communities can be the result of interactions between non-evolutionary (phenotypic plasticity, changes in the relative abundance of species) and evolutionary (genetic differentiation among populations) processes. However, the tools developed so far to quantify ecological and evolutionary contributions to trait changes are implicitly addressing temporal dynamics because they require directionality of change from an ancestral to a derived state. Identifying directionality from one site to another in spatial studies of eco-evolutionary dynamics is not always possible and often not meaningful. We suggest three modifications to existing partitioning metrics so they allow quantifying ecological and evolutionary contributions to changes in population and community trait values across spatial locations in landscapes. Applying these spatially modified metrics to published empirical examples shows how these metrics can be used to generate new empirical insights and to facilitate future comparative analyses. The possibility to apply eco-evolutionary partitioning metrics to populations and communities in natural landscapes is critical as it will broaden our capacity to quantify eco-evolutionary interactions as they occur in nature.</p>
Data from: The intraspecific relationship between wood density, vessel diameter and other traits across environmental gradients
<p>This data is about several traits measured on branches of 3 wide-niche breadth tree species--Embothrium coccineum (Proteaceae, Nothofagus antarctica (Nothofagaceae) and N. pumilio--growing across environmental gradients in southern Chile. The traits involve leaf, wood anatomy, including wood density, growth, carbon reserves and wood isotopes.</p>
Improving landscape-scale productivity estimates by integrating trait-based models and remotely-sensed foliar-trait and canopy-structural data
Assessing the impacts of anthropogenic degradation and climate change on global carbon cycling is hindered by a lack of clear, flexible, and easy-to-use productivity models along with scarce trait and productivity data for parameterizing and testing those models. We provide a simple solution: a mechanistic framework (RS-CFM) that combines remotely-sensed foliar-trait and canopy-structural data with trait-based metabolic theory to efficiently map productivity at large spatial scales. We test this framework by quantifying net primary productivity (NPP) at high-resolution (0.01-ha) in hyper-diverse Peruvian tropical forests (30,040 hectares) along a 3,322-m elevation gradient. Our analysis captures hotspots and elevational shifts in productivity more accurately and in greater detail than alternative empirical- and process-based models that use plant functional types. This result exposes how high-resolution, location-specific variation in traits and light competition drive variability in productivity, opening up possibilities to fully harness remote sensing data and reliably scale up from traits to map global productivity in a more direct, efficient, and cost-effective manner.
Dung beetle trait data
<b>Description: </b><p>Dung beetle trait data (ctmax, pilosity, length, colouration)</p><p><b>Project: </b>This dataset was collected as part of the following SAFE research project: <a href="https://safeproject.net/projects/project_view/211"><b>Assessing the Impact of Microclimate During Development on the Physiological Thermal Tolerance of Lowland Malaysian Dung Beetles </b></a></p><p><b>Funding: </b>These data were collected as part of research funded by: </p><ul><li>NERC (PhD for JW, NE/L002485/1)</li></ul><p>This dataset is released under the CC-BY 4.0 licence, requiring that you cite the dataset in any outputs, but has the additional condition that you acknowledge the contribution of these funders in any outputs.</p><p></p><p><b>Permits: </b>These data were collected under permit from the following authorities:</p><ul><li>SaBC (Research licence JKM/MBS.1000-2/2JLD.7(83))</li></ul><p></p><p><b>XML metadata: </b>GEMINI compliant metadata for this dataset is available <a href="https://safeproject.net/datasets/xml_metadata?id=6477719">here</a></p><p><b>Files: </b>This consists of 1 file: trait_data.xlsx</p><p><b>trait_data.xlsx</b></p><p>This file contains dataset metadata and 1 data tables:</p><ol><li><p><b>Dung beetle trait dataset</b> (described in worksheet Dung_Beetles)</p><p>Description: Dung beetle traits</p><p>Number of fields: 10</p><p>Number of data rows: 990</p><p>Fields: </p><ul><li><b>Site</b>: SAFE points at second order (Field type: location)</li><li><b>Date</b>: Date specimen collected (Field type: date)</li><li><b>Taxon</b>: dung beetle species (Field type: taxa)</li><li><b>ctmax</b>: critical thermal maximum (Field type: numeric trait)</li><li><b>length</b>: body length (clypeus to pygidium) (Field type: numeric trait)</li><li><b>pro.width</b>: Pronotum width (Field type: numeric trait)</li><li><b>lum.pro</b>: luminosity of pronotum (Field type: numeric trait)</li><li><b>lum.ely</b>: luminosity of elytra (Field type: numeric trait)</li><li><b>hair.pro</b>: hairiness of pronotum (Field type: numeric trait)</li><li><b>hair.ely</b>: hairiness of elytra (Field type: numeric trait)</li></ul></li></ol><p><b>Date range: </b>2015-01-17 to 2107-10-25</p><p><b>Latitudinal extent: </b>4.5000 to 5.0700</p><p><b>Longitudinal extent: </b>116.7500 to 117.8200</p><p><b>Taxonomic coverage: </b><br> All taxon names are validated against the GBIF backbone taxonomy. If a dataset uses a synonym, the accepted usage is shown followed by the dataset usage in brackets. Taxa that cannot be validated, including new species and other unknown taxa, morphospecies, functional groups and taxonomic levels not used in the GBIF backbone are shown in square brackets.</p><div> -  Animalia <br> -  -  Arthropoda <br> -  -  -  Insecta <br> -  -  -  -  Coleoptera <br> -  -  -  -  -  Scarabaeidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus hidakai</i> (as homotypic_synonym: <i>Microcopris hidakai</i>)<br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  [Onthophagus (aff) hidakai] <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  [Onthophagus (aff) tridentitibialus] <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  [Onthophagus (aff) falculatus] <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus angustatus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus aphodioides</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus borneensis</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus cervicapra</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus deliensis</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus dux</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus fujiii</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus incisus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus laevis</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus nigriobscurior</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  [Onthophagus nr. borneensis] <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus obscurior</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus ochromerus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus pacificus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus pastillatus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus rorarius</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus rudis</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus rugicollis</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus semiaureus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus semicupreus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus taeniatus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus trituber</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus vulpes</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus waterstradti</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  [Onthophagus (agg) indachorius] <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Onthophagus mulleri</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Ochicanthon</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Ochicanthon dytiscoides</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Ochicanthon masumotoi</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Proagoderus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Proagoderus watanabei</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Microcopris</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Microcopris doriae</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Oniticellus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Oniticellus tessellatus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Sisyphus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Sisyphus thoracicus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Catharsius</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Catharsius dayacus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Catharsius renaudpauliani</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Paragymnopleurus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Paragymnopleurus maurus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Paragymnopleurus sparsus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Paragymnopleurus striatus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Synapsis</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Synapsis ritsemae</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Caccobius</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Caccobius bawangensis</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Copris</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Copris agnus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Copris ramosiceps</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Copris sinicus</i> <br></div><p></p>
Craniodental traits predict feeding performance and dietary hardness in a community of Neotropical free-tailed bats (Chiroptera: Molossidae)
<p>Form-function studies have established a strong link between dental morphology and the mechanical properties of food items, with animals evolving tooth shapes theoretically ideal for their diets. However, information on how teeth perform under natural conditions is rare, which limits our understanding of how dental morphology influences dietary ecology and niche partitioning within animal communities.</p> <p>Free-tailed bats (Chiroptera: Molossidae) are a diverse clade of aerial insectivorous mammals that exhibit an outstanding variation in size and craniodental traits, which have been directly related to ecological segregation among sympatric species.</p> <p>We investigate the mechanisms that allow functional dietary specialization and trophic segregation among sympatric free-tailed bat species inhabiting a Neotropical forest. To do so, we coupled data on 3D dental topographic metrics, head and skull dimensions, field-collected feeding performance and dietary hardness measurements.</p> <p>We found that evolved differences in molar topography and skull size vary in tandem with the mechanical demands of prey items naturally consumed by sympatric molossid species. This may be explained by feeding performance capabilities resulting from both molar shape and the overall size of the feeding apparatus, which seem to allow efficient processing of prey items with specific mechanical properties. For instance, smaller bats with higher molar topographic values (sharper, more complex molars) and more gracile heads mainly feed on softer insects, whereas bigger bats with lower molar topographic values (blunter, less complex molars) and more robust heads mostly feed on tougher insects. Species with a broader range of sizes, craniodental morphologies, and insect hardness are also present in the community.</p> <p>Our results illustrate how the morphology and size of feeding structures, and how they perform, may facilitate trophic segregation among sympatric insectivorous bats. Similar mechanisms may help structure other communities of insectivorous mammals, therefore the approaches presented here could be used to generate a better understanding of the ecomorphological traits and processes that underlie their diversity.</p>
Intraspecific variation in plant economic traits predicts trembling aspen resistance to a generalist insect herbivore
<p>Patterns of trait expression within some plant species have recently been shown to follow patterns described by the leaf economics spectrum paradigm. Resistance to herbivores is also expected to covary with leaf economics traits. We selected multiple mature <em>Populus tremuloides</em> genotypes from a common garden to assess whether aspen leaf economics patterns follow those observed among species globally. We also evaluated leaf economics strategies in the context of insect resistance by conducting bioassays to determine the effects of plant traits on preference and performance of <em>Lymantria dispar. </em>We found that: 1) intraspecific trait patterns of <em>P. tremuloides</em> parallel those exhibited by the interspecific leaf economics spectrum, 2) herbivores preferred leaves from genotypes with resource-acquisitive strategies, and 3) herbivores also performed best on genotypes<em> </em>with resource-acquisitive strategies. We conclude that a leaf economics spectrum that incorporates defense traits is a useful tool for explaining intraspecific patterns of variation in plant strategies, including resistance to herbivores.</p>
Data from: Multilevel and sex-specific selection on competitive traits in North American red squirrels.
Individuals often interact more closely with some members of the population (e.g. offspring, siblings or group members) than they do with other individuals. This structuring of interactions can lead to multilevel natural selection, where traits expressed at the group-level influence fitness alongside individual-level traits. Such multilevel selection can alter evolutionary trajectories, yet is rarely quantified in the wild, especially for species that do not interact in clearly demarcated groups. We quantified multilevel natural selection on two traits, postnatal growth rate and birth date, in a population of North American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). The strongest level of selection was typically within-acoustic social neighbourhoods (within 130m of the nest), where growing faster and being born earlier than nearby litters was key, while selection on growth rate was also apparent both within-litters and within-study areas. Higher population densities increased the strength of selection for earlier breeding, but did not influence selection on growth rates. Females experienced especially strong selection on growth rate at the within-litter level, possibly linked to the biased bequeathal of the maternal territory to daughters. Our results demonstrate the importance of considering multilevel and sex-specific selection in wild species, including those that are territorial and sexually monomorphic.
Root traits along a subarctic tundra elevational gradient
<p>While root trait research has received increasing attention over the past two decades, the relationship between root traits and environmental factors remains elusive. At the same time, knowledge about these relationships is necessary if we are to understand plant community responses to environmental change. Here, we assessed the relationships between elevation (i.e., temperature) and fine root traits of plant species and communities. We focused on the sub-arctic tundra where plant communities are expected to experience extreme environmental change by the end of the century.</p>
Data from: Sustained positive consequences of genetic rescue of fitness and behavioural traits in inbred populations of Drosophila melanogaster
<p><span>One solution to alleviate the detrimental genetic effects associated with reductions in population size and fragmentation is to introduce immigrants from other populations. While the effects of this genetic rescue on fitness traits are fairly well known, it is less clear to what extent inbreeding depression and subsequent genetic rescue affects behavioural traits. In this study, replicated crosses between inbred lines of <em>Drosophila melanogaster</em> were performed in order to investigate the effects of inbreeding and genetic rescue on egg-to-adult viability and negative geotaxis behaviour - a locomotor response used to measure e.g. the effects of physiological ageing. Transgenerational effects of outcrossing were investigated by examining the fitness consequences in both the F<sub>1</sub> and F<sub>4</sub> generation. The majority of inbred lines showed evidence for inbreeding depression for both egg-to-adult viability and behavioural performance (95% and 66% of lines, respectively), with inbreeding depression being more pronounced for viability compared to locomotor response. Subsequent outcrossing with immigrants led to an alleviation of the negative effects for both viability and geotaxis response resulting in inbred lines being similar to the outbred controls, with beneficial effects persisting from F<sub>1</sub> to F<sub>4</sub>. Overall, the results clearly show that genetic rescue can provide transgenerational rescue of small, inbred populations by rapidly improving population fitness components. Thus, we show that even the negative effects of inbreeding on behaviour, similar to that of neurodegeneration associated with physiological ageing, can be reversed by genetic rescue.</span></p>
Resource-dependent investment in male sexual traits in a viviparous fish
<p><span>Exaggerated and conspicuous sexually selected traits are often costly to produce and maintain. Costly traits are expected to show resource-dependent expression, since limited resources prevent animals from investing maximally in multiple traits simultaneously. However, there may be critical periods during an individual's life where the expression of traits is altered if resources are limited. Moreover, costly sexual traits may arise from sexual selection acting both before (pre-copulatory) and after mating (post-copulatory). Gaining a robust understanding of resource-dependent trait expression therefore requires an approach that examines both episodes of sexual selection following resource limitation during different times in an individual's life. Yet few studies have taken such an approach. Here, we examine how resource restriction influences a set of pre- and post-copulatory traits in male pygmy halfbeaks (<em>Dermogenys collettei</em>), which invest in sexual ornaments and routinely engage in male-male contests and sperm competition. Critically, we examined responses in males when resources were restricted during development and after reaching sexual maturity. Both pre- and post-copulatory traits are resource-dependent in male halfbeaks. Body size, beak size, courtship behavior, and testes size were reduced by diet restriction, while, unexpectedly, the restricted-diet group had a larger area of red color on the beak and fins after diet treatment. These patterns were generally consistent when resources were restricted during development and after reaching sexual maturity. The study reinforces the role of resource acquisition in maintaining variation among sexual traits. </span></p>
Data from: Flowering overlap and floral trait similarity help explain the structure of pollination network
<p><span>Co-flowering communities are usually characterized by high plant generalization but knowledge of the underlying factors leading to high levels of generalization and pollinator sharing, and how these may contribute to network structure is still limited. </span>Flowering phenology and floral trait similarity are considered among the most important factors determining plant generalization and pollinator sharing. However, these have been evaluated independently even though they can act in concert with each other. Moreover, the importance of flowering phenology and floral similarity, via their effects on plant generalization, in the structure of plant–pollinator networks have been scarcely studied. Here, we aim to evaluate the effect of flowering phenology and floral similarity in mediating the degree of pollinator sharing and plant generalization in two coastal communities and uncover their importance as drivers of plant–pollinator network structure.</p> <p>We recorded flower production per species, as well as the identity and frequency of floral visitors along the entire flowering season. We estimated the degree of flowering overlap, the degree of floral similarity (using floral traits associated with size and color), and the degree of pollinator sharing among plant species within both communities.</p> <p>Structural equation models (SEM) showed a positive effect of flowering overlap on pollinator sharing and plant generalization. Pollinator sharing and plant generalization positively affected network nestedness. Furthermore, SEM showed a direct positive effect of flowering overlap on network modularity. The SEM analyses also revealed a significant interaction effect of floral similarity and flowering overlap on pollinator sharing, with consequences for network nestedness in one community.</p> <p><span>Our results highlight the importance of integrating multiple axes of differentiation such as flowering phenology and floral similarity into our understanding of the drivers of plant–pollinator network structure.</span></p>
Data for: "Above and below ground trait coordination in tree seedlings depend on the most limiting resource: A test comparing a wet and a dry tropical forest in Mexico" by L. Sanaphre-Villanueva, F. Pineda-Garcia, W. Dattilo, L. F. Pinzon-Perez, A. Ricaño Rocha, H. Paz.
<p>These data represent those published in “Above and below ground trait coordination in tree seedlings depend on the most limiting resource: A test comparing a wet and a dry tropical forest in Mexico” by L. Sanaphre-Villanueva, F. Pineda-Garcia, W. Dattilo, L. F. Pinzon-Perez, A. Ricaño Rocha, H. Paz. PeerJ. 2022.</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.
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.