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2,603 results for “Ecological data”

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dryad32/100

Data from: Ecological context and the probability of mistakes underlie speed choice

1.Movement is fundamental to the ecology of animals, and an animal's choice of movement speed determines the duration, energetic costs, and probability of success of any given activity. It is often assumed that animals should use maximum speeds when escaping from predators, but an increasing number of studies find animals rarely move as fast as they can in nature because faster speeds come with a greater chance of mistakes. Mathematical modelling suggests that, when escaping predators, prey animals should optimise speeds to simultaneously outrun their pursuer and minimise their probability of slipping. This can be particularly important when running along narrow structures like branches. When foraging, however, animals should avoid moving at high speeds, which are often energetically costly and decrease the ability to detect food or predators. 2.In this study, we examined how trade-offs between speed and probability of slipping influenced the speed choice of wild antechinus (Antechinus mysticus) during escaping and foraging behaviours. We also examined how this trade-off affected foraging behaviour. 3.Antechinus ran significantly faster when escaping (1.207 ± 0.033 ms-1) than foraging (0.145 ± 0.002 ms-1), and slipped 37% more often during escapes. However, foraging antechinus still slipped frequently on narrow branches, despite running an order of magnitude more slowly than they did on wide branches. Furthermore, antechinus slipped at lower speeds when foraging than they did when escaping, suggesting that avoiding mistakes is less highly prioritized when foraging. 4.Antechinus visited the feeding station accessed by a wide branch more frequently (and ate more while there) compared with feeding stations accessed by narrow branches, even when those branches were 33% or 67% shorter. This suggests that foraging decisions may be based on potential limitations to speed and the probability of slipping over distance to cover. 5.Though activities such as running can be fundamental to animals' fitness, a general framework to understand how animals select speeds in nature is still being developed. We test the assumption that animals choose running speeds to minimise their motor mistakes, and demonstrate the cost of mistakes is likely to be different across ecological and behavioural contexts.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →
dryad32/100

Data from: Buchnera has changed flatmate but the repeated replacement of co-obligate symbionts is not associated with the ecological expansions of their aphid hosts

Symbiotic associations with bacteria have facilitated important evolutionary transitions in insects and resulted in long-term obligate interactions. Recent evidence suggests that these associations are not always evolutionarily stable and that symbiont replacement and/or supplementation of an obligate symbiosis by an additional bacterium has occurred during the history of many insect groups. Yet, the factors favoring one symbiont over another in this evolutionary dynamic are not well understood; progress has been hindered by our incomplete understanding of the distribution of symbionts across phylogenetic and ecological contexts. While many aphids are engaged into an obligate symbiosis with a single Gammaproteobacterium, Buchnera aphidicola, in species of the Lachninae subfamily, this relationship has evolved into a "ménage à trois", in which Buchnera is complemented by a co-symbiont, usually Serratia symbiotica. Using deep sequencing of 16S rRNA bacterial genes from 128 species of Cinara (the most diverse Lachninae genus), we reveal a highly dynamic dual symbiotic system in this aphid lineage. Most species host both Serratia and Buchnera but, in several clades, endosymbionts related to Sodalis, Erwinia or an unnamed member of the Enterobacteriaceae have replaced Serratia. Endosymbiont genome sequences from four aphid species confirm that these co-resident symbionts fulfill essential metabolic functions not ensured by Buchnera. We further demonstrate through comparative phylogenetic analyses that co-symbiont replacement is not associated with the adaptation of aphids to new ecological conditions. We propose that symbiont succession was driven by factors intrinsic to the phenomenon of endosymbiosis, such as rapid genome deterioration or competitive interactions between bacteria with similar metabolic capabilities.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →
dryad32/100

Data from: Ecological niche modeling for a cultivated plant species: a case study on taro (Colocasia esculenta) in Hawai'i

Under the threat of ongoing and projected climate change, communities in the Pacific Islands face challenges of adapting culture and lifestyle to accommodate a changing landscape. Few models can effectively predict how biocultural livelihoods might be impacted. Here, we examine how environmental and anthropogenic factors influence an ecological niche model (ENM) for the realized niche of cultivated taro (Colocasia esculenta) in Hawai'i. We created and tuned two sets of ENMs: one using only environmental variables, and one using both environmental and cultural characteristics of Hawa'i. These models were projected under two different Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) for 2070. Models were selected and evaluated using average omission rate and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). We compared optimal model predictions by comparing the percentage of taro plots predicted present and measured ENM overlap using Schoener's D-statistic. The model including only environmental variables consisted of 19 Worldclim bioclimatic variables, in addition to slope, altitude, distance to perennial streams, soil evaporation, and soil moisture. The optimal model with environmental variables plus anthropogenic features also included a road density variable (which we assumed as a proxy for urbanization) and a variable indicating agricultural lands of importance to the State of Hawai'i. The model including anthropogenic features performed better than the environment-only model based on omission rate, AUC, and review of spatial projections. The two models also differed in spatial projections for taro under anticipated future climate change. Our results demonstrate how ENMs including anthropogenic features can predict which areas might be best suited to plant cultivated species in the future, and how these areas could change under various climate projections. These predictions might inform biocultural conservation priorities and initiatives. In addition, we discuss the incongruences that arise when traditional ENM theory is applied to species whose distribution has been significantly impacted by human intervention, particularly at a local scale relevant to biocultural conservation initiatives.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →
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Data from: The interplay between local ecology, divergent selection and genetic drift in population divergence of a sexually antagonistic female trait

Genetically polymorphic species offer the possibility to study maintenance of genetic variation and the potential role for genetic drift in population divergence. Indirect inference of the selection regimes operating on polymorphic traits can be achieved by comparing population divergence in neutral genetic markers with population divergence in trait frequencies. Such an approach could further be combined with ecological data to better understand agents of selection. Here, we infer the selective regimes acting on a polymorphic mating trait in an insect group; the dorsal structures (either rough or smooth) of female diving beetles. Our recent work suggests that the rough structures have a sexually antagonistic function in reducing male mating attempts. For two species (Dytiscus lapponicus and Graphoderus zonatus), we could not reject genetic drift as an explanation for population divergence in morph frequencies, while for the third (Hygrotus impressopunctatus) we found that divergent selection pulls morph frequencies apart across populations. Furthermore, population morph frequencies in H. impressopunctatus were significantly related to local bioclimatic factors, providing an additional line of evidence for local adaptation in this species. These data therefore suggest that local ecological factors and sexual conflict interact over larger spatial scales to shape population divergence in the polymorphism.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →
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Data from: A test of the central-marginal hypothesis using population genetics and ecological niche modelling in an endemic salamander (Ambystoma barbouri)

The central-marginal hypothesis (CMH) predicts that population size, genetic diversity, and genetic connectivity are highest at the core and decrease near the edges of species' geographic distributions. We provide a test of the CMH using three replicated core-to-edge transects that encompass nearly the entire geographic range of the endemic streamside salamander (Ambystoma barbouri). We confirmed that the mapped core of the distribution was the most suitable habitat using ecological niche modelling (ENM) and via genetic estimates of effective population sizes. As predicted by the CMH, we found statistical support for decreased genetic diversity, effective population size, and genetic connectivity from core to edge in western and northern transects, yet not along a southern transect. Based on our niche model, habitat suitability is lower towards the southern range edge, presumably leading to conflicting core-to-edge genetic patterns. These results suggest that multiple processes may influence a species' distribution based on the heterogeneity of habitat across a species' range and that replicated sampling may be needed to accurately test the CMH. Our work also emphasizes the importance of identifying the geographic range core with methods other than using the Euclidean center on a map, which may help to explain discrepancies among other empirical tests of the CMH. Assessing core to edge population genetic patterns across an entire species' range accompanied with ENM can inform our general understanding of the mechanisms leading to species' geographic range limits.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →
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Data from: The ecological implications of rubber-based agroforest: insect conservation and invasion control

<p>1. Protected areas are increasingly threatened by biological invasions, especially in Tropical Asia where extensive areas of natural habitats have been converted to monoculture plantations. Such disturbance provides a gateway for exotic species invasions, highlighting an urgent need for cross-boundary solutions to mitigate invasion impacts. 2. Agroforests, with multi-storied trees and crops resembling the complex structure of natural forest, are well-known to promote native species compared to monoculture plantations. Yet our knowledge on their roles in controlling exotic species is limited to plant invaders, with effects on animal invaders still unknown. Given that protected areas are increasingly threatened by invaders from surrounding plantations, with a majority of them represented by insects, it is important to evaluate the effect of agroforestry practice, and mechanisms of associated management to control invasions. 3. By using both taxonomic and functional trait-based approaches, we studied leaf litter ant communities in 12 rubber monoculture (mono-rubber), 9 rubber plantation with understory crops (agro-rubber), 16 secondary, and 12 old-growth secondary forest plots in and around protected areas in Hainan, China. Sampled ants were further classified into groups based on their invasive potential (tramp vs non-tramp) to determine the ecological values of agro-rubber. 4. We found that despite mono-rubber and agro-rubber presenting similar species richness, the latter 1) supports species composition and functional diversity more similar to secondary forests, and 2) reduces tramp ant species occurrence, a novel management incentive. Nonetheless, agro-rubber is not comparable to secondary forest in terms of non-tramp ant species composition. 5. Synthesis and applications. If it is not feasible to preserve natural forests in human-dominated landscapes against the growing threat of biological invasion, proactive mitigation through increasing the area of agro-rubber at the periphery of protected areas can reduce invasive species' establishment and spread. Plantation-based agroforestry has emerged as a potential management avenue and incentive for transforming monoculture plantations into a less "harmful" alternative.</p>

opencc-zeroApr 2020View details →
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Data from: Cross-scale dynamics in community and disease ecology: relative timescales shape the community ecology of pathogens

Communities of free-living organisms are shaped by processes operating within and among patches of habitat, while pathogen communities are shaped by analogous processes operating within and among hosts. Resource competition (R) theory can describe dynamics within patches or hosts, while metacommunity dynamics describe competition-colonization tradeoffs, extinction debts, and superinfection. However, models at this broader scale often assume instantaneous competitive exclusion in co-inhabited patches or coinfected hosts. Impacts of more gradual competitive exclusion on the abundance, distribution, and diversity of species are less clear. Here, we nest a general resource competition model within a metacommunity framework and manipulate the relative timescales for processes operating within and among patches/hosts. We focus on superinfection in pathogen communities. We compare cases where transmission depends on infection prevalence versus the abundance of pathogens within hosts. Surprisingly, slowing the relative pace of competitive exclusion within hosts can decrease infection prevalence of the inferior competitor and increase prevalence of the superior competitor, depending on transmission and virulence. Slower dynamics reduce the abundance of both pathogens within hosts and promote diversity at multiple scales: coinfections within individual hosts and co-occurrence in the host population. These results highlight surprising feedbacks that can emerge across scales and reinforce the rich cross-scale connections between community and disease ecology.

opencc-zeroJul 2019View details →
dryad32/100

Data from: From resource to female defence: the impact of roosting ecology on a bat's mating strategy

With their extraordinary species richness and diversity in ecological traits and social systems, bats are a promising taxon for testing socio-ecological hypotheses in order to get new insights into the evolution of animal social systems. Regarding its roosting habits, proboscis bats form an extreme by occupying sites which are usually completely exposed to daylight (e.g. tree trunks, vines or rocks). This is accompanied by morphological and behavioural adaptations to remain cryptic in exposed day roosts. With long-term behavioural observations and genetic parentage analyses of individually marked proboscis bats, we assessed its social dispersion and male mating strategy during day and night. Our results reveal nocturnal male territoriality—a strategy which most closely resembles a resource-defence polygyny that is frequent also in other tropical bats. Its contrasting clumped social dispersion during the day is likely to be the result of strong selection for crypsis in exposed roosts and is accompanied by direct female defence in addition to male territoriality. To the best of our knowledge, such contrasting male mating strategies within a single day–night cycle have not been described in a vertebrate species so far and illustrate a possible evolutionary trajectory from resource-defence to female-defence strategy by small ecologically driven evolutionary steps.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →
dryad32/100

Data from: When are adaptive radiations replicated in areas? Ecological opportunity and unexceptional diversification in West Indian dipsadine snakes (Colubridae: Alsophiini)

AIM: We examine diversification in Caribbean alsophiine snakes and hypothesize that, given ecological opportunity presented by colonizing the West Indies, alsophiines should show the signature of an early burst of diversification and associated low-within clade ecological and morphological disparification. We also test if changes in morphology or ecology are associated with changes in diversification rate, as trait-dependent diversification is hypothesized to affect historical inferences of diversification and disparification. Finally, as replicated radiations are found across the West Indies in the anoles, we test for significant differences in ecological and morphological assemblages and rates among the major island groups. LOCATION: The West Indies. METHODS: A time-calibrated phylogeny produced from six genes using relaxed clock methods in BEAST was constructed to examine ancestral area using LAGRANGE. Maximum body size and ecological niche were scored for all species in the phylogeny, and comparative phylogenetic methods in R using GEIGER, LASER, APE and our own code were used to examine diversification through time, disparification and trait-dependent diversification from this dated phylogeny. RESULTS: The pattern of species diversification did not differ significantly from the Yule model of diversification. Morphology and ecology fit a Brownian and white noise model of diversification, respectively. Although not significantly different, morphological disparification was lower than the Brownian null model, whereas ecological disparification was significantly greater than the null. Trait-dependent diversification analyses suggested that the constant null models provided the best fit to these data. There was no significant signal of rate variation among the major island groups for size, but moderate evidence for niche. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: Although ecological opportunity was similarly present for alsophiines as it was for anoles, the snakes fail to show an early burst of speciation. Potential reasons for this include the young age of the group, and staggered diversification due to waiting times between island colonization. In turn, ecological and morphological disparity do not necessarily follow predictable patterns related to species diversification. Thus, the presence of ecological opportunity alone is not necessarily sufficient to trigger replicated adaptive radiations in areas.

opencc-zeroDec 2011View details →
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Data from: Molecular characterisation of trophic ecology within an island radiation of insect herbivores (Curculionidae: Entiminae: Cratopus).

The phytophagous beetle family Curculionidae is the most species-rich insect family known, with much of this diversity having been attributed to both co-evolution with food plants and host-shifts at key points within the early evolutionary history of the group. Less well understood is the extent to which patterns of host use vary within or among related species, largely because of the technical difficulties associated with quantifying this. Here we develop a recently characterised molecular approach to quantify diet within and between two closely related species of weevil occurring primarily within dry forests on the island of Mauritius. Our aim is to quantify dietary variation across populations and assess adaptive and non-adaptive explanations for this, and to characterise the nature of a trophic shift within an ecologically distinct population within one of the species. We find that our study species are polyphagous, consuming a much wider range of plants than would be suggested by the literature. Our data suggest that local diet variation is largely explained by food availability, and locally specialist populations consume food plants that are not phylogenetically novel, but do appear to represent a novel preference. Our results demonstrate the power of molecular methods to unambiguously quantify dietary variation across populations of insect herbivores, providing a valuable approach to understanding trophic interactions within and among local plant and insect herbivore communities.

opencc-zeroDec 2012View details →
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Data from: Extreme ecological response of a seabird community to unprecedented sea ice cover

Climate change has been predicted to reduce Antarctic sea ice but, instead, sea ice surrounding Antarctica has expanded over the past 30 years, albeit with contrasted regional changes. Here we report a recent extreme event in sea ice conditions in East Antarctica and investigate its consequences on a seabird community. In early 2014, the Dumont d'Urville Sea experienced the highest magnitude sea ice cover (76.8%) event on record (1982–2013: range 11.3–65.3%; mean±95% confidence interval: 27.7% (23.1–32.2%)). Catastrophic effects were detected in the breeding output of all sympatric seabird species, with a total failure for two species. These results provide a new view crucial to predictive models of species abundance and distribution as to how extreme sea ice events might impact an entire community of top predators in polar marine ecosystems in a context of expanding sea ice in eastern Antarctica.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →
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Data from: Innovative consumers: ecological, behavioral and physiological predictors of responses to novel food

Consumer innovation, i.e. the acquisition and consumption of novel food types, has received little attention despite its predominance among animal innovations, and its potential implications for the ecology and evolution of species in a changing world. Results of the few studies that have investigated individual responses to novel foods suggest that various ecological, behavioral, and physiological variables may impact individual propensity for consumer innovation, but further work is needed to clarify these relationships. We investigated if urbanization, social rank, exploratory personality, and baseline levels of corticosterone predict food neophobia and consumer innovation responses of wild-caught black-capped chickadees (N=170) from 14 sites along an urbanization gradient. Our analyses do not support a link between food neophobia or consumer innovation and urbanization, dominance or exploratory personality. However, birds with higher levels of baseline corticosterone were quicker to contact novel food types, and more likely to consume novel foods than individuals with lower levels of the hormone. This finding suggests that physiological states that promote foraging behavior might drive individual responses to novel food. Additionally, we found that chickadees tested later in autumn were less neophobic than those tested earlier in the season, perhaps reflecting seasonal changes in food availability. Together, the ability of baseline corticosterone and date of capture to predict responses to novel food suggest that necessity may drive consumer innovation in chickadees.

opencc-zeroDec 2018View details →
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Data from: Experimental evidence for ecological selection on genome variation in the wild

Understanding natural selection's effect on genetic variation is a major goal in biology, but the genome-scale consequences of contemporary selection are not well known. In a release and recapture field experiment we transplanted stick insects to native and novel host plants and directly measured allele frequency changes within a generation at 186 576 genetic loci. We observed substantial, genome-wide allele frequency changes during the experiment, most of which could be attributed to random mortality (genetic drift). However, we also documented that selection affected multiple genetic loci distributed across the genome, particularly in transplants to the novel host. Host-associated selection affecting the genome acted on both a known colour-pattern trait as well as other (unmeasured) phenotypes. We also found evidence that selection associated with elevation affected genome variation, although our experiment was not designed to test this. Our results illustrate how genomic data can identify previously underappreciated ecological sources and phenotypic targets of selection.

opencc-zeroDec 2012View details →
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Data from: Population density and size influence pollen dispersal pattern and mating system of the predominantly outcrossed Banksia nivea (Proteaceae) in a threatened ecological community

Gene flow is a critical component of plant mating systems and influences population fitness, yet pollen dispersal can be highly variable and influenced by natural and anthropogenic fragmentation. Gene flow through pollen dispersal was investigated in two populations of contrasting size and habitat context in Banksia nivea ssp. uliginosa, a rare species in the Busselton ironstone threatened ecological community with a naturally fragmented distribution. Paternity analysis was conducted with seven microsatellite loci to determine mating system parameters and patterns of pollen dispersal. Outcrossing was high in both populations with a similar level of selfing for both populations despite differences in population size, density and vegetation matrix. Most mating occurred within 10 m of a mother plant in the small, clumped population, while more dispersed mating, up to 50 m from a mother plant, was recorded in the large, less dense population. Our results show that population density and size are important influences on mating system parameters and level of pollen dispersal.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →
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Data from: Environmental filtering improves ecological niche models across multiple scales

1. A clear challenge for ecological niche modeling is determining how to best mitigate the effects of sampling bias from commonly collected biodiversity data. Recent approaches have focused on filtering occurrences in overrepresented regions based on geographic or environmental proximity. 2. We tested the efficacy of filtering in geographic and environmental space using occurrence data from four species. Our evaluation strategies examined 14 distance measures in geographic and environmental spaces and eight combinations of environmental variables and their ordinations. This resulted in 78 datasets for each species, which we evaluated using area under the curve (AUC), the difference between training and testing AUC, omission rate, the true skill statistic, and Schoener's D to examine the effects of different filtering schemes. 3. The degree of change produced by filtering on predicted suitability and evaluation statistics increased with increasing range size. Environmental filtering resulted in higher model fit at larger extents and retained more occurrences than geographic filtering. 4. Our results indicate that models should be evaluated using multiple evaluation statistics at multiple thresholds. The use of bin sizes when filtering in environmental space allows for simple comparison between species and filter types and makes for an easily reportable and repeatable distance metric. We specifically recommend that ecological niche models using natural history collection data filter in environmental space with variables derived from permutation importance or the first few axes of a principal components ordination.

opencc-zeroDec 2018View details →
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Data from: Resurrection ecology in Artemia

Resurrection Ecology (RE) is a very powerful approach to address a wide range of question in ecology and evolution. This approach rests on using appropriate model systems, and only few are known to be available. In this paper, we show that Artemia has multiple attractive features (short generation time, cyst bank and collections, well documented phylogeography and ecology) for a good RE model. We show in detail with a case study how cysts can be recovered from sediments to document the history and dynamics of a biological invasion. We finally discuss with precise examples the many RE possibilities with this model system: adaptation to climate change, to pollution, to parasites, to invaders and evolution of reproductive systems.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →
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Data from: Extending RAD tag analysis to microbial ecology: a comparison between multi locus sequence typing (MLST) and 2b-RAD to investigate Listeria monocytogenes genetic structure

The advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has dramatically changed bacterial typing technologies, increasing our ability to differentiate bacterial isolates. Despite it is now possible to sequence a bacterial genome in a few days and at reasonable costs, most genetic analyses do not require whole-genome sequencing, which also remains impractical for large population samples due to the cost of individual library preparation and bioinformatics. More traditional sequencing approaches, however, such as MultiLocus Sequence Typing (mlst) are quite laborious and time-consuming, especially for large-scale analyses. In this study, a genotyping approach based on restriction site-associated (RAD) tag sequencing, 2b-RAD, was applied to characterize Listeria monocytogenes strains. To verify the feasibility of the method, an in silico analysis was performed on 30 available complete genomes. For the same set of strains, in silico mlst analysis was conducted as well. Subsequently, 2b-RAD and mlst analyses were experimentally carried out on 58 isolates collected from food samples or food-processing sites. The obtained results demonstrate that 2b-RAD predicts mlst types and often provides more detailed information on population structure than mlst. Moreover, the majority of variants differentiating identical sequence type isolates mapped against accessory fragments, thus providing additional information to characterize strains. Although mlst still represents a reliable typing method, large-scale studies on molecular epidemiology and public health, as well as bacterial phylogenetics, population genetics and biosafety could benefit of a low cost and fast turnaround time approach such as the 2b-RAD analysis proposed here.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →
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Data from: Compositional turnover and ecological changes related to the waxing and waning of glaciers during the Late Paleozoic ice age in ice-proximal regions (Pennsylvanian, western Argentina)

The late Paleozoic ice age (LPIA) had a profound effect on the biota. Despite much research having been focused on paleotropical regions or global-scale analyses, regional ecological changes have seldom been studied in ice-proximal basins. Here, I study the compositional turnover and diversity structure across the main Carboniferous glacial event recorded in western Argentina and the subsequent nonglacial interval. Brachiopod and bivalve data from western Argentina suggest that the transition from glacial to nonglacial climates caused major compositional changes. Turnover, however, was not uniform across the bathymetric gradient, being higher in deep environments. Because extirpation was concentrated in brachiopods, but immigration was similar in both clades, the taxonomic structure of the region was significantly modified. Although regional hierarchical diversity structure and occupancy distributions remained stable, dissecting the analysis in brachiopods and bivalves underscores that both clades had different responses to climate change. Brachiopods, on the one hand, show stability in the diversity structure and a very slight decrease in occupancies of intermediate genera, while bivalves show an important rise in diversity, both at the environment and regional scale, and an increase in genera with intermediate occupancies. The bathymetric diversity gradient was also modified from hump shaped with maximum diversity in the deep subtidal to a linear gradient with maximum values toward the offshore. However, relative compositional differences within environments remained stable, with maximum values at intermediate depths both in glacial and nonglacial intervals. Moreover, local-scale coexistence between brachiopods and bivalves changed in the nonglacial interval, showing significant segregation, which indicates relevant modifications in community assembly dynamics. Results from western Argentina highlight the magnitude of regional-scale ecological changes during the LPIA in ice-proximal regions, suggesting that the waxing and waning of glaciers was able to cause regional taxonomic turnover and medium-scale ecological changes even during intervals of relative macroevolutionary quiescence.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →
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Data from: Leapfrogging the Mexican highlands: influence of biogeographical and ecological factors on the diversification of highland species

In order to understand the processes that generate and maintain diversity, it is important to disentangle the roles of ecology and geography in speciation. We investigated the biogeographical and ecological factors that influenced the diversification of tree frogs (genus Sarcohyla) in the Mexican highlands, a region with high levels of endemism. Using single nucleotide polymorphism data for 58 samples, we found support for seven distinct genetic clusters within the Sarcohyla bistincta species complex, corresponding to Sarcohyla calthula, Sarcohyla pentheter and five populations within S. bistincta. A species tree analysis using the multispecies coalescent model did not support the monophyly of the five S. bistincta populations. We used niche modelling to calculate the ecological overlap among lineages; we found a degree of overlapping for most of the lineages, suggesting that ecological differentiation did not play a key role in their genetic divergence. Speciation and population structure in the complex have been shaped primarily by geological events, landscape modifications and climate changes during the Pleistocene. We discuss the relevance of genetic diversity for inferring the degree of species threats and recovery for conservation assessments.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →
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Data from: Climatic adaptation and ecological descriptors of wild beans from Mexico

Despite its economic, social, biological, and cultural importance, wild forms of the genus Phaseolus are not well represented in germplasm banks, and they are at great risk due to changes in land use as well as climate change. To improve our understanding of the potential geographical distribution of wild beans (Phaseolus spp.) from Mexico and support in situ and ex situ conservation programs, we determined the climatic adaptation ranges of 29 species and two subspecies of Phaseolus collected throughout Mexico. Based on five biotic and 117 abiotic variables obtained from different databases—WorldClim, Global‐Aridity, and Global‐PET—we performed principal component and cluster analyses. Germplasm was distributed among 12 climatic types from a possible 28. The general climatic ranges were as follows: 8–3,083 m above sea level; 12.07–26.96°C annual mean temperature; 10.33–202.68 mm annual precipitation; 9.33–16.56 W/m2 of net radiation; 11.68–14.23 hr photoperiod; 0.06–1.57 aridity index; and 10–1,728 mm/month of annual potential evapotranspiration. Most descriptive variables (25) clustered species into two groups: One included germplasm from semihot climates, and the other included germplasm from temperate climates. Species clustering showed 45% to 54% coincidence with species previously grouped using molecular data. The species P. filiformis, P. purpusii, and P. maculatus were found at low‐humidity locations; these species could be used to improve our understanding of the extreme aridity adaptation mechanisms used by wild beans to avoid or tolerate climate change as well as to introgress favorable alleles into new cultivars adapted to hot, dry environments.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

ScienceDex guides

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These curated guides explain access requirements, typical timelines, costs, and reuse considerations for widely used research datasets.

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Allen Brain Atlas

Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.

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

Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)

ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.

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

DANDI Archive for NWB datasets

DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.

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

International Brain Laboratory public data

The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.

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

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.

openneuro
neuroscienceopenPublished datasets are available on demand over the internet.
Last verified 2026-04-29Open record