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549 results for “population size”
Data from: Morphological traits are not consistently related to population size in four migratory caribou populations across North America
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Observed declines in body size have differential effects on survival and recruitment, but no effect on population growth in tropical birds
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Global contemporary effective population sizes across taxonomic groups
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The role of population size in folk tune complexity
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How early does the selfing syndrome arise? Associations between selfing ability and flower size within populations of the mixed mater Collinsia verna
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<i>k</i>-mer-based diversity scales with population size proxies more than nucleotide diversity in a meta-analysis of 98 plant species
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Sexual selection in wild populations of seed bugs: the role of size in pre-copulatory mate choice by females and males
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Data from: Plant community-specific greening patterns predict population size increases in a temperate herbivore
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Data from: Co-occurrence between size groups within populations decreases with maximum body size across marine fish populations
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The heritability of size in a wild annual plant population with hierarchical size structure
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Plant size and spatial pattern in a natural population of Myosotis micrantha
This dataset was created for examining the spatial distribution of plant size in a natural plant population, and for understanding the processes which govern the same. A winter annual species, Myosotis stricta (formally known as Myosotis micrantha), was chosen for this purpose. Data collection was carried on the campus of Stony Brook University (Stony Brook, NY, USA) in May 1988, along a 700 cm x 20 cm transect. It was found that a size hierarchy existed in this plant population. Plants lacking immediate conspecific neighbors were larger than plants with one or more near neighbours, suggesting that competition from near neighbours depressed plant size. However, there was a strong positive spatial autocorrelation in plant size: large plants were associated with large neighbours and small ones with small neighbors. Plant size was also positively correlated with the combined biomass of near neighbors. Thus, the population formed a two-phase mosaic of patches of relatively large plants alternating with patches of smaller plants. These results were published in the paper titled Plant size and spatial pattern in a natural population of Myosotis micrantha (Wilson and Gurevitch, 1995).
Dataset for METAPOPGEN 2.0: a multi-locus genetic simulator to model populations of large size
<p>Multi-locus genetic processes in subdivided populations can be complex and difficult to interpret using theoretical population genetics models. Genetic simulators offer a valid alternative to study multi-locus genetic processes in arbitrarily complex scenarios. However, the use of forward-in-time simulators in realistic scenarios involving high numbers of individuals distributed in multiple local populations is limited by computation time and memory requirements. These limitations increase with the number of simulated individuals. We developed a genetic simulator, <span>MetaPopGen</span> 2.0, to model multi-locus population genetic processes in subdivided populations of arbitrarily large size. It allows for spatial and temporal variation in demographic parameters, age structure, adult and propagule dispersal, variable mutation rates and selection on survival and fecundity. We developed <span>MetaPopGen</span> 2.0 in the R environment to facilitate its use by non-modeler ecologists and evolutionary biologists. We illustrate the capabilities of <span>MetaPopGen</span> 2.0 for studying adaptation to water salinity in the striped red mullet <i>Mullus surmuletus</i>.</p>
Data for: Coevolution fails to maintain genetic variation in a host-parasite model with constant finite population size
<p>Coevolutionary negative frequency-dependent selection has been hypothesized to maintain genetic variation in host and parasites. <br> Despite the extensive literature pertaining to host-parasite coevolution, the dynamics of genetic variation has not been examined in a matching-alleles model (MAM) with a finite population size relative to the expectation under neutral genetic drift alone. The dynamics of the MA coevolution in an infinite population, in fact, suggests that genetic variation in these coevolving populations behaves neutrally. By comparing host heterozygosity to the expectation in a single-species model of neutral genetic drift we find that while this is also largely true in finite populations two additional phenomena arise. First, reciprocal natural selection acting on stochastic perturbations in host and pathogen allele frequencies results in a slight increase or decrease in genetic variation depending on the parameter conditions. Second, following the fixation of an allele in the parasite, selection in the MAM becomes directional, which then rapidly erodes genetic variation in the host. Hence, rather than maintain it, we find that, on average, matching-alleles coevolution depletes genetic variation.</p>
Data from: Stalk size and altruism investment within and among populations of the social amoeba
Reproductive division of labor is common in many societies, including those of eusocial insects, cooperatively breeding vertebrates, and most forms of multicellularity. However, conflict over what is best for the individual versus the group can prevent an optimal division of labor from being achieved. In the social amoeba <i>Dictyostelium discoideum</i>, cells aggregate to become multicellular and a fraction behaves altruistically, forming a dead stalk that supports the rest. Theory suggests that intraorganismal conflict over spore-stalk cell fate can drive rapid evolutionary change in allocation traits, leading to polymorphisms within populations or rapid divergence between them. Here we assess several proxies for stalk size and spore-stalk allocation as metrics of altruism investment among strains and across geographic regions. We observe geographic divergence in stalk height that can be partly explained by differences in multicellular size, as well as variation among strains in clonal spore-stalk allocation, suggesting within-population variation in altruism investment. Analyses of chimeras comprised of strains from the same versus different populations indicated genotype-by-genotype epistasis, where the morphology of the chimeras deviated significantly from the average morphology of the strains developed clonally. The significantly negative epistasis observed for allopatric pairings suggests that populations are diverging in their spore-stalk allocation behaviors, generating incompatibilities when they encounter one another. Our results demonstrate divergence in microbial social traits across geographically separated populations and demonstrate how quantification of genotype-by-genotype interactions can elucidate the trajectory of social trait evolution in nature.
Using a coalescent approach to assess gene flow and effective population size of Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd. Ex Mart. in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest
<p><i>Acrocomia aculeata</i> is a tropical palm tree native to Central and South America that has significant economic, social, and environmental potential. However, land encroachment due to the expansion of agribusiness, and other factors such as urban sprawl, have resulted in the fragmentation and destruction of its habitat, leading to the loss of genes and genotypes in <i>A. aculeata</i> populations. In this context, the objective of this study was to characterize the genetic variability of <i>A. aculeata</i> populations by estimating gene flow and effective population size using an approach based on coalescent theory. Four populations located in the municipalities of Teodoro Sampaio (TSI and TSII), Rosana (RA), and Amparo (AP) in São Paulo State, Brazil, were genotyped with nine microsatellite markers. Gene flow and effective population size were estimated using a coalescent-based Bayesian inference implemented in the MIGRATE-N software. The effective population size (<i>N<sub>e</sub></i>) was obtained considering an assumed mutation rate of <a name="_Hlk6565387">5x10<sup>-5</sup>. </a>Gene flow (<i>Nm</i>) for pairwise populations ranged from 0.28 to 1.17, with higher levels of migration between the three geographically proximal locations (TSI, TSII, and RA). The estimates of effective population size (<i>N<sub>e</sub></i>) were 444, 835, 838, and 874 for AP, TSII, RA, and TSI, respectively, showing that the effects caused by genetic drift may be more pronounced when <i>N<sub>e</sub></i> is smaller. The coalescent-based results add to our understanding of <i>A. aculeata</i> population genetics and suggest that some traditional assessment methods may be ineffective in characterizing historical evolutionary processes.</p>
Hump-shaped relationship between aggregation tendency and body size within fish populations
<p>A distribution with high spatial variability may impair the bet-hedging capacity of a population, threatening population sustainability. Although the association between aggregation and life history traits of a species (e.g. body size) has been documented, the relationship between aggregation and size within a population has rarely been explored. As selective over-fishing may induce size truncation in the targeted stocks,it is critical to understand if such a truncation also undermines the distribution patterns of the population. In this study, we examined if and how the 'aggregation tendency' varies among different size classes of a population. Aggregation tendency was quantified as the exponent b of Taylor's power law (<em>V</em> = <em>a</em> × <em>M<sup>b</sup></em>), which measures the change in spatial variance (<em>V</em>) with the mean abundance (<em>M</em>) of a population. We estimated b by size class for each of the nine commercially important fish species in the North Sea, using ICES survey data from 1991 to 2015. Our study found that the relationship between b and body size within a population is hump-shaped, with a peak slightly larger than the 50% mature length of the species. This result indicates larger adults in a population tend to distribute less heterogeneously when abundance increases, suggesting that larger size classes play a critical role in reducing the variability of population distribution. Our findings highlight the importance of considering the combined effects of fishing-induced size truncation and changes in aggregation patterns in fishery management. That is, maintaining the size and spatial structure for the target stocks of selective fisheries is critical for the sustainability of the populations.</p>
Data from: Effective population size of Culex quinquefasciatus under insecticide-based vector management and following Hurricane Harvey in Harris County, Texas
<div> <em>Culex quinquefasciatus</em> is mosquito species of significant public health importance due to its ability to transmit multiple pathogens that can cause mosquito-borne diseases, such as West Nile fever and St. Louis encephalitis. In Harris County, Texas, <em>Cx. quinquefasciatus</em> is a common vector species and is subjected to insecticide-based management by the Harris County Public Health Department. However, insecticide resistance in mosquitoes has increased rapidly worldwide and raises concerns about maintaining the effectiveness of vector control approaches. This concern is highly relevant in Texas, with its humid subtropical climate along the Gulf Coast that provides suitable habitat for <em>Cx. quinquefasciatus</em> and other mosquito species that are known disease vectors. Therefore, there is an urgent and ongoing need to monitor the effectiveness of current vector control programs. In this study, we evaluated the impact of vector control approaches by estimating the effective population size of <em>Cx. quinquefasciatus</em> in Harris County. We applied Approximate Bayesian Computation to microsatellite data to estimate effective population size. We collected <em>Cx. quinquefasciatus</em> samples from two mosquito control operation areas, 415 and 802, during routine vector monitoring in 2016 and 2017. No county mosquito control operations were applied at area 415 in 2016 and 2017, whereas extensive adulticide spraying operations were in effect at area 802 during the summer of 2016. We collected data for eighteen microsatellite markers for 713 and 723 mosquitoes at eight timepoints from 2016 to 2017 in areas 415 and 802, respectively. We also investigated the impact of Hurricane Harvey's landfall in the Houston area in August of 2017 on <em>Cx. quinquefasciatus</em> population fluctuation. Although we did not detect significant effects of vector control interventions, we found considerable influences of the winter season and a major hurricane on the effective population size of <em>Cx. quinquefasciatus</em>. The fluctuations in effective population size in both areas showed a significant seasonal pattern. Additionally, the significant population expansion following Hurricane Harvey in 2017 supports the necessity for post-hurricane vector-control interventions.</div>
Data and code from: Disentangling the drivers of decadal body size decline in an insect population
<p>While climate warming is widely predicted to reduce body size of ectotherms, evidence for this trend is mixed. Body size depends not only on temperature but also on other factors, such as food quality and intraspecific competition. Because temperature trends or other long-term environmental factors may affect population size and food sources, attributing trends in average body size to temperature requires the separation of potentially confounding effects. We evaluated trends in the body size of the midge <em>Tanytarsus gracilentus</em> and potential drivers (water temperature, population size, and food quality) between 1977 and 2015 at Lake Mývatn, Iceland. Although temperatures increased at Mývatn over this period, there was only a slight (non-significant) decrease in midge adult body size, contrary to theoretical expectations. Using a state-space model including multiple predictors, body size was negatively associated with both water temperature and midge population abundance, and it was positively associated with <sup>13</sup>C enrichment of midges (an indicator of favorable food conditions). The magnitude of these effects were similar, such that simultaneous changes in temperature, abundance, and carbon stable isotopic signature could counteract each other in the long-term body size trend. Our results illustrate how multiple factors, all of which could be influenced by global change, interact to affect average ectotherm body size.</p>
Population size shapes trade-off dilution and adaptation to a marginal niche unconstrained by sympatric habitual conditions
<p>How does niche expansion occur when the habitual (high-productivity) and marginal (low-productivity) niches are simultaneously available? Without spatial structuring, such conditions should impose fitness maintenance in the former while adapting to the latter. Hence, adaptation to a given marginal niche should be influenced by the identity of the simultaneously available habitual niche. This hypothesis remains untested. Similarly, it is unknown if larger populations, which can access greater variation and undergo more efficient selection, are generally better at niche expansion. We tested these hypotheses using a large-scale evolution experiment with <em>Escherichia</em> <em>coli</em>. While we observed widespread niche expansion, larger populations consistently adapted to a greater extent to both marginal and habitual niches. Owing to diverse selection pressures in different habitual niches (constant versus fluctuating environments; environmental fluctuations varying in both predictability and speed), fitness in habitual niches was significantly shaped by their identities. Surprisingly, despite this diversity in habitual selection pressures, adaptation to the marginal niche was unconstrained by the habitual niche's identity. We show that in terms of fitness, two negatively correlated habitual niches can still have positive correlations with the marginal niche. This allows the marginal niche to dilute fitness trade-offs across habitual niches, thereby allowing costless niche expansion. Our results provide fundamental insights into sympatric niche expansion.</p>
Plant size, latitude, and phylogeny explain within-population variability in herbivory
<p>Interactions between plants and herbivores are central in most ecosystems, but their strength is highly variable. The amount of variability within a system is thought to influence most aspects of plant-herbivore biology, from ecological stability to plant defense evolution. Our understanding of what influences variability, however, is limited by sparse data. We collected standardized surveys of herbivory for 503 plant species at 790 sites across 116° of latitude. With these data, we show that within-population variability in herbivory increases with latitude, decreases with plant size, and is phylogenetically structured. Differences in the magnitude of variability are thus central to how plant-herbivore biology varies across macroscale gradients. We argue that increased focus on interaction variability will advance understanding of patterns of life on Earth.</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.