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430 results for “meadow”
Data and code for "Shrubs inhibit plant diseases through reducing herbaceous biomass in alpine meadows"
<p>Supplementary Data and code for "Shrubs inhibit plant diseases through reducing herbaceous biomass in alpine meadows"</p>
Decoupling of uptake and transport-related traits in absorptive roots across coexisting herbaceous species in alpine meadows
<div>The anatomical structure of roots determines their function. Coexisting species complementarily forage nutrients by roots themselves (e.g., root strategy) and their fungal partners (e.g., mycorrhizal strategy), leading to a tradeoff between root strategy and mycorrhizal strategy. However, few studies have specifically evaluated whether and how the root anatomical structures are involved in this tradeoff, especially for species in alpine ecosystems limited by extreme climate.Here, absorptive root anatomical and chemical traits and three key root traits commonly associated with nutrient foraging strategies, i.e., root strategy indicated by first-order root length and root branching intensity and mycorrhizal strategy indicated by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonization, were examined across 68 herbaceous species in alpine meadows of the Tibetan Plateau.We observed that absorptive roots with higher branching intensity had more protoxylem poles, thinner cortices and smaller cortical cells, whereas absorptive roots with higher mycorrhizal colonization and longer first-order roots consistently had thicker cortices and larger cortical cells. Unexpectedly, root cortical traits responsible for nutrient uptake were decoupled from stelar traits specialized in water and nutrient transportation. The decoupling may be related to the non-coordinated changes in soil water and nutrient availability in the meadows of the Tibetan Plateau. In addition, we found that root cortical thickness and stelar radius increased at a similar rate rather than well-reported different rates with increasing root diameter. Our results demonstrate that root internal makeup plays an integral role in forming the diverse nutrient foraging strategies in belowground. These findings provide new insights into our understanding of plant coexistence and responses of alpine meadows to climate change on the Tibetan Plateau.</div>
Effects of mowing on body size patterns in spider assemblages of mesic meadows
<p>Habitat disturbance affects not only the abundance, species richness and species composition of the local fauna, but also the body size of specific individuals and body size patterns in animal assemblages. Particularly large disturbances occur in agroecosystems, where many agricultural treatments are carried out. One of them, which is most commonly applied to grasslands and which significantly damages the habitat structure, is mowing. We examined the effect of mowing on mean, skewness, and kurtosis of the body size in epigeic spider assemblages. The research was conducted on mesic meadows in eastern Poland, in an agricultural landscape typical for this region, consisting of a mosaic of meadows, fields and forests. Spiders were collected using pitfall traps in two sampling periods: the first before mowing and the second when part of the meadows had been mown. Mowing had no significant effect on mean body size, skewness and kurtosis of the body size in epigeic spider assemblages. However, after the cut, mown plots showed on average significantly smaller spider species than unmown plots. Both the value of skewness and kurtosis significantly increased after mowing, but to the same extent on both the control and mown plots. The decrease in mean body size and increase in skewness in spider assemblages were mainly due to an increase in the number of small species from the Linyphiidae family. It is likely that these species began to migrate (via ballooning) during the second sampling session, following the start of haying, and were thus caught in traps more frequently. Our study showed no clear, significant changes in the body size structure of epigeic spiders in mown meadows compared to unmown ones, which may suggest that the mowing, where extensive farming is practised, does not have a long-term significant negative impact on this group of invertebrates.</p>
Insect root feeders incur negative density-dependent damage across plant species in an alpine meadow
<p>Although herbivores are well known to incur positive density-dependent damage and mortality, thereby likely shaping plant community assembly, the response of belowground root feeders to changes in plant density has seldom been addressed. Locally rare plant species (with lower plant biomass per area) are often smaller with shallower roots than common species (with higher plant biomass per area) in competition-intensive grasslands. Likewise, root feeders are often distributed in the upper soil layers. We hypothesized therefore that root feeders would incur a negative density (biomass) dependent damage across plant species. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the diversity and abundance of plant and root feeder species in an alpine meadow, and determined the diet of the root feeders using metabarcoding. Across all species, root feeder load decreased with increasing aboveground plant biomass, root biomass, and total plant biomass per area, indicating negative density dependence of damage across plant species. Aboveground plant biomass per area increased with increasing individual plant biomass and root depth per area across species, suggesting that rare plant species were smaller in size and had shallower root systems compared to common plant species. Both root biomass per area and root feeder biomass per area decreased with soil depth, but the root feeder biomass decreased disproportionally faster compared to root biomass with increasing root depth. Root feeder load decreased with increasing root depth, but was not correlated with the feeding preference of root feeder species. Moreover, the prediction derived from a random process incorporating vertical distributions of root biomass and root feeder biomass significantly accounted for interspecific variation in root feeder load. In conclusion, the data indicate that root feeders incur negative density-dependent damage across plant species. On this basis, we suggest that manipulative experiments should be conducted to determine the effect of the negative density-dependent damage on plant community structure, and that different types of plant-animal interactions should be concurrently examined to fully understand the effect of plant density on overall herbivore damage across plant species.</p>
Hyperspectral images of patches at different stages of degraded alpine meadows
<p>This data contains hyperspectral images of degraded alpine meadow patches in four stages, which are:active patches (Stage 0), inactive patches (Stage 1), recovering patches (Stage 2), and healthy alpine meadow (Stage 3).</p>
Data from: Different management practices influence growth of small plants in species-rich hay meadows through shading
<p>Data from: Different management practices influence growth of small plants in species-rich hay meadows through shading, published in Applied Vegetation Science. Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and Dry Matter Yield (DMY)</p>
Island biogeography predicts skull gigantism and shape variation in meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) through ecological release and allometry
Island Rule describes the graded trend of gigantism in small-bodied species to dwarfism in large-bodied species inhabiting islands, but causal explanations remain unresolved. We used geometric morphometrics to quantify cranial morphology of 544 meadow vole (<i>Microtus pennsylvanicus</i>) samples across 11 island and 3 mainland populations from the Outer Lands of New England (Atlantic) and the Alexander Archipelago of Alaska (Pacific). We compared the thermoregulation and endurance (TRE) and ecological release (ER) hypotheses using all-subsets linear models employing residual randomization permutation procedures (rrpp), and Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) for model selection. We decoupled direct and indirect effects of island variables on size using path analysis. We evaluated shape with Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Procrustes ANOVA on Procrustes shape coordinates, then assessed the impact of static allometry and TRE and ER variables on shape. Six Atlantic island populations exhibit significant signals of gigantism with the largest voles occurring on the smallest islands lacking predators. ER explains 63% of cranial size differences. Island area has a significant total effect on size by influencing the number of mammalian predators, resulting in a 0.011 increase in unit centroid size for a 100 km<sup>2</sup> decrease in island area. This corresponds to a predicted 0.9% change in size for every 100 km<sup>2</sup>. Given static allometry, cranial shape does not respond to insularity independent of size. These results suggest that Island Rule is a latent evolutionary process whose manifestation depends on nuanced biogeographic and ecological contexts that have important conservation and taxonomic implications.
Parasitic trophic mode of plant host affects the extent of colonization, but does not induce systematic shifts in the composition of foliar endophytic assemblages in temperate meadow ecosystems
<p>1. Foliar endophytic bacteria and fungi are increasingly being recognized as important drivers of plant host phenotype – affecting a wide range of eco-physiological processes. However, we are still lacking fundamental ecosystem-level knowledge about the structure, function, and inter-species interactions in endophytic assemblages associated with plant hosts sharing a common life strategy or ecological specialization.</p> <p>2. In this study, we chose two groups of plants with contrasting physiology as model systems: parasites and their hosts. We assessed whether plant life history strategy, namely differences in nutrient acquisition and accumulation, plays a role in structuring above-ground microbiomes under field conditions.</p> <p>3. We focused on the structure, colonization extent, and potential function of foliar endophytic bacteria and fungi in three root hemiparasitic species (Orobanchaceae), one stem holoparasite (Convolvulaceae), and their potential host plants co-occurring in species-rich temperate grassland ecosystems. For this purpose, we combined next generation amplicon sequencing with quantitative real-time PCR, chemical analyses of leaf tissue, and, in the case of bacteria, functional predictions using information deposited in available databases.</p> <p>4. We found the foliar endophytic assemblages to be diverse, dominated by generalist taxa, but highly similar across all studied species. Despite of the highly contrasting leaf tissue chemistry in the parasitic and non-parasitic plant species, the parasitic trophic mode did not induce systematic shifts in the diversity, composition, or predicted biogeochemical function of the endophytic microbiomes under field conditions. However, compared to their potential hosts, leaves of both hemiparasitic and holoparasitic species harbored significantly lower fungal counts, estimated as <em>ß-actin</em> gene copies ng DNA<sup>-1</sup>, which suggests that parasitic plants may possess mechanisms to regulate the extent of colonization by endophytic fungi.</p>
Amphibian diversity in the Amazonian floating meadows: a Hanski core-satellite species system (scripts and codes)
<p>The Amazon catchment is the largest river basin on earth, and up to 30% of its waters flow across floodplains. In its open waters, floating plants known as floating meadows abound. They can act as vectors of dispersal for their associated fauna and, therefore, can be important for the spatial structure of communities. Here, we focus on amphibian diversity in the Amazonian floating meadows over large spatial scales. We recorded 50 amphibian species over 57 sites, covering around 7,000 km along river courses. Using multi-site generalised dissimilarity modelling of zeta diversity, we tested Hanski's core-satellite (HCS) hypothesis and identified the existence of two functional groups of species operating under different ecological processes in the floating meadows. 'Core' species are associated with floating meadows, while 'satellite' species are associated with adjacent environments, being only occasional or accidental occupants of the floating vegetation. At large scales, amphibian diversity in floating meadows is mostly determined by stochastic processes, whereas at regional scales, climate and deterministic processes are central drivers. Compared with the turnover of 'core' species, the turnover of 'satellite' species increases much faster with distances and is also controlled by a wider range of climatic features. Distance is not a limiting factor for 'core' species, suggesting that they have a stronger dispersal ability even over large distances. This is probably related to the existence of passive long-distance dispersal of individuals along rivers via vegetation rafts. In this sense, Amazonian rivers can serve as corridors, facilitating dispersal especially for species associated with riverine habitats such as floating meadows.</p>
Dataset: Experimental carbon emissions from degraded Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) meadows under current and future summer temperatures.
<p> Experimental carbon emissions from degraded Mediterranean seagrass (<em>Posidonia oceanica</em>) meadows.</p> <p> </p> <p>Guillem Roca, Javier Palacios, Sergio Ruíz-Halpern, Núria Marbà</p> <p>Contact details: Guillem Roca, guillemrocac@gmail.com</p> <p>Issue date:</p> <p>Identifier:</p> <p> </p> <p>Citation: Roca, Guillem; Palacios, Javier; Ruíz-Halpern, Marbà, Núria;</p> <p>Experimental carbon emissions from degraded Mediterranean seagrass (<em>Posidonia oceanica</em>) meadows. [Dataset]</p> <p> </p> <p>Abstract: The dataset provides data on sediment C0<sub>2 </sub>efflux rates (μmol CO<sub>2 </sub>m<sup>-2 </sup>s<sup>-1</sup>), carbon emissions during the experiment (gm<sup>-2</sup>), % Organic Carbon, Organic Matter content (g m<sup>-2</sup>) of the <em>Posidonia oceanica</em> seagrass sediments collected in Pollença bay (North of Mallorca Island). Sediments were cultivated in 5 different seawater temperature treatments and two different agitation conditions.</p> <p> </p> <p>Keywords: C0<sub>2 </sub>efflux rates, C0<sub>2</sub> emissions, Sediment, Seagrass, <em>Posidonia Oceanica</em>, experiment, temperature treatment, Sediment suspension Blue carbon, Organic Carbon.</p> <p> </p> <p>Description: The dataset contains data on sediment C0<sub>2 </sub>efflux rates, carbon emissions during the experiment (gm<sup>-2</sup>), % Organic Carbon, Organic Matter content of the <em>Posidonia oceanica</em> seagrass sediments collected in Pollença bay (North of Mallorca Island). Sediments were cultivated in 5 different seawater temperature treatments and two different agitation conditions. Sediments used in the experiment were extracted in October 2017 from the <em>P. Oceanic</em>a meadow of Pollença in Mallorca Island at six-meter depth Figure (1). Sediments were sampled in October 2017 using sediment cores (9 cm ID and 30cm long) and directly transported to the laboratory. Only the top 10 cm of the sediment cores were used since this fraction is the most susceptible to erosion. Living seagrass tissues (roots, rhizomes, and leaves) were removed and sediment was mixed and homogenized. 40ml of sediments were poured into glass containers of 750ml with 500ml of seawater. Finally, each recipient contained a sediment layer of approximately 1.1cm in each container. Containers were placed at five different temperature baths (26,27.5, 29, 30.5, 32 ºC) simulating summer temperatures in the bay (Garcias-Bonet et al., 2019) at different agitation regimes (agitation/repose) to simulate exposed and sheltered conditions.10 containers were sampled right after the experiment started to provide initial sediment conditions. Five containers per temperature and agitation treatment were removed 7, 21, 43, 67, and 98 days from the experiment start, to analyse sediment organic matter and CaCO<sub>3</sub> content. CO<sub>2</sub> incubations were run 5, 14, 56, and 91 days from the experiment start. Sampling times were distributed considering that organic matter remineralisation was likely to follow an exponential trend, including a rapid phase of loss of the more labile material followed by a slower loss of more recalcitrant substrates (Arndt et al., 2013). The experiment was run in the dark to avoid photosynthesis in an isothermal chamber at 21ºC.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Organic Carbon analysis</strong></p> <p>In each sampling time, organic matter content in sediments (OM %DW) was estimated as the percentage weight loss of dry sediment sample after combustion at 550ºC for 4 hours. Organic carbon (Corg) was calculated from OM content using the relation described in (Mazarrasa et al., 2017b)</p> <p> </p> <p>y = 0.29x – 0.64; (R2=0.98, p< 0.0001, n=60)</p> <p> </p> <p>OM and POC stocks along the experiment (mg OM ml-1 and mg POC ml-1) were estimated by multiplying the OM and POC (%DW) by the sediment dry weight (mg) remaining in each experimental unit and standardized to the initial volume of sediment (40 ml) introduced in every glass container. Inorganic carbon was estimated as the percentage weight loss of already combusted sediment (550ºC) after combustion at 1000ºC.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Sediment CO<sub>2</sub> production</strong></p> <p>Container headspace CO<sub>2</sub> gas concentration was measured during 20 minutes continuum incubations (4 replicates) in each temperature and agitation treatment in all sampling times. CO<sub>2</sub> air concentration measures were carried out using an Infra Red Gas Analyser EGM4 from PPSystems. Concentration of dissolved CO<sub>2</sub> in seawater (in μmol CO<sub>2</sub> L<sup>−1</sup>) was calculated from the concentration of CO<sub>2</sub> (in ppm) measured in headspace air samples after equilibration as described in (Garcias-Bonet and Duarte, 2017; Wilson et al., 2012). Briefly, we calculate the dissolved CO<sub>2</sub> remaining in seawater after equilibration with the air phase ([CO<sub>2</sub>]SW−eq) by,</p> <p> </p> <p>[CO<sub>2</sub>]SW−eq = 10−6 β [C CO<sub>2</sub>]Air P</p> <p> </p> <p>where β is the Bunsen solubility coefficient of CO<sub>2</sub>, calculated according to Wiesenburg and Guinasso (1979), as a function of seawater temperature and salinity; [CO<sub>2</sub>]Air is the CO<sub>2</sub> concentration measured in containers headspace air (in ppm) and P is the atmospheric pressure (in atm) of dry air that was corrected by the effect of multiple sampling applying Boyle’s Law. Then, the initial CO<sub>2</sub> concentration in seawater before the equilibrium ([CO<sub>2]SW</sub>−before eq) was calculated (in ml CO<sub>2</sub> /ml H<sub>2</sub>O) by,</p> <p> </p> <p>[CO<sub>2</sub>]<sub>SW−before eq</sub> = ([CH<sub>4</sub>]<sub>SW−eq</sub> V<sub>Sw</sub> + 10−6 ([CO<sub>2</sub>]Air −[CO<sub>2</sub>]<sub>Air background</sub>) V<sub>Air</sub>)/V<sub>SW</sub></p> <p> </p> <p>Where V<sub>Sw</sub> is the volume of seawater in the core or in the seawater closed circuit, [CO<sub>2</sub>]<sub>Air background</sub> is the atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> background level and V<sub>Air</sub> is the volume of the headspace or the closed air circuit. Finally, the initial CO<sub>2</sub> concentration was transformed to µmol CH<sub>4</sub> L<sup>−1</sup> by applying the ideal gas law.</p> <p>CO<sub>2</sub> efflux values were calculated from CO<sub>2</sub> variation per time unit. Then, we converted the rates to aerial (taking in account container surface) base, and thickness (in μmol m<sup>-2 </sup>s<sup>-1</sup>).</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p>
Data from: Influences of ski-runs, meadow management and climate on the occupancy of reptiles and amphibians in a high-altitude environment of Italy
<p>Alpine ecosystems harbour a rich and highly-specialized biodiversity which is particularly susceptible to anthropogenic disturbances such as habitat loss and fragmentation as well as to climate change. Combined with other forms of land-use conversion, construction and maintenance of ski resorts can have severe consequences on alpine biodiversity. In this study, we show how one amphibian and two reptile species, namely <em>Rana </em><em>temporaria</em>, <em>Zootoca</em><em> vivipara</em> and <em>Vipera</em><em> </em><em>berus</em>, respond to such impacts by means of a multi-season occupancy analysis. We found all three species both in and outside ski-runs, showing that these habitats do not necessarily preclude their occurrence. Contrarily, this is influenced more by microhabitat availability, such as ground vegetation, humid areas, and rock cover, rather than by macro-characteristics like elevation or habitat type. Moreover, we found a climatic influence on the year-to-year occupancy change of the species, with activity-months conditions being more relevant than overwintering ones. Our results demonstrate how, in the specific case of reptiles and amphibians, ski resorts do not necessarily limit species' occurrence and that a mild series of management actions might secure the species' persistence in the area.</p>
Data from: No slowdown of growing season extension with warming in a permafrost-affected meadow on the Tibetan Plateau
<p>The Tibetan Plateau holds the world's largest alpine permafrost and is undergoing an acceleration of warming. Phenological shifts over alpine permafrost in a warmer world have been little studied and are greatly underrepresented in current syntheses. Here, we conducted seasonal and gradient temperature-controlled experiments in a permafrost-affected meadow to evaluate how warming drives shifts in spring and autumn phenology, and associated growing-season length at both community and species levels. Our results showed that there is no sign of slowdown in spring advance with warming under a higher year-around warming treatment, aligning with a future medium warming scenario. This finding can be attributed to the possibility that winter warming is insufficient to reduce chilling accumulation, which would not delay spring phenology and then lead to a non-slowdown in spring phenological advancement. Although spring advance led to an advance in autumn senescence according to spring-only warming experiments, the advance could not offset the delay due to concurrent warming. As a result, year-around warming significantly delayed autumn senescence, although there was a deceleration in delay with warming under high temperature treatment than under the low one. Taken together, there is no slowdown in an extension of growing season length with warming under a higher year-around warming treatment, with an increase of length by 9 and 21 days at the end of this century under a CO<sub>2</sub> stabilization and medium warming scenarios, respectively. Our results suggest that a continued growing season extension at least under the medium warming scenario would help permafrost-affected meadow ecosystems to mitigate permafrost carbon release on the Tibetan Plateau.</p>
Data from: An unintended ecological benefit from human intervention: The enhancement of carbon storage in seagrass meadows
<p>Human interventions have had unintended consequences for the diverse functions of various ecosystems. Hydrological interventions have the potential to alter vegetated habitats in coastal nearshore ecosystems, but little is known about the impacts on organic carbon (C<sub>org</sub> ) sequestration, which plays an important role in climate change mitigation.</p> <p>We examined the effects of past human interventions through artificial inlet opening in a lagoonal seagrass meadow. The sediment profiles of geological and biogeochemical characteristics were measured to obtain the historical changes in the lagoon environment and C<sub>org</sub> accumulation rates.</p> <p>Isotopic and elemental signatures and diatom assemblages showed that the interventions increased the duration of seawater exchanges and the extent of the seagrass meadow. C<sub>org</sub> accumulation rates increased more than 1.9-fold after the intervention, resulting in additional C<sub>org</sub> storage in the seagrass meadow during last 64 years.</p> <p><i>Synthesis and applications</i>. Artificial opening of tidal inlet can potentially provide unintended ecological benefits, such as increased carbon sequestration in seagrass meadows. Hydrological interventions could be undertaken intentionally as a potential active intervention to sequester carbon, as well as control flood risk and provide other benefits to people in estuarine systems. Our results illustrate that physical factors such as improving salinity conditions and mineral particle supply have an impact on the feasibility of hydrological interventions for enhancing carbon sequestration. We propose that biogeochemical-physical coupled approach will help stakeholders to evaluate the ecological and social risks and synergies of implementing hydrological interventions.</p>
Data for Ferretto et al, 2021 "Naturally-detached fragments of the endangered seagrass Posidonia australis collected by citizen scientists can be used to successfully restore fragmented meadows"
<p>Please find attached the data for the manuscript "Ferretto et al, 2021" and a brief description of each file.</p>
Data from: Agroecological measures in meadows promote honey bee colony development and winter survival
<p><span>The homogenization of agricultural landscapes has led to a decrease in pollinator diversity and abundance. In response to this decline, farmers have implemented agroecological measures, which, in meadows, aim at providing more floral resources. These measures are the availability of unmown floral strips, delayed mowing, and discouraging the use of the conditioner, a device known to harm insects. The aim of our study was to investigate the cascade of effects of these agroecological measures on honey bee colony development and winter survival. We (i) determined the effect of these measures on colony size during the nectar and pollen collecting season in spring and summer, (ii) evaluated the effect of spring and summer colony sizes on autumn size, and (iii) described the effect of colony size in autumn on winter mortality. In this study, 300 honey bee colonies were monitored over three years </span><span>in three cantons of Switzerland. Colony size was defined by the number of brood cells and adult workers, Honey bee colony size in summer and autumn were improved by agroecological measures on meadows and likely contributed to the increased overwintering success.</span> <span>This study is a first step towards the targeted identification of viable agroecological measures on temporary meadows that can be implemented to promote honey bee colonies' health in the agricultural landscape.</span></p>
Belowground net primary productivity stability in response to a nitrogen addition gradient in an alpine meadow
<p>1.Temporal stability of ecosystem productivity is important for providing reliable ecosystem services under global changes. Great efforts have been made to explore the response of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) stability to nitrogen (N) enrichment, yet how it affects belowground net primary productivity (BNPP) stability remains elusive, which hinders a comprehensive understanding of ecosystem stability from the view of a whole system.</p> <p>2. Here, using a field manipulative experiment with six N addition rates (0, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 g N m-2 year-1), we explored the response patterns and drivers of BNPP stability in the topsoil (0-20 cm) and subsoil (20-40 cm) in the alpine meadow.</p> <p>3. The results showed that BNPP stability at both soil depths showed a unimodal response to increasing N addition rates. Specifically, for both the topsoil and subsoil, low-level N addition significantly promoted BNPP stability, while high doses of N addition had no significant impact on BNPP stability, suggesting that current low level of N deposition likely benefits the stable provision of belowground functioning. Furthermore, dominant species stability and species richness contributed most to the changes in BNPP stability in the topsoil, whereas only dominant species stability was the dominant driver of BNPP stability in the subsoil.</p> <p>4. This study is among the first to illuminate the main mechanisms underlying the responses of BNPP stability to N enrichment at various soil depths, which will advance our current understanding of N addition effects on belowground processes and benefit the sustainable provision of ecosystem functioning in the context of atmospheric N deposition.</p>
Resprouting ability differs among plant functional groups along a soil acidification gradient in a meadow: A rhizosphere perspective
<p><span>Soil acidification as a global change factor can devastatingly affect plant growth and productivity. In frequently disturbed ecosystems, plant resprouting ability strongly determines biomass reconstruction and resilience after aboveground damage. However, how plant regrowth responds to soil acidification remains largely unknown, especially regarding the role of the rhizosphere in mediating this response. </span></p> <p><span>We manipulated a soil-acidification gradient via adding purified elemental sulfur powder at various rates (0-50 g S m<sup>−2</sup> year<sup>−1</sup>) in a frequently mown meadow. Shoot regrowth of functional groups were measured after clipping and supporting roles of rhizosphere versus bulk soils were disentangled using isotope labelling along the acidification gradient. </span></p> <p><span>Regrowth of grasses and sedges increased while forbs decreased along the acidification gradient. The results suggest that grasses were competitors capable of taking up nutrients from both rhizosphere and bulk soils, while sedges were acid-tolerators with lower sensitivity to decreased nitrogen-mineralization rates. Forbs, as typical ruderals, were vulnerable to N competition with microbes, particularly in the rhizosphere soil. Therefore, biomass regrowth of forbs was explained more by physicochemical and biological parameters from the rhizosphere than bulk soil</span></p> <p><span>Synthesis.</span><span> Divergent interplay between plant functional groups and rhizosphere soils was the prominent driver for biomass regrowth responding to soil acidification.</span></p>
King's College Cambridge wildflower meadow monitoring data: biodiversity, climate change and society
<p class="MsoNormal">The biodiversity and climate crises are critical challenges of this century. Wildflower meadows in urban areas could provide important nature-based solutions, addressing the biodiversity and climate crises jointly, and benefitting society in the process. King's College Cambridge (England, UK) established a wildflower meadow over a portion of its iconic Back Lawn in 2019, replacing a fine lawn first laid in 1772.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We used biodiversity surveys, Wilcoxon signed rank, and ANOVA models to compare species richness, abundance, and composition of plants, spiders, bugs, bats, and nematodes supported by the meadow, and remaining lawn, over three years. We estimated the climate change impact of meadow vs lawn from maintenance emissions, soil carbon sequestration, and reflectance effect. We surveyed members of the university to quantify the societal benefits of, and attitudes towards, increased meadow planting on the collegiate university estate.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In spite of its small size (0.36 ha), the meadow supported approximately three times more plant species, three times more spider and bug species and individuals, and bats were recorded three times more often over the meadow than the remaining lawn. Terrestrial invertebrate biomass was 25 times higher in the meadow compared with the lawn. Fourteen species with conservation designations were recorded on the meadow (six for lawn), alongside meadow specialist species.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Reduced maintenance and fertilising associated with meadow reduced emissions by an estimated 1.36 Mg CO<sub>2</sub>-e per hectare per year compared with lawn. Relative reflectance increased by 25-34% for meadow relative to lawn. Soil carbon stocks did not differ between meadow and lawn.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Respondents thought meadows provided greater aesthetic, educational, and mental well-being services than lawns. In open responses, lawns were associated with undesirable elitism and social exclusion (most colleges in Cambridge restrict lawn access to senior members of the college), and respondents proved overwhelmingly in favour of meadow planting in place of lawns on the collegiate university estate.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">This study demonstrates the substantial benefits of small urban meadows for local biodiversity, cultural ecosystem services, and climate change mitigation, supplied at a lower cost than maintaining conventional lawn.</p>
The contribution of Fe(III) reduction to soil carbon mineralization in montane meadows depends on soil chemistry, not parent material or microbial community
<p>The long-term stability of soil carbon (C) is strongly influenced by organo-mineral interactions. Iron (Fe)-oxides can both inhibit microbial decomposition by providing physicochemical protection for organic molecules and enhance rates of C mineralization by serving as a terminal electron acceptor, depending on redox conditions. Restoration of floodplain hydrology in montane meadows has been proposed as a method of sequestering C for climate change mitigation. However, dissimilatory microbial reduction of Fe(III) could lead to C losses under increased reducing conditions. In this study, we explored variations in Fe-C interactions over a range of redox conditions and in soils derived from two distinct parent materials to elucidate biochemical and microbial controls on soil C cycling in Sierra Nevada montane meadows. Differences in parent material were associated with different rates of Fe(III) reduction at increasing soil moisture levels, but not with differences in soil C mineralization. Known Fe(III)-reducing taxa were present in all samples but neither the relative abundance nor richness of Fe(III) reducers corresponded with measured rates of Fe(III) reduction. Under reducing conditions, our results suggest that Fe(III) reduction contributes to C mineralization only when Fe-bound C is present. However, Fe-bound C was not present in all of our soils and was below theoretical limits for C sorption onto Fe-oxides where it was found. Overall, our results suggest that meadow-specific soil chemistry drives Fe-C interactions and that the impact of Fe on C cycling in montane meadows may be smaller than in other ecosystems.</p>
Microsatellite genotypes for adult and seedlings of the temperate seagrass (ribbon weed), Posidonia australis, from four meadows at Rottnest Island, Western Australia
<p>Adult shoots and seedings of the ribbon weed (<em>Posidonia australis</em> Hook.f.), a widespread temperate seagrass, were sampled from four meadows around Rottnest Island, Western Australia. The data set contains multilocus genotypes for adult shoots from four meadows and seedlings from three meadows over two consecutive years. The metadata file contains: Pop number (1 – 10), Sample site, Latitude (S), Longitude (E), individual sample code, year of sampling, life stage (adult shoot or seedling), genotypes (2 columns per locus). The seven polymorphic microsatellite loci are: <em>Pa</em>A1, <em>Pa</em>A105, <em>Pa</em>A120, <em>Pa</em>B6, <em>Pa</em>B8, <em>Pa</em>B112, <em>Pa</em>D113. Most genotypes are diploid, however, 3N genotypes are included.</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.