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691 results for “plant traits”

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dryad36/100

Inter- and intraspecific selection in alien plants: how population growth, functional traits and climate responses change with residence time

<p><strong>Aim: </strong>When alien species are introduced to new ranges, climate or trait mismatches may initially constrain their population growth. However, inter- and intraspecific selection in the new environment should cause population growth rates to increase with residence time. Using a species-for-time approach, we test whether with increasing residence time (a) negative effects of climatic mismatches between the species' new and native range on population growth weaken, and (b) functional traits converge towards values that maximize population growth in the new range.</p> <p><strong>Location:</strong> Germany.</p> <p><strong>Time period: </strong>12,000 years BP to present.</p> <p><strong>Major taxa studied: </strong>46 plant species of the Asteraceae family.</p> <p><strong>Methods:</strong> We set up a common-garden mesocosm-experiment using annual plant species with a wide range of residence times (7-12,000 years) and followed their population dynamics over two years. We calculated climatic distance between the common garden and the species' native range. We also measured key functional traits of each species to analyse trait-demography relationships and test trait convergence with increasing residence time.</p> <p><strong>Results: </strong>We found no support for the hypothesis that negative effects of climatic mismatches on population growth weaken with residence time. However, seed mass had a clear negative effect on population growth. As expected under such strong directional selection between or within species, increasing residence time led seed mass to converge to low values that increase population growth. Accordingly, population growth tended to increase with residence time.</p> <p><strong>Main conclusions: </strong>We identify trait but not climatic mismatches as important constraints on population growth of invaders. Understanding how inter- and intraspecific selection shapes functional traits of alien species should improve the predictability of future invasions and help understanding limits to the population growth and spread of invaders already present. In a broader context, this study contributes to the conceptual integration of invasion biology with community, functional, and population ecology.</p>

opencc-zeroOct 2021View details →
dryad36/100

Directional selection shifts trait distributions of planted species in dryland restoration

<p>1. The match between species trait values and local abiotic filters can restrict community membership. An often-implicit assumption of this relationship is that abiotic filters select for a single locally optimal strategy, though difficulty in isolating effects of the abiotic environment from those of dispersal limitation and biotic interactions has resulted in few empirical tests of this assumption. Similar constraints have made it difficult to assess whether the type and intensity of abiotic filters shift along gradients of environmental harshness, as predicted by the stress dominance hypothesis.</p> <p>2. We planted 9,216 plants of perennial grass and forb species that had a range of functional trait values and were assigned to a warm, intermediate, or cool temperature tolerance pools across eight sites on the Colorado Plateau. We compared the distributions of traits of surviving individuals to null distributions to evaluate whether there were shifts in trait means and variation. Borrowing from phenotypic selection concepts in evolutionary biology, we assessed support for stabilizing, directional, and disruptive abiotic filtering of trait distributions and whether these types of filtering varied with initial species pool.</p> <p>3. Functional composition was significantly different from null distributions for nearly all traits at all sites, with trait variation more restricted in harsher abiotic conditions, supporting the stress-dominance hypothesis. Contrary to expectations, we primarily found evidence for directional selection, which increased in frequency in warm species pools while disruptive selection was found more often in cool and intermediate species pools.</p> <p>4. Synthesis: This study provides a controlled experimental approach to test the effect of the abiotic environment on plant trait filtering. We found that opportunistic strategies allowing for rapid water acquisition during favorable periods improved survival at warmer sites. Species with these strategies may be expected to benefit from increasing aridity and may be selected for active management efforts. More generally, the prevalence of directional selection may have important implications for dynamic vegetation models that rely on trait distributions for translating environmental variation into ecosystem processes.</p>

opencc-zeroNov 2021View details →
zenodo36/100

Data for "Meta-analysis of induced anti-herbivore defence traits in plants from 647 manipulative experiments with natural and simulated herbivory"

<p>Data used in analysis in &quot;Meta-analysis of induced anti-herbivore defence traits in plants from 647 manipulative experiments with natural and simulated herbivory&quot; in Journal of Ecology.&nbsp;</p> <p>Code used for analysis are included as Supplementary Material of the main article.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2021View details →
dryad36/100

Functional traits explain the consistent resistance of biodiversity to plant invasion under nitrogen enrichment

<p>Elton's biotic resistance hypothesis, which posits that diverse communities should be more resistant to biological invasions, has received considerable experimental support. However, it remains unclear whether such a negative diversity–invasibility relationship would persist under anthropogenic environmental change. By using the common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) as a model invader, our four-year grassland experiment demonstrated consistently negative relationships between resident species diversity and community invasibility, irrespective of nitrogen addition, a result further supported by a meta-analysis. Importantly, our experiment showed that plant diversity consistently resisted invasion simultaneously through increased resident biomass, increased trait dissimilarity among residents, and increased community weighted means of resource-conservative traits that strongly resist invasion, pointing to the importance of both trait complementarity and sampling effects for invasion resistance even under resource enrichment. Our study provides unique evidence that considering species functional traits can help further our understanding of biotic resistance to biological invasions in a changing environment.</p>

opencc-zeroDec 2021View details →
dryad36/100

Above and belowground plant traits of dominant dune grasses from Duck, Outer Banks, USA

<p>We examined above and belowground traits among four prominent dune grasses of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of North America: <i>Ammophila breviligulata</i>, <i>Panicum amarum</i>, <i>Spartina patens</i>, and <i>Uniola paniculata</i>. Whole plant samples of each species were collected from the foredune at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center's Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina, USA and quantified for several above and belowground traits (e.g., stem height, rhizome number and length, root surface area by diameter class, root tensile strength, mycorrhizal percent infection).</p>

opencc-zeroJan 2022View details →
dryad36/100

Data from: Plant life history traits rather than soil legacies determine colonisation of soil patches in a multi-species grassland

<p class="MsoNoSpacing">Interactions between plants and soil biota are increasingly shown to play critical roles in plant species co-existence processes. Plant species co-existence is thought to be promoted via biotic legacies that plant species leave behind in the soil after a plant disappears. These soil legacies are hypothesised to supress colonisation success when the preceding plant is of the same species, that is, when a plant species encounters its own, species-specific soil antagonists.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">However, colonisation of vacant spots in plant communities is in the first place determined by the ability of plants to reach such vacant locations. We currently lack an understanding of the explicit role of soil legacy effects and their relative contribution to colonisation processes in plant communities consisting of plant species inherently differing in colonisation ability.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing">In experimental, outdoor plant communities consisting of eight grassland species, we tested the effect of five differently conditioned soil patches on plant species colonisation success over three consecutive growing seasons. We found that colonisation success was largely determined by the species' reproductive strategy, lateral spread and growth rate, and not by the plant species that conditioned the soil patch. Fast spreading, clonal plant species reached the soil patches first and initially attained the highest biomass inside the patch. One year later, slower spreading plant species colonised the patch via seedlings. Species with intrinsically high growth rates attained the highest biomass, decreasing biomass of the initial colonisers. While subtle differences between conditioned soil patches did occur, these were not strong enough to overcome the inherent differences in colonisation ability between the various plant species.</p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><strong>Synthesis:</strong><em> </em>Our results reject the hypothesis that colonisation of vacant soil patches in plant communities is strongly affected by the legacy that is left behind by the preceding plant species. Instead, plant species life history strategy plays a prominent role, driving sequential plant species replacements. Based on our results and recent accounts in literature we present a conceptual model for local cyclic dynamics in grassland communities, where soil legacy plays a role in affecting the performance of established plant species rather than colonisation of vacant patches.</p>

opencc-zeroFeb 2022View details →
dryad36/100

Climate-induced plasticity in leaf traits of riparian plants

<p><strong>Aim:</strong> Leaf inputs from riparian vegetation and its decomposition play a key role in energy and nutrients transfer in many stream ecosystems. Instream leaf-litter decomposition is mainly driven by leaf traits. Therefore, understanding and predicting leaf traits variation with current environmental changes and its putative effects on stream food webs is a critical challenge. Most studies have focused on the assumed higher interspecific leaf traits variability, with little research addressing an intraspecific perspective.</p> <p><strong>Location:</strong> Andalusia, Spain</p> <p><strong>Methods:</strong> We assessed the relative effects of climate and soil on the intraspecific variability in leaf traits of four common woody riparian species in permanent low-order Mediterranean streams along a wide aridity gradient. We used a space-for-time substitution approach to predict leaf traits changes and consequences for stream food webs in a future climate change scenario.</p> <p><strong>Results:</strong> We found that climate had a major influence on intraspecific variability of leaf traits, but with opposite patterns depending on plant functional type. Results indicated that leaf quality—linked to palatability and decomposability—of Alnus glutinosa, Salix atrocinerea and Rubus ulmifolius (deciduous/semideciduous) will decrease with the forecasted aridification, whereas that of the evergreen Nerium oleander will increase.</p> <p><strong>Main conclusions:</strong> Our findings suggest a decrease of intraspecific leaf-quality in riparian deciduous species with global warming in a relatively short term, which, in a longer term, may add to the forecasted dieback of deciduous species in riparian corridors of temperate climate zones. These forecasted changes have the potential to significantly impair ecosystem functioning of Mediterranean mountain streams currently under deciduous gallery forests.</p>

opencc-zeroFeb 2022View details →
dryad36/100

Data from: Above- and belowground drivers of intraspecific trait variability across subcontinental gradients for five ubiquitous forest plants in North America

<p class="MsoPlainText">Intraspecific trait variability (ITV) provides the material for species adaptation to environmental changes. To advance our understanding of how ITV can contribute to species adaptation to a wide range of environmental conditions, we studied five widespread understory forest species exposed to both continental-scale climate gradients, and local soil and disturbance gradients. We investigated the environmental drivers of between-site leaf and root trait variation, and tested whether higher between-site ITV was associated with increased trait sensitivity to environmental variation (i.e. environmental fit).</p> <p class="MsoPlainText">We measured morphological (specific leaf area: SLA, specific root length: SRL) and chemical traits (Leaf and Root N, P, K, Mg, Ca) of five forest understory vascular plant<span> </span>species at 78 sites across Canada. A total of 261 species-by-site combinations spanning ~4300 km were sampled, capturing important abiotic and biotic environmental gradients (neighbourhood composition, canopy structure, soil conditions, climate). We used multivariate and univariate linear mixed models to identify drivers of ITV and test the association of between-site ITV with environmental fit.</p> <p class="MsoPlainText">Between-site ITV of leaf traits was primarily driven by canopy structure and climate. Comparatively, environmental drivers explained only a small proportion of variability in root traits: these relationships were trait-specific and included soil conditions (Root P), canopy structure (Root N) and neighbourhood composition (SRL, Root K). Between-site ITV was associated with increased environmental fit only for a minority of traits, primarily in response to climate (SLA, Leaf N, SRL).</p> <p class="MsoPlainText">Synthesis. By studying how ITV is structured along environmental gradients among species adapted to a wide range of conditions, we can begin to understand how individual species might respond to environmental change. Our results show that generalizable trait-environment relationships occur primarily aboveground and only accounted for a small proportion of variability. For our group of species with broad ecological niches, variability in traits was only rarely associated with higher environmental fit, and primarily along climatic gradients. These results point to promising research avenues on the various ways in which trait variation can affect species performance along different environmental gradients.</p>

opencc-zeroApr 2022View details →
dryad36/100

Intraspecific variation in plant economic traits predicts trembling aspen resistance to a generalist insect herbivore

<p>Patterns of trait expression within some plant species have recently been shown to follow patterns described by the leaf economics spectrum paradigm. Resistance to herbivores is also expected to covary with leaf economics traits. We selected multiple mature <em>Populus tremuloides</em> genotypes from a common garden to assess whether aspen leaf economics patterns follow those observed among species globally. We also evaluated leaf economics strategies in the context of insect resistance by conducting bioassays to determine the effects of plant traits on preference and performance of <em>Lymantria dispar. </em>We found that: 1) intraspecific trait patterns of <em>P. tremuloides</em> parallel those exhibited by the interspecific leaf economics spectrum, 2) herbivores preferred leaves from genotypes with resource-acquisitive strategies, and 3) herbivores also performed best on genotypes<em> </em>with resource-acquisitive strategies. We conclude that a leaf economics spectrum that incorporates defense traits is a useful tool for explaining intraspecific patterns of variation in plant strategies, including resistance to herbivores.</p>

opencc-zeroApr 2022View details →
dryad36/100

Data from: A trait‒environment relationship approach to participatory plant breeding for organic agriculture

<p>The extent of intraspecific variation in trait‒environment relationships is an open question with limited empirical support in crops. In organic agriculture, with high environmental heterogeneity, this knowledge could guide breeding programs to optimize crop attributes. We propose a three-dimensional framework involving crop performance, crop traits, and environmental axes to uncover the multidimensionality of trait‒environment relationships within a crop. </p> <p>We modeled instantaneous photosynthesis (<em>A</em><sub>sat</sub>) and water-use efficiency (WUE) as functions of four phenotypic traits, three soil variables, five carrot (<em>D. carota</em>) varieties, and their interactions in a national participatory plant breeding program involving a suite of farms across Canada. We used these interactions to describe the resulting 12 trait‒environment relationships across varieties.  </p> <p>We found one significant trait‒environment relationship for <em>A</em><sub>sat</sub> (taproot tissue density‒soil phosphorus), which was consistent across varieties. For WUE, we found that three relationships (petiole diameter‒soil nitrogen, petiole diameter‒soil phosphorus, and leaf area‒soil phosphorus) varied significantly across varieties. As a result, WUE was maximized by different combinations of trait values and soil conditions depending on the variety.  </p> <p>Our three-dimensional framework supports the identification of functional traits behind the differential responses of crop varieties to environmental variation and thus guides breeding programs to optimize crop attributes from an eco-evolutionary perspective. </p>

opencc-zeroDec 2021View details →
dryad36/100

Water availability dictates how plant traits predict demographic rates

<p>A major goal in ecology is to make generalizable predictions of organism responses to environmental variation based on their traits. However, straightforward relationships between traits and fitness are rare and likely vary with environmental context. Characterizing how traits mediate demographic responses to the environment may enhance predictions of organism responses to global change. We synthesized 15 years of demographic data and species-level traits in a shortgrass steppe to determine whether the effects of leaf and root traits on growth and survival depend on seasonal water availability. We predicted that (1) species with drought-tolerant traits, such as lower leaf turgor loss point (TLP) and higher leaf and root dry matter content (LDMC and RDMC), would be more likely to survive and grow in drier years due to higher wilting resistance, (2) these traits would not predict fitness in wetter years, and (3) traits that more directly measure physiological mechanisms of water use such as TLP would best predict demographic responses. We found that graminoids with more negative TLP and higher LDMC and RDMC had higher survival rates in drier years. Forbs demonstrated similar yet more variable responses. Graminoids grew larger in wetter years, regardless of traits. However, in both wet and dry years, graminoids with more negative TLP and higher LDMC and RDMC grew larger than less negative TLP and low LDMC and RDMC species. Traits significantly mediated the impact of drought on survival, but not growth, suggesting survival could be a stronger driver of species' drought response in this system. TLP predicted survival in drier years, but easier-to-measure LDMC and RDMC were equal or better predictors. These results advance our understanding of the mechanisms by which drought drives population dynamics, and show that abiotic context determines how traits drive fitness.</p>

opencc-zeroMay 2022View details →
zenodo36/100

X-ray driven peanut trait estimation-Plant Methods paper

<p>The ground-truth dataset&nbsp;linked to the&nbsp;research article &quot;X-ray driven peanut trait estimation: Computer vision aided agri-system transformation&quot; of Plant Methods is available in this data repository.</p> <p>Description of the headers:</p> <ol> <li>Peanut variety name [39 peanut varieties were used]</li> <li>Variety number [number linked to variety]</li> <li>Variety Type [Breeding lines, Released popular cultivar, or Farmers&#39; produce]</li> <li>Rep [number of replicates per sample used in the study]</li> <li>Corresponding TIFF image number</li> <li>kernel_weight_(g) [unit = g]</li> <li>shell_weight_(g) [unit = g]</li> <li>percentage_shelling_(%) [unit = %]</li> </ol> <p>For additional information please contact the corresponding author Jana Kholova&nbsp;(j.kholova@cgiar.org)</p>

opencc-by-4.0May 2022View details →
dryad36/100

Data set for: Leaf trait association in relation to herbivore defense, drought resistance, and economics in a tropical invasive plant

<p><strong><span>Premsie</span></strong><span>: </span><span>Exploring how functional traits vary and covary is important to understand plant responses to environmental change. However, we have limited understanding of the ways multiple functional traits vary and covary within invasive species.</span></p> <p><strong><span>Methods</span></strong><span>:</span> <span>We measured 12 leaf traits of an invasive plant <em>Chromolaena odorata</em>, associated with plant or leaf economics, herbivore defense, and drought resistance on 10 introduced populations from Asia and 12 native populations from America, selected across a broad range of climatic conditions, and grown in a common garden</span><span>.</span></p> <p><strong><span>Results</span></strong><span>: </span><span>Species'</span> <span>range and climatic conditions influenced leaf traits, but trait variation across climate space differed between the introduced and native ranges. Traits that confer defense against herbivores and drought resistance were associated with economic strategy, but the patterns differed by range. Plants from introduced populations that were at the fast-return end of the spectrum (high photosynthetic capacity) had high physical defense traits (high trichome density), whereas plants from native populations that were at the fast-return end of the spectrum had high drought escape traits (early leaf senescence and high percentage of withered shoots).</span></p> <p><strong> <span>Conclusions</span></strong><span>:</span> <span>Our results indicate that invasive plants can rapidly adapt to novel environmental conditions. <em>C. odorata</em> showed multiple different functional trait covariation patterns and clines in the native and introduced ranges. Our results emphasize that interaction between multiple traits or functions should be considered when investigating the adaptive evolution of invasive plants.</span></p>

opencc-zeroJun 2022View details →
dryad36/100

The expression of demographic costs of reproduction varies among coexisting plants with different life history traits

<p><span>1.   </span><span>Demographic costs of reproduction in flowering plants should depend on life history and reproductive effort, but how the expression of costs varies with life history traits is poorly understood.</span></p> <p><span>2.   </span><span>We experimentally increased and reduced reproductive effort (fruit production) to quantify demographic costs of reproduction in four coexisting species with contrasting growth forms (clonal vs. nonclonal) and flower production (single- vs. multi-flowered). We repeated the experiment in three years, and measured demographic rates the year after treatment. In two years, we also quantified costs of flower maintenance by contrasting the performance of nonfruiting plants with intact flowers and plants with their flowers removed.</span></p> <p><span>3.   </span><span>Costs varied among species, in both magnitude and demographic rate affected. Costs of natural reproduction were expressed as reductions in size and fecundity next year, whereas increased reproduction additionally reduced sprouting probability. The magnitude of demographic costs of both reproduction and flower maintenance was highest in the nonclonal, multi-flowered species, and costs were more frequently detected in the two multi-flowered species than in the single-flowered ones. This may be explained by higher biomass allocation to reproductive parts and a longer flowering period in the former. Demographic costs of reproduction did not depend on clone size.</span></p> <p><span>4.  </span><span>These results document that demographic costs vary among coexisting species sharing similar niches, and are associated with divergence in life history traits. Such trait-dependent variation in costs may reduce competition among coexisting species and facilitate diversity.</span></p>

opencc-zeroJun 2022View details →
dryad36/100

Complex floral traits shape pollinator attraction to ornamental plants

<p><strong>Background and Aims </strong>Ornamental flowering plant species are often used in managed greenspaces to attract and support pollinator populations. In natural systems, selection by pollinators is hypothesized to result in convergent multimodal floral phenotypes that are more attractive to specific pollinator taxa. In contrast, ornamental cultivars are bred via artificial selection by humans, and exhibit diverse and distinct phenotypes. Despite their prevalence in managed habitats, the influence of cultivar phenotypic variation on plant attractiveness to pollinator taxa is not well resolved.</p> <p><strong>Methods </strong>We used a combination of field and behavioural assays to evaluate how variation in floral visual, chemical and nutritional traits impacted overall attractiveness and visitation by pollinator taxonomic groups and bee species to 25 cultivars of five herbaceous perennial ornamental plant genera.</p> <p><strong>Key results</strong> Despite significant phenotypic variation, cultivars tended to attract a broad range of pollinator species. Nonetheless, at the level of insect order (bee, fly, butterfly, beetle), attraction was generally modulated by traits consistent with the pollination syndrome hypothesis. At the level of bee species, the relative influence of traits on visitation varied across plant genera, with some floral phenotypes leading to a broadening of the visitor community, and others leading to exclusion of visitation by certain bee species.</p> <p><strong>Conclusions </strong>Our results demonstrate how pollinator choice is mediated by complex multimodal floral signals. Importantly, the traits that had the greatest and most consistent effect on regulating pollinator attraction were those that are commonly selected for in cultivar development. Though variation among cultivars in floral traits may limit the pollinator community by excluding certain species, it may also encourage interactions with generalist taxa to support pollinator diversity in managed landscapes.</p>

opencc-zeroJul 2022View details →
dryad36/100

Clonal functional traits favor the invasive success of alien plants into native communities

<p><span>Functional traits are frequently proposed to determine the invasiveness of alien species. However, few empirical studies have directly manipulated functional traits and tested their importance in the invasion success of alien species into native plant communities, particularly under global change. We manipulated clonal integration (a key clonal functional trait) of four alien clonal plants by severing inter-ramet connections or keeping them intact, and simulated their invasion into native plant communities with two levels of species diversity, population density and nutrient availability</span><span>. High community diversity and density impeded the invasion success of the alien clonal plants. Clonal integration of the alien plants promoted their invasion success, particularly in the low-density communities associated with low species diversity or nutrient addition, which resulted in a negative correlation between performance of alien plants and native communities, as expected under global change. Thus, clonal integration can favor the invasion success of alien clonal plants into degraded resident communities with </span><span>a high degree of disturbance</span><span> and eutrophication. Our findings confirm the role of clonal</span><span> functional traits in facilitating alien plant invasions into native plant communities, and suggest that </span><span>clonal functional traits should be considered to efficiently restore degraded communities heavily invaded by alien clonal plants.</span></p>

opencc-zeroAug 2022View details →
dryad36/100

Diaspore traits specialized to animal adhesion and sea current dispersal are positively associated with the naturalization of European plants across the World

<p>Understanding what drives non-native species naturalization (the establishment of a self-sustainable population outside its native range) is a central question in invasion science. Plants' capacity for long distance dispersal (LDD) is likely to influence the spread and naturalization of non-native species differently according to their introduction pathways. These pathways include intentional introductions (for economic use, e.g. for agriculture), unintentional introductions (e.g. seed contaminants), plant dispersal via human infrastructures (e.g. roads), and plant spread from an adjacent region where the species was previously introduced. Herein, we tested the relationship between sets of LDD traits (syndromes) of 10,308 European plant species and their global naturalization incidence (i.e. whether a species has become naturalized or not) and extent (i.e. the number of regions where a species has become naturalized) using the most comprehensive database of naturalized plants worldwide (GloNAF). Diaspore traits allowed the identification of four traditional LDD syndromes, namely those with specializations for dispersal by: wind (anemochorous), animal ingestion (endozoochorous), attached to animals (epizoochorous), and sea currents (thalassochorous). These evolutionary specializations have been historically interpreted by biologists even though actual dispersal is not always related to diaspore syndromes. We found that while epizoochorous and thalassochorous traits are positively associated with global plant naturalization incidence, anemochorous and endozoochorous traits show a negative relationship. Species´ residence time outside their native range, their economic use and presence of epizoochorous traits (such as hooks, hairs and adhesive substances) are positively associated with global naturalization extent. Furthermore, we found that plants' economic use reduces the influence of LDD syndromes on the naturalization incidence of intentionally introduced plants. While the success of non-native plants is influenced by a broad array of species- and context-specific factors, LDD syndromes play an important role in this context depending on the economic use of plants.</p>

opencc-zeroAug 2022View details →
dryad36/100

Chronic browsing by an introduced mammalian herbivore in a tropical island alters species composition and functional traits of forest understory plant communities

<p>Mammalian herbivores have large-scale impacts on vegetation, altering structure and species composition, especially in tropical grasslands and savannas. However, there is limited understanding of the potential impacts of mammalian herbivores in tropical wet forests, where they are typically less abundant. We investigated the effects of an introduced mammalian herbivore chital (<em>Axis axis</em>) on vegetation structure, composition and leaf functional traits of tropical evergreen forests of the Andaman Islands, India. Across seven islands, representing a gradient of herbivore densities, increasing chital presence was associated with decreased understory richness, understory density and adult tree richness, but was not related to adult tree density or size class distributions. We also found a significant decrease in community-level leaf palatability traits (specific leaf area decreased and leaf thickness increased) with increasing chital habitat use. This community-level shift in leaf trait values was better explained by intra-specific variation in leaf traits across islands rather than changes in species composition. In summary, we show persistent long-term impacts of an introduced mammalian herbivore on understory tropical tree communities although there is little impact on adult tree communities.  Our results also show that functional traits of species can be altered in response to novel herbivory, even at herbivore densities where there are no detectable impacts on adult forest structure or composition. Such altered functional traits may potentially alter ecosystem functioning in these forests even without changes in vegetation structure.</p>

opencc-zeroSep 2022View details →
dryad36/100

Traits of soil bacteria predict plant responses to soil moisture

<p>Microbes can promote beneficial plant and animal responses to abiotic environments, but the ecological drivers of this benefit remain elusive. Here we investigated byproduct benefits, which occur when traits that increase the fitness of one species provide incidental benefits to another species with no direct cost to the provider species. In experimental mesocosms, microbial traits predicted plant responses to soil moisture such that bacteria with self-beneficial traits in drought increased plant early growth, size at reproduction, and chlorophyll concentration under drought, while bacteria with self-beneficial traits in well-watered environments increased these same plant traits in well-watered environments. Thus, microbial traits that promote microbial success in different soil moisture environments also promote plant success in these same environments. Our results show that the concept of byproduct benefits, originally conceived to explain the evolution of cooperation in pairwise mutualisms, also applies to interactions between plants and non-symbiotic soil microbes.</p>

opencc-zeroSep 2022View details →
dryad36/100

Data from: Functional traits underlying performance variations in the overwintering of the cosmopolitan invasive plant water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) under climate warming and water drawdown

<p><span>Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicate that temperature rise is still the general trend of the global climate in the 21st century. Invasive species may benefit from the increase in temperature, as climate can be viewed as a resource, and the increase in the available resources favors the invasibility of invasive species. This study aimed to assess the overwintering growth of the cosmopolitan invasive plant water hyacinth (<em>Eichhornia crassipes</em>) at its northern boundary. Using <em>E. crassipes</em> as a model plant, a cross-year mesocosm experiment was conducted to determine 17 plant functional traits, including growth, morphological, root topological, photosynthetic and stoichiometric traits, under climate warming (ambient, temperature rises of 1.5°C and 3.0°C) and water drawdown or water withdrawal (water depths of 1 cm, 10 cm and 20 cm) treatments. The overwintering growth of <em>E. crassipes</em> was facilitated by climate warming and proper water drawdown, and climate warming played a leading role. A temperature rises of 3.0°C and a water depth of 10 cm were the most suitable conditions for the overwintering and rooting behavior of the plant. Controlling the temperature to within 1.5°C, an ambitious goal for China, still facilitated the overwintering of <em>E. crassipes</em>. With climate warming, the plant can overwinter successfully, which possibly assists it in producing and spreading new ramets in the vernal flood season. The new rooting behavior induced by ambient low temperature may be viewed as a unique growth adaptation strategy for a niche change, as it helps these plants invade empty niches left by dead free-floating plants on the water surface following winter freezes. With continued global warming, the distribution of the plant may expand northward, and eradication of the plant during the winter water drawdown period may be a more effective strategy.</span></p>

opencc-zeroSep 2022View details →

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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