Find research datasets worth reusing

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Farmer preferences for conservation incentives that promote voluntary phosphorus abatement in agricultural watersheds

Financial incentives are commonly used to promote voluntary adoption of agricultural best management practices (BMPs), but little is known about farmer preferences among alternative incentives. Using experimental procurement auctions, we evaluate how different conservation incentives affect farmer willingness to adopt BMPs that reduce phosphorus (P) runoff, a major driver of harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie. We rank incentives (e.g., payment, BMP insurance, tax credit, and certification price premium) by the cost per pound of P runoff reduction. Payments and tax credits that target high impact areas of the watershed are more cost-effective than untargeted price premiums for product certification. Farmers demand higher payments for contracts offering BMP insurance (i.e., protection against yield loss from BMP use) due to uncertainty about how the program will be implemented and the reliability of indemnities, as well as anticipated transaction costs associated with the program. Understanding farmer preferences for different types of conservation incentives is critical to design agri-environmental programs that engage more farmers and cost-effectively enhance ecosystem services.

opencc-zeroDec 2012View details →

Data from: Variation in population structure and dynamics of montane forest tree species in Ethiopia guide priorities for conservation and research

The greatest extent of Afromontane environments in the world is found in Ethiopia. These areas support exceptional biodiversity, but forest cover and ecological integrity have declined sharply in recent decades. Conservation and management efforts are hampered in part by an inadequate understanding of the basic ecology of major tree species. We investigated population structure and inferred population dynamics from size frequency distributions of 22 forest tree species encountered in montane forests of Ethiopia. We collected new empirical data from four sites in the Bale Mountains, where some of the country's most extensive and least disturbed forests remain, and conducted a systematic review and analysis of all such studies that reported population structure for one or more of these species in Ethiopia. Thirteen widespread montane tree species showed a reverse-J size distribution, indicating a relatively stable population structure. Six other species had size-frequency distributions that indicate episodic recruitment and/or removal of certain size classes. Specific causes of these patterns are uncertain: they may involve timber harvesting, herbivory, fire, or natural disturbances, but patterns were inconsistent and locality dependent. For three other tree species, existing data are inadequate for any interpretation of population structure and dynamics. A species of particular conservation concern that emerged from this analysis was Hagenia abyssinica, which was found in all areas to consist only of larger individuals with no recent recruitment. For management and conservation purposes, the species in most urgent need of new research are those with inadequate or inconsistent data, and H. abyssinica..

Data from: Patterns of biodiverse, understudied groups do not mirror those of the surrogate groups that set conservation priorities: a case study from the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain of eastern North America

We conducted biodiversity inventories of lichens, woody plants, and sedges at 32 sites on the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain of eastern North America between November 2012 and June 2015. Each site comprised a single, uniform habitat, and sites were classified as: Coastal Plain Floodplain forest, Coastal Plain Flatwood swamp, Coastal Plain Oak-Pine forest, Maritime forest, Mixed Mesic Hardwood forest, or Tidal forest. We compared alpha diversity and community assemblages of each organismal group across the sites, and compared selected minimal reserve sets in order to visualize biodiversity patterns and assess whether specific components of vascular plants (sedges and woody plants) serve as an effective surrogate for lichens. Woody plants provide a direct substrate for lichen growth, but there was no significant correlation between the alpha diversity of these groups. For conserving maximal species richness among the studied groups, lichens outperformed the sedges and woody plants as the better surrogate group for building minimum reserve sets, even though vascular plants are more commonly used as a surrogate. Likewise, sedge alpha diversity was not correlated with lichens, or with woody plants. Although no group was an effective indicator for high alpha diversity sites of other organisms, a significant correlation between the community assemblages of lichens and woody plants suggests that protecting varied types of plant communities might serve as a workable surrogate for protecting lichens. The lack of congruence between species richness patterns across organismal groups suggests that the mechanisms that shape patterns of diversity are not identical, and that identifying and incorporating specific biodiversity indicators for understudied groups into conservation policy is necessary to ensure their protection.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Genetic structure of the Painted Bunting and its implications for conservation of migratory populations

The Painted Bunting Passerina ciris is a Neotropical songbird which breeds primarily in the United States during the summer and migrates to Mexico, Central America, southern Florida, and the Caribbean over the winter. Male Painted Buntings are brightly coloured, which makes them highly sought after as pets, particularly in Mexico, Central America and Europe. We used short sequence repeats (microsatellite DNA) to investigate the population genetic structure of the Painted Bunting and its implications in conservation management of migratory populations. We found a detectable level of population differentiation as revealed by pairwise FST and RST comparisons and Bayesian clustering analyses, with strong support for differentiation between eastern and western Painted Buntings (e.g. Oklahoma and Georgia FST = 0.1; P = 0.005; RST = 0.18; P = 0.04) in accordance with previous mitochondrial DNA analysis. We recovered additional support for two sub‐groups within the western clade. While linking migrant songbirds captured outside of the United States to their breeding populations remains a challenge, we show that natural levels of population genetic differentiation can be detected via microsatellite DNA markers and exploited in migratory connectivity studies. We also demonstrate the potential utility of our low‐cost markers for population identification of birds recovered from the pet trade by screening a small subset of samples (n = 5) collected as part of wildlife tracking. We discuss the implications of our results for future efforts to understand patterns of population decline in Painted Buntings more generally, as well as how we might expand this methodology to combat illegal pet‐trade activity in this and other songbird species.

opencc-zeroApr 2020View details →

Data from: Deciphering genetic mate choice: not so simple in group-housed conservation breeding programs

Incorporating mate choice into conservation breeding programs can improve reproduction and the retention of natural behaviours. However, different types of genetic-based mate choice can have varied consequences for genetic diversity management. As a result, it is important to examine mechanisms of mate choice in captivity to assess its costs and benefits. Most research in this area has focused on experimental pairing trials, however this resource-intensive approach is not always feasible in captive settings and can interfere with other management constraints. We used generalised linear mixed models and permutation approaches to investigate overall breeding success in group-housed Tasmanian devils at three non-mutually exclusive mate choice hypotheses: (i) advantage of heterozygous individuals, (ii) advantage of dissimilar mates, and (iii) optimum genetic distance, using both 1,948 genome-wide SNPs and 12 MHC-linked microsatellites. The managed devil insurance population is the largest such breeding program in Australia and is known to have high variance in reproductive success. We found that non-genetic factors such as age were the best predictors of breeding success in a competitive breeding scenario, with younger females and older males being more successful. We found no evidence of mate choice under the hypotheses tested. Mate choice varies among species and across environments, so we advocate for more studies in realistic captive management contexts as experimental or wild studies may not apply. Conservation managers must weigh up the need to wait for adequate sample sizes to detect mate choice with the risk that genetic changes may occur during this time in captivity. Our study shows that examining and integrating mate choice into the captive management of species housed in realistic, semi-natural group-based contexts may be more difficult than previously considered.

Data from: Initial nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, and methane costs of converting conservation reserve program grassland to row crops under no-till vs. conventional tillage

Around 4.4 million ha of land in USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts will expire between 2013 and 2018 and some will likely return to crop production. No-till (NT) management offers the potential to reduce the global warming costs of CO2 , CH4 , and N2 O emissions during CRP conversion, but to date there have been no CRP conversion tillage comparisons. In 2009, we converted portions of three 9-21 ha CRP fields in Michigan to conventional tillage (CT) or NT soybean production and reserved a fourth field for reference. Both CO2 and N2 O fluxes increased following herbicide application in all converted fields, but in the CT treatment substantial and immediate N2 O and CO2 fluxes occurred after tillage. For the initial 201-day conversion period, average daily N2 O fluxes (g N2 O-N ha-1 d-1 ) were significantly different in the order: CT (47.5 ± 6.31, n = 6) ≫ NT (16.7 ± 2.45, n = 6) ≫ reference (2.51 ± 0.73, n = 4). Similarly, soil CO2 fluxes in CT were 1.2 times those in NT and 3.1 times those in the unconverted CRP reference field. All treatments were minor sinks for CH4 (-0.69 ± 0.42 to -1.86 ± 0.37 g CH4 -C ha-1 d-1 ) with no significant differences among treatments. The positive global warming impact (GWI) of converted soybean fields under both CT (11.5 Mg CO2 e ha-1 ) and NT (2.87 Mg CO2 e ha-1 ) was in contrast to the negative GWI of the unconverted reference field (-3.5 Mg CO2 e ha-1 ) with on-going greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation. N2 O contributed 39.3% and 55.0% of the GWI under CT and NT systems with the remainder contributed by CO2 (60.7% and 45.0%, respectively). Including foregone mitigation, we conclude that NT management can reduce GHG costs by ~60% compared to CT during initial CRP conversion.

opencc-zeroJun 2019View details →

Data from: Multispecies conservation of freshwater fish assemblages in response to climate change in the southeastern United States

Aim: Streamflow and water temperature are primary variables influencing the distribution of freshwater taxa. Climate-induced changes in these variables are already causing shifts in species distributions, with continued changes projected in the coming decades. The Mobile River Basin (MRB), located in the southeastern United States, contains some of the highest levels of temperate freshwater biodiversity in North America. We integrated species distribution data with contemporary and future streamflow and water temperature data as well as other physical habitat data to characterize occurrence probabilities of fish species in the MRB with the goal of identifying current and future areas of high conservation value. Location: Mobile River Basin, southeastern United States Methods: We used a maximum entropy approach to estimate baseline and future occurrence probability distributions for 88 fish species in the MRB based on model-generated streamflow and water temperature as well as geologic, topographic, and land cover data. Areas of conservation prioritization were identified based on regions that contain suitable habitat for high levels of biodiversity according to baseline and future conditions while accounting for uncertainty associated with multiple future climate projections. Results: On average, flow (28%), water temperature (28%), and geology (30%) contribute evenly to determining suitable habitat for fish species in the MRB. Based on baseline and future species distribution model estimates, high priority streams (best 10%) are largely concentrated in the eastern portion of the MRB, with a majority (51%) located within the Coosa and Tallapoosa River systems. Main Conclusion: We provide a framework that uses relevant hydrologic and environmental data in the context of future climatic uncertainty to estimate areas of freshwater conservation opportunity in the coming decades. While streamflow and water temperature represent important habitat for freshwater fishes in the MRB, distributions are also constrained by other aspects of the physical environment.

opencc-zeroMay 2019View details →

Data from: Holocene population decline and conservation implication for the Western Hercules Beetle, Dynastes grantii (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae)

The Western Hercules beetle (Dynastes grantii) is endemic to the highland forest habitats of southwestern USA and northern Mexico. The habitats harbor many endemic species, but are being threatened by rapid climate change and urban development. In this study, the genetic structure of D. grantii populations from southwestern USA was investigated. Specifically, genomic data from double-digest RADseq (ddRADseq) libraries were utilized to test whether geographically distant populations from the Mogollon Rim (Arizona [N = 12 individuals] and New Mexico [N = 10 individuals]) are genetically structured. The study also estimated the effective population size of the Mogollon Rim populations based on genetic diversity. The results indicated that the two geographic populations from the Mogollon Rim were not genetically structured. A population size reduction was detected since the end of the last glacial period, which coincided with a reduction of forest habitat in the study area. The results implied that the connectivity and the size of highland forest habitats in the Mogollon Rim could have been the major factors shaping the population genetic structure and demographic history of D. grantii. The Western Hercules beetle could be a useful flagship species for local natural history education and to promote the conservation of highland forest habitats.

opencc-by-4.0May 2019View details →

Brazilian Facebook Public Pages - Posts and Comments: a research on conservative mentality

Data used in: Lerner, Celina. "A mentalidade conservadora no Brasil: uma análise da interação política em redes sociais digitais" - Doctoral Thesis, PCHS/UFABC ,2019 Facebook Public Pages posts and comments - Pages: <ol> <li>padrepaulo, id: 101088766634343</li> <li>flaviobolsonaro; id: 156951837773645</li> <li>CampanhadoArmamento; id: 170649656341921</li> <li>carvalho.olavo; id: 275181425967272</li> <li>DireitaConservadoraOficial, id: 307492775999491</li> <li>OPesadelodeQualquerPolitico2.0; id:405845152892440</li> <li>MisesBrasil; id: 91754571355</li> </ol> - since: 01/01/2012; to: 31/12/2018 - files in each *.zip: 1. page posts; 2. stats per day;  and 3. top comments (200 top comments per post) Dataset scraped from Facebook with Netvizz (Rieder, 2013). Function: Page Posts, 200 top comments by page <blockquote> File Column Explanations post stat file - tsv format - rows are posts type: Facebook's post classification (e.g. photo, status, etc.) by: either"post_page_pageid" (post by page) or "post_user_pageid" (post by user); post_link: direct link to the post; post_message: text of the post; picture: the picture scraped from any link included with the post; full_picture: the picture scraped from any link included with the post (full size); link: link URL (if the post points to external content); link_domain: domain name of link; post_published: publishing date post_published_unix: publishing date as Unix timestamp (for easy conversion and ranking); post_published_sql: publishing date in SQL format (some analysis tools prefer this); likes: number of actually retrieved likes a post received or a user made; likes_count_fb: Facebook provided like count for posts; comments_count_fb: Facebook provided comment count for posts; reactions_count_fb: Facebook provided reactions count for posts (includes likes); shares_count_fb: Facebook provided share count for posts; engagement: sum of comment, reaction, and share counts; comments_retrieved (not in "stats_only" mode): actually retrieved comments (may be lower than comments_count_fb due to privacy or deletion); comments_base (not in "stats_only" mode): number of base level comments (in threaded conversations); comments_replies (not in "stats_only" mode): number of reply level comments (in threaded conversations); comment_likes_count (not in "stats_only" mode): number of likes on comments for this post; rea_X: these columns give counts for the retrieved reactions (NONE, LIKE, LOVE, WOW, HAHA, SAD, ANGRY, THANKFUL); comments file - tsv format - rows are comments position: postnumber_commentnumber, e.g. 0_0 for the first comment on the first post; post_id: id of the post; post_by: author of the post; post_text: text of the post; post_published: publishing date of the post; comment_id: id of the comment; comment_by: author of the comment (column no longer in use, remains for compatibility); is_reply: whether the comment is a reply to another comment (in threaded conversations); comment_message: text of the comment; comment_published: publishing date of the comment; comment_like_count: number of likes on the comment; </blockquote>

opencc-byAug 2021View details →

Conservation Laboratory Concept Design

University of Namibia Conservation Training Laboratory - PHASE 1: Planning and conceptualizing the preliminary layout and associated components / ergonomics of the proposed conservation laboratory, also taking into account the objectives / role of the training space with respect to the module: Scientific Principles of Conservation (Postgraduate Diploma - Heritage Conservation and Management). This concept proposal embodies a number of assumptions, namely that: 1. normal budgetary constraints are applicable, and to a conventional degree. 2. certain interior walls may be functional and/or load-bearing. 3. the staircase shall remain functional and in use. 4. rotational use may compensate for peak demand, when in excess of ergonomic capacity. 5. plumbed utilities may be consigned to the South Western facade only and should be excluded from the North Western facade. Source: Objaverse 1.0 / Sketchfab

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2015View details →

Mouse and Human Co-expression maps and supplementary material for: "A comparison of human and mouse gene co-expression networks reveals conservation and divergence at the tissue, pathway and disease levels"

Co-expression maps of the human and mouse species derived from microarray data for the first release of the GeneFriend tool. The two co-expression maps  have been compared in order to discern similarities and differences between the two species. The results have been described in the manuscript titled: "A comparison of human and mouse gene co-expression networks reveals conservation and divergence at the tissue, pathway and disease levels". The supplementary material of the manuscript have also been included in this repository.

opencc-zeroJul 2016View details →

Literature search: Remote sensing in conservation and ecology

This file provides the raw data of a literature search that was conducted to demonstate the growing relevance and rapid devleopment of remote sensing in relation to conservation and ecology within academia. The search was performed using Scopus, a database of peer-reviewed literature, using the string "remote sensing" AND ["conservation" OR "ecology"].

FIGURE 22 in Orthoptera (Insecta: Tettigonioidea, Pyrgomorphoidea, Acridoidea) of Kafa Biosphere Reserve, Bale Mountains National Park and other areas of conservation interest in Ethiopia

FIGURE 22. Ovipositor and subgenital plate of females Peropyrrhicia.

FIGURE 8 in Orthoptera (Insecta: Tettigonioidea, Pyrgomorphoidea, Acridoidea) of Kafa Biosphere Reserve, Bale Mountains National Park and other areas of conservation interest in Ethiopia

FIGURE 8. Conocephalus conocephalus, Shorori Wetland (1610 m), Ethiopia. Scale bar represents 1 cm.

FIGURE 27 in Orthoptera (Insecta: Tettigonioidea, Pyrgomorphoidea, Acridoidea) of Kafa Biosphere Reserve, Bale Mountains National Park and other areas of conservation interest in Ethiopia

FIGURE 27. Habitus of male and female Peropyrrhicia keffensis n. sp. Scale bar represents 1 cm.

FIGURE 5 in Orthoptera (Insecta: Tettigonioidea, Pyrgomorphoidea, Acridoidea) of Kafa Biosphere Reserve, Bale Mountains National Park and other areas of conservation interest in Ethiopia

FIGURE 5. Pseudorhynchus lanceolatus, Dembi Forest (1260 m), Ethiopia. Scale bar represents 1 cm.

FIGURE 48. Paracinema t in Orthoptera (Insecta: Tettigonioidea, Pyrgomorphoidea, Acridoidea) of Kafa Biosphere Reserve, Bale Mountains National Park and other areas of conservation interest in Ethiopia

FIGURE 48. Paracinema t. tricolor, Shorori Wetland (1610), Ethiopia. Scale bar represents 1 cm.

opencc-by-nc-nd-4.0Dec 2015View details →

Background data: Hy:Con: A Strategic Tool For Balancing Hydropower Development And Conservation Needs

Background data to the publication "Hy:Con: A Strategic Tool For Balancing Hydropower Development And Conservation Needs"

opencc-zeroOct 2023View details →

Hunting habits die hard: Conserved prey preferences in neotropical army ants across distant neotropical rainforests

Supplemental dataset to article. Article abstract: Army ants are widely recognized as keystone species in neotropical rainforests due to their role as important arthropod predators. Their large-scale raids involve countless workers scouring the forest floor in pursuit of prey, primarily capturing other invertebrates. However, our understanding of the precise dietary preferences and the degree of niche differentiation among sympatric species remains limited. In this study, we resolved an Ecuadorian army ant predation network consisting of 244 prey species and 13 army ant species of the genera Cheliomyrmex, Eciton, Labidus, Neivamyrmex, and Nomamyrmex. We collected 2,156 prey items from 180 army ant raids/emigrations, and of these, we identified 1,945 prey items to family level, 1,313 to genus level and 664 to species level based on morphological identifications and DNA barcodes. Prey consisted primarily of other ants (1,843 prey items; 153 ant species), to the largest part ant brood (N = 1,726). Hence, most army ant species chiefly plundered the nests of other ants, while the three swarm-raiding species, i.e. L. praedator, L. spininodes, and E. burchellii, exhibited a relatively high proportion of non-ant invertebrate prey in their diet. The predation network showed a high degree of specialization (H2ˈ = 0.65), characterized by little dietary niche overlap among sympatric species. We compared the Ecuadorian network with one previously studied in Costa Rica and found that, despite the large geographic distance, prey preferences remained remarkably similar. We discovered species-specific preferences for captured ant genera and species, despite some species turnover in both army ants and prey. Additionally, army ants also exhibited consistent spatio-temporal raiding preferences across study sites. In conclusion, predation preferences within army ant communities exhibited consistency in multiple niche dimensions across two distant geographic regions, suggesting a notable level of predictability within army ant predation networks.