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Data from: Drought and immunity determine the intensity of West Nile virus epidemics and climate change impacts
The effect of global climate change on infectious disease remains hotly debated because multiple extrinsic and intrinsic drivers interact to influence transmission dynamics in nonlinear ways. The dominant drivers of widespread pathogens, like West Nile virus, can be challenging to identify due to regional variability in vector and host ecology, with past studies producing disparate findings. Here, we used analyses at national and state scales to examine a suite of climatic and intrinsic drivers of continental-scale West Nile virus epidemics, including an empirically derived mechanistic relationship between temperature and transmission potential that accounts for spatial variability in vectors. We found that drought was the primary climatic driver of increased West Nile virus epidemics, rather than within-season or winter temperatures, or precipitation independently. Local-scale data from one region suggested drought increased epidemics via changes in mosquito infection prevalence rather than mosquito abundance. In addition, human acquired immunity following regional epidemics limited subsequent transmission in many states. We show that over the next 30 years, increased drought severity from climate change could triple West Nile virus cases, but only in regions with low human immunity. These results illustrate how changes in drought severity can alter the transmission dynamics of vector-borne diseases.
Larval nutrition impacts the scaling of adult metabolic rate with body mass in honeybees
<p>Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is a fundamental physiological measure linked to numerous aspects of organismal function, including lifespan. Although dietary restriction in insects during larval growth/development affects adult RMR, the impact of larval diet quality on adult RMR has not been studied. Using in vitro rearing to control larval diet quality, we determined the effect of dietary protein and carbohydrate on honeybee survival-to-adulthood, time-to-eclosion, body mass/size and adult RMR. High carbohydrate larval diets increased survival-to-adulthood and time-to-eclosion compared to both low carbohydrate and high protein diets. Upon emergence, bees reared on the high protein diet were smaller and lighter than those reared on other diets, whilst those raised on the high carbohydrate diet varied more in body mass. Newly-emerged adult bees' reared on the high carbohydrate diet showed a significantly steeper increase in allometric scaling of RMR compared to those reared on other diets. This suggests that diet quality influences survival-to-adulthood, time-to-eclosion, and the allometric scaling of RMR. Given that agricultural intensification and increasing urbanisation have led to a decrease in both forage availability and dietary diversity for bees, our results are critical to improving understanding of the impacts of poor developmental nutrition on bee growth/development and physiology.</p>
Performance of virtual screening against GPCR homology models: Impact of template selection and treatment of binding site plasticity
<p>Rational drug design for G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) is limited by the small number of available atomic resolution structures. We assessed the use of homology modeling to predict the structures of two therapeutically relevant GPCRs and strategies to improve the performance of virtual screening against modeled binding sites. Homology models of the D<sub>2</sub> dopamine (D<sub>2</sub>R) and serotonin 5-HT<sub>2A</sub> receptors (5-HT<sub>2A</sub>R) were generated based on crystal structures of 16 different GPCRs. Comparison of the homology models to D<sub>2</sub>R and 5-HT<sub>2A</sub>R crystal structures showed that accurate predictions could be obtained, but not necessarily using the most closely related template. Assessment of virtual screening performance was based on molecular docking of ligands and decoys. The results demonstrated that several templates and multiple models based on each of these must be evaluated to identify the optimal binding site structure. Models based on aminergic GPCRs displayed ligand enrichment and there was a trend toward improved virtual screening performance with increasing binding site accuracy. The best models even displayed ligand enrichment better than that of the D<sub>2</sub>R and 5-HT<sub>2A</sub>R crystal structures. Methods to consider binding site plasticity were explored to further improve predictions. Molecular docking to ensembles of structures did not outperform the best individual binding site models, but could increase the diversity of hits from virtual screens and be advantageous for GPCR targets with few known ligands. Molecular dynamics refinement resulted in moderate improvements of structural accuracy and the virtual screening performance of snapshots was either comparable to or worse than that of the raw homology models. These results provide guidelines for successful application of structure-based ligand discovery using GPCR homology models.</p>
Impacts of environmental heterogeneity on natural selection in a wild bird population
<p>Natural selection has been studied for several decades, resulting in the computation of thousands of selection estimates. Although the importance of environmental conditions on selection has often been suggested, published estimates rarely take into account the effects of environmental heterogeneity on selection patterns. Here, we estimated linear and non‐linear viability selection gradients on morphological traits of 12 days‐old nestlings in a wild population of tree swallows (<i>Tachycineta bicolor</i>) across a large‐scale heterogeneous study system in southern Québec, Canada. We assessed the environmental drivers of nestling survival and evaluated their effects on strength and direction of selection gradients. Separate analyses of environmental variables showed that high temperatures and heavy rainfall caused stronger positive linear selection on morphological traits. Weaker linear selection was also measured in more extensively cultivated areas. Both strength and shape of non‐linear quadratic and correlational components of selection were modified by environmental variables. Considering all environmental variables revealed that precipitation since hatching affected patterns of linear selection on traits, while temperatures since hatching shaped nonlinear selection patterns. Our study underlines the importance of quantifying linear and non‐linear natural selection under various environmental conditions and how the evolutionary response of traits may be affected by ongoing human‐induced environmental changes.</p>
Data from: Oyster aquaculture impacts Zostera marina epibiont community composition in Akkeshi-ko estuary, Japan
Coastal fisheries are in decline worldwide, and aquaculture has become an increasingly popular way to meet seafood demand. While finfish aquaculture can have substantial adverse effects on coastal ecosystems due mostly to necessary feed inputs, bivalves graze on natural phytoplankton and are often considered for their positive ecosystem services. We conducted two independent studies to investigate the effects of long-line Crassostrea gigas oyster aquaculture on Zostera marina seagrass beds and associated epibiont communities in Akkeshi-ko estuary, Japan. Results from both studies yielded no evidence of an effect of oyster aquaculture on the morphology, density, or biomass of Z. marina, but significant differences were apparent in the epibiont community. Reference seagrass beds located away from aquaculture had higher seagrass epiphyte loads and higher abundances of amphipods. Conversely, seagrass beds below aquaculture lines had higher sessile polychaete biomass and higher isopod abundances. Our results suggest that the presence of oyster aquaculture may have indirect effects on seagrass by changing epibiont community composition and relative abundances of species. One proposed mechanism is that cultured oysters feed on epiphytic diatoms and epiphyte propagules before they can settle on the seagrass, which reduces epiphyte loads and influences subsequent faunal settlement. If carefully implemented and monitored, long-line oyster aquaculture may be a sustainable option to consider as bivalve aquaculture expands to meet global seafood demand, but further work is needed to fully assess and generalize the community-level effects on seagrass epibionts.
Data from: A description of nesting behaviors, including factors impacting nest site selection, in black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata)
Nest site selection is at once fundamental to reproduction and a poorly understood component of many organisms' reproductive investment. This study investigates the nesting behaviors of black-and-white ruffed lemurs, Varecia variegata, a litter-bearing primate from the southeastern rainforests of Madagascar. Using a combination of behavioral, geospatial, and demographic data, I test the hypotheses that environmental and social cues influence nest site selection, and that these decisions ultimately impact maternal reproductive success. Gestating females built multiple large nests throughout their territories. Of these, females used only a fraction of the originally constructed nests, as well as several parking locations as infants aged. Nest construction was best predicted by environmental cues, including the size of the nesting tree and density of feeding trees within a 75 m radius of the nest, whereas nest use depended largely on the size and average distance to feeding trees within that same area. Microhabitat characteristics were unrelated to whether females built or used nests. Although unrelated to nest site selection, social cues, specifically the average distance to conspecifics' nest and park sites, were related to maternal reproductive success; mothers whose litters were parked in closer proximity to others' nests experienced higher infant survival than those whose nests were more isolated. This is likely because nesting proximity facilitated communal crèche use by neighboring females. Together, these results suggest a complex pattern of nesting behaviors that involves females strategically building nests in areas with high potential resource abundance, using nests in areas according to their realized productivity, and communally rearing infants within a network of nests distributed throughout the larger communal territory.
Data from: More salt, please: global patterns, responses, and impacts of foliar sodium in grasslands
Sodium is unique among abundant elemental nutrients, because most plant species do not require it for growth or development, whereas animals physiologically require sodium. Foliar sodium influences consumption rates by animals and can structure herbivores across landscapes. We quantified foliar sodium in 201 locally abundant, herbaceous species representing 32 families and, at 26 sites on four continents, experimentally manipulated vertebrate herbivores and elemental nutrients to determine their effect on foliar sodium. Foliar sodium varied taxonomically and geographically, spanning five orders of magnitude. Site‐level foliar sodium increased most strongly with site aridity and soil sodium; nutrient addition weakened the relationship between aridity and mean foliar sodium. Within sites, high sodium plants declined in abundance with fertilisation, whereas low sodium plants increased. Herbivory provided an explanation: herbivores selectively reduced high nutrient, high sodium plants. Thus, interactions among climate, nutrients and the resulting nutritional value for herbivores determine foliar sodium biogeography in herbaceous‐dominated systems.
Data from: Herbivory and climate as drivers of woody plant growth: Do deer decrease the impacts of warming?
<p>Vegetation at ecotone transitions between open and forested areas is often heavily affected by two key processes: climate change and management of large herbivore densities. These both drive woody plant state-shifts, determining the location and the nature of the limit between open and tree or shrub-dominated landscapes. In order to adapt management to prevailing and future climate, we need to understand how browsing and climatic factors together affect the growth of plants at biome borders. To disentangle herbivory and climate effects, we combined long-term tree growth monitoring and dendroecology to investigate woody plant growth under different temperatures and red deer (<i>Cervus elaphus</i>) herbivory pressures at forest-moorland ecotones in the Scottish highlands. Reforestation and deer densities are core and conflicting management concerns in the area, and there is an urgent need for additional knowledge. We found that deer herbivory and climate had significant and interactive effects on tree growth: in the presence of red deer, pine (<i>Pinus sylvestris</i>) growth responded more strongly to annual temperature than in the absence of deer, possibly reflecting differing plant-plant competition and facilitation conditions. As expected, pine growth was negatively related to deer density and positively to temperature. However, at the tree population level, warming decreased growth when more than 60% of shoots were browsed. Heather (<i>Calluna vulgaris</i>) growth was negatively related to temperature and the direction of the response to deer switched from negative to positive when mean annual temperatures fell below 6.0°C. In addition, our models allow estimates to be made of how woody plant growth responds under specific combinations of temperature and herbivory, and show how deer management can be adapted to predicted climatic changes in order to more effectively achieve reforestation goals. Our results support the hypothesis that temperature and herbivory have interactive effects on woody plant growth, and thus accounting for just one of these two factors is insufficient for understanding plant growth mechanics at biome transitions. Furthermore, we show that climate-driven woody plant growth increases can be negated by herbivory.</p>
Data from: A Bayesian approach for inferring the impact of a discrete character on rates of continuous-character evolution in the presence of background-rate variation
Understanding how and why rates of character evolution vary across the Tree of Life is central to many evolutionary questions; e.g., does the trophic apparatus (a set of continuous characters) evolve at a higher rate in fish lineages that dwell in reef versus non-reef habitats (a discrete character)? Existing approaches for inferring the relationship between a discrete character and rates of continuous-character evolution rely on comparing a null model (in which rates of continuous-character evolution are constant across lineages) to an alternative model (in which rates of continuous-character evolution depend on the state of the discrete character under consideration). However, these approaches are susceptible to a "straw-man" effect: the influence of the discrete character is inflated because the null model is extremely unrealistic. Here, we describe MuSSCRat, a Bayesian approach for inferring the impact of a discrete trait on rates of continuous-character evolution in the presence of alternative sources of rate variation ("background-rate variation"). We demonstrate by simulation that our method is able to reliably infer the degree of state-dependent rate variation, and show that ignoring background-rate variation leads to biased inferences regarding the degree of state-dependent rate variation in grunts (the fish group Haemulidae).
Data from: Experimental species removals impact the architecture of pollination networks
Mutualistic networks are key for the creation and maintenance of biodiversity, yet are threatened by global environmental change. Most simulation models assume that network structure remains static after species losses, despite theoretical and empirical reasons to expect dynamic responses. We assessed the effects of experimental single bumblebee species removals on the structure of entire flower visitation networks. We hypothesized that network structure would change following processes linking interspecific competition with dietary niche breadth. We found that single pollinator species losses impact pollination network structure: resource complementarity decreased, while resource overlap increased. Despite marginally increased connectance, fewer plant species were visited after species removals. These changes may have negative functional impacts, as complementarity is important for maintaining biodiversity–ecological functioning relationships and visitation of rare plant species is critical for maintaining diverse plant communities.
Data from: Impacts of inference method and dataset filtering on phylogenomic resolution in a rapid radiation of ground squirrels (Xerinae: Marmotini)
Phylogenomic datasets are illuminating many areas of the Tree of Life. However, the large size of these datasets alone may be insufficient to resolve problematic nodes in the most rapid evolutionary radiations, because inferences in zones of extraordinarily low phylogenetic signal can be sensitive to the model and method of inference, as well as the information content of loci employed. We used a dataset of >3,950 ultraconserved element (UCE) loci from a classic mammalian radiation, ground-dwelling squirrels of the tribe Marmotini (Sciuridae: Xerinae), to assess sensitivity of phylogenetic estimates to varying per-locus information content across 4 different inference methods (RAxML, ASTRAL, NJst, SVDquartets). Persistent discordance was found in topology and bootstrap support between concatenation- and coalescent-based inferences; among methods within the coalescent framework; and within all methods in response to different filtering scenarios. Contrary to some recent empirical UCE-based studies, filtering by information content did not promote complete among-method concordance. Nevertheless, filtering did improve concordance relative to randomly selected locus sets, largely via improved consistency of two-step summary methods (particularly NJst) under conditions of higher average per-locus variation (and thus increasing gene tree precision). The benefits of dataset filtering are notably variable among classes of inference methods and across different evolutionary scenarios, reiterating the complexities of resolving rapid radiations, even with robust taxon and character sampling.
The impact of the Pull of the Recent in extant elasmobranchs
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Modern elasmobranchs have a long evolutionary history and an abundant fossil record. Many fossil taxa have living representatives. However, the representation of extant taxa in the fossil record is unknown. To begin to understand the geological history of extant elasmobranchs, here we assess the quality of their fossil record. We do so by assessing the Pull of the Recent (herein, POR). The POR can bias the fossil record because the rather complete record of living taxa allows palaeontologists tobridge time bins where fossils are absent. We assessed the impact of the POR by quantifying the proportion of extant elasmobranchs that have a fossil record, but do not occur in the last 5 million years. We found that the POR does not affect orders and families, but it does affect 24% of elasmobranch genera. Although modest, the impact of the POR in extant elasmobranch genera is higher than that found in other taxa. Overall, the geological history of elasmobranchs contradicts the usual assumption that the fossil record becomes worse backwards in time. This is the case across geographical regions and tooth size, further suggesting that sampling intensity and outcrop availability can help explain the POR effect on sharks and rays.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Weighing the cost: the impact of serial heatwaves on body mass in a small Australian passerine
<p>Rising temperatures pose a grave risk to arid zone birds because they are already living close to their physiological limits and must balance water conservation against the need for evaporative cooling. We assess how extreme temperatures affect a wild population of small passerines by monitoring daily mass change in individual Jacky Winters (a small Australasian robin; <i>Microeca fascinans</i>) across a series of severe heatwaves that afflicted southern Australia in the summer of 2018-19. Daily maximum temperature and duration of heat exposure were negatively related to the birds' ability to maintain body mass. At maximum temperatures ≥42<sup>o</sup>C, birds lost 2.0% of their body mass daily and at ≥45<sup>o</sup>C, 2.6%. Apparent mortality increased almost three-fold, and all breeding birds abandoned their nests. Nevertheless, net daily mass loss was less than might be expected from laboratory-based findings, presumably because wild Jacky Winters undertook behavioural thermoregulation. The birds also regained some mass between heatwave events and suffered no long-term reduction in body condition.</p>
Impact of increased resolution on long-standing biases in HighResMIP-PRIMAVERA climate models
<p>This contains the data and plot scripts to reproduce the figures of the manuscript: <em>Impact of increased resolution on long-standing biases in HighResMIP-PRIMAVERA climate models</em>.</p> <p><strong>Authors:</strong></p> <p>Eduardo Moreno-Chamarro<sup>1*</sup>, Louis-Philippe Caron<sup>1,2</sup>, Saskia Loosveldt Tomas<sup>1</sup>, Oliver Gutjahr<sup>3,4</sup> , Marie-Pierre Moine<sup>5</sup>, Dian Putrasahan<sup>3</sup> , Christopher D. Roberts<sup>6</sup>, Malcolm J. Roberts<sup>7</sup>, Retish Senan<sup>6</sup>, Laurent Terray<sup>5</sup>, Etienne Tourigny<sup>1</sup>, Pier Luigi Vidale<sup>8</sup></p> <p><br> <sup>1 Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Barcelona, Spain.</sup></p> <p><sup>2 Ouranos, Montreal, H3A 1B9, Canada.</sup></p> <p><sup>3 Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. Hamburg, Germany.</sup></p> <p><sup>4 Now at Institut für Meereskunde, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.</sup></p> <p><sup>5 CECI, Université de Toulouse, CERFACS/CNRS, Toulouse, France.</sup></p> <p><sup>6 ECMWF European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, United Kingdom.</sup></p> <p><sup>7 Met Office, Exeter EX1 3PB, United Kingdom.</sup></p> <p><sup>8 NCAS-Climate, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom.</sup></p> <p><sup>Correspondence to: Eduardo Moreno-Chamarro (eduardo.moreno@bsc.es)</sup></p> <p><strong>Abstract. </strong>We examine the impacts of increased resolution on four long-standing biases using five different climate models developed within the PRIMAVERA project. Atmospheric resolution is increased from ~100–200 km to ~25–50 km, and ocean resolution is increased from ~1° (i.e., eddy-parametrized) to ~0.25° (i.e., eddy-present). For one model, ocean resolution is also increased to 1/12° (i.e., eddy-rich). Fully-coupled general circulation models and their atmosphere-only versions are compared with observations and reanalysis of near-surface temperature, precipitation, cloud cover, net cloud radiative effect, and zonal wind over the period 1980–2014. Both the ensemble mean and the individual models are analyzed. Increased resolution especially in the atmosphere helps reduce the surface warm bias over the tropical upwelling regions in the coupled models, with further improvements in the cloud cover and precipitation biases over the tropical Atlantic particularly. Related to this and to the improvement in the precipitation distribution over the western tropical Pacific, the double ITCZ bias also weakens with resolution. Overall, increased ocean resolution from 1° to 0.25° offers limited improvements or even bias degradation in some models, although an eddy-rich ocean resolution seems beneficial to reduce the North Atlantic cold bias and the Gulf Stream path. Despite the improvements, however, large biases in precipitation and cloud cover persist over the whole tropics as well as in the upper-troposphere zonal winds at mid-latitudes in both coupled and atmosphere-only models at higher resolutions. The SO warm bias also worsens or persists in some coupled models. And a new warm bias emerges in the Labrador Sea in all the high-resolution coupled models. The analysis of the PRIMAVERA models therefore suggests that, to reduce biases, i) increased atmosphere resolution up to ~25–50 km alone might not be sufficient and ii) an eddy-rich ocean resolution might be needed. The study thus adds to evidence that further improved model physics and tuning might be necessary in addition to increased resolution to mitigate biases.</p>
Impacts of female body size on cannibalism and juvenile abundance in a dominant arctic spider
<p>1. Body size influences an individual's physiology and the nature of its intra- and interspecific interactions. Changes in this key functional trait can therefore have important implications for populations as well. For example, among invertebrates, there is typically a positive correlation between female body size and reproductive output. Increasing body size can consequently trigger changes in population density, population structure (e.g., adult to juvenile ratio), and the strength of intraspecific competition.</p> <p>2. Body size changes have been documented in several species in the Arctic, a region that is warming rapidly. In particular, wolf spiders, one of the most abundant arctic invertebrate predators, are becoming larger and therefore more fecund. Whether these changes are affecting their populations and role within food webs is currently unclear.</p> <p>3. We investigated the population structure and feeding ecology of the dominant wolf spider species (Pardosa lapponica) at two tundra sites where adult spiders naturally differ in mean body size. Additionally, we performed a mesocosm experiment to investigate how variation in wolf spider density, which is likely to change as a function of body size, influences feeding ecology and its sensitivity to warming.</p> <p>4. We found that juvenile abundance is negatively associated with female size and that wolf spiders occupied higher trophic positions where adult females were larger. Because female body size is positively related to fecundity in P. lapponica, the unexpected finding of fewer juveniles with larger females suggests an increase in density-dependent cannibalism as a result of increased intraspecific competition for resources. Higher rates of density-dependent cannibalism are further supported by the results from our mesocosm experiment, in which individuals occupied higher trophic positions in plots with higher wolf spider densities. We observed no changes in wolf spider feeding ecology in association with short-term experimental warming.</p> <p>5. Our results suggest that body size variation in wolf spiders is associated with variation in intraspecific competition, feeding ecology, and population structure. Given the widespread distribution of wolf spiders in arctic ecosystems, body size shifts in these predators as a result of climate change could have implications for lower trophic levels and for ecosystem functioning. </p>
Data from: Impacts of rainfall extremes predicted by climate-change models on major trophic groups in the leaf-litter arthropod community
1. Arthropods in the leaf-litter layer of forest soils influence ecosystem processes such as decomposition. Climate-change models predict both increases and decreases in average rainfall. Increased drought may have greater impacts on the litter arthropod community. In addition to affecting survival or behavior of desiccation-sensitive species, lower rainfall may indirectly lower abundances of consumers that graze drought-stressed fungi, with repercussions for higher trophic levels. 2. We tested the hypothesis that trophic structure will differ between the two rainfall scenarios. In particular, we hypothesized that densities of several broadly defined trophic groupings of arthropods would be lower under reduced rainfall. 3. To test this hypothesis we used sprinklers to impose two rainfall treatments during three growing seasons in roofed, fenced 14-m2 plots; and documented changes in abundance from initial, pre-treatment densities of 39 arthropod taxa. Experimental plots were subjected to either LOW (fortnightly) or HIGH (weekly) average rainfall based upon climate models and the previous 100 years of regional weekly averages. Unroofed open plots, our reference treatment (REF), experienced higher-than-average rainfall during the experiment. 4. The two rainfall extremes produced clear negative effects of lowered rainfall on major trophic groups. Broad categories of fungivores, detritivores and predators were more abundant in HIGH than LOW plots by the final year. Springtails (Collembola), which graze fungal hyphae, were 3x more abundant in the HIGH-rainfall treatment. Taxa of larger-bodied fungivores and detritivores, spiders (Araneae), and non-spider predators were 2x more abundant under HIGH rainfall. Densities of mites (Acari), which include fungivores, detritivores and predators, were 1.5x greater in HIGH rainfall plots. Abundances and community structure of arthropods were similar in REF and experimental plots, showing that effects of rainfall uncovered in the experiment are applicable to nature. 5. This pattern suggests that changes in rainfall will alter bottom-up control processes in a critical detritus-based food web of deciduous forests. Our results, in conjunction with other findings on the impact of desiccation on arthropods and fungal growth, suggest that drier conditions will depress densities of fungal consumers, causing declines in higher trophic levels, with possible impacts on soil processes and the larger forest food web.
Data from: Agricultural land-use history and restoration impact soil microbial biodiversity
<ol> <li>Human land uses, such as agriculture, can leave long-lasting legacies as ecosystems recover. As a consequence, active restoration may be necessary to overcome land-use legacies; however, few studies have evaluated the joint effects of agricultural history and restoration on ecological communities. Those that have studied this joint effect have largely focused on plants and ignored other communities, such as soil microbes.</li> <li>We conducted a large-scale experiment to understand how agricultural history and restoration tree thinning affect soil bacterial and fungal communities within longleaf pine savannas of the southern United States. This experiment contained 64 pairs of remnant (no history of tillage agriculture) and post-agricultural (reforested following abandonment from tillage agriculture >60 years prior) longleaf pine savanna plots. Plots were each 1-ha and arranged into 27 blocks to minimize land-use decision making biases. We experimentally restored half of the remnant and post-agricultural plots by thinning trees to reinstate open-canopy savanna conditions and collected soils from all plots five growing seasons after tree thinning. We then evaluated soil bacterial and fungal communities using metabarcoding.</li> <li>Agricultural history increased bacterial diversity but decreased fungal diversity, while restoration increased both bacterial and fungal diversity. Both bacterial and fungal richness were correlated with a range of environmental variables including aboveground variables like leaf litter and plant diversity, and belowground variables such as soil nutrients, pH, and organic matter, many of which were also impacted by agricultural history and restoration.</li> <li>Fungal and bacterial community compositions were shaped by restoration and agricultural history resulting in four distinct communities across the four treatment combinations.</li> <li>Past agricultural land use left persistent legacies on soil microbial biodiversity, even over half a century after agricultural abandonment and after intensive restoration activities. The impacts of these changes on soil microbe biodiversity could play important roles in the functioning of ecosystems following agricultural abandonment and during restoration.</li> </ol>
Ecological impacts of pesticide seed treatments on arthropod communities in a grain crop rotation
<p>1. While many studies have investigated non-target impacts of neonicotinoid seed treatments (NSTs), they usually take place within a single crop and focus on specific pest or beneficial arthropod taxa.</p> <p>2. We compared the impacts of three seed treatments to an untreated control: imidacloprid + fungicide products, thiamethoxam + fungicide products, and fungicide products alone in a three-year crop rotation of full-season soybean, winter wheat, double-cropped soybean and maize. Specifically, we quantified neonicotinoid residues in the soil and in weedy winter annual flower buds and examined treatment impacts on soil and foliar arthropod communities as well as on plant growth and yield.</p> <p>3. Unquantifiably low amounts of insecticide were found in winter annual flowers of one species in one site year, which did not correspond with our treatments. Although low levels of insecticide residues were present in the soil, residues were not persistent. Residues were highest in the final year of the study, suggesting some accumulation.</p> <p>4. We observed variable impacts of NSTs on the arthropod community; principle response curve and redundancy analyses exhibited occasional treatment effects, with treatments impacting the abundance of various taxa, including predators and parasitoids. Overall, foliar taxa were impacted more than soil taxa, and the fungicides occasionally effected communities and individual taxa.</p> <p>5. Pest pressure was low throughout the study, and although pest numbers were reduced by the insecticides, corresponding increases in yield were not observed.</p> <p>6. <i>Synthesis and applications.</i> Pesticide seed treatments can impact arthropod taxa, including important natural enemies even when environmental persistence and active ingredient concentrations are low. The foliar community in winter wheat showed that in some cases, these impacts can last for several months after planting. Given the low pest pressure and lack of yield improvement in full-season and double-cropped soybean, winter wheat, and maize, we did not observe benefits that could justify the risks associated with neonicotinoid seed treatment (NST) use. Our results suggest that NSTs are not warranted in Maryland grain production, outside of specific instances of high pest pressure.</p>
Data from: Diversity in thermal affinity among key piscivores buffers impacts of ocean warming on predator-prey interactions
Asymmetries in responses to climate change have the potential to alter important predator-prey interactions, in part by altering the location and size of spatial refugia for prey. We evaluated the effect of ocean warming on interactions between four important piscivores and four of their prey in the U.S. Northeast Shelf by examining species overlap under historical conditions (1968-2014) and with a doubling in CO2. Because both predator and prey shift their distributions in response to changing ocean conditions, the net impact of warming or cooling on predator-prey interactions was not determined a priori from the range extent of either predator or prey alone. For Atlantic cod, an historically dominant piscivore in the region, we found that both historical and future warming led to a decline in the proportion of prey species' range it occupied and caused a potential reduction in its ability to exert top-down control on these prey. In contrast, the potential for overlap of spiny dogfish with prey species was enhanced by warming, expanding their importance as predators in this system. In sum, the decline in the ecological role for cod that began with overfishing in this ecosystem will likely be exacerbated by warming, but this loss may be counteracted by the rise in dominance of other piscivores with contrasting thermal preferences. Functional diversity in thermal affinity within the piscivore guild may therefore buffer against the impact of warming on marine ecosystems, suggesting a novel mechanism by which diversity confers resilience.
Impact of intercept trap type on plume structure: a potential mechanism for differential performance of intercept trap designs for Monochamus species
<p>Studies have demonstrated that semiochemical-baited intercept traps differ in their performance for sampling insects, but we have an incomplete understanding of how and why intercept trap design effects vary among insects. This can significantly delay both the development of new and optimization of existing survey and detection tools. The development of a mechanistic understanding of why trap performance varies within and among species would mitigate this delay. The primary objective of this study was to develop methods to characterize and compare the odor plumes associated with intercept traps that differ in their performance for forest Coleoptera. We released CO<sub>2</sub> and measured fluctuations of this tracer gas from 175-point locations arranged in a 2-by-3-by-2-m grid cuboid downwind of a standard multiple-funnel, a modified multiple-funnel, a panel, a canopy malaise trap, and a blank control (i.e., no trap) in a greenhouse. Significant differences in trapping efficacy between these different trap designs were observed for <i>Monochamus scutellatus</i> (Say) and <i>Monochamus notatus</i> (Drury) in a field trial. Significant differences were also observed in how CO<sub>2</sub> accumulated in time at different positions downwind among these different trap designs. Turbulent dispersion is the dominant force structuring odor plumes and creates intermittency in the odor plume that is important for sustained upwind flight in insects. Methodological and instrumental limitations resulted in the inability to determine instantaneous plume structures and vortex shedding frequencies for different intercept trap designs. Although we observed differences in the odor plumes emanating downwind of the different intercept trap designs, we were unable to reconcile these differences with capture rates of the different trap designs for <i>M. scutellatus</i> and <i>M. notatus</i>.</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.