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opencc-zeroDec 2022View details →

Data from: Does the reduction of seed dormancy during ex situ cultivation affect the germination and establishment of plants reintroduced into the wild?

1. Plants or seeds produced in botanic gardens or nurseries have become an important source of plant material for reintroductions or population reinforcements. However, recent research has shown that these living collections bear the risk of being genetically impoverished and adapted to the artificial habitat. In particular, many studies have reported a decline of seed dormancy during ex situ cultivation, which may compromise their suitability for reintroduction programs. However, the impact of those ex situ-derived changes on the germination and establishment of reintroduced plant populations is still unclear. 2. We studied the germination behaviour, population establishment and plant fitness over three years of reintroduced plants of the short-lived perennial Digitalis lutea, comparing plants grown from (1) a 30-year botanic garden population, (2) seeds from a seed bank representing the initial starting point of the botanic garden culture, and (3) a re-sampled corresponding wild population. 3. Under laboratory conditions, wild-collected seeds required cold stratification to germinate, whereas seeds from the garden population germinated without stratification. This pattern was strongly reduced in an outdoor pot experiment, where only a few garden seeds germinated before winter, and all seeds remained dormant when seeded in the natural area of origin. In a transplant experiment, reintroduced plants from the wild population outperformed both, the garden and the seed bank plants, in their fitness in the first 3 years after reintroduction suggesting adaptation to current climatic conditions. 4. Synthesis and Applications: Our study demonstrates that trait changes that occurred during ex situ cultivation can negatively impact the establishment of reintroduced plants. We conclude that wild plant material collected from contemporary populations is best suited for reintroduction and should be preferred over ex situ-cultivated and seed bank stored material, especially when the cultivation spanned multiple generations. However, our study also shows that germination requirements change in complex ways, and the loss of dormancy observed under laboratory conditions may not always be directly transferable to natural conditions. When established standards are respected, ex situ propagated material may thus still be a valuable resource, especially when wild material is not available in sufficient quantities.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2022View details →

Time to independence and predator-prey relationships of wild-born, captive-raised cheetahs released into private reserves in Namibia

Data associated with the manuscript: Marker, L.,  Schmidt-Küntzel, A., Walker, E. H., Nghikembua, M., Cristescu, B. Time to independence and predator-prey relationships of wild-born, captive-raised cheetahs released into private reserves in Namibia. Ecological Solutions and Evidence. Contact: Dr. Bogdan Cristescu bogdan@cheetah.org Description: This manuscript estimated the time to independence and cheetah-prey relationships for cheetahs released onto three private reserves in Namibia. The cheetahs were rescued as wild-born cubs, were raised in captivity and went through a rehabilitation process at the Cheetah Conservation Fund, Namibia, and then released with collars to monitor their success post-release in the wild. The data is a MS Excel file that includes separate spreadsheets for: - Time to independence ("TimeToIndependence"): number of weekly supplemental feedings of cheetahs post-release before achieving independence - Prey composition ("PreyComposition"): the species, sex, age class, and size class of prey that cheetahs killed and were recorded during monitoring post-release   - Prey availability ("PreyAvailability"): the prey species recorded along driven dirt road transects, and which were used to estimate prey density in a distance sampling framework  - Habitat use ("HabitatUse"): the number of kills made by released cheetahs that have associated habitat class information, partitioned by chetah reproductive status (SF: solitary female, CF: coalition females, CM: coalition males)

opencc-zeroDec 2022View details →

An inventory of crop wild relatives and wild-utilized plants in Canada

In the face of global pressures of change and biodiversity loss, crop wild relatives (CWR) and wild-utilized plants (WUS) urgently require conservation attention. To advance conservation, we assembled a national inventory of CWR and WUS in Canada. To assess current ex situ conservation, we gathered a virtual metacollection of CWR and WUS accession data from national genebanks and from botanical gardens. The inventory includes 779 CWR and WUS taxa (658 distinct species), with 263 (222 distinct species) that are related to food crops of global and national importance such as blueberry and cranberry, apple, stone fruits, strawberry, sunflower and saskatoon. Sixty-one food crop CWR taxa are prioritized for breeding potential, and sixteen due to conservation threats. Although most food crop CWR are represented in ex situ collections (91% of species), representation of within-species diversity is low (median = 5% of Canadian ecogeographic types represented per species). Poor representation of within-species diversity demands an integrative conservation strategy that emphasizes in situ protection especially focusing on wild-populations in Canada's southern ecoregions where diversity is concentrated. While genebank collections represent more species and higher accession counts per species, botanical gardens include living collections of charismatic fruit crop relatives and other woody-perennials that are well situated to advance conservation by raising broader awareness of CWR and WUS. To promote further conservation, we present a web application that enables conservation planners and practitioners to identify local CWR and WUS diversity and to identify within-species ecogeographic types that are underrepresented in ex situ conservation systems.

opencc-zeroJan 2023View details →

Vegetation cover and biodiversity reduce parasite infection in wild hosts across ecological levels and scales

Land use changes and biodiversity loss critically disrupt ecosystem functioning and are major drivers of infectious disease outbreaks. Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease, is a multi-host parasite whose epidemiology has changed due to the expansion of anthropogenic activities over natural areas. We aimed to understand the ecological processes increasing parasite prevalence at the individual, the community and the landscape levels using the largest database on small mammal infection by T. cruzi in Brazil. We applied machine learning techniques and structural equation models to show that allometric traits and the relative abundance of rodents in the community were important predictors of infection risk, followed by variables associated with the landscape environmental quality. Natural vegetation cover change and the taxonomic and functional dimensions of biodiversity indirectly reduced infection through its effect on the abundance distribution and composition of host communities. According to our findings, approaches to biodiversity conservation and restoration based on the integration of social inclusion and human welfare would contribute to regulating the prevalence of T. cruzi in wild hosts, which may reduce overall transmission risk.

opencc-zeroMar 2023View details →

Data for: Nest material preferences in wild hazel dormice Muscardinus avellanarius: Testing predictions from optimal foraging theory

Obtaining nesting material presents an optimal foraging problem, collection of materials incurs a cost in terms of risk of predation and energy spent, and individuals must balance these costs with the benefits of using that material in the nest. The hazel dormouse, Muscardinus avellanarius is an endangered British mammal in which both sexes build nests. However, whether material used in their construction follows the predictions of optimal foraging theory is unknown. Here, we analyse the use of nesting materials in forty two breeding nests from six locations in Southwest England. Nests were characterised in terms of which plants were used, the relative amount of each plant, and how far away the nearest source was. We find that dormice exhibit a preference for plants closer to the nest, but that the distance they are prepared to travel depends on the plant species. Dormice travelled further to collect honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum, oak Quercus robur, and beech Fagus sylvatica than any other plants. Distance did not affect the relative amount used, although the proportion of honeysuckle in nests was highest, and more effort was expended collecting honeysuckle, beech, bramble Rubus fruticosus and oak compared to other plants. Our results suggest that not all aspects of optimal foraging theory apply to nest material collection. However, optimal foraging theory is a useful model to examine nest material collection, providing testable predictions. As found previously honeysuckle is important as a nesting material, and should be taken account when assessing suitability of sites for dormice.

opencc-zeroMar 2023View details →

Data from: Quantitative genetic analysis of floral traits shows current limits but potential evolution in the wild

The vast variation in floral traits across angiosperms is often interpreted as the result of adaptation to pollinators. However, studies in wild populations often find no evidence of pollinator-mediated selection on flowers. Evolutionary theory predicts this could be the outcome of periods of stasis under stable conditions, followed by shorter periods of pollinator change that provide selection for innovative phenotypes. We asked if periods of stasis are caused by stabilizing selection, absence of other forms of selection, or by low trait ability to respond even if selection is present. We studied a plant predominantly pollinated by one bee species across its range. We measured heritability and evolvability of traits, using genome-wide relatedness in a large wild population, and combined this with estimates of selection on the same individuals. We found evidence for both stabilizing selection and low trait heritability as potential explanations for stasis in flowers. The area of the standard petal is under stabilizing selection, but the variability is not heritable. A separate trait, floral weight, presents high heritability, but is not currently under selection. We show how a simple pollination environment coincides with the absence of current prerequisites for adaptive evolutionary change, while heritable variation remains to respond to future selection pressures.

opencc-by-4.0Mar 2023View details →

Centripetal migration in Drosophila ovary II: wild type timelapse & milestone duration

Part of data supporting Figs 1,3,S2 of “Two phases for centripetal migration of Drosophila melanogaster follicle cells: initial ingression followed by epithelial migration” DOI: 10.1242/dev.200492 Data files descriptions: <ul> <li>“10.25.17 – ShgGFP 40x-timelapse”                            6.4 GB</li> </ul>             shg-GFP marker timelapse image data used for milestone duration   <ul> <li>“fixed samples with DAPI”                                                 473.5 MB</li> </ul>              Fixed sample image data <ul> <li>“Full Cell Behaviors & Timing Analysis”                                 10 KB</li> </ul>              Quantitation of intervals between landmarks and total time elapsed <ul> <li>“Landmarks pre-analysis”                                                             8 KB</li> </ul>            Candidate morphological landmarks and ordering <ul> <li>“GR1-tdEOS analysis”                                                             3 KB</li> </ul>             Evaluation of samples from Vkg-GFP GR! tdEOS data <ul> <li>“Vkg-GFP GR1-tdEOS timelapse”                                11.43 GB</li> </ul>              timelapse image data <ul> <li>“Vkg-GFP GR1-Tomato timelapse”                              12.9 GB</li> </ul>              timelapse image data

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2020View details →

Pain et al. 2020 Behavioral and Physiological Responses to Instability in Group Membership in Wild Male Woolly Monkeys (Lagothrix lagotricha poeppigii)

Data for Pain et al. 2020 Behavioral and Physiological Responses to Instability in Group Membership in Wild Male Woolly Monkeys (Lagothrix lagotricha poeppigii)

Micro-evolutionary response of spring migration timing in a wild seabird

In the context of rapid climate change, phenological advance is a key adaptation for which evidence is accumulating across taxa. Among vertebrates, phenotypic plasticity is known to underlie most of this phenological change, while evidence for micro-evolution is very limited and challenging to obtain. In this study, we quantified phenotypic and genetic trends in timing of spring migration using 8032 dates of arrival at the breeding grounds obtained from observations on 1715 individual common terns (Sterna hirundo) monitored across 27 years, and tested whether these trends were consistent with predictions of a micro-evolutionary response to selection. We observed a strong phenotypic advance of 9.3 days in arrival date, of which c. 5% was accounted for by an advance in breeding values. The Breeder's equation and Robertson's Secondary Theorem of Selection predicted qualitatively similar evolutionary responses to selection, and these theoretical predictions were largely consistent with our estimated genetic pattern. Overall, our study provides rare evidence for micro-evolution underlying (part of) an adaptive response to climate change in the wild and illustrates how a combination of adaptive micro-evolution and phenotypic plasticity facilitated a shift towards earlier spring migration in this free-living population of common terns.

Adaptive significance of affiliative behaviour differs between sexes in a wild reptile population

In recent years, we have begun to appreciate that social behaviours might exhibit repeatable among-individual variation. Such behavioural traits may even covary and have critical evolutionary implications. Importantly, some social behaviours such as aggressiveness have been shown to provide fitness benefits, including higher reproductive success and survival. However, fitness consequences of affiliative behaviours, especially between or among sexes, can be more challenging to establish. Using a longitudinal behavioural dataset (2014-2021) collected on eastern water dragons (Intellagama lesueurii), we investigated whether various aspects of affiliative behaviour (1) were repeatable across years, (2) covaried with each other at the among-individual level, and (3) influenced individuals' fitness. In particular, we considered affiliative behaviours towards opposite-sex and same-sex conspecifics separately. We found that social traits were repeatable and covaried with each other similarly for both sexes. More notably, we found that male reproductive success was positively correlated with the number of female associates and the proportion of time spent with females, whilst females' reproductive success was not correlated with any of the measured social behaviour metrics. Overall, these findings suggest that selection may be acting differently on social behaviour of male and female eastern water dragons.

Immunohistochemistry of wild type and hjv-/- iron manipulated mouse livers and spleens treated with LPS or Hepcidin

The iron hormone hepcidin is transcriptionally activated by iron or inflammation via distinct, partially overlapping pathways. We addressed how iron affects inflammatory hepcidin levels and the ensuing hypoferremic response. Dietary iron overload did not mitigate hepcidin induction in LPS-treated wt mice but prevented effective inflammatory hypoferremia. Likewise, LPS modestly decreased serum iron in hepcidin-deficient Hjv-/- mice, model of hemochromatosis. Synthetic hepcidin triggered hypoferremia in control but not iron-loaded wt animals. Furthermore, it dramatically decreased hepatic and splenic ferroportin in Hjv-/- mice on standard or iron-deficient diet, but only triggered hypoferremia in the latter. Mechanistically, iron antagonized hepcidin responsiveness by inactivating IRPs in the liver and spleen, to stimulate ferroportin mRNA translation. Prolonged LPS treatment eliminating ferroportin mRNA permitted hepcidin-mediated hypoferremia in iron-loaded mice. Thus, de novo ferroportin synthesis is critical determinant of serum iron and finetunes hepcidin-dependent functional outcomes. Our data uncover a crosstalk between hepcidin and IRE/IRP systems that controls tissue ferroportin expression and determines serum iron levels. Moreover, they suggest that hepcidin supplementation therapy is more efficient combined with iron depletion.

Genotype data for wild lupin populations from central Michigan

Habitat degradation can have significant effects on native species inhabiting natural ecosystems. Within oak barrens and oak-pine barrens ecosystems, there is a complex interspecies interaction between the federally endangered Karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) and its obligate host plant, wild lupine (Lupinus perennis L.). Recruitment of wild lupine is critical for maintaining butterfly populations; however, this recruitment can be impeded by habitat fragmentation. Reduced recruitment can result in low genetic diversity in isolated populations, limiting its adaptive potential to respond to environmental change. This study was aimed at understanding the genetic diversity and population structure of wild lupine populations throughout central and west Michigan. We identified significant population structure across most of the populations sampled, with only two sites not significantly different from each other. No sites within our study area displayed statistically significant levels of inbreeding. There are also at least two genetic clusters of wild lupine present within our study region, although there is significant overlap among these groups, indicating that genetic differentiation among clusters may be limited.

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2019View details →

FIGURE 1 in Phylogenetic Relationship Among Wild and Cultivated Grapevine in Sicily: A Hotspot in the Middle of the Mediterranean Basin

FIGURE 1 | Map of Sicily indicating the collection sites of wild grapevine.

Defensive symbiosis in the wild: seasonal dynamics of parasitism risk and symbiont-conferred resistance

Parasite-mediated selection can rapidly drive up resistance levels in host populations, but fixation of resistance traits may be prevented by costs of resistance. Black bean aphids (Aphis fabae) benefit from increased resistance to parasitoids when carrying the defensive bacterial endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa. However, due to fitness costs that come with symbiont infection, symbiont-conferred resistance may result in either a net benefit or a net cost to the aphid host, depending on parasitoid presence as well as on the general ecological context. Balancing selection may therefore explain why in natural aphid populations, H. defensa is often found at intermediate frequencies. Here we present a two-year field study where we set out to look for signatures of balancing selection in natural aphid populations. We collected temporally well-resolved data on the prevalence of H. defensa in A.f. fabae and estimated the risk imposed by parasitoids using sentinel hosts. Despite a marked and consistent early-summer peak in parasitism risk and significant changes in symbiont prevalence over time, we found just a weak correlation between parasitism risk and H. defensa frequency dynamics. H. defensa prevalence in the populations under study was, in fact, better explained by the number of heat days that previous aphid generations were exposed to. Our study grants an unprecedentedly well-resolved insight into the dynamics of endosymbiont and parasitoid communities of A.f. fabae populations, and it adds to a growing body of empirical evidence suggesting that not only parasitism risk but rather multifarious selection is shaping H. defensa prevalence in the wild.

opencc-by-4.0May 2023View details →

Remote sensing and ecological variables related to Influenza A prevalence and subtype diversity in wild birds in the Lluta wetland of northern Chile

Supplemental material for manuscript, tables 1 and 2

opencc-by-4.0May 2023View details →

Traditional knowledge of wild plant species used in the southern part of Wadi Araba desert in South-West Jordan

This data set provides documentation of traditional knowledge of using native plants in the Wadi Araba desert. The uses for grazing, firewood, food, and medicine. The information was obtained using a survey.

Supporting isotopic data for: Amino acid isotope analysis reveals variation in gut microbial contribution to host protein metabolism in a wild small mammal community

Herbivory is a dominant feeding strategy among animals, yet herbivores are often protein limited. The gut microbiome is hypothesized to help maintain host protein balance by provisioning essential macromolecules, but this has never been tested in wild consumers. Using amino acid carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope analysis, we estimated the proportional contributions of essential amino acids (AAESS) synthesized by gut microbes to five co-occurring desert rodents representing herbivorous, omnivorous, and insectivorous functional groups. We found that herbivorous rodents occupying lower trophic positions (Dipodomys spp.) routed a substantial proportion (~40–50%) of their AAESS from gut microbes, while higher trophic level omnivores (Peromyscus spp.) and insectivores (Onychomys arenicola) obtained most of their AAESS (~58%) from plant-based energy channels but still received ~20% of their AAESS from gut microbes. These findings empirically demonstrate that gut microbes play a key functional role in host protein metabolism in wild animals.

Impacts of fungal disease on dyadic social interactions in a wild agamid lizard

Emerging infectious fungal diseases are responsible for the extinction of myriad species across a range of phyla. As recently shown by the COVID-19 pandemic, social transmission can be key to disease spread, and in this context, humans are not alone in trying to be alone. In group-living species, individuals have been shown to use social behaviour to avoid infection; diseased individuals can isolate from the group, or healthy animals can avoid diseased conspecifics. However, to date, little is known about social behaviour as a mechanism to avoid fungal infection. In this study, we investigate the extent to which wild urban eastern water dragons (Intellagama lesueurii), a gregarious reptile, modify their social behaviour as a response to infection with a recently emerged infectious fungal disease, caused by the pathogen Nannizziopsis barbatae. Using individual data from a long-term study population inhabiting Roma Street Parkland in Brisbane's Central Business District (QLD, Australia) and focal sampling, we test whether dragons exhibit self-isolation and social distancing behaviours in the context of dyadic social approach events. Statistical analyses of data collected from 633 observations of 123 unique individuals (78 non-diseased, 45 diseased) during 2020 – 2021 suggested that while the presence of the fungal disease had no effect on individuals' social behaviour, the severity of the fungal disease did significantly affect individuals' social behaviour. Specifically, we found that (i) diseased individuals were no less social than their non-diseased conspecifics, (ii) non-diseased individuals did not avoid or spend less time with diseased conspecifics, and (iii) models considering the severity of skin lesions caused by Nannizziopsis barbatae, instead of their presence or absence, suggested that individuals avoided more severely diseased conspecifics regardless of their own disease status. These findings warrant further investigation, given the evidence that many species have displayed behavioural adaptations to disease, and the increasing risk posed by emerging infectious fungal diseases.

The genetics of immune and infection phenotypes in wild mice, Mus musculus domesticus

Wild animals are under constant threat from a wide range of micro- and macroparasites in their environment. Animals make immune responses against parasites, and these are important in affecting the dynamics of parasite populations. Individual animals vary in their anti-parasite immune responses. Genetic polymorphism of immune-related loci contributes to inter-individual differences in immune responses, but most of what we know in this regard comes from studies of humans or laboratory animals; there are very few such studies of wild animals naturally infected with parasites. Here we have investigated the effect of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in immune-related loci (the MHC, and loci coding for cytokines and Toll-like receptors) on a wide range of immune and infection phenotypes in UK wild house mice, Mus musculus domesticus. We found strong associations between SNPs in various MHC and cytokine-coding loci on both immune measures (antibody concentration and cytokine production) and on infection phenotypes (infection with mites, worms and viruses). Our study provides a comprehensive view of how polymorphism of immune-related loci affects immune and infection phenotypes in naturally infected wild rodent populations.

Data from: Phenotypic clines in herbivore resistance and reproductive traits in wild plants along an agricultural gradient

The conversion of natural landscapes to agriculture is a leading cause of biodiversity loss worldwide. While many studies examine how landscape modification affects species diversity, a trait-based approach can provide new insights into species responses to environmental change. Wild plants persisting in heavily modified landscapes provide a unique opportunity to examine species' responses to land use change. Trait expression within a community plays an important role in structuring species interactions, highlighting the potential implications of landscape mediated trait changes on ecosystem functioning. Here we test the effect of increasing agricultural landscape modification on defensive and reproductive traits in three commonly occurring Brassicaceae species to evaluate plant responses to landscape change. We collected seeds from populations at spatially separated sites with variation in surrounding agricultural land cover and grew them in a greenhouse common garden, measuring defensive traits through an herbivore no-choice bioassay as well as reproductive traits such as flower size and seed set. In two of the three species, plants originating from agriculturally dominant landscapes expressed a consistent reduction in flower size and herbivore leaf consumption. One species also showed reduced fitness associated with increasingly agricultural landscapes. These findings suggest that wild plants are responding to landscape modification, highlighting that species diversity alone does not fully capture the effects of land use change.