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opencc-zeroJul 2020View details →

Data from: Environmental drivers of femaleness of an inter-Andean monoecious shrub

Hetero-and conspecific interactions, nutrient availability, climate, habitat heterogeneity and disturbances can generate variation and spatial patterns of femaleness in plants. We assessed whether year, site, plant size, plant density and canopy area of conspecific neighbors influenced the expression and spatial aggregation of femaleness in Croton aff. wagneri, a monoecious shrub from dry shrublands of the inter-Andean valleys in Ecuador. We georeferenced in two sites (1,700 and 1,400 m.a.s.l) in five 10x10 m plots, within each site, the position of each Croton reproductive plant during first part of flowering season in two years, and measured their height, length and width. The femaleness index of each plant was determined by the number of female and male buds and flowers. Plant density was determined for each plot, along with the number of neighbors and the summed canopy area of conspecific neighbors (at 1.0, 2.0, and 2.5 m radius, and the five closest plants) from each focal plant. Croton's femaleness at the lower elevation site was greater than at the higher elevation site and increased with plant size and with canopy of the closest five neighbors. Soil at the lower elevation site had higher temperatures and lower water content. Aggregate patterns of femaleness were found in more plots at the lower elevation site. Our results indicate that location, plant size and canopies of conspecific neighbors of Croton can affect femaleness and its aggregation and support the hypothesis that femaleness can be influenced by facilitative interactions.

opencc-zeroNov 2020View details →

Data from: Altitude shapes the environmental drivers of large-scale variation in abundance of a widespread mammal species

Habitat quality and heterogeneity directly influence the distribution and abundance of organisms at different spatial scales. Determining the main environmental factors driving the variation in species abundance is crucial to understand the underlying ecological processes and this is especially important for widely distributed species living in contrasting environments. However, the responses to environmental variation are usually described at relatively small spatial scales. Here, we studied the variation in abundance of a widely distributed mustelid, the European badger (Meles meles), across France. We used (1) direct detections of 9,439 dead and living badgers, from 2006 to 2009, to estimate badger relative abundance in 703 small agricultural regions of metropolitan France and (2) a Bayesian modelling approach to identify the main environmental determinants influencing badger abundance. Despite a continuous distribution of badger in France, we found large variation in badger abundance between regions, explained by environmental factors. Among a set of 13 environmental variables, we demonstrated that badger abundance in lowlands (< 400 m a.s.l.) was mostly driven by biotic factors such as potential food resources (earthworm abundance and fruits crops) and forest fragmentation. Conversely, in mountainous areas, abiotic factors (i.e. soil texture and climate) drove the variation in badger relative abundance. These results underline the importance of mapping the abundance of wildlife species based on environmental suitability, and highlight the complexity of drivers influencing species abundance at such large spatial scales. Altitude shaped the environmental drivers (biotic vs. abiotic) that most influenced relative abundance of a widespread species. In the case of badger, such abundance maps are crucial to identify critical areas for species management as this mustelid is a main wild vector of bovine tuberculosis in several countries.

opencc-zeroAug 2021View details →

Diversity and distribution across a large environmental and spatial gradient: evaluating the taxonomic and functional turnover, transitions and environmental drivers of benthic diatom communities

Aim: Global biodiversity loss has raised interest in understanding variation in diversity at different scales. Especially studies conducted across large spatial gradients are crucial, because they can increase perspectives on how ecological patterns change relative to environmental factors, and facilitate predictions of possible responses to environmental change. We explored the full extent of a brackish sea to test the hypotheses that (i) benthic communities are defined by species' limited ranges, controlled by varying drivers along a large environmental gradient, (ii) the responses of taxonomic and functional community composition and turnover to the environmental gradient are different, thus highlighting the need to include both measures in ecological studies, and (iii) diversity reaches the minimum at intermediate salinities (Remane curve) due to the low adaptation of freshwater and marine species. Location: A large environmental and spatial gradient spanning the entire Swedish coastline (ca. 2300 km; salinity 1.2-27.6), the Baltic Sea Time period: August 2018 Major taxa studied: Benthic diatoms Methods: We assessed environmental drivers for the communities and calculated the taxonomic and functional alpha and beta diversity along the gradient. We also compared the taxonomic and functional composition and diversity of communities between areas with different salinity. Results: We found support for the hypothesis of limited species ranges, as taxonomic beta diversity, mainly induced by changes in salinity and climate, was high, whereas functional beta diversity remained considerably lower, and the composition and diversity of communities, as well as environmental drivers controlling the communities, differed between regions with different salinity. The lowest taxonomic diversity was found at intermediate salinities of 5-6. Main conclusions: These findings advance understanding of large-scale patterns of benthic diversity, emphasize the importance of large gradient studies for a better understanding of general ecological patterns, and highlight the vulnerability of brackish water ecosystems as ecologically important tipping point realms.

opencc-zeroDec 2012View details →

Data from: Complex environmental drivers of immunity and resistance in malaria mosquitoes

Considerable research effort has been directed at understanding the genetic and molecular basis of mosquito innate immune mechanisms. Whether environmental factors interact with these mechanisms to shape overall resistance remains largely unexplored. Here we examine how changes in mean ambient temperature, diurnal temperature fluctuation, and time of day of infection affected the immunity and resistance of Anopheles stephensi to infection with Escherichia coli. We used quantitative PCR to estimate the gene expression of three immune genes in response to challenge with heat-killed Escherichia coli. We also infected mosquitoes with live E. coli and ran bacterial survival assays to quantify host resistance. Both mosquito immune parameters and resistance were directly affected by mean temperature, diurnal temperature fluctuation, and time of day of infection. Furthermore there was a suite of complex 2- and 3-way interactions yielding idiosyncratic phenotypic variation under different environmental conditions. The results demonstrate mosquito immunity and resistance to be strongly influenced by a complex interplay of environmental variables, challenging the interpretation of the very many mosquito immune studies conducted under standard laboratory conditions.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Growth responses of a green alga to multiple environmental drivers

One feature of global change is that biota must respond not to single, but to multiple environmental drivers. By growing a model photosynthetic microbe in environments containing between one and eight different drivers, including changes in CO2, temperature, and pH, in different combinations, we show that the number as well as the identities of drivers explain shifts in population growth rates. This is because the biotic response to multiple environmental drivers depends on the response to the single dominant driver, and the chance of a driver of large effect being present increases with the number of drivers. Interactions between drivers slightly counteract the expected drop in growth. Our results demonstrate that population growth declines in a predictable way with the number of environmental drivers, and provide an empirically supported model for scaling up from studies on organismal responses to single drivers to predict responses to large numbers of environmental drivers.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Disentangling environmental drivers of metabolic flexibility in birds: the importance of temperature extremes versus temperature variability

Examining physiological traits across large spatial scales can shed light on the environmental factors driving physiological variation. For endotherms, flexibility in aerobic metabolism is especially important for coping with thermally challenging environments and recent research has shown that aerobic metabolic scope [the difference between maximum thermogenic capacity (Msum) and basal metabolic rate (BMR)] increases with latitude in mammals. One explanation for this pattern is the climatic variability hypothesis, which predicts that flexibility in aerobic metabolism should increase as a function of local temperature variability. An alternative explanation is the cold adaptation hypothesis, which predicts that cold temperature extremes may also be an important driver of variation in metabolic scope. To determine the thermal drivers of aerobic metabolic flexibility in birds, we combined data on metabolic scope from 40 bird species sampled across a range of environments with several indices of local ambient temperature. Using phylogenetically-informed analyses, we found that minimum winter temperature was the best predictor of variation in avian metabolic scope, outperforming all other thermal variables. Additionally, Msum was a better predictor of latitudinal patterns of metabolic scope than BMR, with species inhabiting colder environments exhibiting increased Msum over their counterparts in warmer environments. Taken together, these results suggest that cold temperature extremes drive latitudinal patterns of metabolic scope via selection for enhanced thermogenic performance in cold environments, supporting the cold adaptation hypothesis. Temperature extremes may therefore be an important selective pressure driving macrophysiological trends of aerobic performance in endotherms.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Relation between stability and resilience determines the performance of early warning signals under different environmental drivers

Shifting patterns of temporal fluctuations have been found to signal critical transitions in a variety of systems, from ecological communities to human physiology. However, failure of these early warning signals in some systems calls for a better understanding of their limitations. In particular, little is known about the generality of early warning signals in different deteriorating environments. In this study, we characterized how multiple environmental drivers influence the dynamics of laboratory yeast populations, which was previously shown to display alternative stable states [Dai et al., Science, 2012]. We observed that both the coefficient of variation and autocorrelation increased before population collapse in two slowly deteriorating environments, one with a rising death rate and the other one with decreasing nutrient availability. We compared the performance of early warning signals across multiple environments as "indicators for loss of resilience." We find that the varying performance is determined by how a system responds to changes in a specific driver, which can be captured by a relation between stability (recovery rate) and resilience (size of the basin of attraction). Furthermore, we demonstrate that the positive correlation between stability and resilience, as the essential assumption of indicators based on critical slowing down, can break down in this system when multiple environmental drivers are changed simultaneously. Our results suggest that the stability–resilience relation needs to be better understood for the application of early warning signals in different scenarios.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Environmental drivers of varying selective optima in a small passerine: a multivariate, multiepisodic approach

In changing environments, phenotypic traits are shaped by numerous agents of selection. The optimal phenotypic value maximizing the fitness of an individual thus varies through time and space with various environmental covariates. Selection may differ between different life cycle stages and act on correlated traits inducing changes in the distribution of several traits simultaneously. Despite increasing interests in environmental sensitivity of phenotypic selection, estimating varying selective optima on various traits throughout the life cycle, while considering (a)biotic factors as potential selective agents has remained challenging. Here, we provide a statistical model to measure varying selective optima from longitudinal data. We apply our approach to analyse environmental sensitivity of phenotypic selection on egg-laying date and clutch size throughout the life cycle of a white-throated dipper population. We show the presence of a joint optimal phenotype that varies over the 35-yr period, being dependent on altitude and temperature. We also find that optimal laying date is density-dependent, with high population density favoring earlier laying dates. By providing a flexible approach, widely applicable to free-ranging populations for which long-term data on individual phenotypes, fitness and environmental factors are available, our study improves the understanding of phenotypic selection in varying environments.

opencc-zeroMay 2022View details →

Contrasting environmental drivers of genetic of genetic and phenotypic divergence in an Andean poison frog

Phenotypic and genetic divergence are shaped by the homogenizing effects of gene flow and the differentiating processes of genetic drift and local adaptation. Herein, we examined the mechanisms that underlie phenotypic (size and color) and genetic divergence in 35 populations (535 individuals) of the poison frog Epipedobates anthonyi along four elevational gradients (0–1800 m asl) in the Ecuadorian Andes. We found phenotypic divergence in size and color despite relatively low genetic divergence at neutral microsatellite loci. Genetic and phenotypic divergence were both explained by landscape resistance between sites (isolation-by-resistance, IBR), likely due to a cold and dry mountain ridge between the northern and southern elevational transects that limits dispersal and separates two color morphs. Moreover, environmental differences among sites also explained genetic and phenotypic divergence, suggesting isolation-by-environment (IBE). When northern and southern transects were analyzed separately, genetic divergence was predicted either by distance (isolation-by-distance, IBD; northern) or environmental resistance between sites (IBR; southern). In contrast, phenotypic divergence was primarily explained by environmental differences among sites, supporting the IBE hypothesis. These results indicate that although distance and geographic barriers are important drivers of population divergence, environmental variation has a two-fold effect on population divergence. On the one hand, landscape resistance between sites reduces gene flow (IBR), while on the other hand, environmental differences among sites exert divergent selective pressures on phenotypic traits (IBE). Our work highlights the importance of studying both genetic and phenotypic divergence to better understand the processes of population divergence and speciation along ecological gradients.

opencc-zeroJul 2022View details →

Taxonomic and functional diversity covary in rock pool microalgal communities despite their different drivers - Environmental and diatom data

We sampled 30 brackish‐watered, isolated rock pools once a month (17 May, 22 June, and 22 July) in 2016 on a granitic outcrop in the western island of Pihlajasaari (66°68′449″N, 38°40′48″E), ca. 2 km south of Helsinki, Finland on the coast of the northern Baltic Sea. We examined the drivers and covariance of taxonomic and functional diversity among the rock pool communities. We measured water pH, conductivity, and temperature in the field, and pool morphometrics (i.e., max depth, length, and width) to the nearest centimeter, and calculated pool area (length * width). We collected a 0.5 L water sample from each pool for the determination of total P (SFS‐EN ISO 2004). We estimated pool X and Y coordinates (based on the perpendicular pool distance from the shore and the horizontal pool distance from the map origin in the southern end parallel to the shoreline, respectively) and mean isolation as a mean Euclidean distance (i.e., the sum of distances to five closest pools divided by five; Vanschoenwinkel et al. 2007) for each pool from a drawn grid map of the study area showing the relative location of the sampled pools to each other and to the seashore. We sampled benthic diatoms by collecting epilithic samples (ca. 25 cm2) from each pool bottom with a toothbrush, following EN 13946 standard (2003). A total of 500 valves per sample were counted and identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible (mostly species level) with a light microscope. We created a taxonomic site‐species matrix based on species relative abundances. The identified diatom species were classified into 21 partly overlapping functional groups. We first divided the species into five size classes after their biovolume (determined by cell length, width, thickness, and shape) and 14 life‐form categories after interspecific morphological adaptations to physical and chemical disturbance (i.e., cell motility, posture, and type of adhesion) following Rimet & Bouchez (2012). A single taxon may have various successive life forms and may thus be classified into multiple life‐form categories. We further classified the species after their preferences for nutrient concentration and physical disturbance into four ecological guilds (high profile, low profile, motile and planktonic) after Passy (2007) and Rimet & Bouchez (2012). Finally, we separated between acid‐tolerant (acidobiontic or acidophilus species with pH optimum <7 in Van Dam et al. (1994), and nitrogen‐fixing species (with cyanobacterial endosymbionts capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen). In the species‐trait matrix, each species belonging to a given guild (other than continuous biovolume guild on a scale 1–5) was given a value of 1; otherwise, the value was set to 0. Each species could be characterized by multiple traits and could thus belong to more than only one guild.

opencc-by-4.0Jun 2024View details →

Identifying environmental drivers of shell shape variation in the freshwater gastropod Campeloma decisum

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opencc-by-4.0Dec 2022View details →

Figure 3 in Plant diversity in Sabkha ecosystems of arid region: spatial and environmental drivers

Figure 3. Ordination of the selected and signficant vectors of principal coordinates of neighbour matrices (PCNM) at large spatial scale in Saudi Arabia. The X and Y axes are latitude and longitude of the 38 sites, respectively. Three PCNM axes (spatial vectors) retained after forward selection procedures. Plotting the PCNM axes were performed using the function ordisurf of vegan package in R program 2.14.1.

opencc-zeroAug 2021View details →

Environmental drivers of plant distributions at global and regional scales: occurrence data with associated environmental variables of plant families/genera/species

How environmental factors drive plant distribution across globe is one of the most fundamental questions in ecology. Plant distributions may be shaped by various environmental factors, such as climate, topography and edaphic factors. Nevertheless, it is not clear about the relative importance of different environmental factors in driving plant distribution across spatial scales and among plant groups. This study aimed to disentangle how plant–environment relationships vary with latitude and among plant taxa including angiosperms, gymnosperms, pteridophytes and bryophytes. Location: Global Main taxa: Plants Results: Our analyses revealed the primacy of climatic variability (temperature seasonality and isothermality) on plant distribution at the global scale. The relative contribution of temperature seasonality and isothermality peaked in tropical areas, whereas solar radiation and annual mean temperature had stronger influence at high-latitude areas. We also found wide-range plant groups tend to occur at area with higher temperature variability (isothermality and temperature seasonality) and flatter terrain (low slope). Climate extremes (low temperature and low solar radiation) determined plant distribution range and limits across latitude. Soil and topography had diverse thought less important effects (related to climate) on broad-scale plant distribution patterns. Main Conclusions: Our study highlights the significance of climate variability for global plant distributions and climate extremes at higher latitude areas. Environmental effects of plant distributions vary across latitude. The findings imply that our understandings on environmental factors affecting plant distributions rely on the geographical scales that we focus on, suggesting that different geographcial and local ecological processes should be integrated to explain multi-scale distribution patterns.

FIG. 1 in Disentangling Morphological and Environmental Drivers of Foraging Activity in an Invasive Diurnal Gecko, Phelsuma laticauda

FIG. 1. Map of the Island of Mo'orea, with the two study sites depicted by circles on the map.

FIG. 4 in Disentangling Morphological and Environmental Drivers of Foraging Activity in an Invasive Diurnal Gecko, Phelsuma laticauda

FIG. 4. Relationship between body size (SVL) and SM.Max. Shading represents the standard error.

FIG. 2 in Disentangling Morphological and Environmental Drivers of Foraging Activity in an Invasive Diurnal Gecko, Phelsuma laticauda

FIG. 2. Description of behavioral metrics and abbreviations.

FIG. 5 in Disentangling Morphological and Environmental Drivers of Foraging Activity in an Invasive Diurnal Gecko, Phelsuma laticauda

FIG. 5. Relationship between substrate temperature and HRPM.

publicNov 2019View details →

Environmental drivers of adult locomotion and reproduction in a symbiont-hosting sea anemone

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publicNov 2020View details →

Data from: Altitude shapes the environmental drivers of large-scale variation in abundance of a widespread mammal species

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