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Settlement-Era Temperature Data, Upper Midwest: Level 1

Scientific records of temperature and precipitation have been kept for several hundred years, but for many areas, only a shorter record exists. To understand climate change, there is a need for rigorous statistical reconstructions of paleoclimate using proxy data. Paleoclimate proxy data are often sparse, noisy, indirect measurements of the climate process of interest, making each proxy uniquely challenging to model statistically. We reconstruct spatially-explicit temperature surfaces from sparse and noisy measurements recorded at historical United States military forts and other observer stations from 1820-1894. One common method for reconstructing paleoclimate from proxy data is principal component regression (PCR). With PCR, one learns a statistical relationship between the paleoclimate proxy data and a set of climate observations that are used as patterns for potential reconstruction scenarios. We explore PCR in a Bayesian hierarchical framework, extending classical PCR in a variety of ways. First, we model the latent principal components probabilistically, accounting for measurement error in the observational data. Next, we extend our method to better accommodate outliers that occur in the proxy data. Finally, we explore alternatives to the truncation of lower order principal components using different regularization techniques. One fundamental challenge in paleoclimate reconstruction efforts is the lack of out-of-sample data for predictive validation. Cross-validation is of potential value, but is computationally expensive and potentially sensitive to outliers in sparse data scenarios. To overcome the limitations that a lack of out-of-sample records presents, we test our methods using a simulation study, applying proper scoring rules including a computationally efficient approximation to leave-one-out cross-validation using the log score to validate model performance. The result of our analysis is a spatially explicit reconstruction of spatio-temporal temperat

Settlement-Era Temperature Statistical Model, Upper Midwest: Level 2

Settlement Trees, Southeastern Michigan Level 0

We provide a Level 0 record of trees for 27 townships in the southeastern area of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, south of the Detroit River transcribed from Public Land Surveys conducted by surveyors from the General Land Office of the United States in the 1800s. Posts were set every half mile in townships that were typically 6 miles by 6 miles square. Surveyors recorded details about the two closest trees to the posts and included information about the tree name (taxonomic specificity ranged by surveyor), tree diameter (inches), and distance and bearing from the post. Our records include the tree information and the location of the posts from which the tree information came from. These Level 0 tree data were aggregated to the 8km grid resolution Level 1 product (see msb-paleon.26 package). That product was then statistically smoothed using a statistical model that accounts for zero-inflated continuous data with smoothing based on generalized additive modeling techniques and approximate Bayesian uncertainty estimates for the Level 2 products estimating aboveground biomass (msb-paleon.23), density (msb-paleon.24), and basal area (msb-paleon.25). The data processing steps and associated code are available in the GitHub repository: https://github.com/PalEON-Project/PLS_products. These products are used in the manucript, Paciorek et al., 2020, Statistically-estimated tree biomass, stem, and basal area for the upper Midwestern United States at the time of Euro-American settlement (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/856526v1). This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants #DEB-1241874, 1241868, 1241870, 1241851, 1241891, 1241846, 1241856, 1241930.

Settlement-Era Tree Composition, Eastern US: Level 1

Witness tree counts within town/township polygons were tallied from early land survey records of town outlines and lotting subdivisions. Overall dates ranged from 1623 to 1870, but varied by town and were recorded about the time of first settlement of the town. A myriad of archived sources were tapped from town, state and national repositories, historical societies and private collections. The SetTreeComp_Northeast_Level1_v1.0 database includes records throughout the domain collated by Charles Cogbill, and include contributions from southern New England by John Burk, from the Catskills, New York by Robert McIntosh, and from the Finger Lakes, New York by Peter Marks. Every effort was used to avoid duplication of trees. The taxa classes were generally genera or unambiguous categories based on the vernacular names used by the surveyors. In several cases (black gum/sweet gum, ironwood, poplar/tulip poplar, cedar/juniper), because of ambiguity in the common tree names used by surveyors, a group represents trees from different families and even orders. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants #DEB-1241874, 1241868, 1241870, 1241851, 1241891, 1241846, 1241856, 1241930.

Settlement-Era Tree Composition, Ohio: Level 1

Ohio Township Surveys (OTS) provide spatially aggregated witness tree counts within the town/township polygons that were tallied from early land survey records of town outlines and lotting subdivisions. Overall dates ranged from 1623 to 1870, but varied by town and were recorded about the time of first settlement of the town. A myriad of archived sources were tapped from town, state and national repositories, historical societies and private collections. The SetTreeComp_Ohio_Level1_v1.0 database includes records throughout the domain from the Connecticut Western Reserve at the Connecticut State Archives and various records in the Ohio State Archives collated by Charles Cogbill, the collections of the Ohio Biological Survey through the efforts of Ronald Stuckey and the McLachlan lab at Notre Dame University, and records of the Ohio Land Company by James Dyer and the Marietta College Archives. Every effort was used to avoid duplication of trees. The taxa classes were generally genera or unambiguous categories based on the vernacular names used by the surveyors. In several cases (black gum/sweet gum, ironwood, poplar/tulip poplar, cedar/juniper), because of ambiguity in the common tree names used by surveyors, a group represents trees from different families and even orders. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants #DEB-1241874, 1241868, 1241870, 1241851, 1241891, 1241846, 1241856, 1241930.

opencc-by-4.0Jun 2019View details →

The Hidden Midden – Geoarchaeological investigation of sedimentation processes, waste disposal practices and resource management at the La Tène settlement of Basel-Gasfabrik (Switzerland) - Dataset

Data set to the paper " The Hidden Midden – Geoarchaeological investigation of sedimentation processes, waste disposal practices and resource management at the La Tène settlement of Basel-Gasfabrik (Switzerland)" (Geoarchaeology; An International Journal). Supplementary Information 1: Profile photos, polished sections and thin sections scans Supplementary Information 2: Data set of the micromorpological analysis. Most of the data are given in a semiquantitative way: absent [0%] – single [<2%] – few [2–10%] – frequent [10–25%] – numerous [25–50%] – dominant [>50%]

opencc-zeroJan 2021View details →

Temperature reduces fish dispersal as larvae grow faster to their settlement size

1. As species struggle to cope with rising ocean temperatures, temperate marine assemblages are facing major reorganisation. Many benthic species have a brief but critical period dispersing through the plankton, when they are particularly susceptible to variations in temperature. Impacts of rising temperatures can thus ripple through the population with community-wide consequences. However, responses are highly species-specific, making it difficult to discern assemblage-wide patterns in the life histories of different fish species. 2. Here we evaluate the responses to temperature in the early life histories of several fish species using otolith reconstructive techniques. We also assess the consequences of future warming scenarios to this assemblage. 3. We sampled recent settlers of 9 common species across a temperature gradient in the Mediterranean Sea and obtained environmental data for each individual. Using otolith microstructure we measured early life traits including pelagic larval duration (PLD), growth rate, settlement size, hatching and settlement dates. We used a GLM framework to examine how environmental variables influenced early life history parameters. 4. We show that increasing temperature results in considerable reduction in the dispersal potential of temperate fish. We find a nearly universal, assemblage-wide decline in pelagic larval duration (PLD) of between 10-25%. This was because, with increasing temperature, larvae grew quicker to their settlement size. Settlement size itself was less affected by temperature and appears to be an ontogenetically fixed process. 5. Given current estimates of ocean warming, there could be an assemblage-wide reduction in larval dispersal of up to 50 km across the Mediterranean, reducing connectivity and potentially isolating populations as waters warm. 06-Jan-2021

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

Data from: Competitors and predators alter settlement patterns and reproductive success of an intraguild prey

The spatial distribution of predators is affected by intra- and interspecific interactions within the predator guild. Studying these interactions under fluctuating food availability, while taking habitat characteristics into account, offers a quasi-experimental set up to determine the relative impact of con- and heterospecifics on reproductive success of predators. We analyzed the settlement decisions and reproductive success of Eurasian pygmy owls (Glaucidium passerinum) in the presence of both breeding conspecifics and their competitor and intraguild predator, Tengmalm's owls (Aegolius funereus), under fluctuating abundance of their primary prey (voles). We used detailed data, collected across 11 years in a large study area (1300 km²), on the spatial and temporal variation of habitat characteristics in all available nesting sites, local densities of both species, and vole abundance. We found that pygmy owls strongly avoided breeding close to conspecifics but did not avoid Tengmalm's owl nests. Nest box occupation of pygmy owls was positively correlated to the proportion of old spruce, mature and old pine forests and farmlands, and occupation probability was higher at high vole abundance and in areas occupied in previous years. Pygmy owl avoidance of conspecifics decreased when voles were abundant. At high conspecific density, pygmy owls showed lower hatching success and delayed hatching date, in agreement with the observed spatial avoidance. Finally, even though breeding pygmy owls did not spatially avoid Tengmalm's owls, the density of heterospecifics correlated with low hatching and fledging success in pygmy owls. This suggests short term fitness costs when living close to competitors, even when lethal effects of intraguild interactions are subtle. Our results suggest that joint costs of exploitative and interference competition by Tengmalm's owls, as well as intraguild predation, were lower than those induced by intraspecific competition only. This result might be due to the similar body size between the species considered, Tengmalm's owls being only twice as large as pygmy owls. Interactions among con- and heterospecifics can therefore modify the spatial settlement and reproductive success of individuals on a landscape scale, also within the predator guild.

opencc-zeroDec 2012View details →

Data from: The social factors driving settlement and relocation decisions in a solitary and aggregative spider

Both ecological and social factors play an important role in determining the structure of animal settlement patterns. While the ecological factors determining animal settlement are generally well known, the relative importance of social factors in mediating fine-scale settlement choices is poorly understood. As a result, we have little knowledge of why individuals choose to settle near specific neighbors. Here we used a web-building spider (Nephila plumipes) that settles both solitarily and next to neighbors within aggregations to examine the specific social factors that influence settlement decisions. Within experimental enclosures we observed the settlement patterns of females pre- and post-male release. This allowed us to compare two models of aggregative settlement in lekking species, the hotshot and preferences models, to examine the relative importance of a female's phenotype and mate attraction to further dissect settlement and relocation decisions. We show that mate attraction increased with aggregation size, and that larger females were generally preferred, supporting both the hotshot and preference models of aggregative settlement. We further demonstrate that smaller females that attracted fewer males within an aggregation were most likely to relocate. Our results demonstrate how social feedback can affect initially state-dependent settlement decisions, thereby highlighting the dynamic nature of settlement.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: Low recruitment due to altered settlement substrata as primary constraint for coral communities under ocean acidification

The future of coral reefs under increasing CO2 depends on their capacity to recover from disturbances. To predict the recovery potential of coral communities that are fully acclimatized to elevated CO2, we compared the relative success of coral recruitment and later life stages at two volcanic CO2 seeps and adjacent control sites in Papua New Guinea. Our field experiments showed that the effects of ocean acidification (OA) on coral recruitment rates were up to an order of magnitude greater than the effects on the survival and growth of established corals. Settlement rates, recruit and juvenile densities were best predicted by the presence of crustose coralline algae, as opposed to the direct effects of seawater CO2. Offspring from high CO2 acclimatized parents had similarly impaired settlement rates as offspring from control parents. For most coral taxa, field data showed no evidence of cumulative and compounding detrimental effects of high CO2 on successive life stages, and three taxa showed improved adult performance at high CO2 that compensated for their low recruitment rates. Our data suggest that severely declining capacity for reefs to recover, due to altered settlement substrata and reduced coral recruitment, is likely to become a dominant mechanism of how OA will alter coral reefs.

opencc-zeroDec 2015View details →

Data from: Larval traits carry over to affect post-settlement behaviour in a common coral reef fish

Most reef fishes begin life as planktonic larvae before settling to the reef, metamorphosing, and entering the benthic adult population. Different selective forces determine survival in the planktonic and benthic life stages, but traits established in the larval stage may carry over to affect post-settlement performance. We tested the hypothesis that larval traits affect two key post-settlement fish behaviours: social group-joining and foraging. Certain larval traits of reef fishes are permanently recorded in the rings in their otoliths. In the bluehead wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum), prior work has shown that key larval traits recorded in otoliths (growth rate, energetic condition at settlement) carry-over to affect post-settlement survival on the reef, with higher-larval-condition fish experiencing less post-settlement mortality. We hypothesized that this selective mortality is mediated by carry-over effects on post-settlement anti-predator behaviours. We predicted that better-condition fish would forage less and be more likely to join groups, both behaviours that would reduce predation risk. We collected 550 recently settled bluehead wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum) from three reef sites off St. Croix (USVI), and performed two analyses. First, we compared each settler's larval traits to the size of its social group to determine whether larval traits influenced group-joining behaviour. Second, we observed foraging behaviour in a subset of focal grouped and solitary fish (n = 14) for 1-4 days post-settlement. We then collected the fish and tested whether larval traits influenced the proportion of time spent foraging. Body length at settlement, but not condition, affected group-joining behaviour; smaller fish were more likely to remain solitary or in smaller groups. However, both greater length and better condition were associated with greater proportions of time spent foraging over four consecutive days post-settlement. Larval traits carry-over to affect post-settlement behavior, though not as we expected: higher-quality larvae join groups more frequently (safer) but then forage more. Foraging is risky but may allow faster post-settlement growth, reducing mortality risk in the long run. This shows that behaviour likely serves as a mechanistic link connecting larval traits to post-settlement selective mortality.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Evaluation of Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus, megalopal settlement and condition during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

The Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus, is a commercially, culturally, and ecologically significant species in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), whose offshore stages were likely impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DWH). To test for DWH effects and to better understand the planktonic ecology of this species, we monitored Callinectes spp. megalopal settlement and condition at sites within and outside of the spill extent during and one year after the DWH. We tested for DWH effects by comparing 2010 settlement against baseline data available for two sites, and by testing for differences in settlement and condition inside and outside of the spill extent. We also developed time series models to better understand natural drivers of daily settlement variation (seasonal and lunar trends, hydrodynamics, wind) during 2010 and 2011. Overall, we found that neither megalopal settlement nor body weight were significantly reduced at oiled sites, but that high unexplained variation and low statistical power made detection of even large effects unlikely. Time series models revealed remarkably consistent and relatively strong seasonal and lunar trends within sites (explaining on average 28% and 9% of variation, respectively), while wind and hydrodynamic effects were weak (1–5% variation explained) and variable among sites. This study provides insights into DWH impacts as well as the natural drivers of Callinectes spp. megalopal settlement across the northern GOM.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Barriers to access improved water and sanitation in poor peri-urban settlements of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

Achieving access to safe water and sanitation still pose major challenges in urban areas of sub-Saharan Africa countries, despite all the progress achieved in the last decade. This study assessed the ability of populations living in poor peri-urban settlements to access improved water and sanitation and identified factors influencing this access, in order to guide sustainable mitigating solutions to address associated health and environmental risks. We conducted a cross-sectional study in six poor peri-urban settlements of Yopougon, the largest municipality of Abidjan. A total of 556 randomly selected households were included. The factors associated with access to improved water and sanitation were identified through explanatory models using multivariate logistic regression. A proportion of 25% of all households assessed did not have access to clean water and 57% lacked improved sanitation. Socioeconomic status and settlement characteristics appear as the main indicators of poor access to reliable water and sanitation in peri-urban settlements. The presence of the household head's wife at home was associated with greater access to clean water (OR = 3.57; 95% CI: 1.74, 7.31), thus highlighting the important role of women in ensuring access to clean water in these specific environments. Household size, education and religion were not significantly associated with the two considered outcomes. Women therefore should be involved at all levels of programming in water promotion in these settlements to improve the population's well-being. While religion does not appear to play an important role in access to water and sanitation, successful interventions should involve religious communities because of their large representation.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Coral settlement on a highly disturbed equatorial reef system

Processes occurring early in the life stages of corals can greatly influence the demography of coral populations, and successful settlement of coral larvae that leads to recruitment is a critical life history stage for coral reef ecosystems. Although corals in Singapore persist in one the world's most anthropogenically impacted reef systems, our understanding of the role of coral settlement in the persistence of coral communities in Singapore remains limited. Spatial and temporal patterns of coral settlement were examined at 7 sites in the southern islands of Singapore, using settlement tiles deployed and collected every 3 months from 2011 to 2013. Settlement occurred year round, but varied significantly across time and space. Annual coral settlement was low (~54.72 spat m-2 yr-1) relative to other equatorial regions, but there was evidence of temporal variation in settlement rates. Peak settlement occurred between March–May and September–November, coinciding with annual coral spawning periods (March–April and October), while the lowest settlement occurred from December–February during the northeast monsoon. A period of high settlement was also observed between June and August in the first year (2011/12), possibly due to some species spawning outside predicted spawning periods, larvae settling from other locations or extended larval settlement competency periods. Settlement rates varied significantly among sites, but spatial variation was relatively consistent between years, suggesting the strong effects of local coral assemblages or environmental conditions. Pocilloporidae were the most abundant coral spat (83.6%), while Poritidae comprised only 6% of the spat, and Acroporidae <1%. Other, unidentifiable families represented 10% of the coral spat. These results indicate that current settlement patterns are reinforcing the local adult assemblage structure ('others'; i.e. sediment-tolerant coral taxa) in Singapore, but that the replenishment capacity of Singapore's reefs appears relatively constrained, which could lead to less resilient reefs.

opencc-by-nc-1.0Dec 2019View details →

Map of Medieval Settlements, So. Tuscany

A wooden map of the Medieval connections between castles in Ssouthern Tuscany. Wooden model of a map representing the network of medieval castles between Mount Amiata and the Thyrrenian sea. Museum of Medieval Landscape, castle of Arcidosso, 2014. Model was created in Reality Capture using 637 photographs. The Mt. Amiata Project is an ongoing GDH collaboration involving faculty and students at the University of Florence and the University of Siena. We could not have done this project without the considerable support of the Municipality of Arcidosso. Source: Objaverse 1.0 / Sketchfab

opennotspecifiedDec 2010View details →

FIGURE 4 in The larval, juvenile, and adult stages of the Caribbean goby, Coryphopterus kuna (Teleostei: Gobiidae): a reef fish with a pelagic larval duration longer than the post-settlement lifespan

FIGURE 4. Sagittal otolith of a 15.3 mm SL Coryphopterus kuna: the dark rod-shaped primordium is at far left, surrounded by the prehatching core (white oval), then followed by wide larval increments, sharply narrowing before the settlement transition (white arrow); the edge of the otolith is at far right; length of arrow=30 microns.