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518 results for “life history traits”
Data from: Selection for life-history traits to maximize population growth in an invasive marine species
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Data from: Alpine flora of Kashmir Himalaya: Floristic assessment, life history traits and threat status
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Data from: Inbreeding depression across multiple life history traits in a long-lived mammal
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Many roads to success: Different combinations of life-history traits provide accurate germination timing in seasonally dry environments
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Data from: Impact of field-realistic doses of glyphosate and nutritional stress on mosquito life history-traits and susceptibility to malaria parasite infection
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Multiple traits and multifarious environments: integrated divergence of morphology and life history
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Data from: Life-history traits of Tubastraea coccinea: reproduction, development, and larval competence
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Data from: Selection of floral traits by pollinators and seed predators during sequential life history stages
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Morphological and life-history traits of birds from the Piedmont and Flooded Savannas of the Colombian Llanos
We compiled data for 13 morphological and life-history traits of 364 species reported in Colombian Llanos. The dataset includes morphological and life-history traits that could influence birds’ responses to land-use change based on a literature review. Life-history traits were compiled from scientific literature, while morphological traits were measured on specimens collected in the Colombian Llanos region and preserved in main Colombia’s biological collections.
Data from: Experimental migration upward in elevation is associated with strong selection on life history traits
One of the strongest biological impacts of climate change has been the movement of species poleward and upward in elevation. Yet, what is not clear, is the extent to which the spatial distribution of locally adapted lineages and ecologically important traits may also shift with continued climate change. Here, we take advantage of a transplant experiment mimicking up-slope seed dispersal for a suite of ecologically-diverse populations of yellow monkeyflower (Mimulus guttatus sensu lato) into a high-elevation common garden during an extreme drought period in the Sierra Nevada mountains, California, USA. We use a demographic approach to quantify fitness and test for selection on life history traits in local vs. lower-elevation populations and in normal vs. drought years to test the potential for up-slope migration and phenotypic selection to alter the distribution of key life history traits in montane environments. We find that lower-elevation populations tend to outperform local populations, confirming the potential for up-slope migration. Although selection generally favored some local montane traits, including larger flowers and larger stem size at flowering, drought conditions tended to select for earlier flowering typical of lower elevation genotypes. Taken together, this suggests that monkeyflower lineages moving upward in elevation could experience selection for novel trait combinations, particularly under warmer and drier conditions that are predicted to occur with continued climate change.
Data from: An identification of invariants in life history traits of amphibians and reptiles
<p>While many morphological, physiological, and ecological characteristics of organisms scale with body size, some do not change under size transformation. They are called invariant. A recent study recommended five criteria for identifying invariant traits. These are based on that a trait exhibits a unimodal central tendency and varies over a limited range with body mass (type I), or that it does not vary systematically with body mass (type II). We methodologically improved these criteria and then applied them to life history traits of amphibians, Anura, Caudata (eleven traits), and reptiles (eight traits). The numbers of invariant traits identified by criteria differed across amphibian orders and between amphibians and reptiles. Reproductive output (maximum number of reproductive events per year), incubation time, length of larval period, and metamorphosis size were type I and II invariant across amphibians. In both amphibian orders, reproductive output and metamorphosis size were type I and II invariant. In Anura, incubation time and length of larval period and in Caudata, incubation time were further type II invariant. In reptiles, however, only number of clutches per year was invariant (type II). All these differences could reflect that in reptiles body size and in amphibians, Anura, and Caudata metamorphosis (neotenic species go not through it) and the trend towards independence of egg and larval development from water additionally constrained life history evolution. We further demonstrate that all invariance criteria worked for amphibian and reptilian life history traits, although we corroborated some known and identified new limitations to their application.</p>
Metabolic rate shapes phenotypic covariance among physiological, behavioral, and life history traits in honeybees
<p><span>Metabolic rate is often cited as the fundamental rate that determines the rate of all biological processes by shaping energetic availability for the various behavioral and life history traits that contribute to performance. It has therefore been suggested that metabolic rate drives the widely observed covariance among these different levels of phenotypic traits. However, much of the work on this topic has relied on pairwise correlational analysis, thereby leaving an important gap in our understanding regarding the functional links that shape this phenotypic covariance, often referred to as pace-of-life. Using honeybees as an experimental model, we measured a large number of behavioral, life history and physiological traits in individual bees and used a structural equation model to characterize the phenotypic covariance structure among these traits. Following this with a path analysis, we demonstrate that variation in metabolic rate plays a fundamental proximate role in driving this phenotypic covariance structure in honeybees. We discuss the importance of these findings in the context of how interindividual variation in terms of slow-fast phenotypes may drive the phenotype of a group and the functional role metabolic rate might play in shaping division of labor and social evolution.</span></p>
Traits and depth: what do hydroids tell us about morphology and life-history strategies in the deep sea?
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><b>Aim:</b> Traits affect the survival and reproduction of individuals in different habitat conditions, ultimately altering their distributions. In the oceans, changes in environmental conditions with bathymetry may influence the occurrence of specific traits. Therefore, characterizing trait variation with depth can illuminate drivers related to the distribution of diversity of forms, functions, and life histories. We aimed to investigate patterns of variation in the diversified life histories and morphologies of hydroids with depth, integrating these patterns with the natural history of the group and ecological principles of the deep sea.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><b>Location:</b> Atlantic Ocean and adjacent polar seas, from 50 m to 5,330 m deep.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><b>Time period:</b> Present day.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><b>Major taxa studied:</b> Hydrozoa.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><b>Methods: </b>Analyses were based on 14 traits collected for a total of 4,668 specimens of hydroids, belonging to 438 species. Records were divided into 12 depth strata for comparisons. We evaluated: how each trait varies with depth; whether variation in some traits is affected by the presence of other traits; how traits covary; and similarities in trait compositions among depth strata.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><b>Results:</b> Traits of hydroids vary with depth, with more pronounced differences for regions deeper than 1,000 m. Hydroids are generally smaller, infertile, solitary, meroplanktonic, and devoid of protective structures with increasing depth. The relationship, however, is not always linear. Also, some covariation and correlation between traits was evident. For example, depth may affect size differently according to the presence of specific traits such as structures protecting against predation. The lower proportion of fertile specimens recorded in the deep sea suggests that chances for genetic recombination are reduced in deep-sea populations, ultimately leading to a slower rate of evolution.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><b>Main conclusions: </b>We identified novel trends in hydroid trait variation with depth by combining observations on morphology, ecology, and life history, clarifying selection pressures on hydroids in the deep sea.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Data from: Linking life-history traits, ecology and niche breadth evolution in North American eriogonoids (Polygonaceae)
Macroevolutionary and microevolutionary studies provide complementary explanations of the processes shaping the evolution of niche breadth. Macroevolutionary approaches scrutinize factors such as the temporal and spatial environmental heterogeneities that drive differentiation among species. Microevolutionary studies, in contrast, focus on the processes that affect intraspecific variability. We combine these perspectives by using macroevolutionary models in a comparative study of intraspecific variability. We address potential differences in rates of evolution of niche breadth and position in annual and perennial plants of the Eriogonoideae subfamily of the Polygonaceae. We anticipated higher rates of evolution in annuals than in perennials owing to differences in generation time that are paralleled by rates of molecular evolution. Instead, we find that perennial eriogonoid species present greater environmental tolerance (wider climate niche) than annual species. Niche breadth of perennial species has evolved two to four times faster than in annuals, while niche optimum has diversified more rapidly among annual species than among perennials. Niche breadth and average elevation of species are correlated. Moreover, niche breadth increases more rapidly with mean species elevation in perennials than in annuals. Our results suggest that both environmental gradients and life history strategy influence rates and patterns of niche breadth evolution.
Data from: Appearance before performance? Nutritional constraints on life-history traits, but not warning signal expression in aposematic moths
1. Trade-offs have been shown to play an important role in the divergence of mating strategies and sexual ornamentation, but their importance in explaining warning signal diversity has received less attention. In aposematic organisms, allocation costs of producing the conspicuous warning signal pigmentation under nutritional stress could potentially trade-off with life-history traits and maintain variation in warning colouration. 2. We studied this with an aposematic herbivore Arctia plantaginis (Arctiidae), whose larvae and adults show extensive variation in aposematic colouration. In larvae, less melanic colouration (i.e. larger orange patterns) produces a more efficient warning signal against predators, whereas high amounts of melanism (smaller orange pattern) enhance thermoregulation, correlate with better immunity and make individuals harder to detect for naïve predators. 3. We conducted a factorial rearing experiment with larvae originating from lines selected for either small or large orange signal size, which were reared on an artificial diet that had either low or high protein content. Protein content of the diet is critical for melanin production. We measured the effects of diet on individual colouration, life-history traits, immune defence and reproductive output. We also compared the responses to dietary conditions between the small and large larval signal genotypes. 4. Protein content of the diet did not affect warning colouration in the larval stage, but larval signal sizes differed significantly among selection lines, confirming that its variation is mainly genetically determined. In adults, signal line or diet did not affect colouration in hindwings, but males' forewings had more melanin on the high than on low protein diet. Contrary to colouration, diet quality had a stronger impact on life-history traits: individuals developed for longer, had smaller hindwing sizes in females and lower immune defence on the low protein content diet compared to the high. These costs were higher for more melanic larval signal genotypes in terms of development time and female hindwing size. 5. We conclude that low plasticity in warning signal characteristics makes signal expression robust under varying dietary conditions. Therefore, variation in diet quality is not likely to constrain signal expression, but can have a bigger impact on performance.
Data from: Life-history trait database of European reptile species
Life-history data are essential for providing answers to a wide range of questions in evolution, ecology, and conservation biology. While life history data for many species, especially plants, are available online, life history traits of European reptiles are available only widely scattered in different languages and primarily in printed media. For this reason, we generated a comprehensive trait database covering all European reptile species. Data were compiled by searching the peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed literature. The database covers the whole of Europe and neighbouring Asian and African countries. Traits were categorised under five main headings: Activity / Energy / Habitat; Phenology; Movement; Sexual Maturity; and Morphometry. To ensure that the data were standardised, we defined trait data categories before we started compiling data. All entries were checked by at least one other person. The dataset provides a unique source for meta-analyses and modelling in ecology and conservation biology.
Data from: Larval nutritional stress affects vector life history traits and human malaria transmission
Exposure to stress during an insect's larval development can have carry-over effects on many adult life history traits and affect host susceptibility to pathogens. Studies on mosquitoes have shown that the larval environment impacts on components of vectorial capacity such as vector competence and adult survival. We investigated the carry-over effects of larval nutritional stress for the first time on a natural mosquito vector-malaria parasite association: Anopheles coluzzii exposed to field isolates of Plasmodium falciparum. In contrast to previous studies, we show that larval nutritional stress may affect human to mosquito transmission antagonistically: nutritionally deprived larvae showed lower parasite prevalence only on a subset of gametocyte carriers; they also had lower fecundity. However, they had greater survival rates that were even higher when infected. We combined these opposing effects into epidemiological models to show that they depend on mosquito densities. Larval nutritional stress induced a decrease in malaria transmission at low mosquito density and an increase in transmission at high mosquito densities, whereas transmission by mosquitoes from well-fed larvae was stable. Our work underscores the importance of including larval ecological factors towards understanding host – parasite dynamics, and the need to confirm findings from artificial models on natural systems to improve disease transmission models and control.
Data from: Variation in life-history traits among Daphnia and its relationship to species-level responses to phosphorus limitation
Currently organisms are experiencing changes in their environment at an unprecedented rate. Therefore the study of the contributions to and responses in traits linked to fitness is crucial, as they have direct consequences on a population's success in persisting under such change. Daphnia is used as a model organism as the genus contains keystone primary consumers in aquatic food webs. A life-history table experiment (LHTE) using four species of Daphnia was conducted to compare variation in life-history traits among species across two different environmental conditions (high and low phosphorous availability). Results indicate that the food quality environment had the most impact on life-history traits, while genetic contributions to traits were higher at the species-level than clonal-level. Higher trait variation and species-level responses to P-limitation was more evident in reproductive traits, while growth traits were found to be less affected by food quality and had less variation. Exploring trait variation and potential plasticity in organisms is increasingly important to consider as a potential mechanism for population persistence given the fluctuations in environmental stressors we are currently experiencing.
Data from: Host traits drive viral life histories across phytoplankton viruses
Viruses are integral to ecological and evolutionary processes, but we have a poor understanding of what drives variation in key traits across diverse viruses. For lytic viruses, burst size, latent period, and genome size are primary characteristics controlling host-virus dynamics. Here we synthesize data on these traits for 75 strains of phytoplankton viruses, which play an important role in global biogeochemistry. We find that primary traits of the host (genome size, growth rate) explain 40-50% of variation in burst size and latent period. Specifically, burst size and latent period both exhibit saturating relationships vs. the host:virus genome size ratio, with both traits increasing at low genome size ratios while showing no relationship at high size ratios. In addition, latent period declines as host growth rate increases. We analyze a model of latent period evolution to explore mechanisms that could cause these patterns. The model predicts that burst size may often be set by the host genomic resources available for viral construction, while latent period evolves to permit this maximal burst size, modulated by host metabolic rate. These results suggest that general mechanisms may underlie the evolution of diverse viruses. Future extensions of this work could help explain viral regulation of host populations, viral influence on community structure and diversity, and viral roles in biogeochemical cycles.
Data from: Geographic variation of life-history traits in the sand lizard, Lacerta agilis: testing Darwin's fecundity-advantage hypothesis
The fecundity-advantage-hypothesis (FAH) explains larger female size relative to male size as a correlated response to fecundity selection. We explored FAH by investigating geographic variation in female reproductive output and its relation to sexual size dimorphism (SSD) in Lacerta agilis, an oviparous lizard occupying a major part of temperate Eurasia. We analysed how sex-specific body size and SSD are associated with two putative indicators of fecundity selection intensity (clutch size and the slope of the clutch size-female size relationship), and with two climatic variables throughout the species range and across two widespread evolutionary lineages. Variation within the lineages provides no support for FAH. In contrast, the divergence between the lineages is in line with FAH: the lineage with consistently female-biased SSD (L. a. agilis) exhibits higher clutch size and steeper fecundity slope than the lineage with an inconsistent and variable SSD (L. a. exigua). L. a. agilis shows lower offspring size (egg mass, hatchling mass) and higher clutch mass relative to female mass than L. a. exigua, i.e. both possible ways to enhance offspring number are exerted. As the SSD difference is due to male size (smaller males in L. a. agilis), fecundity selection favouring larger females, together with viability selection for smaller size in both sexes, would explain the female-biased SSD and reproductive characteristics of L. a. agilis. The pattern of intraspecific life-history divergence in L.agilis is strikingly similar to that between oviparous and viviparous populations of a related species Zootoca vivipara. Evolutionary implications of this parallelism are discussed.
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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.