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opencc-zeroFeb 2022View details →

Variable freshwater influences on the abundance of vibrio vulnificus in a tropical urban estuary

Our data illustrate that, in the absence of strong seasonal variation in water temperature in the tropics, variation in salinity driven by rainfall becomes a primary controlling variable on V. vulnificus abundance. There is thus a tendency for a rainfall-driven seasonal cycle in V. vulnificus abundance which is inverted from the temperature-driven seasonal cycle at higher latitudes.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2021View details →

A Multivariate Index for Tropical intraseasonal Oscillations based on the Seasonally-varying Modal Structures

<pre>This repository contains the data for "A Multivariate Index for Tropical intraseasonal Oscillations based on the Seasonally-varying Modal Structures". </pre>

Figure 6. Adult male Viciria pavesii, Singapore. 4 in Tropical Asian jumping spiders of the genus Viciria (Araneae: Salticidae: Viciriini)

Figure 6. Adult male Viciria pavesii, Singapore. 4, Note the anterolateral extension of each paturon, far beyond the articulation of the respective fang. Photo credits: 1-3, © Nicky Bay, used with permission; 4-6, © Yongi Ng, used with permission.

Figure 2 in Tropical Asian jumping spiders of the genus Viciria (Araneae: Salticidae: Viciriini)

Figure 2. Photographs of a male (1-4) and a female (5-7) Viciria praemandibularis from Mulu National Park, Sarawak (Maddison 2022). 3-4, Lateral (3) and ventral (4) views of left pedipalp of preserved specimen. 7, Ventral view of epigynum of preserved specimen. Compare with drawings of the V. pavesii lectotypes in Figure 3:4-5. Photographs © W. Maddison, used under a CC-BY 3.0 license.

Figure 1 in Tropical Asian jumping spiders of the genus Viciria (Araneae: Salticidae: Viciriini)

Figure 1. Localties reported for Viciria pavesii (1-2) and V. praemandibularis (all other records). Numbered localities correspond to records listed in Table 1. Small dots represent additional records posted as photographs on iNaturalist (2022). One iNaturalist record (from the Philippines) that clearly did not represent this species in not shown. The distribution of these Viciria is Sundan, with some representation, including the type for V. pavesii (1) in Wallacea.

Figure 9 in Tropical Asian jumping spiders of the genus Viciria (Araneae: Salticidae: Viciriini)

Figure 9. Female Viciria pavesii with their respective broods on the underside of leaves, Singapore. 1-3, Females with broods that have just hatched. 4-6, Females with broods that are beginning to move beyond the nest. Photographs © Nicky Bay, used with permission.

Figure 5 in Tropical Asian jumping spiders of the genus Viciria (Araneae: Salticidae: Viciriini)

Figure 5. Adult male (1-4) and adult female (5-6) Viciria pavesii photographed in Singapore. Pigmentation of legs II

Figure 8 in Tropical Asian jumping spiders of the genus Viciria (Araneae: Salticidae: Viciriini)

Figure 8. Four different female Viciria pavesii, tending their broods on the underside of a leaf. 1-3, Recently deposited eggs held by a thin silk mesh, with the female in a characteristic guardian position. 4, Female guarding a brood that is beginning to hatch. Photo credits (all modified): 1, © Albert Kang; 2, © Lim Hong Yao; 3, © Cheong Weei Gan; 4, © Goh C. Y. Richard; all posted on iNaturalist, used under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

Figure 7. Adult male Viciria pavesii. 1 in Tropical Asian jumping spiders of the genus Viciria (Araneae: Salticidae: Viciriini)

Figure 7. Adult male Viciria pavesii. 1, Note the crest behind the posterior eye row. This character is variable. 2, Note

Figure 3 in Tropical Asian jumping spiders of the genus Viciria (Araneae: Salticidae: Viciriini)

Figure 3. Published figures depicting Viciria praemandibularis (1-3) and V. pavesii (4-5), with attribution. No drawings are available for the type of V. praemandibularis, and (3) represents a male specimen that is similar to V. pavesii. The lateral extension of the paturon of the male, beyond the articulation of the fang (2-e, 5-fig. 9) is a distinctive character of both "species," and the description of the female V. pavesii clearly agrees with the (now) well-known, but undescribed, female of V. praemandibularis. Figures 3-5 © J. Pro;szyn;ski, used with permission, with modified captions.

opencc-zeroMar 2022View details →

Environmental heterogeneity shapes physiological traits in tropical direct-developing frogs

1. Tropical ectotherm species tend to have narrower physiological limits than species from temperate areas. As a consequence, tropical species are considered highly vulnerable to climate change since minor temperature increases can push them beyond their physiological thermal tolerance. Differences in physiological tolerances can also be seen at finer evolutionary scales, such as among populations of ectotherm species along elevation gradients, highlighting the physiological sensitivity of such organisms. 2. Here we analyze the influence of elevation and bioclimatic domains, defined by temperature and precipitation, on thermal sensitivities of a terrestrial direct-developing frog (Craugastor loki) in a tropical gradient. We address the following questions: i) Does preferred temperature vary with elevation and among bioclimatic domains? ii) Do thermal tolerance limits, i.e. critical thermal maximum and critical thermal minimum vary with elevation and bioclimatic domains?, and iii) Are populations from high elevations more vulnerable to climate warming? 3. We found that along an elevation gradient body temperature decreases as environmental temperature increases. The preferred temperature tends to moderately increase with elevation within the sampled bioclimatic domains. Our results indicate that the ideal thermal landscape for this species is located at mid-elevations, where the thermal accuracy (db) and thermal quality of the environment (de) are suitable. The critical thermal maximum is variable across elevations and among the bioclimatic domains, decreasing as elevation increases. Conversely, the critical thermal minimum is not as variable as the critical thermal maximum. 4. Populations from the lowlands may be more vulnerable to future increases in temperature. We highlight that the critical thermal maximum is related to high temperatures exhibited across the elevation gradient and within in each bioclimatic domain, therefore, it is a response to high environmental temperatures.

opencc-zeroMar 2022View details →

Elevational and local climate variability predicts thermal breadth of mountain tropical tadpoles

The climate variability hypothesis posits that increased environmental thermal variation should promote species with broader thermal tolerance breadths, while stable environments should promote thermal specialists. This hypothesis has been tested on large spatial scales, such as latitude and elevation, but less so on smaller scales which reflect the experienced microclimate. Here, we estimated thermal tolerance limits of 75 species of amphibian tadpoles from an aseasonal tropical mountain range of the Ecuadorian Andes, distributed along a 3500 m elevational range, to test the climatic variability hypothesis at a large (elevation) and a small (microhabitat) scales. We show how species from less variable thermal habitats, such as lowlands and those restricted to streams, exhibit narrower thermal tolerance breadths than highland and pond-dwelling species respectively. Interestingly, while broader thermal tolerance breadths at large scales are driven by higher cold tolerance variation (heat-invariant hypothesis), at local scales they are driven by higher heat tolerance variation. This contrasting pattern may result from divergent selection on both thermal limits to face environmental thermal extremes at different scales. Specifically, within the same elevational window, exposure to extreme maximum temperatures could be avoided through habitat shifts from temporary ponds to permanent ponds or streams, while minimum peak temperatures remained invariable between habitats but steadily decreased with elevation. Therefore addressing the effects of habitat conversion is crucial for future research on resilience to climate change.

opencc-by-4.0Mar 2022View details →

Unified Model GA 7.0 Nudging Experiments used in JGR-A publication "Investigating Tropical versus Extratropical Influences on the Southern Hemisphere Tropical Edge in the Unified Model", Freisen et al. (2022)

UK Met Office Unified Model (UM) Global Atmosphere version 7.0 (GA7.0) Nudging Experiments used in "Investigating Tropical versus Extratropical Influences on the Southern Hemisphere Tropical Edge in the Unified Model" published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres (doi.org/10.1029/2021JD036106). Please refer to UM_nudging_experiments_readme.txt.

Data from: The megaherbivore gap after the non-avian dinosaur extinctions modified trait evolution and diversification of tropical palms

The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs (66 Ma) led to a 25 million year gap of megaherbivores (>1000 kg) before the evolution of megaherbivorous mammals in the Late Eocene (40 Ma). The botanical consequences of this 'Paleocene megaherbivore gap' (PMHG) remain poorly explored. We hypothesize that the absence of megaherbivores should result in changes in the diversification and trait evolution of associated plant lineages. We used phylogenetic time- and trait-dependent diversification models with palms (Arecaceae) and show that the PMHG was characterized by speciation slowdowns, decreased evolution of armature, and increased evolution of megafaunal (≥4cm) fruits. This suggests that the absence of browsing by megaherbivores during the PMHG may have led to a loss of defence traits, but absence of megaherbivorous seed dispersers did not lead to a loss of megafaunal fruits. Instead, increases in PMHG fruit sizes may be explained by Late Paleocene rising temperatures, rainforest expansion, and the subsequent radiation of seed dispersing birds and mammals. We show that the profound impact of the PMHG on plant diversification can be detected even with the overwriting of adaptations by the subsequent Late Eocene opening-up of megaherbivore-associated ecological opportunities. Our study provides a quantitative, comparative framework to assess diversification and adaptation during one of the most enigmatic periods in angiosperm history.

Return of forest structure and diversity in tropical restoration plantings

Stepping-stone restoration plantings can reconcile conservation goals and local land use needs in highly fragmented ecosystems. We explored how initial planting composition influences recruiting plant species density, diversity, abundance, and forest structure in a 13-year-old restoration experiment in Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico. Treatments included 8 fenced plantings with animal-dispersed species, 8 plantings with wind-dispersed species, 8 unplanted plots to favor natural succession, and 8 plots in the primary forest as reference sites. We predicted that that by attracting more seed dispersers, animal-dispersed plantings would most closely resemble the primary forest. A census of trees taller than 2 m showed that while wind-dispersed plantings had more recruits, the animal-dispersed plantings most closely resembled the primary forest in pioneer abundance, species density and abundance of biotically-dispersed and abiotically-dispersed plants, individual tree basal area (m2/ha), and vertical structure. The wind-dispersed plantings more closely approximated the forest in non-pioneer abundance and community composition. However, restoration treatments were more similar to each other than to the primary forest and did not differ in plant diversity. Animal-dispersed and wind-dispersed plantings did not differ in non-pioneer species density and matched the primary forest in total plot basal area. Higher abundance of trees in wind-plantings is explained by lower establishment limitations, seed legacy effects, and rapid reproduction of a few planted species. As the experiment continues, we expect treatment effects on seed dispersers will more strongly influence the recruiting plant community, leading the animal-dispersed plantings to more closely resemble the primary forest in diversity and forest structure.

Data from: Do experimental pH increases alter the structure and function of a lowland tropical stream?

Disturbances can alter the structure and function of ecosystems. In stream ecosystems, changes in discharge and physicochemistry at short, intermediate, and long recurrence intervals can affect food webs and ecosystem processes. In this paper, we compare pH regimes in streams at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica, where episodic acidification frequency across the stream network varies widely due to buffering from inputs of bicarbonate-rich inter-basin groundwater. To examine the effects of acidification on ecosystem structure and function, we experimentally increased the buffering capacity of a headwater stream reach, and compared it to an unbuffered upstream reach. We compared these reaches to a naturally buffered and unbuffered reaches of a second headwater stream. We quantified ecosystem structural (macroinvertebrate assemblages on leaf litter and coarse woody debris), and functional responses (leaf litter and coarse woody debris decomposition rates, and growth rates of a focal insect taxon (Diptera: Chironomidae)). Non-metric multidimensional scaling and analysis of similarity revealed that macroinvertebrate assemblages were relatively homogenous across the four study reaches, although the naturally buffered reach was the most dissimilar. Ecosystem function, as measured by chironomid growth rates, was greater in the naturally buffered reach, while decomposition rates did not differ across the four reaches. Our results indicate that biological assemblages are adapted to pH regimes of frequently acidified stream reaches. Our experiment informs the effects on structure and function at short time scales in streams that experience moderate acidification, but larger magnitude acidification events in response to hydroclimatic change, as projected under climate change scenarios, may induce stronger responses in streams.

opencc-by-4.0Apr 2022View details →

Bifurcation points for tropical cyclone genesis in sheared and dry environments - simulation data

Key information to reproduce the idealized WRF ensemble simulations used for tropical cyclone genesis

Bait uptake by scavengers in tropical waterbodies

In tropical Australia, conditioned taste aversion can buffer vulnerable native predators from the invasion of a toxic prey species (cane toads, Rhinella marina). Thus, we need to develop methods to deploy aversion-inducing baits in the field, in ways that maximize uptake by vulnerable species (but not other taxa). We constructed and field-tested baiting devices, in situ with wild animals. Apparatus were set next to waterbodies and baited concurrently at multiple locations (over water, water's edge and on the bank). Baits were checked and replaced twice daily during the trial; remote cameras recorded visitation by native predators. Bait longevity was compared at sun-exposed and shaded locations over 12 hours. The strength required to remove baits from apparatus was measured in varanids and crocodiles. The device promoted high rates of bait uptake by freshwater crocodiles (47% baits consumed), varanid lizards (19% baits consumed), and non-target taxa (34% baits consumed). Targeting specific predators can be achieved by manipulating bait location and time of deployment, as well as the force required to dislodge the bait. Crocodiles were best targeted with over-water baits, whereas varanid lizards preferred baits located at the edges of waterbodies. When testing bait longevity in ambient conditions, during the daytime baits desiccated fully within 12h, and faster in the sun than in the shade. Based on studies using captive animals, the 'pulling force' strength of reptilian predators scaled with body size and was greater in crocodiles than in varanid lizards. We present the first conservation baiting protocol designed specifically for reptiles. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of widespread and taxon-specific deployment of aversion-inducing baits to buffer the impacts of invasive cane toads, and our methods are applicable (with modification) to other research and management programs globally.

opencc-by-4.0Apr 2022View details →

Data accompanying "Saildrone direct covariance wind stress in various wind and current regimes of the tropical Pacific"

Data used for creating figures in the draft article "Saildrone direct covariance wind stress in various wind and current regimes of the tropical Pacific". This includes: <ul> <li>1-minute average fields as broadcast in real time by Saildrone;</li> <li>10-minute average direct covariance fluxes (calculated by Jack Reeves Eyre);</li> <li>10-minute average bulk fluxes (calculated by Dongxiao Zhang using the COARE 3.5 algorithm).</li> </ul> Code used to calculate the direct covariance fluxes, and to create the plots, is in a Github repository (https://github.com/NOAA-PMEL/SaildroneCovarianceFlux). The repository is also archived on Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6484795). The data are archived in a directory structure that should work with the code - only a simple edit of "src/config.py" should be required.    Version history: <ul> <li>v0.1.0 -- submission to PMEL internal review (goes with code v0.1.0, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6484796).</li> </ul>