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Ecology and conservation of socially learned foraging tactics in odontocetes
<h3>Overview</h3> <p>This package contains the data and R code to replicate the analyses and figures of the review article, "Ecology and conservation of socially learned foraging tactics in odontocetes", submitted to the special issue of Philosophical Transactions B, "Animal Culture: conservation in a changing world". </p> <p>Metadata for CSV files used for analyses are provided below, and detailed instructions on running code are available at: https://github.com/JoaoVallePereira/Toothed_Whales_Forag_Tactics. For full description of variables, see supplemental material associated with publication. </p> <div> <h3>Main data table - dataTable_Forag_Tactics.csv</h3> </div> <table> <tbody> <tr> <th>Variable</th> <th>Class</th> <th>Description</th> </tr> </tbody> <tbody> <tr> <td>common_name</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The common name of the species exhibiting the foraging tactic</td> </tr> <tr> <td>latin_name</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The Latin name of the species exhibiting the foraging tactic</td> </tr> <tr> <td>country</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The country that has jurisdiction over the region where the foraging tactic occurs</td> </tr> <tr> <td>region</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The region where the foraging tactic occurs</td> </tr> <tr> <td>animal_identity_data</td> <td>Character</td> <td>Whether identity information for the individual(s) exhibiting the foraging tactic is available</td> </tr> <tr> <td>number_of_animals</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The number of different individuals exhibiting the foraging tactic</td> </tr> <tr> <td>foraging_category</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The broad foraging category that the specific foraging tactic most closely aligns with</td> </tr> <tr> <td>foraging_tactic</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The specific foraging tactic</td> </tr> <tr> <td>tactic_driver</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The key factor influencing or determining the observed foraging tactic</td> </tr> <tr> <td>human_induced</td> <td>Character</td> <td>Whether the foraging tactic is human-induced or not</td> </tr> <tr> <td>prey_category</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The type of prey being targeted during the foraging tactic</td> </tr> <tr> <td>habitat</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The type of habitat in which the foraging tactic is exhibited</td> </tr> <tr> <td>prey_category</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The type of prey being targeted during the foraging tactic</td> </tr> <tr> <td>putative_specialised_foraging_tactic</td> <td>Character</td> <td>Foraging tactics having both individual identity information and evidence of being shared among conspecifics</td> </tr> <tr> <td>putative_cultural_foraging_tactic</td> <td>Character</td> <td>Foraging tactics with positive evidence of social learning</td> </tr> <tr> <td>transmission_direction</td> <td>Character</td> <td>How the foraging tactic is transmitted, given positive evidence of social learning</td> </tr> <tr> <td>nature_of_social_learning_evidence</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The type of evidence for social learning</td> </tr> <tr> <td>culture_acknowledgement</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The type of evidence for social learning</td> </tr> <tr> <td>evidence_for_discreteness_significance</td> <td>Character</td> <td>Evidence for differences in diet or foraging techniques that are stable</td> </tr> <tr> <td>threat_acknowledgement</td> <td>Character</td> <td>Whether the reviewed studies acknowledge anthropogenic threats</td> </tr> <tr> <td>threat_category</td> <td>Character</td> <td>For studies that acknowledge anthropogenic threats and impacts, the type of IUCN-CMP first-level threat classification</td> </tr> <tr> <td>threat_subcategory</td> <td>Character</td> <td>For studies that acknowledge anthropogenic threats and impacts, the type of IUCN-CMP second-level threat classification</td> </tr> <tr> <td>threat_direction</td> <td>Character</td> <td>Whether the acknowledged threats were considered a threat to or a consequence of the foraging tactic</td> </tr> <tr> <td>conservation_actions_acknowledgement</td> <td>Character</td> <td>Whether the reviewed studies acknowledge existing or proposed conservation actions related to the foraging tactic</td> </tr> <tr> <td>existing_conservation_actions_category</td> <td>Character</td> <td>Existing conservation actions related to the foraging tactic, the type of IUCN-CMP first-level action classification</td> </tr> <tr> <td>existing_conservation_actions_subcategory</td> <td>Character</td> <td>Existing conservation actions related to the foraging tactic, the type of IUCN-CMP second-level action classification</td> </tr> <tr> <td>proposed_conservation_actions_category</td> <td>Character</td> <td>Proposed conservation actions related to the foraging tactic, the type of IUCN-CMP first-level action classification</td> </tr> <tr> <td>proposed_conservation_actions_subcategory</td> <td>Character</td> <td>Proposed conservation actions related to the foraging tactic, the type of IUCN-CMP second-level action classification</td> </tr> <tr> <td>references</td> <td>Character</td> <td>Reviewed primary and secondary literature used to fill out metrics for the foraging tactic</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <div> <h3> </h3> <h3>Maps data table - dataTable_Forag_Tactics_map.csv</h3> </div> <table> <tbody> <tr> <th>Variable</th> <th>Class</th> <th>Description</th> </tr> </tbody> <tbody> <tr> <td>common_name</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The common name of the species exhibiting the foraging tactic</td> </tr> <tr> <td>latin_name</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The Latin name of the species exhibiting the foraging tactic</td> </tr> <tr> <td>orca_ecotype</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The orca ecotypes exhibiting the foraging tactic</td> </tr> <tr> <td>country</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The country that has jurisdiction over the region where the foraging tactic occurs</td> </tr> <tr> <td>region</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The region where the foraging tactic occurs</td> </tr> <tr> <td>latitude</td> <td>Numeric</td> <td>The latitude where the foraging tactic occurs</td> </tr> <tr> <td>longitude</td> <td>Numeric</td> <td>The longitude where the foraging tactic occurs</td> </tr> <tr> <td>putative_specialised_foraging_tactic</td> <td>Character</td> <td>Foraging tactics having both individual identity information and evidence of being shared among conspecifics</td> </tr> <tr> <td>foraging_category</td> <td>Character</td> <td>The broad foraging category that the specific foraging tactic most closely aligns with</td> </tr> <tr> <td>tactic_cat_fact</td> <td>Factor (10 levels)</td> <td>The broad foraging category that the specific foraging tactic most closely aligns with</td> </tr> <tr> <td>evidence_for_discreteness_significance</td> <td>Character</td> <td>Evidence for differences in diet or foraging techniques that are stable</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>
Рис. 2. Основные места концентрации фуражирующих особей Bombus distinguendus в АрхангеΛьской обΛасти: 1 — Разнотравно-зΛаковый Λуг с Trifolium pratense и Trifolium repens в окрестностях гороΑа Мезень; 2 — Разнотравно-зΛаковый Λуг по обочине Αороги с Centaurea scabiosa в окрестностях сеΛа ХоΛмогоры; 3 – Агроценоз со Stachys palustris в ΑеΛьте реки Северная Δвина; 4 — РуΑераΛьное сообщество с Chamaenerion angustifolium в ΑеΛьте реки Северная Δвина Fig. 2. Typical foraging habitats of Bombus distinguendus in Arkhangelsk Oblast: 1 — Meadow with Trifolium pratense and Trifolium repens near the town of Mezen; 2 — Roadside meadow with Centaurea scabiosa near the village of Kholmogory; 3 — Agricultural habitat with Stachys palustris in the delta of the Northern Dvina River; 4 — Ruderal community with Chamaenerion angustifolium in the delta of the Northern Dvina River in Bombus distinguendus Morawitz, 1869 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia: Distribution, ecology and conservation
Рис. 2. Основные места концентрации фуражирующих особей Bombus distinguendus в АрхангеΛьской обΛасти: 1 — Разнотравно-зΛаковый Λуг с Trifolium pratense и Trifolium repens в окрестностях гороΑа Мезень; 2 — Разнотравно-зΛаковый Λуг по обочине Αороги с Centaurea scabiosa в окрестностях сеΛа ХоΛмогоры; 3 – Агроценоз со Stachys palustris в ΑеΛьте реки Северная Δвина; 4 — РуΑераΛьное сообщество с Chamaenerion angustifolium в ΑеΛьте реки Северная Δвина Fig. 2. Typical foraging habitats of Bombus distinguendus in Arkhangelsk Oblast: 1 — Meadow with Trifolium pratense and Trifolium repens near the town of Mezen; 2 — Roadside meadow with Centaurea scabiosa near the village of Kholmogory; 3 — Agricultural habitat with Stachys palustris in the delta of the Northern Dvina River; 4 — Ruderal community with Chamaenerion angustifolium in the delta of the Northern Dvina River
FIGURE 1 in Mini DNA barcodes reveal the details of the foraging ecology of the largehead hairtail, Trichiurus lepturus (Scombriformes: Trichiuridae), from São Paulo, Brazil
FIGURE 1 | Diagram showing the taxonomic composition of the prey items identified in the stomach of the largehead hairtail, Trichiurus lepturus, collected off the coast of São Paulo state in southeastern Brazil.
Inhibitory control, exploration behaviour and manipulated ecological context are associated with foraging flexibility in the great tit
<p class="MsoCommentText">Organisms are constantly under selection to respond effectively to diverse, sometimes rapid, changes in their environment, but not all individuals are equally plastic in their behaviour. Although cognitive processes and personality are expected to influence individual behavioural plasticity, the effects reported are highly inconsistent, which we hypothesise is because ecological context is usually not considered.</p> <p class="MsoCommentText">We explored how one type of behavioural plasticity, foraging flexibility, was associated with inhibitory control (assayed using a detour-reaching task) and exploration behaviour in a novel environment (a trait closely linked to the fast-slow personality axis). We investigated how these effects varied across two experimentally manipulated ecological contexts, food value and predation risk.</p> <p class="MsoCommentText">In the first phase of the experiment, we trained great tits <i>Parus major</i> to retrieve high value (preferred) food that was hidden in sand so that this became the familiar food source. In the second phase, we offered them the same familiar hidden food at the same time as a new alternative option that was visible on the surface, which was either high or low value, and under either high or low perceived predation risk. Foraging flexibility was defined as the proportion of choices made during four minute trials that were for the new alternative food source.</p> <p>Our assays captured consistent differences among individuals in foraging flexibility. Inhibitory control was associated with foraging flexibility - birds with high inhibitory control were more flexible when the alternative food was high value, suggesting they inhibited the urge to select the familiar food and instead selected the new food option. Exploration behaviour also predicted flexibility – fast explorers were more flexible, supporting the information gathering hypothesis. This tendency was especially strong under high predation risk, suggesting risk aversion also influenced the observed flexibility because fast explorers are risk prone and the new unfamiliar food was perceived to be the risky option. Thus, both behaviours predicted flexibility, and these links were at least partly dependent on ecological conditions.</p> <p class="MsoCommentText">Our results demonstrate that an executive cognitive function (inhibitory control) and a behavioural assay of a well-known personality axis are both associated with individual variation in the plasticity of a key functional behaviour. That their effects on foraging flexibility were primarily observed as interactions with food value or predation risk treatments also suggests that the population level consequences of some behavioural mechanisms may only be revealed across key ecological conditions.</p>
Persistence explains differences in innovation in Darwin's finches with a different foraging ecology
<p><span>The capacity to create new behaviors is influenced by environmental factors such as foraging ecology, which can lead to phylogenetic variation in innovativeness. Alternatively, these differences may arise due to the selection of the underlying mechanisms, collaterally affecting innovativeness. To understand the evolutionary pathways that might enhance innovativeness, we examined the role of diet breadth and degree of extractive foraging, as well as a range of intervening cognitive and behavioral mechanisms (neophilia, neophobia, flexibility, motivation and persistence). Darwin's finches are very suitable for </span><span>this purpose: the clade is composed of closely related species that </span><span>vary in their feeding habits and capacity to develop food innovations. Using a multi-access box, we conducted an interspecies comparison on innovative problem-solving between two diet specialists, extractive foragers (woodpecker and cactus finch), and two diet generalist, non-extractive foragers (small and medium ground finch). </span><span>We predicted that, if extractive foraging was associated with high innovativeness, variation would be best explained by species differences in persistence and motivation, whereas if diet generalism was the main driver then variation would be due to differences in flexibility and responses to novelty. We found </span><span>a faster capacity to innovate and a higher persistence for extractive foragers, suggesting that </span><span>persistence might be adaptive to extractive foraging and only secondarily to innovation. </span><span>Our findings also show that diet generalism and some variables linking it to innovation </span><span>were unrelated to innovativeness, and call for the development of joint experimental approaches that capture the diversity of factors giving rise to novel behaviors.</span></p>
Data from: Ecological tradeoffs drive a power-law relationship between group size and population density in social foragers
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Persistence explains differences in innovation in Darwin’s finches with a different foraging ecology
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Inhibitory control, exploration behaviour and manipulated ecological context are associated with foraging flexibility in the great tit
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Population assessment and foraging ecology of the rare solitary bee Anthophora retusa at Seaford Head Nature reserve
<p><em>Anthophora retusa</em> is a rare solitary bee which has declined throughout Britain and other European countries since the 1990s. It is thought to be restricted to five sites in Britain. However, information on these remaining populations is limited. Knowledge on population size, dispersal distance, habitat and forage requirements are important for successful conservation of species. The population of <em>A. retusa</em> at the Seaford Head Nature reserve in East Sussex was surveyed. Using mark recapture the population was estimated in 2018 and 2019 to be fewer than 200 individuals, with the male population increasing from 47 in 2018 to 167 in 2019. The female population was 44 in 2018 but due to zero recaptures in 2019, no population estimate was possible. Bees seem to be geographically restricted to a 25ha area within the reserve. The most visited flower species by females was <em>Glechoma hederacea </em>(66% of visits) but flower preference changed throughout the flight season, shifting to Fabaceae species and <em>Iris foetidissima</em> with 16 plant groups identified in pollen samples. Although the exact location of nesting sites was not determined with certainty it’s thought they are nesting in the loess deposits at the top of the inaccessible sea cliff face. The average distance between recaptures was 122m, perhaps indicating low dispersal. This project suggests the presence of appropriate nesting sites, potentially soft exposed soil, may be limiting <em>A. retusa</em> distribution as they appear to forage on common plant species. More research is needed on the exact nesting requirements of the species.</p>
Data set for 'Lunge filter feeding biomechanics constrain rorqual foraging ecology across scale'...
<p>Fundamental scaling relationships influence the physiology of vital rates, which in turn shape the ecology and evolution of organisms. For diving mammals, benefits conferred by large body size include reduced transport costs and enhanced breath-holding capacity, thereby increasing overall foraging efficiency. Rorqual whales feed by engulfing a large mass of prey-laden water at high speed and filter it through baleen plates. However, as engulfment capacity increases with body length across species (Engulfment Volume ∝ Body Length <sup>3.57</sup>), the surface area of the baleen filter does not increase proportionally (Baleen Area ∝ Body Length<sup>1.82</sup>), and thus the filtration time of larger rorquals predictably increases because the baleen surface area must filter a disproportionally large amount of water. We predicted that filtration time should scale with body length to the power of 1.75 (Filter Time ∝ Body Length<sup>1.75</sup><i>)</i>. We tested this hypothesis on four rorqual species using multi-sensor tags with corresponding unoccupied aerial systems (UAS) -based body length estimates. We found that filter time scales with body length to the power of 1.79 (95% CI: 1.61 - 1.97). This result highlights a scale-dependent trade-off between engulfment capacity and baleen area that creates a biomechanical constraint to foraging through increased filtration time. Consequently, larger whales must target high density prey patches commensurate to the gulp size to meet their increased energetic demands. If these optimal patches are absent, larger rorquals may experience reduced foraging efficiency compared to smaller whales if they do not match engulfment capacity to the size of targeted prey aggregations.</p>
Foraging shifts and visual preadaptation in ecologically diverse bats
<p>Changes in behaviour may initiate shifts to new adaptive zones, with physical adaptations for novel environments evolving later. While new mutations are commonly considered engines of adaptive change, sensory evolution enabling access to new resources might also arise from standing genetic diversity, and even gene loss. We examine the relative contribution of molecular adaptations, measured by positive and relaxed selection, acting on eye expressed genes associated with shifts to new adaptive zones in ecologically diverse bats from the superfamily Noctilionoidea. Collectively, noctilionoids display remarkable ecological breadth, from highly divergent echolocation to flight strategies linked to specialized insectivory, the parallel evolution of diverse plant-based diets (e.g., nectar, pollen, and fruit) from ancestral insectivory, and –unusually for echolocating bats– often have large, well-developed eyes. We report contrasting levels of positive selection in genes associated with the development, maintenance, and scope of visual function, tracing back to the origins of noctilionoids and Phyllostomidae (the bat family with most dietary diversity), instead of during shifts to novel diets. Generalized plant visiting was not associated with exceptional molecular adaptation, and exploration of these novel niches took place in an ancestral phyllostomid genetic background. In contrast, evidence for positive selection in vision genes was found at subsequent shifts to either nectarivory or frugivory. Thus, neotropical noctilionoids that use visual cues for identifying food and roosts, as well as for orientation, were effectively preadapted, with subsequent molecular adaptations in nectar-feeding lineages and the Stenodermatinae subfamily of fig-eating bats fine-tuning pre-existing visual adaptations for specialized purposes.</p>
Dataset supplementing Lichtenberg et al. (2017) Foraging traits modulate stingless bee community disassembly under forest loss. Journal of Animal Ecology
<p>This dataset contains data and scripts that supplement the publication</p> <p>Lichtenberg et al. (2017) Foraging traits modulate stingless bee community disassembly under forest loss. Journal of Animal Ecology. DOI 10.1111/1365-2656.12747.</p> <p> </p> <p>Please cite the above article if you use any of the included data or code.</p> <p> </p> <p>Files are described in README.md.</p>
Understanding trophic interactions in a warming world by bridging foraging ecology and biomechanics with network science
<p><strong><em><span>Background</span></em></strong></p> <p><span>Leaf-cutter ants (<em>Atta</em> spp. and <em>Acromyrmex </em>spp.) are the principal insect pest and a major ecosystem engineer throughout the Neotropics (Leal et al., 2014; Wirth et al., 2003). They harvest plant matter in the surroundings of their colonies to grow a fungus as crop, and in doing so they cut plant matter on an almost industrial scale: about 15 % of the foliar biomass in the Neotropics, or about every sixth leaf, is consumed by leaf-cutter ant colonies (Costa et al., 2008; Fowler et al., 1989; Herz et al., 2007; Wirth et al., 2003), and more than half of all woody species are attacked by them (Cherrett, 1968; Rockwood, 1976). Leaf-cutter ants are perhaps the most voracious and polyphagous herbivorous insects (Lugo et al., 1973; Wirth et al., 2003), and their foraging activity is affected by a variety of environmental conditions, including wind (Alma et al., 2016b), precipitation (Steadman et al., 2020) and barometric pressure (Sujimoto et al., 2020), all of which will be subject to variation due to climate change. </span></p> <p><span>Although leaf-cutter foraging is clearly a complex, multi-factorial behaviour, it has at its core a biomechanical interaction between ant consumer and plant food resource: the force the ants can apply must exceed the force required to drag the mandible through the tissue (Püffel, Roces, et al., 2023; Püffel, Walthaus, et al., 2023). The magnitude of the available bite force is determined by worker size, and the magnitude of the minimum required cutting force is determined by structural and mechanical properties of the plant leaf; consumer and resource properties interact. This mechanical competition has resulted in extraordinary adaptations in both the anatomy and physiology of the leaf-cutter ant bite apparatus: their disproportionately large heads are filled to the rim with optimally packed mandible closer muscles (Püffel et al., 2021). Both their muscle stress and size-specific bite forces are among the highest measured for any animal (Püffel, Johnston, et al., 2023; Püffel, Roces, et al., 2023), and their mandibles are close to “ideally sharp” (Püffel, Walthaus, et al., 2023). As a result, the vast majority of worker sizes can cut the majority of tropical leafs; without these adaptations, and a bite performance commensurate with their body size, only the largest workers would be able to perform this crucial mechanical task (Püffel, Roces, et al., 2023). How will a warming climate affect resource accessibility for the leaf-cutters?</span></p> <p><span>Temperature increases have various implications for the trophic interactions of ants, including altered search behaviour <span>(Frizzi, 2018),</span> and foraging site selection (Spicer et al., 2017; Traniello et al., 1984). An increase in average temperatures can also drive body size decreases in insects (Tseng et al., 2018), including ants (Molet et al., 2017)<a href="https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=QmLD4C"><span>,</span></a> concomitantly reducing their available bite force (Püffel, Roces, et al., 2023; Rühr et al., 2022). Since leaf-cutter mandibles are so sharp that they already cut with a force close to the minimum dictated by cutting mechanics, the force required to cut leaves will likely be unaffected (Püffel, Walthaus, et al., 2023), and any change in body size will therefore only significantly impact bite forces. Because the relationship between bite forces and body size in the leaf-cutter is well understood mechanistically (Püffel, Roces, et al., 2023), it is possible to predict how these changes will impact trophic networks. A very rough estimate of the change in network structure serves to illustrate how network science can integrate biomechanics and foraging ecology to study the effect of climate change on trophic interactions. </span></p> <p><span>To demonstrate the potential of network science to integrate biomechanical and foraging data within the context of climate change, we constructed and analysed hypothetical plant-ant networks across six hypothetical temperatures. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em><span>Datasets and methods</span></em></strong></p> <p><span>All analysis was performed in R version 4.3.1 (R Core Team, 2023), and data processed reproducibly via the ‘tidyverse’ package (Wickham et al., 2019). We compiled two datasets and some additional contextual information. Leaf-cutter ant biomass (a proxy for body size) and bite force data were taken from <span>Püffel et al. (2023)</span> for 248 individual ants across three colonies. Required cutting forces for 1197 individual plants representing 868 taxa available to leaf-cutter ants were taken from <span>Onoda et al. (2011)</span>. Insect temperature-body size relationships were taken from <span>Tseng et al. (2018)</span>; specifically, a body size decrease of 1.56 % per degree Celsius increase for museum specimens, to represent gradual long-term change. Based on these data, edgelists (i.e., pairwise lists of consumers and resources) were generated for ants and plants in which binary interaction weights were applied; where bite forces exceeded the force required to cut leaves, a weighting of 1 was given, and 0 otherwise. This edgelist was then replicated for incremental increases of 1 °C up to a 5 °C increase by adjusting bite forces based on incremental body size decreases of 1.56 %. In order to estimate the change of bite force with body mass, we used direct bite force measurements from Püffel et al. (2023), which suggest that maximum bite force in <em>Atta vollenweideri</em> varies with body mass <em>m</em> as <em>T ~ m^0.9</em>. Thus, if body size decreases by a factor of 0.9844 (i.e., 1.56 % decrease) with every degree Celsius temperature increase, then the maximum bite force decreases by a factor of 0.9844<em><sup>0.9</sup></em>. Consequently, adjusted bite forces were calculated, and new binary edgelist weightings generated based on whether the adjusted bite force was greater than the required cutting force.</span></p> <p><span>Bipartite networks were constructed with consumer nodes and resource nodes representing the three ant colonies and the 868 plant taxa, respectively. All six networks were visualised using ‘ggnetwork’ (Briatte, 2021) via ‘igraph’ (Csardi & Nepusz, 2006) in a single network diagram to highlight persistence of links across temperatures using scaled red colours. Network metrics, specifically consumer degree (the number of plants ants were deemed able to interact with) and generality (the total range of plants accessible across all ants), were generated via the ‘bipartite’ package (Dormann et al., 2008) and visually compared via ‘ggplot2’ (Wickham, 2016).</span></p>
Stabilized morphological evolution of spiders despite mosaic changes in foraging ecology
<p><span>A prominent question in animal research is how the evolution of morphology and ecology interact in the generation of phenotypic diversity. Spiders are some of the most abundant arthropod predators in terrestrial ecosystems and exhibit a diversity of foraging styles. It remains unclear how spider body size and proportions relate to foraging style, and if the use of webs as prey capture devices correlates with changes in body characteristics. Here we present the most extensive dataset to date of morphometric and ecological traits in spiders. We used this dataset to estimate the change in spider body sizes and shapes over deep time and to test if and how spider phenotypes are correlated with their behavioural ecology. We found that phylogenetic variation of most traits best fitted an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model, which is a model of stabilizing selection. A prominent exception was body length, whose evolutionary dynamics were best explained with a Brownian Motion (free trait diffusion) model. This was most expressed in the araneoid clade (ecribellate orb-weaving spiders and allies) that showed bimodal trends towards either miniaturization or gigantism. Only few traits differed significantly between ecological guilds, most prominently leg length and thickness, and although a multivariate framework found general differences in traits among ecological guilds, it was not possible to unequivocally associate a set of morphometric traits with the relative ecological mode. Long, thin legs have often evolved with aerial webs and a hanging (suspended) locomotion style, but this trend is not general. Eye size and fang length did not differ between ecological guilds, rejecting the hypothesis that webs reduce the need for visual cue recognition and prey immobilization. For the inference of the ecology of species with unknown behaviours, we propose not to use morphometric traits, but rather consult (micro-)morphological characters, such as the presence of certain podal structures. These results suggest that, in contrast to insects, the evolution of body proportions in spiders is unusually stabilized, and ecological adaptations are dominantly realized by behavioural traits and extended phenotypes in this group of predators. This work demonstrates the power of combining recent advances in phylogenomics with trait-based approaches to better understand global functional diversity patterns through space and time.</span></p>
Dataset on foraging ecology of shrubland bird community
<p>Habitat loss due to increasing anthropogenic disturbance is the major driver for bird population declines across the globe. Within the Eastern Ghats of India, shrubland bird communities are threatened by shrinking of suitable habitats due to increased anthropogenic disturbance and climate change. Development of an effective habitat management strategy is hampered by the absence of data for this bird community. To address this knowledge gap, we examined foraging sites for 14 shrubland bird species, including three declining species, in three study areas representing the shrubland type of forest community in the Eastern Ghats. We recorded microhabitat features within an 11 m radius of observed foraging points and compared these data with similar data from random plots. We used chi-square to test the association between plant species and bird species for sites where they were observed foraging. We observed significant differences between foraging sites of all the study species and random plots, thus indicating selection for foraging habitat. Using linear discriminant analysis, we found that the microhabitat features important for the bird species were shrub density, vegetational height, vertical foliage stratification, grass height, and percent rock cover. Our results show that diet guild and foraging strata influence the foraging microhabitat selection of a species (e.g., ground-foraging species differed significantly from other species). Except for two species, all focal birds were associated with at least one plant species. The plant-bird association was based on foraging, structural, or behavioral preferences. Several key factors affecting foraging habitat such as shrub density can be actively managed at the local scale. Strategic and selective harvesting of forest products and a spatially and temporally controlled livestock grazing regime may allow regeneration of scrubland and create conditions favorable to birds.</p>
Foraging shifts and visual preadaptation in ecologically diverse bats
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Stabilized morphological evolution of spiders despite mosaic changes in foraging ecology
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Data from: Ecological and intrinsic drivers of foraging parameters of Eurasian lynx across Europe
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Dataset on foraging ecology of shrubland bird community
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Introduced wild pigs affect the foraging ecology of a native predator as both prey and scavenger
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Allen Brain Atlas
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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.
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OpenNeuro
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