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Effects of large mammal herbivory on salt marsh invertebrate communities varies with grazing type
We studied mammalian grazing (cattle, feral horses, and artificial grazing) on three barrier islands on the coast of Georgia, USA. All three grazing types altered invertebrate community composition, but in different ways. Cattle grazing had the most negative impact on plant height, chlorophyll content and toughness, and on the density and diversity of invertebrates, while artificial grazing produced some positive effects on planthoppers, herbivorous Chaetopsis spp. flies, and spiders. Although the responses to grazing of some plant traits and some invertebrate taxa were variable, plant height and katydid (Orchelimum fidicinium) density were consistently reduced by the three grazing types. Katydids did not have a feeding preference for grazed versus ungrazed plants, but grew better on ungrazed plants.
Plant community responses to functional group and species removals along biodiversity experiment vegetation transects at the Jornada Basin LTER site, 1997-2002
This dataset contains vegetative cover data of plots that have had various plant functional groups or species experimentally removed at the Jornada Basin LTER site in southern New Mexico, USA. This data was collected with the objective to distinguish the differential effects of plant community biomass, functional groups, and biodiversity within functional groups on ecosystem and plant community function. To make these distinctions, treatments were established by the selective removal of plant species or functional groups within experimental plots. There are eight treatments: control (C, no removals); four functional group removal treatments (PG, perennial grass removed; S, shrubs removed; SSh, subshrubs removed; Succ, succulents removed), and three species richness manipulation treatments. Richness manipulations included a simplified treatment (Simp), where only the single most abundant species of each growth form is preserved and all other species in the growth form are removed, a reduced‐Larrea treatment (rL), where the Larrea is assumed to be the dominant and is removed while minority components remain, and a reduced-Prosopsis treatment (rP), where Prosopis rather than Larrea is removed as the shrub dominant. Following treatments, vegetative data was collected by sampling each plot along three transects twice a year (Spring and Fall) for 5 years from 1997-2002 (no data collected in 1998). This data set consists of the date of collection, plot number, treatment type, transect number, quadrat number, species codes, two diameters, height, condition, count, record IDs, and error codes. This study is complete.
Microbial Observatory at North Temperate Lakes LTER High-resolution temporal and spatial dynamics of microbial community structure in freshwater bog lakes 2005 - 2009 original format (Reformatted to the ecocomDP Design Pattern)
This data package is formatted as an ecocomDP (Ecological Community Data Pattern). For more information on ecocomDP see https://github.com/EDIorg/ecocomDP. This Level 1 data package was derived from the Level 0 data package found here: https://pasta.lternet.edu/package/metadata/eml/knb-lter-ntl/349/4. The abstract below was extracted from the Level 0 data package and is included for context: The North Temperate Lakes - Microbial Observatory seeks to study freshwater microbes over long time scales (10+ years). Observing microbial communities over multiple years using DNA sequencing allows in-depth assessment of diversity, variability, gene content, and seasonal/annual drivers of community composition. Combining information obtained from DNA sequencing with additional experiments, such as investigating the biochemical properties of specific compounds, gene expression, or nutrient concentrations, provides insight into the functions of microbial taxa. Our 16S rRNA gene amplicon datasets were collected from bog lakes in Vilas County, WI, and from Lake Mendota in Madison, WI. Ribosomal RNA gene amplicon sequencing of freshwater environmental DNA was performed on samples from Crystal Bog, North Sparkling Bog, West Sparkling Bog, Trout Bog, South Sparkling Bog, Hell’s Kitchen, and Mary Lake. These microbial time series are valuable both for microbial ecologists seeking to understand the properties of microbial communities and for ecologists seeking to better understand how microbes contribute to ecosystem functioning in freshwater.
Zooplankton and macroinvertebrate size spectra, biomass, and community composition; and harvest of bigmouth buffalo and common carp in six shallow lakes in Iowa, USA (2018-2020)
This data product contains biological data collected within six shallow lakes in Iowa, USA between 2018 - 2020, where four lakes were undergoing targeted removals of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and bigmouth buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus). Parts of these data were a portion of Albright et al. 2022 (https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/1d3797fd573208bae6f78963479445a0), however the data herein include additional survey data from the Ambient Lake Monitoring network instituted through Iowa State University and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (https://www.iowadnr.gov/environmental-protection/water-quality/water-monitoring/ambient-lake-monitoring#ambient-lake-monitoring-sampling-plan). Data are packaged and formatted specifically for size spectra analysis and compositional analysis.
Interviews with members of the HJA Community during the Lookout Fire, HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, 2023
This dataset records the interview instrument, analytical codebook, and summary of results for the 2023 Lookout Fire Qualitative Interviews. Data was collected in 2023 in Corvallis, Oregon, and over Zoom. Members of the H. J. Andrews Experimental Forest (HJA) community (e.g., university faculty and administrative professionals, agency scientists and personnel, students, alumni and emeritus from the aforementioned communities) were interviewed between September 26th and November 8th 2023. At the time, the fire had largely stopped growing (no significant runs occurred during the interview period), but the fire was not fully contained and the fire severity was not yet known by the community. Data collection is complete. The interview included questions about emotional reactions to the Lookout Fire, current and foreseen impacts to research at the HJA, social relationships and the fire, naturalness of the fire, and climate change, climate anxiety, and the fire. Interviews were semi-structured; while interviews were guided by the interview protocol, conversation was allowed to proceed organically. In total, 40 respondents were interviewed. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed inductively and deductively. A finalized codebook was developed iteratively; the included codebook are the final codes used to analyze the full dataset. Interview transcripts and other potentially identifying information is not available to protect respondent confidentiality and anonymity. This dataset summarizes the key interview results.
GCE-LTER Altamaha River Plant Community Monitoring Survey in October 2021
A quadrat survey was conducted in October 2021 to measure the species and size distribution of plants at 3 sampling sites on the creekbank of the Altamaha River. The sites were chosen to capture the transition from Spartina alterniflora to Spartina cynosuroides (site SCSA) and the transition from Spartina cynosuroides to Zizaniopsis miliacea (sites ZSC1 and ZSC2). The quadrats were established as permanent plots in October 2012 by placing PVC stakes along the creekbank at each site. Plots were evenly spaced, but were not randomly located because the goal was to start with mixtures of vegetation in most of the plots, and vegetation was distributed in patches along the creekbanks. Therefore, these plots provide useful measures of vegetation change, but are not a random sample of the vegetation at the site. Plots will be replaced each year as necessary to replace any lost to disturbance. The plots were visually surveyed and the species, shoot height, and flowering status was recorded individually for each shoot over 10 cm in height present in each plot. Observations from plots exhibiting signs of disturbance were noted in a separate data set. This survey will be repeated annually to assess changes in plant distribution and biomass in relation to environmental changes documented by other GCE LTER monitoring efforts.
GCE-LTER Altamaha River Plant Community Monitoring Survey in October 2022
A quadrat survey was conducted in October 2022 to measure the species and size distribution of plants at 3 sampling sites on the creekbank of the Altamaha River. The sites were chosen to capture the transition from Spartina alterniflora to Spartina cynosuroides (site SCSA) and the transition from Spartina cynosuroides to Zizaniopsis miliacea (sites ZSC1 and ZSC2). The quadrats were established as permanent plots in October 2012 by placing PVC stakes along the creekbank at each site. Plots were evenly spaced, but were not randomly located because the goal was to start with mixtures of vegetation in most of the plots, and vegetation was distributed in patches along the creekbanks. Therefore, these plots provide useful measures of vegetation change, but are not a random sample of the vegetation at the site. Plots will be replaced each year as necessary to replace any lost to disturbance. The plots were visually surveyed and the species, shoot height, and flowering status was recorded individually for each shoot over 10 cm in height present in each plot. Observations from plots exhibiting signs of disturbance were noted in a separate data set. This survey will be repeated annually to assess changes in plant distribution and biomass in relation to environmental changes documented by other GCE LTER monitoring efforts.
GCE-LTER Altamaha River Plant Community Monitoring Survey in October 2023
A quadrat survey was conducted in October 2023 to measure the species and size distribution of plants at 3 sampling sites on the creekbank of the Altamaha River. The sites were chosen to capture the transition from Spartina alterniflora to Spartina cynosuroides (site SCSA) and the transition from Spartina cynosuroides to Zizaniopsis miliacea (sites ZSC1 and ZSC2). The quadrats were established as permanent plots in October 2012 by placing PVC stakes along the creekbank at each site. Plots were evenly spaced, but were not randomly located because the goal was to start with mixtures of vegetation in most of the plots, and vegetation was distributed in patches along the creekbanks. Therefore, these plots provide useful measures of vegetation change, but are not a random sample of the vegetation at the site. Plots will be replaced each year as necessary to replace any lost to disturbance. The plots were visually surveyed and the species, shoot height, and flowering status was recorded individually for each shoot over 10 cm in height present in each plot. Observations from plots exhibiting signs of disturbance were noted in a separate data set. This survey will be repeated annually to assess changes in plant distribution and biomass in relation to environmental changes documented by other GCE LTER monitoring efforts.
GCE-LTER Altamaha River Plant Community Monitoring Survey in October 2024
A quadrat survey was conducted in October 2024 to measure the species and size distribution of plants at 3 sampling sites on the creekbank of the Altamaha River. The sites were chosen to capture the transition from Spartina alterniflora to Spartina cynosuroides (site SCSA) and the transition from Spartina cynosuroides to Zizaniopsis miliacea (sites ZSC1 and ZSC2). The quadrats were established as permanent plots in October 2012 by placing PVC stakes along the creekbank at each site. Plots were evenly spaced, but were not randomly located because the goal was to start with mixtures of vegetation in most of the plots, and vegetation was distributed in patches along the creekbanks. Therefore, these plots provide useful measures of vegetation change, but are not a random sample of the vegetation at the site. Plots will be replaced each year as necessary to replace any lost to disturbance. The plots were visually surveyed and the species, shoot height, and flowering status was recorded individually for each shoot over 10 cm in height present in each plot. Observations from plots exhibiting signs of disturbance were noted in a separate data set. This survey will be repeated annually to assess changes in plant distribution and biomass in relation to environmental changes documented by other GCE LTER monitoring efforts.
Herbaceous Community Composition in CRUI Land Use Project at Harvard Forest 1996
Patterns of vascular plant species richness were investigated in six land use legacy sites (2 formerly plowed, 2 formerly pastured, and 2 permanent woodlot) in Prospect Hill to test predictions about the effects of disturbance, light and soil resources, and forest floor environmental heterogeneity on community composition. The occurrence of vascular taxa was recorded in each of the 60 5 m x 5 m contiguous plots within the 30 m x 50 m permanently gridded study plot in each land use legacy site in June 1996. Identification was made to species in most cases. Woodlots showed higher average species richness at the site level (53) than either pastured (52 species) or plowed (49) sites. However woodlots also show greater spatial variation in richness at the 5 m x 5 m resolution than either the plowed or pastured sites (in that order) as represented by the range, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation. Seasonally-averaged light levels at 50 cm are approximately twice as high in the plowed and pastured sites as in the woodlots, but the woodlots show significantly greater soil organic matter, carbon, nitrogen and water-holding capacity than the post-agricultural sites. These results suggest that soil resources may be more important than light in fostering higher herbaceous stratum richness. However, woodlot richness is also affected by the presence of taxa that are slow to re-colonize heavily disturbed sites (e.g., Epigaea repens) and to distinctive microsites that are less common in the plowed or pastured sites in the Harvard Forest system (e.g., exposed boulders). The greater spatial variation in woodlot richness is strongly influenced by both substrate diversity and by scattered hemlock trees, which substantially depress the herb stratum in localized patches.
Bird Communities in Forest Openings at Harvard Forest 2014-2015
Currently, many of the most severely declining neotropical migrants in the northeastern United States are disturbance dependent, early-successional species. Much of their decline is attributed to loss of suitable habitat. Large clearcuts (>5.0 ha) are widely considered to be optimal habitat for most shrubland bird species. However, it is well documented that certain species are capable of breeding within significantly smaller patches of habitat (less than 2.0 ha), which are most commonly created through group selection harvest cuttings. The goal of this research is to determine habitat characteristics translatable to habitat value for shrubland birds for use in conservation programs to maximize biological value. This research will provide an assessment of the value of forest openings for shrubland birds, helping to define the suitability of forest canopy openings for specific bird species. This project will describe the conservation value of shrubland openings deemed too small to sustain full suites of specialist shrubland birds by providing threshold patch area values for individual species able to use these smaller patches.
Ectomycorrhizal Community of Red Oak at Harvard Forest 2013
There is evidence that ectomycorrhizal Pezizales prevail on roots at woodland edges or habitats where trees are well spaced, and where there is minimal understory vegetation, soil pH is relatively high, and bare soil is a feature. This observation was repeated in a recent study of mitospores produced by these fungi, where they were found most often at woodland edges, road sides, the middle of paths, and lawns. A key feature that distinguishes Basidiomycota from Ascomycota is that the dikaryon necessary for sexual reproduction is generally formed early after spore germination in the former, but not until fruitbody formation in the latter. Our hypothesis is that the mitospores produced by ectomycorrhizal Pezizales act as spermatia, and that these spores are more effectively produced and dispersed from bare soil than from areas with a thick organic layer. Here we tested our hypothesis by comparing the community of ectomycorrhizal root fungi on red oak trees in Harvard Forest and the Arnold Arboretum.
Taxonomy and Biogeography of Nematode Communities at Harvard Forest 2014
Our overall goal is to describe and map nematode biodiversity in North America. Specifically we will concentrate on Criconematina, a suborder of plant parasitic, soil-dwelling nematodes. Criconematina, commonly referred to as ring-nematodes, are distributed globally associated with a wide range of hosts and habitats. In native grasslands and forests, they may constitute as much as 30% of the below-ground nematode community. Their abundance often approaches 500 individuals per 100cc of soil with as many as a dozen species recorded from a single habitat. Host associations may be broad, covering entire plant families, or they may specialize in feeding on a few closely related plant species. Several are known agronomic pest species, but the vast majority is known only from native habitats and responds negatively to soil disturbance. Due to their sensitivity to disturbance and associations with a range of plant species, some ecologists have suggested that ring nematodes could serve as a below-ground biological indicator of habitat quality. Before this application is possible taxonomic boundaries need to be evaluated and a reference database needs to be established.
Community and Conservation Survey in Urban, Suburban and Rural Massachusetts 2013-2018
The dynamics of forest cover and the ecosystem services they provide are shaped by the land use and management decisions of thousands of individual landowners and the land use planning and conservation actions of towns and environmental organizations. Through an interdisciplinary investigation of the land use and forest conservation practices across two urban-to-rural transects between Boston and Central Massachusetts, we investigated the complex and coupled socio-ecological processes that shape the structure, function, and transformation of forested landscapes and how examine these processes may vary along urban-to-rural gradients. The survey data archived here is one element of this larger coupled natural-human systems project. The Community and Conservation Survey collected data regarding landowners’ attitudes and management practices on a variety of issues linked to conservation and the use of their own land. The objectives were to collect data that (a) increase our understanding of how landowners’ attitudes and behaviors vary across urban-to-rural gradients and (b) can be coupled with biogeochemical measurements across the study region to model variation in management behaviors.
Effects of Warming on Soil Microbial Communities at Harvard Forest 2011
As Earth’s climate warms, soil carbon pools and the microbial communities that process them may change, altering the way in which carbon is recycled in soil. In this study, we used a combination of metagenomics and bacterial cultivation to evaluate the hypothesis that experimentally raising soil temperatures by 5°C for 5, 8, or 20 years increased the potential for temperate forest soil microbial communities to degrade carbohydrates. Warming decreased the proportion of carbohydrate-degrading genes in the organic horizon derived from eukaryotes and increased the fraction of genes in the mineral soil associated with Actinobacteria in all studies. Genes associated with carbohydrate degradation increased in the organic horizon after 5 years of warming but had decreased in the organic horizon after warming the soil continuously for 20 years. However, a greater proportion of the 295 bacteria from 6 phyla (10 classes, 14 orders, and 34 families) isolated from heated plots in the 20-year experiment were able to depolymerize cellulose and xylan than bacterial isolates from control soils. Together, these findings indicate that the enrichment of bacteria capable of degrading carbohydrates could be important for accelerated carbon cycling in a warmer world.
Soil Microbial Community Effects on Quercus Rubra Seedling Survival at Harvard Forest 2016-2017
Feedbacks between plants and their soil microbial communities often drive negative density dependence in tropical forests, but their importance for tree demographics in temperate forests remains unclear. Additionally, the relative contribution of intraspecific seedling competition and soil pathogens to density-dependent patterns has rarely been assessed. We assessed how the soil microbial community influenced Quercus rubra seedling survival by growing seedlings in a greenhouse inoculated with soil collected from beneath conspecific and heterospecific mature trees. We found that seedlings grown with soil from beneath conspecific adults had a higher mortality rate than seedlings grown with soil from beneath heterospecific adults; therefore adult plant-soil feedbacks decrease seedling survival in Q. rubra.
Community and Ecosystem Impacts in Hemlock Removal Experiment at Harvard Forest 2003-2020
Hemlock decline in New England is caused by direct and indirect effects of invasion of the hemlock woolly adelgid. Direct damage from the insect is causing gradual mortality of hemlock, and widespread harvesting of hemlock in advance of mortality creates a contrasting disturbance. Although both processes affect thousands of acres of forest annually, we have only a limited understanding of their effects on forest ecosystem function and productivity and the nature of the subsequent forest community. We anticipate that harvesting will yield different consequences than gradual mortality from the insect. Therefore we have designed an experiment to simulate the impact of both in order to contrast them. To simulate some of the effects of the adelgid (e.g., progressive mortality, retention of the wood on the site) we are girdling all hemlocks in a hemlock-dominated stand. In the adjacent area we are conducting a commercial harvesting of hemlock. Results from both experimental treatments will be compared to the changes observed in forests that are being infested by the adelgid, and can also be included in integrated analyses of a suite of large experiments that form a core component of the Harvard Forest LTER program.
Physical soil characteristics, microbial community composition, extracellular enzymatic activity, biologically based phosphorus (BBP) pools, and available phosphorus from two soil depths, four microhabitats, and four landforms at the Jornada Experimental Range, 2021.
This dataset contains physical soil characteristics, PLFA based microbial community composition, extracellular enzymatic activity, nitrate and ammonium activity, and phosphorus availability in various phosphorus pools (Biologically Based Phosphorus, potassium sulfate, Olsen-P). Soils were collected from two depths (0-2cm, 2-30 cm), four microhabitats (grass, shrub, biocrust, interspace), and four landforms (alluvial flat, alluvial fan remnant, erosional scarplet, fan piedmont – see coordinates) within the Jornada Experimental Range in July 2021 to answer questions about how these variables change across these spatial scales in drylands. This project was a collaboration between researchers at New Mexico State University and The University of Texas at El Paso as part of the Drylands Critical Zone Thematic Cluster within the Critical Zone Network. This dataset is complete.
Lake Mendota, Wisconsin, USA, Phytobenthos Abundance and Community Composition 2016-2018
We sampled the phytobenthos (epibenthic periphyton) of Lake Mendota from 2016-2018 to track impacts of invasive zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) which were discovered in Lake Mendota in 2015 and grew exponentially to densities greater than 10,000 m-2 in shallow, rocky habitat by 2018. We sampled along three transects inherited from Karatayev et al. (2013) at five different depths (1, 3, 5, 8, and 10 m) twice a summer (June and August) from 2016-2018. A pared-down version of this routine sampling continued from 2019 onward but is not included here. This dataset complements zebra mussel and zoobenthos data collected according to the same routine sampling structure, for which data is also archived with EDI.
Lake Mendota, Wisconsin, USA, (Non-Dreissenid) Benthic Macroinvertebrate Abundance, Biomass, and Community Composition 2016-2018
We sampled the zoobenthos (macroinvertebrates of the benthos) of Lake Mendota from 2016-2018 to track impacts of invasive zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) which were discovered in Lake Mendota in 2015 and grew exponentially to densities greater than 10,000 m-2 in shallow, rocky habitat by 2018. The data presented here exclude all zebra mussels, which are archived in a separate datset. We sampled along three transects inherited from Karatayev et al. (2013) at five different depths (1, 3, 5, 8, and 10 m) twice a summer (June and August) from 2016-2018. These data also contain some samples opportunistically taken from deeper depths along these transects that do not follow the routine sampling structure. A pared-down version of this routine sampling continued from 2019 onward but is not included here. This dataset complements zebra mussel and phytobenthos data collected according to the same routine sampling structure, for which data is also archived with EDI.
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These curated guides explain access requirements, typical timelines, costs, and reuse considerations for widely used research datasets.
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.