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518 results for “community functions.”
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.
Linking Community Dynamics and Ecosystem Function at Harvard Forest 1996-2000
Human activities are effecting profound changes in the structure and function of natural ecosystems. A comprehensive understanding of current ecosystem dynamics and future responses to global change requires an integrated investigation of ecological processes at many levels of organization. My thesis research addressed this goal by examining interactions between community- and ecosystem-level dynamics in mixed conifer broad-leaved forests in eastern North America. I addressed the nature of canopy-seedling feedbacks in mixed forests by relating seedling regeneration patterns in contrasting stand types to understory conditions (EXPERIMENT 1), and by directly manipulating resource availability to separate the individual effects of particular resources (EXPERIMENT 2). To investigate how nitrogen deposition will influence future forest composition, I examined the impact of increased nitrogen availability on regeneration of both coniferous and broad-leaved tree species under both closed canopy (EXPERIMENT 3) and simulated gap (EXPERIMENT 4) conditions. Future changes in forest composition might then influence whole-ecosystem productivity. I used two scaling approaches (leaf-level aggregation, EXPERIMENT 5; whole-tree sap flow, EXPERIMENT 6), I examined how the dominant coniferous and broad-leaved species in mixed temperate forests differed in their contributions to canopy-level photosynthesis.
Functional Trait Measurements of Macroalgal Communities in the Santa Barbara Channel
This dataset contains trait and elemental composition data for macroalgal samples collected across depth gradients at multiple sites in the Santa Barbara Channel, California. Each sample represents an individual specimen characterized by morphological measurements (e.g., blade thickness, stipe diameter, total height), biomass of anatomical parts (blade, stipe, holdfast, reproductive tissue), and anchoring strength. In addition, biochemical traits—including carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and hydrogen (H) content—were measured from tissue samples analyzed in the analytical laboratory. These data support a trait-based modeling approach to macroalgal community structure and distribution, contributing to our understanding of functional diversity and ecosystem dynamics in temperate marine systems. Accompanying metadata include collection site, date, time, depth, location coordinates, and substrate type, providing context for environmental variation across samples.
Data from: Functional structure of European forest beetle communities is enhanced by rare species
<p>From article abstract:</p> <p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109491">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109491</a></p> <p><strong>ABSTRACT</strong></p> <p>Biodiverse communities have been shown to sustain high levels of multifunctionality and thus a loss of species likely negatively impacts ecosystem functions. For most taxa, however, the roles of individual species are poorly known. Rare species, often the most likely to go extinct, may have unique traits leading to unique functional roles. Alternatively, rare species may be functionally redundant, such that their loss would not disrupt ecosystem functions. We quantified the functional role of rare species by using capture records of wood-living (saproxylic) beetle species, combined with recent databases of their morphological and ecological traits, from three regions in central and northern Europe. Using a rarity index based on species’ local abundance, geographic range, and habitat breadth, we used local and regional species removal simulations to examine the contributions of both the rarest and the most common beetle species to three measures of community functional structure: functional richness, functional specialization, and functional originality. In both regional species pools and local communities, all three of these measures declined more rapidly when rare species were removed than under common (or random) species removal scenarios. These consistent patterns across scales and among several forest types give evidence that rare species provide unique functional contributions, and that their loss may disproportionately impact ecosystem functions. This implies that conservation measures targeting rare and endangered species, such as preserving intact forests with dead wood and mature trees, can provide broader ecosystem-level benefits. Experimental research linking functional structure to ecosystem processes should be prioritized to increase our understanding of the functional consequences of species loss and to develop more effective conservation strategies.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>DATASET DESCRIPTION</strong></p> <p>This dataset includes a) beetle capture information and b) beetle trait information from three countries: 1) Norway, 2) Finland, and 3) Germany. </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>FILES</strong></p> <p><strong>readme.txt</strong> -- this has the information from this description section</p> <p><strong>Norway_traits.csv</strong>, <strong>Finland_traits.csv</strong>, <strong>Germany_traits.csv</strong> -- these are the trait files, including all species</p> <p><strong>Norway_sites.species.csv</strong>, <strong>Finland_sites.species.csv</strong>, <strong>Germany_sites.species.csv</strong> -- this has species (rows) by sites (columns); values are the number of beetles caught (for number of traps, dates, and other site covariates, see related dataset: <a href="https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tmpg4f50b">https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tmpg4f50b</a> and manuscript: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14272">https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14272</a>). Species names follow GBIF taxonomic backbone.</p> <p><strong>Traits_METADATA.csv</strong> -- this has information on all the fields in the trait data</p> <p> </p>
data for Hogan et al. 2023: "Functional consequences of animal community changes in managed grasslands: An application of the CAFE approach"
<p>Data to accompany the following publication:</p> <div> <div> <div> <div>Hogan, K. F. E., Jones, H. P., Savage, K., Burke, A. M., Guiden, P. W., Hosler, S. C., Rowland‐Schaefer, E., & Barber, N. A. (2023). Functional consequences of animal community changes in managed grasslands: An application of the CAFE approach. <em>Ecology</em>, e4192. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4192">https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4192</a></div> </div> </div> </div> <p>Please see README for description of data. </p> <p>Paper abstract: In the midst of an ongoing biodiversity crisis, much research has focused on species losses and their impacts on ecosystem functioning. The functional consequences (ecosystem response) of shifts in communities are shaped not only by changes in species richness, but also by compositional shifts that result from species losses and gains. Species differ in their contribution to ecosystem functioning, so species identity underlies the consequences of species losses and gains on ecosystem functions. Such research is critical to better predict the impact of disturbances on communities and ecosystems. We used the ‘Community Assembly and the Functioning of Ecosystems’ (CAFE) approach, a modification of the Price equation to understand the functional consequences and relative effects of richness and composition changes in small non-volant mammal and dung beetle communities as a result of two common disturbances in North American prairie restorations – prescribed fire and reintroduction of large grazing mammals. Previous research in this system shows dung beetles are critically important decomposers, while small mammals modulate much energy in prairie food webs. We found that dung beetle communities were more responsive to bison reintroduction and prescribed fires than small non-volant mammals. Dung beetle richness increased after bison reintroduction, with higher dung beetle community biomass resulting from changes in remaining species (context-dependent component) rather than species turnover (richness components); prescribed fire caused a minor increase in dung beetle biomass for the same reason. For small mammals, bison reintroduction reduced energy transfer through the loss of species, while prescribed fire had little impact on either small mammal richness or energy transfer. The CAFE approach demonstrates how bison reintroduction controls small non-volant mammal communities by increasing prairie food web complexity, and increases dung beetle populations with possible benefits for soil health through dung mineralization and soil bioturbation. Prescribed fires, however, have little effect on small mammals and dung beetles, suggesting a resilience to fire. These findings illustrate the key role of re-establishing historical disturbance regimes when restoring endangered prairie ecosystems and their ecological function.</p>
Effects of ribbed mussel aggregation size on marsh invertebrate community structure and multiple eocsystem functions
Ribbed mussels (Geukensia demissa) were added in aggregations containing 0, 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 40 or 80 mussels (N=3 replicates per aggregation size) in Spring of 2012 in a high marsh platform at the Airport Marsh on Sapelo Island, GA. In summer of 2013, we measured the response of invertebrate communities and six ecosystem functions. Specifically, we counted the number of Littoraria irrorata, Sesarma reticulatum burrows, Uca pugnax burrows (those > and <5mm in diameter were counted separately), and mud crab (Eurythium limosum and Panopeus herbstii) in 50cm x 50cm sampling frames. And, we measured aboveground cordgrass biomass, benthic algae biomass, invertebrate biomass, decomposition rate, infiltration rate, and soil accretion in the same size sampling frames in August of 2013.
SBC LTER: BEACH: Invertebrate community structure and ecosystem functions of 24 sandy beach sites
These data result from a survey of 24 sandy beach sites in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties in 2017 and 2018. We quantified marine macrophyte wrack subsidies, macroinvertebrates, and five ecosystem functions on three replicate transects at each site in order to elucidate the role of marine wrack subsidies on recipient ecosystem community structure and functioning. We also measured shorebirds at each site on three replicate survey days. Data are contained in four tables: 1) wrack cover and invertebrate community data by transect for each site used in our PiecewiseSEM model, 2) wrack cover and ecosystem function data by transect for each site used in our ecosystem multifunctionality estimate, 3) invertebrate species abundance and biomass by transect for each site, and 4) shorebird species abundance by survey date for each site.
dataset: Responses of the structure and function of the understory plant communities to precipitation reduction across forest ecosystems in Germany
<p><strong>Context</strong>: Understory plant communities play a central role in forest biogeochemistry and the recruitment of trees making up the future forest. It is so far poorly understood how climate change will affect understory structure and functions in forest of different management intensity.</p> <p> </p><p><strong>Aims</strong>: We monitored understory functional traits including transpiration and carbon isotope discrimination, community structure and diversity during two growing seasons as affected by drought in forests subjected to different management intensities. We hypothesized that drought would affect ecophysiological traits such as transpiration but not species richness and diversity. Moreover, we assumed that stand-specific characteristics and forest management intensity modify the drought-resistance of the understory community.</p> <p></p> <p><strong>Methods</strong>: We set up roofs in beech and conifer stands with different management intensity in three different regions across Germany and a drought event close to the 2003 drought was imposed in two consecutive years.</p> <p><strong>Results</strong>: Precipitation reduction decreased soil water content by 2 to 8%, depending on stand and region, in comparison to the control subplots. In the first year, leaf level transpiration was reduced for different functional groups, which scaled to community transpiration modified by additional effects of drought on functional group specific leaf area. Acclimation effects in most functional groups were observed in the second year. We did not observe a significant reduction of plant diversity or a consistent management effect upon drought.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion</strong>: Our results indicate high plasticity and acclimation responses of the forest understory vegetation to changing climate conditions and recurrent drought events.</p> <p><strong>Abbreviations:</strong></p> <p>sp12 - campaign spring 2012; ls12 - campaign late summer 2012; es13 - campaign early summer 2013; ls13-campaign late summer 2013</p> <p>SEW16 - Schorfheide plot 16; SEW49 - Schorfheide plot 49; SEW48 - Schorfheide plot 48;HEW03 - Hainich plot 03; HEW12 - Hainich plot 12; HEW47- Hainich plot 47; AEW13 - Alb plot 13; AEW29 - Alb plot 29; AEW08 - Alb plot 08<br> explo - exploratory<br> SEW - Schorfheide; HEW - Hainich; AEW - Schwäbische Alb<br> in - conifer intensive managed; ma - beech managed; un - beech unmanaged<br> c- control; r - roof<br> LAIs - community leaf area index m<sup>2</sup>/m<sup>2</sup>; H - Shannon´s diversity index; Ts - community transpiration rate (weighted by LAI) mmol H<sub>2</sub>O m-<sup>2</sup> leaf area s-<sup>1</sup>; Ets - Evapotranspiration (mmol/m2/sec); E - Evaporation (mmol/m2/sec); C - leaf photosynthetic carbon isotope discrimination (∆<sup>13</sup>C) according to Farquhar et al. (1982); Cs - community photosynthetic carbon isotope discrimination (∆<sup>13</sup>C) according to Farquhar et al. (1982) (weighted by LAI)</p> <p> </p>
Supplementary Files for "Extinction debt and functional traits mediate community saturation over large spatiotemporal scales"
<p><strong>Supplementary Files for "Extinction debt and functional traits mediate community saturation over large spatiotemporal scales"</strong></p> <p><strong>Supplementary Tables:</strong></p> <p><strong>Supplementary Table S1.</strong> Species composition data of the 67 sites included herein from members of the Dipsadidae.</p> <p><strong>Supplementary Table S2.</strong> Scores for the Principal Component (PC) Axes corresponding to the PC analyses performed with the climatic variables of the sites included in this work.</p> <p><strong>Supplementary Table S3.</strong> Species composition data of the 67 sites included herein from species from families different from Dipsadidae.</p> <p><strong>Supplementary Table S4.</strong> Functional data corresponding to each of the species found in the 67 sites included in this work.</p> <p><strong>Supplementary Table S5.</strong> Functional data corresponding to each of the species from families different from Dipsadidae found in the 67 sites included in this work.</p> <p><strong>Supplementary Table S6.</strong> GenBank accession numbers of each of the sequences used for constructing the timetree used for this work.</p> <p><strong>Supplementary Table S7.</strong> Table indicating the areas inhabited by each of the species of the Dipsadidae included in the Bayesian timetree used for the ancestral area estimation performed herein.</p> <p><strong>References used for constructing Supplementary Tables S4 and S5</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Supplementary Figures:</strong></p> <p><strong>Supplementary Figure S1.</strong> Results of the ancestral estimations as recovered by ‘BioGeoBEARS’</p>
Effects of tidal influence on the structure and function of prokaryotic communities in the sediments of a pristine Brazilian mangrove
<p>Mangrove forests are ecosystems that constitute a large portion of the world's coastline and span tidal zones below, between, and above the waterline, while the ecosystem as a whole is defined by the health of these tidal microhabitats. However, we are only beginning to understand tidal zone microbial biodiversity and the role of these microbiomes in nutrient cycling. While extensive research has characterized microbiomes in pristine versus anthropogenically impacted mangroves these have, largely, overlooked differences in tidal microhabitats (sublittoral, intertidal, and supralittoral). Unfortunately, the small number of studies that have sought to characterize mangrove tidal zones have occurred in impacted biomes, making interpretation of the results difficult. Here, we characterized prokaryotic populations and their involvement in nutrient cycling across the tidal zones of a pristine mangrove within a Brazilian Environmental Protection Area of the Atlantic Forest. We hypothesized that the tidal zones in pristine mangroves are distinct microhabitats, which we defined as distinct regions that present spatial variations in the water regime and other environmental factors, and as such, these are composed of different prokaryotic communities with distinct functional profiles. Samples were collected in triplicate from zones below, between, and above the tidal waterline. Using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, we found distinct prokaryotic communities with significantly diverse nutrient cycling functions, as well as specific taxa with varying contribution to functional abundances between zones. Where previous research from anthropogenically impacted mangroves found the intertidal zone to have high prokaryotic diversity and functionally enriched in nitrogen cycling, we find that the intertidal zone from pristine mangroves have the lowest diversity and no functional enrichment, relative to the other tidal zones. The main bacterial phyla in all samples were Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Chloroflexi while the main archaeal phyla were Crenarchaeota and Thaumarchaeota. Our results differ slightly from other studies where Proteobacteria is the main phyla in mangrove sediments and Firmicutes make up for only a small percentage of the communities. Salinity and organic matter were the most relevant environmental factors influencing these communities. Bacillaceae was the most abundant family at each tidal zone and showed potential to drive a large proportion of the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur. Our findings suggest that some aspects of mangrove tidal zonation may be compromised by human activity, especially in the intertidal zone.</p>
Functional traits—not nativeness—shape the effects of large mammalian herbivores on plant communities
<p>Large mammalian herbivores (megafauna) have experienced extinctions and declines since prehistory. Introduced megafauna have partly counteracted these losses yet are thought to have unusually negative effects compared to native megafauna. Using a meta-analysis of 3,995 plot-scale plant abundance and diversity responses from 221 studies, we found no evidence that megafauna impacts were shaped by nativeness, 'invasiveness', 'feralness', coevolutionary history, or functional and phylogenetic novelty. Nor was there evidence that introduced megafauna facilitate introduced plants more than native megafauna. Instead, we found strong evidence that functional traits shaped megafauna impacts, with larger-bodied and bulk-feeding megafauna promoting plant diversity. Our work suggests that trait-based ecology provides better insight into interactions between megafauna and plants than concepts of nativeness.</p>
Drivers of plant diversity, community composition, functional traits and soil processes along an alpine gradient in the central Chilean Andes
<p>The datasets in this repository include plant community surveys, hyperspectral reflectance data at the leaf and canopy level, leaf trait data, and soil chemistry data collected at five sites along an elevation gradient of 2400m-3500m in the Chilean Andes (33°S, 70°W). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the environmental drivers of community assembly processes along the elevation gradient.</p>
Elevation differently shapes functional diversity patterns in understory forest communities when considering intraspecific and interspecific trait variability
<p>Datasets used for the analysis done for the paper "Elevation differently shapes functional diversity patterns in understory forest communities when considering intraspecific and interspecific trait variability".</p> <p>Files present are:</p> <p>-Species x Plot (vegetation releveés).</p> <p>-Plot x Environment.</p> <p>-Plot x CWM_inter for Plant height, Leaf area, Specific Leaf Area (SLA), Leaf Dry Matter Content (LDMC) using the traits fixed for species, i.e., holding traits constant as the species mean, thus incorporating only turnover.</p> <p>-Plot x CWM_intra for Plant height, Leaf area, Specific Leaf Area (SLA), Leaf Dry Matter Content (LDMC) based on an individual by trait matrix, therefore incorporating both turnover and intraspecific trait variation.</p> <p>-Plot x SES-FD_inter (Standard Effect Size Functional Diversity) for Plant height, Leaf area, Specific Leaf Area (SLA), Leaf Dry Matter Content (LDMC) using the traits fixed for species, i.e., holding traits constant as the species mean, thus incorporating only turnover.</p> <p>-Plot x SES-FD_intra (Standard Effect Size Functional Diversity) for Plant height, Leaf area, Specific Leaf Area (SLA), Leaf Dry Matter Content (LDMC) based on an individual by trait matrix, therefore incorporating both turnover and intraspecific trait variation.</p> <p>All analysis were carried out using the software R version 4.1.2 (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, <a href="http://www.R-project.org">http://www.R-project.org</a>) and can be consulted on GitHub https://github.com/AriannaFerrara/Elevation-and-Intraspecific-trait-variability.git</p>
UV radiation accelerates litter decomposition in a valley-type savanna by enhancing microbial community diversity and function
<p><span>We present the data of the study by Gao et al. (202</span><span>4</span><span>): <a name="_Hlk179470571"></a><a name="OLE_LINK42"></a><strong><span>UV radiation accelerates litter decomposition in a valley-type savanna by enhancing microbial community diversity and function</span></strong></span><span>.</span><span> The excel file (Raw Data) includes the following sheets: 1- Radiation (w·m<sup>-2</sup>) variation of UV-A and UV-B during the experimental period. 2- Decay constants (<em>K</em>, yr<sup>−1</sup>) and changes in the mass loss rate of litter under different UV conditions during the experimental period<span>. 3- </span>The content of lignin, cellulose, C, N and P of litter under different UV conditions during the experimental period<span>. 4-</span></span><span> </span><span>16S ASVs under different UV conditions<span>. 5-</span></span><span> </span><span>ITS ASVs under different UV conditions.</span></p>
Functional biogeography of Neotropical moist forests: trait-climate relationships and assembly patterns of tree communities
<p>Aim: Here we examine the functional profile of regional tree species pools across the latitudinal distribution of Neotropical moist forests, and test trait-climate relationships among local communities. We expected opportunistic strategies (acquisitive traits, small seeds) to be overrepresented in species pools further from the equator due to long-term instability, but also in terms of abundance in local communities in currently wetter, warmer and more seasonal climates.</p> <p>Location: Neotropics.</p> <p>Time period: Recent.</p> <p>Major taxa studied: Trees.</p> <p>Methods: We obtained abundance data from 471 plots across nine Neotropical regions, including ~100,000 trees of 3,417 species, in addition to six functional traits. We compared occurrence-based trait distributions among regional species pools, and evaluated single trait-climate relationships across local communities using community abundance-weighted means (CWM). Multivariate trait-climate relationships were assessed by a double-constrained correspondence analysis that tests both how CWMs relate to climate and how species distributions, parameterized by niche centroids in climate space, relate to their traits.</p> <p>Results: Regional species pools were undistinguished in functional terms, but opportunistic strategies dominated local communities further from the equator, particularly in the northern hemisphere. Climate explained up to 57% of the variation in CWM traits, with increasing prevalence of lower-statured, light-wooded and softer-leaved species bearing smaller seeds in more seasonal, wetter and warmer climates. Species distribution were significantly but weakly related to functional traits.</p> <p>Main conclusions: Neotropical moist forest regions share similar sets of functional strategies, from which local assembly processes, driven by current climatic conditions, select for species with different functional strategies. We can thus expect functional responses to climate change driven by changes in relative abundances of species already present regionally. Particularly, equatorial forests holding the most conservative traits and large seeds are likely to experience the most severe changes if climate change triggers the proliferation of opportunistic tree species.</p>
Dataset of Rainy years counteract negative effects of drought on taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity: resilience in annual plant communities
<p>Data used in the article: </p> <p><strong>Rainy years counteract negative effects of drought on taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity: resilience in annual plant communities</strong></p> <p><strong>Abstract</strong></p> <p>1- Climate models forecast changes in the amounts and distribution of rain, which may affect ecosystems worldwide, especially in drylands where water is already the limiting factor for plant life. Annual plant communities are common in drylands where they can complete their entire life cycle during the rainy period while avoiding the dry season. Moreover, seed dormancy allows them to disperse over time by remaining in the seed bank for long periods. However, the extent to which these communities will be able to tolerate increasing drought is uncertain.</p> <p>2- We performed a five-year rainfall reduction treatment under field conditions and determined its effects on annual plant communities in a Mediterranean gypsum ecosystem. We assessed the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of these communities each year for five years.</p> <p>3-The taxonomic and functional diversity decreased under the rainfall reduction treatment whereas the phylogenetic diversity increased. Moreover, the relative importance of species with drought-resistant functional designs increased in the community assemblages. However, after a rainy season with above average rainfall, all of the diversity values recovered completely even under the rainfall reduction treatment.</p> <p>4- Our results provide important insights into the responses of these plant communities under a climate change scenario, where they indicate high losses of diversity during drought events but rapid recovery in milder years.</p> <p><em>Synthesis</em> Our findings highlight the great resilience of annual plant communities in drylands, which may allow them to tolerate increased drought under the present climate change scenario.</p>
Data from: Different taxonomic and functional indices complement the understanding of herb-layer community assembly patterns in a southern-limit temperate forest
<p><span>The efficient conservation of vulnerable ecosystems in the face of global change requires a complete understanding of how plant communities respond to various environmental factors. We aim to demonstrate that a combined use of different approaches, traits, and indices representing each of the taxonomic and functional characteristics of plant communities will give complementary information on the factors driving vegetation assembly patterns. We analyzed variation across an environmental gradient in taxonomic and functional composition, richness, and diversity of the herb-layer of a temperate beech-oak forest that was located in northern Spain. We measured species cover and four functional traits: leaf dry matter content (LDMC), specific leaf area (SLA), leaf size, and plant height. We found that light is the most limiting resource influencing herb-layer vegetation. Taxonomic changes in richness are followed by equivalent functional changes in the diversity of leaf size but by opposite responses in the richness of SLA. Each functional index is related to different environmental factors even within a single trait (particularly for LDMC and leaf size). To conclude, each characteristic of a plant community is influenced by different and even contrasting factors or processes. Combining different approaches, traits, and indices simultaneously will help us understand how plant communities work.</span></p>
Data and code from: Functional rarity of plants in German hay meadows - patterns on the species level and mismatches with community species richness
<p>Functional rarity (FR) - a feature combining a species' rarity with the distinctiveness of its traits - represents a promising tool to better understand the ecological importance of rare species and consequently to protect functional diversity more efficiently. Yet, we lack a systematic understanding of FR on both the species level (which species are functionally rare and why) and the community level (how is FR associated with biodiversity and environmental conditions). Here, we quantify FR for 218 plant species from German hay meadows on a local, regional, and national scale by combining data from 6500 vegetation relevés and 15 ecologically relevant traits. We investigate the association between rarity and trait distinctiveness on different spatial scales via correlation measures and show which traits lead to low or high trait distinctiveness via distance-based redundancy analysis. We test how species richness and FR are correlated and use boosted regression trees to determine environmental conditions driving species richness and FR. On the local scale, only rare species showed high trait distinctiveness while on larger spatial scales rare and common species showed high trait distinctiveness. As infrequent trait attributes (e.g., legumes, low clonality) led to higher trait distinctiveness, we argue that functionally rare species are either specialists or transients. While specialists occupy a particular niche in hay meadows leading to lower rarity on larger spatial scales, transients display distinct but maladaptive traits resulting in high rarity across all spatial scales. More functionally rare species than expected by chance occurred in species-poor communities indicating that they prefer environmental conditions differing from characteristic conditions of species-rich hay meadows. Finally, we argue that functionally rare species are not necessarily relevant for nature conservation, since many were transients from surrounding habitats. Yet, FR can facilitate our understanding of why species are rare in a habitat and under which conditions these species occur.</p>
Geomorphology shapes relationships between animal communities and ecosystem function in large rivers
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Understanding how the Earth's surface (i.e., 'nature's stage') influences connections between biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF) is a central objective in ecology. Despite recent calls to examine these connections at multiple trophic levels and at more complex and realistic scales, little is known about how landscape structure shapes BEF relationships among animal communities in nature. We coupled high-resolution habitat mapping with extensive field sampling to quantify connections among the geophysical habitat templet, invertebrate assemblages, and secondary production in two large North American riverscapes. Patterns of sediment size governed invertebrate assemblage structure, with particularly strong effects on composition, richness, and taxonomic and functional diversity. These relationships propagated to drive positive relationships between biodiversity and secondary production that were modified by scale, context-dependencies, and anthropogenic modification. Finally, leveraging spatially explicit descriptions of geophysical and biological properties, we uncovered distinct and nested spatial scales of biodiversity and secondary production, and suggest that multiple geophysical processes simultaneously influence these patterns at different scales. Together, our findings advance our understanding of relationships between the physical templet and patterns of BEF, and help to predict </span>how perturbations to the Earth's surface may propagate to influence biodiversity and energy flux through food webs.<span> </span></p>
Examining the diversity, stability and functioning of marine fish communities across a latitudinal gradient
<p><strong>Aim</strong>: As anthropogenic stressors on the biosphere intensify, understanding how communities respond to disturbances is critical. Biodiversity is often thought to promote the stability of communities over time and enhance ecosystem functioning. However, results have been inconsistent, and the multifaceted linkages among diversity, stability, and functioning under acute disturbances remain poorly understood. We experimentally tested the responses of marine fish communities to disturbance (i.e., acute habitat loss) across a diversity gradient spanning 35º degrees of latitude in the western Atlantic Ocean to assess the diversity-stability relationship and the interplay between diversity, stability, and fish biomass recovery (as a proxy for function) in marine fish communities.</p> <p><strong>Location</strong>: Western Atlantic Ocean (Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Florida [USA], Belize, and Panama).</p> <p><strong>Time</strong> <strong>period</strong>: 2016 – 2017</p> <p><strong>Major taxa studied</strong>: Small, bottom-dwelling ('cryptobenthic') fishes</p> <p><strong>Results</strong>: Diversity showed a negative effect on community stability at both the regional (across docks) and local (within docks) scales. Similarly, local diversity was negatively correlated with ecosystem function. These effects are exacerbated by the habitat loss imposed via our experimental treatment.</p> <p><strong>Main</strong> <strong>conclusions</strong>: Our results suggest that habitat loss may more intensively re-shuffle diverse, tropical communities, which impacts biomass recovery, our proxy of functioning. Contrary to ecological theory, in small-bodied, benthos-associated vertebrate communities, biodiversity may neither promote stability nor functioning, suggesting that human disturbances may be particularly impactful in tropical, high-diversity ecosystems.</p>
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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.