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22 results for “ecological field data”
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Field Trip at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory (Watershed 18) in 2004: Aquatic Invertebrates (Adult) data
As part of an educational project, we intend to conduct a short "bioblitz" that will focus on 4 major groups of organisms: (1) vertebrates, especially birds and salamanders; (2) the local flora, especially fungi, trees, and any herbaceous species present this early; (3) aquatic invertebrates; (4) terrestrial invertebrates. Data will be compared to available lists of taxa from Coweeta and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Data from: Breaking Barriers? Ethnicity and socioeconomic background impact on early career progression in the fields of ecology and evolution
<p>The academic disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) have long suffered from a lack of diversity. While in recent years there has been some progress in addressing the underrepresentation of women in STEM subjects, other characteristics that have the potential to impact on equality of opportunity have received less attention. In this study, we surveyed 188 early career scientists (ECRs), defined as within ten years of completing their PhD, in the fields of ecology, evolutionary biology, behaviour, and related disciplines. We examined associations between ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, sex, socioeconomic background, and disability, with measures of career progression, namely publication record, number of applications made before obtaining a postdoc, type of contract, and number of grant applications made. We also queried respondents on perceived barriers to progression, and potential ways of overcoming them. Our key finding was that socioeconomic background and ethnicity were associated with measures of career progression. While there was no difference in the number of reported first-authored papers on PhD completion, ethnic minority respondents reported fewer other-authored papers. In addition, ECRs from a lower socioeconomic background were more likely to report being in teaching and research positions, rather than research only positions, the latter being perceived as more prestigious by some institutions. We discuss our findings in the context of possible inequality of opportunity. We hope that this study will stimulate wider discussion, and help to inform strategies to address the underrepresentation of minority groups in the fields of ecology and evolution, and STEM subjects more widely.</p>
Data from: Breaking Barriers? Ethnicity and socioeconomic background impact on early career progression in the fields of ecology and evolution
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Data from: Demographic, behavioral, and ecological data from a long-term field study of wild baboons in Amboseli, Kenya
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Opening the museum's vault: Historical field records preserve reliable ecological data
<p><span>Museum specimens have long served as foundational data sources for ecological, evolutionary, and environmental research. Continued reimagining of museum collections is now also generating new types of data associated with, but beyond physical specimens, a concept known as "extended specimens". Field notes penned by generations of naturalists contain first-hand ecological observations associated with museum collections and comprise a form of extended specimens with the potential to provide novel ecological data spanning broad geographic and temporal scales. Despite their data-yielding potential, however, field notes remain underutilized in research due to their heterogeneous, unstandardized, and qualitative nature. We introduce an approach for transforming descriptive ecological notes into quantitative data suitable for statistical analysis. Tests with simulated and real-world published data show that field notes and our transformation approach retain reliable quantitative ecological information under a range of sample sizes and evolutionary scenarios. Unlocking the wealth of data contained within field records could facilitate investigations into the ecology of clades whose diversity, distribution, or other demographic features present challenges to traditional ecological studies, improve our understanding of long-term environmental and evolutionary change, and enhance predictions of future change.</span></p>
Data from: Historical field records reveal habitat as an ecological correlate of locomotor phenotypic diversity in the radiation of Neotropical Geophagini fishes
<p>Phenotypic macroevolutionary studies provide insight into how ecological processes shape biodiversity. However, the complexity of phenotype-ecology relationships underscores the importance of also validating phenotype-based ecological inference with direct evidence of resource use. Unfortunately, macroevolutionary scale ecological studies are often hindered by the challenges of acquiring taxonomically and spatially representative ecological data for large and widely distributed clades. The South American cichlid fish tribe Geophagini represents a continentally distributed radiation whose early locomotor morphological divergence suggests habitat as one ecological correlate of diversification, but an association between locomotor traits and habitat preference has not been corroborated. Field notes accumulated over decades of collecting across South America provide first-hand environmental records that can be mined for habitat data in support of macroevolutionary ecological research. In this study, we applied a newly developed method to transform descriptive field note information into quantitative habitat data, and used it to assess habitat preference and its relationship to locomotor morphology in Geophagini. Field note-derived data shed light on geophagine habitat use patterns and reinforced habitat as an ecological correlate of locomotor morphological diversity. Our work emphasizes the rich data potential of museum collections, including often overlooked material such as field notes, for evolutionary and ecological research.</p>
Data from: Ecological genetics of local adaptation in Arabidopsis: an 8-year field experiment
<p>There is considerable evidence for local adaptation in nature, yet important questions remain regarding its genetic basis. How many loci are involved? What are their effect sizes? What is the relative importance of conditional neutrality vs. genetic trade-offs? Here we address these questions in the self-pollinating, annual plant <em>Arabidopsis thaliana</em>. We used 400 recombinant inbred lines (RIL) derived from two locally adapted populations in Italy and Sweden, grew the RILs and parents at the parental locations, and mapped quantitative trait loci (QTL) for mean fitness (fruits/seedling planted). We previously published results from the first three years of the study, and here add five additional years, providing a unique opportunity to assess how temporal variation in selection might affect QTL detection and classification. We found ten adaptive and one maladaptive QTL in Italy, and six adaptive and four maladaptive QTL in Sweden. The discovery of maladaptive QTL at both sites suggests that even locally adapted populations are not always at their genotypic optimum. Mean effect sizes for adaptive QTL, 0.97 and 0.55 fruits in Italy and Sweden respectively, were large relative to the mean fitness of the RILs (approximately 8 fruits/seedling planted at both sites). Both genetic trade-offs (four cases) and conditional neutrality (seven cases) contribute to local adaptation in this system. The eight-year dataset provided greater power to detect QTL and to estimate their locations compared to our previous three-year study, identifying one new genetic trade-off and reclassifying one QTL from genetic trade-off to conditionally neutral.</p>
Opening the museum’s vault: Historical field records preserve reliable ecological data
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Data from: Ecological genetics of local adaptation in Arabidopsis: an 8-year field experiment
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Data from: Historical field records reveal habitat as an ecological correlate of locomotor phenotypic diversity in the radiation of Neotropical Geophagini fishes
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Field margins as ecological corridors: Uncovering connectivity in agricultural landscapes using high-resolution tracking data and translocation experiments
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Data from: Population genetic and field ecological analyses return similar estimates of dispersal over space and time in an endangered amphibian
The explosive growth of empirical population genetics has seen a proliferation of analytical methods leading to a steady increase in our ability to accurately measure key population parameters, including genetic isolation, effective population size, and gene flow in natural systems. Assuming they yield similar results, population genetic methods offer an attractive complement to, or replacement of, traditional field ecological studies. However, empirical assessments of the concordance between direct field ecological and indirect population genetic studies of the same populations are uncommon in the literature. In this study, we investigate genetic isolation, rates of dispersal, and population sizes for the endangered California tiger salamander, Ambystoma californiense, across multiple breeding seasons in an intact vernal pool network. We then compare our molecular results to a previously published study based on multi-year, mark-recapture data from the same breeding sites. We found that field and genetic estimates of population size were only weakly correlated, but dispersal rates were remarkably congruent across studies and methods. In fact, dispersal probability functions derived from genetic data and traditional field ecological data were a significant match, suggesting that either method can be used effectively to assess population connectivity. These results provide one of the first explicit tests of the correspondence between landscape genetic and field ecological approaches to measuring functional population connectivity and suggest that even single-year genetic samples can return biologically meaningful estimates of natural dispersal and gene flow.
Data from: Heterogeneity of ecological patterns, processes and funding of marine manipulative field experiments conducted in Southeastern Pacific coastal ecosystems
Ecological manipulative experiments conducted in marine coastal ecosystems have substantially improved ecological theory during the last decades, and have provided useful knowledge for the management and conservation of coastal ecosystems. Although different studies report global trends in ecological patterns worldwide, Southeastern Pacific coastal ecosystems have been poorly considered. Given that the SE Pacific coast encompasses diverse coastal ecosystems, consideration of studies conducted along this range can shed light on the heterogeneity of processes regulating coastal communities. We reviewed the biotic interactions and habitat type considered, as well as the complexity in terms of spatial and temporal extent of manipulative field experimental studies conducted along the SE Pacific coast from 0°S to 56° S (Ecuador to Chile). We test the effect of funding reported by different studies as a main factor limiting experimental complexity. From field ecological studies published from 1970 to 2016, we found that 81 studies were truly manipulative, in which one or multiple factors were "manipulated". Around 77% of these studies were located between 21°S to 40°S, and conducted in intertidal rocky habitats. An increase in experimental studies was observed between 2010 and 2015, especially focused on herbivore-alga interactions, although we found that both the temporal and spatial extent of these studies have shown a decrease in recent decades. Funding grant amount reported had a positive effect on elapsed time of field experiments, but no effect was observed on spatial extent or in the biotic interactions considered. Elapsed time of experiments was different among the main biotic interactions considered i.e. herbivory, predation, and competition. We suggest that to further progress in applied ecological knowledge, it will be necessary to consider pollution and urbanization processes explicitly using a field experimental framework. This information could improve our understanding of how ecosystems present along the SE Pacific coast respond to climate change and increased levels of human interventions.
Data from: Heterogeneity of ecological patterns, processes and funding of marine manipulative field experiments conducted in Southeastern Pacific coastal ecosystems
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Data from: Ecology drives natural variation in an extreme antipredator trait: a cost-benefits analysis integrating modeling and field data
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Data from: Population genetic and field ecological analyses return similar estimates of dispersal over space and time in an endangered amphibian
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Data from: A replicated climate change field experiment reveals rapid evolutionary response in an ecologically important soil invertebrate
Whether species can respond evolutionarily to current climate change is crucial for the persistence of many species. Yet, very few studies have examined genetic responses to climate change in manipulated experiments carried out in natural field conditions. We examined the evolutionary response to climate change in a common annelid worm using a controlled replicated experiment where climatic conditions were manipulated in a natural setting. Analyzing the transcribed genome of 15 local populations, we found that about 12% of the genetic polymorphisms exhibit differences in allele frequencies associated to changes in soil temperature and soil moisture. This shows an evolutionary response to realistic climate change happening over short-time scale, and calls for incorporating evolution into models predicting future response of species to climate change. It also shows that designed climate change experiments coupled with genome sequencing offer great potential to test for the occurrence (or lack) of an evolutionary response.
Figure 2 from: Mossakowski D, Dormann W (2011) A plea for using qualitative aspects in the interpretation of ecological field data as revealed by carabid beetle assemblages of a pristine salt marsh. ZooKeys 100: 273-286. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.100.1532
Figure 2 - IndVals at different levels in the UPGMA tree. Result for a single species, Dicheirotrichus gustavii, calculated by the original IndVal program. Eight values of the nine levels are significant. Data: abundance/frequency data. 7/4: a total of seven specimens were found in four of the five traps. Sites 102 and 103 are omitted.
Figure 1 from: Mossakowski D, Dormann W (2011) A plea for using qualitative aspects in the interpretation of ecological field data as revealed by carabid beetle assemblages of a pristine salt marsh. ZooKeys 100: 273-286. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.100.1532
Figure 1 - Result of a cluster analysis using Relative Euclidean distances and Ward's method. Most traps of the site at the lowest elevation (-20 cm below MHW) cluster with those of 100 cm above MHW. Arrow: One trap of -20 behaves differently.
Figure 3 from: Mossakowski D, Dormann W (2011) A plea for using qualitative aspects in the interpretation of ecological field data as revealed by carabid beetle assemblages of a pristine salt marsh. ZooKeys 100: 273-286. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.100.1532
Figure 3 - Results of the IndVal procedure depend on the tree used. Data: abundance/frequency of Cillenus lateralis along the elevation gradient. 3/3: a total of three specimens was found in three of the five traps. Sites 102 and 103 are omitted.
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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.