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49 results for “keystone species”

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zenodo44/100

Data for: Mercury contamination challenges the behavioral response of a keystone species to Arctic climate change

Combined effects of multiple, climate change-associated stressors are of mounting concern, especially in Artic ecosystems. Elevated mercury (Hg) exposure in Arctic animals could affect behavioural responses to changes in foraging landscapes linked to climate change, generating interactive effects on behaviour and population resilience. We investigated this hypothesis in the little auk (Alle alle), a keystone Artic seabird. We compiled behavioural data using accelerometers, and quantified blood mercury and environmental conditions (sea surface temperature (SST), sea ice coverage (SIC)) across multiple years. These datasets contain the behavioral, blood Hg and environmental data (SST, SIC) used in our analyses. Details about the datasets are found in the accompanying word document.

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2022View details →

dryad36/100

Data from: Haemoglobin-mediated response to hyper-thermal stress in the keystone species Daphnia magna

Anthropogenic global warming has become a major geological and environmental force driving drastic changes in natural ecosystems. Due to the high thermal conductivity of water and the effects of temperature on metabolic processes, freshwater ecosystems are among the most impacted by these changes. The ability to tolerate changes in temperature may determine species long-term survival and fitness. Therefore, it is critical to identify coping mechanisms to thermal and hyper-thermal stress in aquatic organisms. A central regulatory element compensating for changes in oxygen supply and ambient temperature is the respiratory protein haemoglobin (Hb). Here, we quantify haemoglobin (Hb) plastic and evolutionary response in D. magna (sub)populations resurrected from the sedimentary archive of a lake with known history of increase in average temperature and recurrence of heat waves. By measuring constitutive changes in crude Hb protein content among (sub)populations we assessed evolution of the haemoglobin gene family in response to temperature increase. To quantify the contribution of plasticity in the response of this gene family to hyper-thermal stress, we quantified changes in Hb content in all (sub)populations under hyper-thermal stress as compared to non-stressful temperature. Further, we tested competitive abilities of genotypes as a function of their Hb content, constitutive and induced. We found that haemoglobin (Hb)-rich genotypes have superior competitive abilities as compared to Hb-poor genotypes under hyper-thermal stress after a period of acclimation. These findings suggest that whereas long-term adjustment to higher occurrence of heat waves may require a combination of plasticity and genetic adaptation, plasticity is most likely the coping mechanism to hyper-thermal stress in the short term. Our study suggests that with higher occurrence of heat waves Hb-rich genotypes may be favoured with potential long-term impact on population genetic diversity

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

dryad36/100

Climate influence on plant–pollinator interactions in the keystone species Vaccinium myrtillus

Background: Climate change is altering the world's ecosystems through direct effects of climate warming and precipitation changes, but also indirectly through changes in biotic interactions. For instance, climate-driven changes in plant and/or insect communities may alter plant-pollinator interactions, thereby influencing plant reproductive success and ultimately population dynamics of insect-pollinated plants. Methods: To better understand how the importance of insect pollination for plant fruit set varies with climate, we experimentally excluded pollinators from the partly selfing key-stone species Vaccinium myrtillus along elevational gradients in the forest-tundra ecotone in central Norway. The study comprised three mountain areas, seven elevational gradients spanning from the climatically relatively benign birch forest to the colder alpine areas above the tree line, and 180 plots of 1 x 1 m, with experimental treatments allocated randomly to plots within sites. Within the experimental plots we counted the number of flowers of V. myrtillus and counted and weighted all fruits, as well as seeds for a selection of fruits. Results: Excluding pollinators resulted in lower fruit production, as well as reduced fruit and seed mass of Vaccinium myrtillus. In the alpine sites pollinator exclusion resulted in 84 % fewer fruits, 50 % lower fruit weight and 50 % lower seed weight compared to control conditions. Contrary to our expectations, the negative effect of pollinator exclusion was less pronounced in forest compared to alpine sites, suggesting that the importance of insect pollination for seed production is lower at low elevation. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the keystone species Vaccinium myrtillus is relatively robust to changes in the pollinator community in a warmer climate, thereby making it less vulnerable to climate-driven changes in plant-pollinator interactions.

opencc-zeroMay 2022View details →

dryad36/100

Associated data for: Disease and weather induce rapid shifts in a rangeland ecosystem mediated by a keystone species (Cynomys ludovicianus)

Habitat loss and changing climate have direct impacts on native species but can also interact with disease pathogens to influence wildlife communities. In the North American Great Plains, black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) are a keystone species that create important grassland habitat for numerous species and serve as prey for predators, but lethal control driven by agricultural conflict has severely reduced their abundance. Novel disease dynamics caused by epizootic plague (Yersinia pestis) within prairie dog colonies have further reduced prairie dog abundances, in turn destabilizing associated wildlife communities. We capitalized on a natural experiment — collecting data on prairie dog distributions, vegetation structure, avian abundance, and mesocarnivore and ungulate occupancy before (2015–2017) and after (2018–2019) a plague event in northeastern Wyoming, USA. Plague decimated black-tailed prairie dog populations in what was then the largest extant colony complex, reducing colony cover in the focal area from over 10,000 ha to less than 50 ha. We documented dramatic declines in mesocarnivore occupancy and raptor abundance post-plague, with probability of occupancy or abundance approaching zero in species that rely on prairie dogs for a high proportion of their diet (e.g., ferruginous hawk [Buteo regalis], American badger [Taxidea taxus], and swift fox [Vulpes velox]). Following the plague outbreak, abnormally high precipitation in 2018 hastened vegetation recovery from prairie dog disturbance on colonies where constant herbivory had formerly maintained shortgrass structure necessary for certain colony-associates. As a result, we observed large shifts in avian communities on former prairie dog colonies, including near-disappearance of mountain plovers (Charadrius montanus) and increases in mid-grass associated songbirds (e.g., lark bunting [Calamospiza melanocorys]). Our research highlights how precipitation can interact with disease-induced loss of a keystone species to induce drastic and rapid shifts in wildlife communities. Although grassland taxa co-evolved with high spatiotemporal variation, fragmentation of remaining North American rangelands paired with higher-than-historical variability in climate and disease dynamics are likely to destabilize these systems in the future.

opencc-zeroJun 2022View details →

dryad36/100

Turning summer into winter: nutrient dynamics, temperature, density dependence, and invasive species drive bioenergetic processes and growth of a keystone coldwater fish

A combination of global changes such as species invasions, climate change, and nutrient pollution have altered ecosystems, food webs, and the bioenergetic processes that control growth. These changes are especially pronounced in freshwater ecosystems and often lead to rapid variation in fish growth and dependent ecosystems services such as fishery yield. Understanding the mechanisms driving growth responses to environmental change is important for interpreting past dynamics and sustainably managing ecosystems. This study uses integrated bioenergetics and growth modeling to understand how nutrient dynamics, species invasions, and changing temperatures have altered growth of the keystone pelagic whitefish (Coregonus wartmanni) in Lake Constance, Germany from 1925 to 2020. Growth variation was modeled by allowing covariates to alter temperature-dependent consumption, while size-specific metabolism varied only with temperature. Consumption and growth increased strongly to a maximum with phosphorous, and this effect was stronger when intraspecific competition (measured as whitefish biomass) was low. Increasing whitefish biomass reduced growth under mesotrophic conditions, but had no effect under oligotrophic conditions. In contrast, increasing competition with invasive three-spined stickleback (Gasteosteus aculeauts) was predicted to reduce growth even under oligotrophic conditions. The invasion has effectively turned summer into winter for whitefish, with older fish ceasing to grow and younger fish losing up to 10% of their body weight during the normal growing season in subsequent years. Warming is predicted to further reduce whitefish growth due to competition with invasive stickleback, which would further alter zooplankton food availability and reduce already low fishery yields. These results demonstrate the importance of considering biotic interactions and synergistic effects in global change studies, as well as the value of mechanistic-based models for understanding effects. Similar growth responses to ecosystem change are likely within and across ecosystems, and bioenergetic models can help understand effects to support informed ecosystem management.

opencc-zeroJun 2022View details →

dryad36/100

Quantitative biogeography: Decreasing and more variable dynamics of keystone and foundation species in an iconic meta-ecosystem

Ecosystem stability has intrigued ecologists for decades, and the realization that the global climate was changing sharpened and focused this interest. Determination of climate change effects on community stability, however, requires long-term studies of structure and underlying dynamics, including bottom-up and top-down effects in natural ecosystems. Although relevant datasets were rare in the early years of community ecology, such information has increased in recent decades. In a rocky intertidal system, we investigated the changes in ecological subsidies (nutrients, phytoplankton, prey colonization), several performance metrics of the dominant space occupier (mussels) and its primary predator (sea stars), and rate of predation by sea stars on mussels in relation to climatic oscillations, temperature, and disease. We focused on spatio-temporal changes in the mean and variability of these metrics. The research protocol involved annually repeated multiyear (~1999–2018), multisite (13 sites nested within 5 regions along ~260 km of the Oregon coast) observations, measurements, and experiments. We analyzed associations between environmental variables and ecological performance of key elements of the sea-star-mussel-dominated mid-intertidal system. We found that upwelling declined in some regions, but became more variable across all study regions. Air and water temperatures oscillated, but their mean and variation increased through time, with peak values coinciding with the 2014–16 combined El Niño and Marine Heat Wave. Ecological subsidies generally declined during the study period, and bottom-up processes increased in variability. Excepting growth rate, mussel (Mytilus californianus) performance (condition index, reproductive output) generally decreased and became more variable. Primarily due to a sea star wasting epidemic, reproductive output of the top predator Pisaster ochraceus decreased and became more variable, and predation rate on mussels also dropped abruptly. Analyses indicated that the primary drivers of these changes were temperature-related environmental factors. Since declining means and increasing variability of ecological performances are thought to typify destabilizing ecosystems, and environmental trends are toward ever more stressful conditions, the outlook for this iconic ecosystem is discouraging. Immediate and rapid action to mitigate and ultimately reverse climate change likely is the only option available to prevent an irreversible shift in the future of this, and most other ecosystems.

opencc-zeroOct 2022View details →

dryad36/100

The old and the large may suffer disproportionately during episodes of high temperature: evidence from a keystone zooplankton species

Widespread declines in the body size of aquatic ectotherms have been attributed to the poorer ability of older, larger individuals to tolerate high temperature. Here, using the thermal death time curve framework, we investigate the relationship between temperature tolerance and size/age by measuring the change in heat tolerance of the keystone zooplankton species Daphnia magna across a range of temperature intensities (and hence exposures of varying duration) among individuals that differed up to three-fold in size and thus varied in age also. Across the gradient of exposure temperatures, younger, smaller individuals were more tolerant than older, larger individuals. This suggests that the young and the small may be better equipped to withstand temperature challenges that are both intense/brief and more moderate/prolonged. Our study generalizes results obtained from more acute tolerance assays, providing physiological evidence consistent with the observed reductions in ectotherm body size as a response to warming in aquatic systems.

opencc-zeroApr 2020View details →

dryad36/100

A big data–model integration approach for predicting epizootics and population recovery in a keystone species

Infectious diseases pose a significant threat to global health and biodiversity. Yet, predicting the spatiotemporal dynamics of wildlife epizootics remains challenging. Disease outbreaks result from complex non-linear interactions among a large collection of variables that rarely adhere to the assumptions of parametric regression modeling. We adopted a non-parametric machine learning approach to model wildlife epizootics and population recovery, using the disease system of colonial black-tailed prairie dogs (BTPD, Cynomys ludovicianus) and sylvatic plague as an example. We synthesized colony data between 2001–2020 from eight USDA Forest Service National Grasslands across the range of BTPD in central North America. We then modeled extinctions due to plague and colony recovery of BTPD in relation to complex interactions among climate, topoedaphic variables, colony characteristics, and disease history. Extinctions due to plague occurred more frequently when BTPD colonies were spatially clustered, in closer proximity to colonies decimated by plague during the previous year, following cooler than average temperatures the previous summer, and when wetter winter/springs were preceded by drier summer/falls. Rigorous cross-validations and spatial predictions indicated that our final models predicted plague outbreaks and colony recovery in BTPD with high accuracy (e.g., AUC generally > 0.80). Thus, these spatially-explicit models can reliably predict the spatial and temporal dynamics of wildlife epizootics and subsequent population recovery in a highly complex host-pathogen system. Our models can be used to support strategic management planning (e.g., plague mitigation) to optimize benefits of this keystone species to associated wildlife communities and ecosystem functioning. This optimization can reduce conflicts among different landowners and resource managers, as well as economic losses to the ranching industry. More broadly, our big data–model integration approach provides a general framework for spatially-explicit forecasting of disease-induced population fluctuations, for use in natural resource management decision-making.

opencc-zeroJan 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Data for: Mercury contamination challenges the behavioral response of a keystone species to Arctic climate change

Combined effects of multiple, climate change-associated stressors are of mounting concern, especially in Arctic ecosystems. Elevated mercury (Hg) exposure in Arctic animals could affect behavioural responses to changes in foraging landscapes linked to climate change, generating interactive effects on behaviour and population resilience. We investigated this hypothesis in the little auk (Alle alle), a keystone Arctic seabird. We compiled behavioural data using accelerometers, and quantified blood mercury and environmental conditions (sea surface temperature (SST), sea ice coverage (SIC)) across multiple years. Warm SST and low SIC reshaped time activity budgets (TABs) and diving patterns, causing decreased resting, increased flight, and longer dives. Mercury contamination was not associated with TABs. However, highly contaminated birds lengthened inter-dive breaks when making long dives, suggesting mercury-induced physiological limitations. As dive durations increased with warm SST, subtle toxicological effects threaten to increasingly constrain diving and foraging efficiency as climate change progresses, with ecosystem-wide repercussions.

opencc-zeroDec 2021View details →

zenodo36/100

Dynamic social interactions and keystone species shape the diversity and stability of mixed-species biofilms – an example from dairy isolates - Dataset

We previously reported a bacterial four-species biofilm model comprising Stenotrophomonas rhizophila (SR), Bacillus licheniformis (BL), Microbacterium lacticum (ML), and Calidifontibacter indicus (CI) that were isolated from the surface of a dairy pasteuriser after cleaning and disinfection. These bacteria produced 3.13-fold more biofilm mass compared to the sum of biofilm masses in monoculture (<a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1159434">https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1159434</a>). In a subsequent experiment we confirmed that the observed community synergy resulted from dynamic social interactions among various species pairs, encompassing commensalism, exploitation, and amensalism. M. lacticum appeared to be the keystone species as it increased the growth of all other species that led to the synergy in biofilm mass. Interactions among the other three species (in the absence of M. lacticum) also contributed towards the synergy in biofilm mass. Bacterial cell-free-supernatants were also investigated to assess the nature of the observed synergy. The first four sheets of the Excel file contain raw cell count data for the four species (SR, BL, ML, and CI), recorded every 4 h over a 24 h period on the surface of stainless steel (SS) in the presence of brain-heart-infusion (BHI) medium and skim-milk (SM). Data related to individual bacterial cell counts in various mixed-species biofilms are also presented. These biofilms were developed on SS in BHI for h.  Data related to bacterial biofilm masses in different mixed-species biofilm combinations are also presented, showcasing the effect of replacing one strain with its CFS. Species written in red indicate that their CFS was used, not their viable form.

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2023View details →

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