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65 results for “megafauna”
Data from: The legacy of the extinct Neotropical megafauna on plants and biomes
<p>The main dataset consists of ecoregion-level data on five plant functional traits (wood density, leaf size, stem spines, leaf spines and latex production), as well as ecoregion-level data on extinct megafauna historical patterns, fire, climate, soil, hurricanes and geografical variables (first spreadsheet) for the Neotropical biogeographic realm (Table 1). It also includes species-level plant functional trait data, and the abundance (presence-absence for leaf size) of these species, and the occurrences extinct megafauna and extant mammal herbivore species per Neotropical ecoregion, as well as diet data compiled for megafauna species. The species-level functional trait data was compiled from the literature and the names of the species in these data was used to search for occurrence data for these species in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (Data available from GBIF using the following doi: WD: 10.15468/dl.3vua3x; Stem spines: 10.15468/dl.ar5ddj; Latex: 10.15468/dl.m8dzjd; Leaf spines: 10.15468/dl.vv8gw4; Leaf size: 10.15468/dl.k98nxc). During the process, species level were corrected and updated using tools from the "rgbif" package for R. We then croped only the Neotropical region, and calculate ecoregion level trait means for continuous traits (Wood Density and Leaf Size) and maximum por binary traits (Stem and Leaf Spines, Latex), using the ecoregion shapefile provided in https://storage.googleapis.com/teow2016/Ecoregions2017.zip. We obtained data on historical distribution of megafauna species and extant mammal species from the MegaPast2Future/PHYLACINE_1.2 dataset, and obtained diet information from literature sources. Climate data was obtained from WorldClim 2.1 (10 minute spatial resolution) and was based on climate data from 1970 and 2000. Soil data were obtained from SoilGrids (5 km of spatial resolution), and consisted of mean values for two depths, 0.05 and 2 m. We obtained the number (a proxy for frequency) and intensity of wildfires per ecoregion area using the MODIS active fire location product (MCD14ML). We only considered fires with detection confidence of 95% or higher occurring from November 2000 to December 2019 (both included). To ensure that only wildfires were considered, we associated each fire pixel with a land cover type (300 m of spatial resolution) from for a buffer area of 1000 m surrounding the fire pixel centroid. We excluded all of the fires occurring in areas in which more than 10% of the surrounding land cover pixels corresponded to agricultural, urban and water classes. We calculated the number of wildfires per ecoregion area by dividing the fire count of each Ecoregion by the ecoregion area, and multiplying the resulting value by the proportion of vegetated land cover pixels (same classes used to exclude fires in anthropogenic areas and water bodies above). Fire intensity was estimated as the average fire radiative power across all detected wildfires in the ecoregion. We also classified ecoregions into insular (1), when most of the ecoregion area was located in islands, vs. continental (0), otherwise. We also compiled data on hurricane activity, as woody density was suggested to confer resistance against this disturbance. We used data from 1990 to 2019 from the HURDAT2 dataset, containing six-hourly information about the location of all of the known tropical and subtropical cyclones (0.1° latitude/longitude). We used the sum of hurricane occurrences per ecoregions divided by ecoregion area as an indicator of hurricane activity.</p> <p>Three .txt files containing the custom codes developed for building the Ecoregion-level dataset (predictors and traits) and for data analyses used in the article are also included.</p>
The Identification of Extinct Megafauna in Rock art Using Geometric Morphometrics: A Genyornis newtoni Painting in Arnhem Land, Northern Australia?
<p>Raw data files used for the analysis of a contentiously identified rock-art image located in Arnhem Land, Northern Australia. The data were used to test a novel approach to quantifying species identification in rock art images to assess the extent to which an image resembles other rock art of sound identification or anatomical images of visually similar species.</p> <p>Included files are the raw coordinate data files ("[feature] PCA file", .txt format) for use in Morphologika2, and formatted files for use in CVAGen8 ("[feature]" x1y1 file for CVA", .x1y1 format; "[feature] group file", .txt format).</p> <p>Files produced using software by Rohlf (2015) and Sheets (2014)</p>
Abyssal NE Pacific Seafloor Megafauna Dataset
<p>Benthic megafauna invertebrate (animals > 10 mm) observations from seabed imagery data collected across the Clarion Clipperton Zone, in the NE Pacific abyss: 53512 specimens classified in 400+ morphotypes (13 Phyla) based on the APSMA catalogue (see <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/7765164">https://zenodo.org/record/7765164</a>).</p> <p>Dataset used to develop (please cite as): Simon-Lledó, et al. (2023). Carbonate compensation depth drives abyssal biogeography in the northeast Pacific. <em>Nature Ecology & Evolution</em>; doi:10.1038/s41559-023-02122-9</p>
Fig. 2 in Holistic description of new deep sea megafauna (Cephalopoda: Cirrata) using a minimally invasive approach
Fig. 2 (See legend on next page.) (See figure on previous page.) Fig. 2 Grimpoteuthis imperator sp. nov. ZMB MOLL 240160. a Habitus prior to MRI following several months in 10% formalin solution showing a right lateral view, anterior facing right. The overlay of a lateral view of the surface-rendered 3D model (Additional file 2) illustrates relative size and position of the reconstructed organ systems. b Oblique anterior view of the entire 3D model of selected internal organs. c Virtual section through the left white body, anterior facing left. d Central nervous system and selected sensory organs, dorsal view, anterior facing up. e Volume rendering of the left stellate ganglion, anterior facing left. f Digestive tract with associated organs, right lateral view, anterior facing right. g Specimen prior to μCT following several months in 70% ethanol solution, dorsal view, anterior facing up. Stippled frame denotes the μCT region of interest. h Virtual section through the 3D μCT dataset, anterior facing right. The asterisk denotes ingested sediment. i, j Right lateral and oral views of the surface-rendered 3D model of the upper beak (Additional file 3). k, l Left lateral and oral views of the lower beak. m Virtual section through the 3D μCT dataset showing the anterior part of the radula in sagittal section. n Volume rendering of the radula, oral view. The asterisk denotes ingested sediment, arrow points to the rhachidian tooth. o, p Dorsal and right lateral views of the shell, anterior facing down. Stippled line denotes the fin cartilage insertion. q, r Dorsal and left lateral views of the male reproductive system, anterior facing left
Fig. 3 in Holistic description of new deep sea megafauna (Cephalopoda: Cirrata) using a minimally invasive approach
Fig. 3 Geographic distribution of identified and unidentified specimens of Grimpoteuthis in the Pacific Ocean. See Table 3 for a list of the respective type localities
Linked collectors and determiners for: Megafauna of the UKSRL exploration contract area and eastern Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean: Echinodermata.
Natural history specimen data linked to collectors and determiners held within, "Megafauna of the UKSRL exploration contract area and eastern Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean: Echinodermata". Claims or attributions were made on Bionomia by volunteer Scribes, <a href="https://bionomia.net/dataset/c1c0f96e-e26b-4146-a675-0837689a687c">https://bionomia.net/dataset/c1c0f96e-e26b-4146-a675-0837689a687c</a> using specimen data from the dataset aggregated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, <a href="https://gbif.org/dataset/c1c0f96e-e26b-4146-a675-0837689a687c">https://gbif.org/dataset/c1c0f96e-e26b-4146-a675-0837689a687c</a>. Formatted as a Frictionless Data package.
Linked collectors and determiners for: Megafauna of the UKSRL exploration contract area and eastern Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean: Echinodermata.
Natural history specimen data linked to collectors and determiners held within, "Megafauna of the UKSRL exploration contract area and eastern Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean: Echinodermata". Claims or attributions were made on Bionomia by volunteer Scribes, <a href="https://bionomia.net/dataset/8f83518f-c8b1-431d-90b5-3655606eff36">https://bionomia.net/dataset/8f83518f-c8b1-431d-90b5-3655606eff36</a> using specimen data from the dataset aggregated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, <a href="https://gbif.org/dataset/8f83518f-c8b1-431d-90b5-3655606eff36">https://gbif.org/dataset/8f83518f-c8b1-431d-90b5-3655606eff36</a>. Formatted as a Frictionless Data package.
Linked collectors and determiners for: Megafauna of the UKSRL exploration contract area and eastern Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean: Annelida, Arthropoda, Bryozoa, Chordata, Ctenophora, Mollusca.
Natural history specimen data linked to collectors and determiners held within, "Megafauna of the UKSRL exploration contract area and eastern Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean: Annelida, Arthropoda, Bryozoa, Chordata, Ctenophora, Mollusca". Claims or attributions were made on Bionomia by volunteer Scribes, <a href="https://bionomia.net/dataset/5bf10f28-f0b1-40de-9df6-ac9d8ba22480">https://bionomia.net/dataset/5bf10f28-f0b1-40de-9df6-ac9d8ba22480</a> using specimen data from the dataset aggregated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, <a href="https://gbif.org/dataset/5bf10f28-f0b1-40de-9df6-ac9d8ba22480">https://gbif.org/dataset/5bf10f28-f0b1-40de-9df6-ac9d8ba22480</a>. Formatted as a Frictionless Data package.
Fig. 5 in Preliminary observations of macrobenthic invertebrates and megafauna communities in the upper mesophotic coral ecosystems in Apo Reef Natural Park, Philippines
Fig. 5. Barplots represent the total species richness across the depths (A) and reef types (B). C and E show the abundance of macrobenthic invertebrates and megafauna, respectively, with their corresponding trophic groups across depths. D and F show the abundance of macrobenthic invertebrates and megafauna, respectively, with their corresponding trophic groups across reef types.
Fig. 3 in Preliminary observations of macrobenthic invertebrates and megafauna communities in the upper mesophotic coral ecosystems in Apo Reef Natural Park, Philippines
Fig. 3. Macrobenthic invertebrate species in Apo Reef Natural Park. A, Holothuria atra; B, Holothuria fuscogilva; C, Thelenota anax; D, Thelenotarubra lineata; E, Thromidia catalai; F, Tridacna sp.; G, Xetospongia sp.
Fig. 2 in Preliminary observations of macrobenthic invertebrates and megafauna communities in the upper mesophotic coral ecosystems in Apo Reef Natural Park, Philippines
Fig. 2. Reef fish and marine reptile megafaunal species in Apo Reef Natural Park. A, Eretmochelys imbricata; B, Bolbometopon muricatum; C, Balistoides viridescens; D, Cheilinus undulatus; E, Caranx melampygus; F, Cephalopholis argus; G, Macolor niger; H, Sphyraena qenie; I, Triaenodon obesus.
Fig. 1 in Preliminary observations of macrobenthic invertebrates and megafauna communities in the upper mesophotic coral ecosystems in Apo Reef Natural Park, Philippines
Fig. 1. Map showing the location of Apo Reef Natural Park in the Philippines, as well as, the study sites that were surveyed in March 2016.
Fig. 4 in Preliminary observations of macrobenthic invertebrates and megafauna communities in the upper mesophotic coral ecosystems in Apo Reef Natural Park, Philippines
Fig. 4. Results of the non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) across depths (A) and reef types (B). Analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) results along with the corresponding p values are included in the plots (A and B). Vectors showing the influence (direction and magnitude) of the different benthic cover on the species composition (C).
The irreplaceable role of surviving megafauna in long-distance seed dispersal: Evidence from an experiment with Neotropical mammals
<p>The downsizing of disperser assemblages by selective defaunation is a worldwide phenomenon thought to have important consequences in animal-dispersed plants. Numerous large-seeded Neotropical plants currently depend on the last megafaunal survivors, the large tapirs <em>Tapirus</em> spp., and medium-sized frugivores. The extent to which medium frugivores are functionally equivalent to tapirs remains unresolved. We combined feeding trials, seed dispersal kernel modeling based on seed retention times and animal movement simulation (Levy walks), and germination experiments in a large-seeded palm to assess the dispersal quality provided by the largest (tapirs) and two medium (foxes and howler monkeys) frugivore species in terms of dispersal distances and gut passage effects on germination. Tapirs retained the seeds in the gut for much longer (mean=221 hours) than howlers (43 h) and foxes (22 h). Median dispersal distance by tapirs (1252 m) was 14 and 40 times larger than that by foxes (88 m) and howlers (31 m), respectively. The seed dispersal kernel of tapirs showed a 5<sup>th</sup> percentile value (291 m) larger than the 95<sup>th</sup> percentiles of foxes (285 m) and howlers (108 m). Manually depulped and gut-passed seeds germinated in similar proportions, showing, respectively, 3.5 and 2.5―2.9 times higher values than intact fruits. Germination probability and seed viability decreased with retention time in howlers' and tapirs' gut, with howlers showing a steeper negative relationship. Such detrimental effect implies a trade-off between germination success and dispersal distance. We conclude that tapirs may not play a unique role in germination enhancement but move seeds much further than medium frugivores, thus playing a critical role as long-distance dispersers of many plants. This study provides important insights on palm–frugivore interactions and the potential consequences for large-seeded plants of losing the last megafaunal representatives in the Neotropics.</p>
The irreplaceable role of surviving megafauna in long-distance seed dispersal: Evidence from an experiment with Neotropical mammals
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Data from: Dietary responses of Sahul (Pleistocene Australia–New Guinea) megafauna to climate and environmental change
Throughout the late Quaternary, the Sahul (Pleistocene Australia–New Guinea) vertebrate fauna was dominated by a diversity of large mammals, birds, and reptiles, commonly referred to as megafauna. Since ca. 450–400Ka, approximately 88 species disappeared in Sahul, including kangaroos exceeding 200kg in size, wombat-like animals the size of hippopotamuses, flightless birds, and giant monitor lizards that were likely venomous. Ongoing debates over the primary cause of these extinctions have typically favored climate change or human activities. Improving our understanding of the population biology of extinct megafauna as more refined paleoenvironmental data sets become available will assist in identifying their potential vulnerabilities. Here, we apply a multiproxy approach to analyze fossil teeth from deposits dated to the middle and late Pleistocene at Cuddie Springs in southeastern Australia, assessing relative aridity via oxygen isotopes as well as vegetation and megafaunal diets using both carbon isotopes and dental microwear texture analyses. We report that the Cuddie Springs middle Pleistocene fauna was largely dominated by browsers, including consumers of C4 shrubs, but that by late Pleistocene times the C4 dietary component was markedly reduced. Our results suggest dietary restriction in more arid conditions. These dietary shifts are consistent with other independently derived isotopic data from eggshells and wombat teeth that also suggest a reduction in C4 vegetation after ~45 Ka in southeastern Australia, coincident with increasing aridification through the middle to late Pleistocene. Understanding the ecology of extinct species is important in clarifying the primary drivers of faunal extinction in Sahul. The results presented here highlight the potential impacts of aridification on marsupial megafauna. The trend to increasingly arid conditions through the middle to late Pleistocene (as identified in other paleoenvironmental records and now also observed, in part, in the Cuddie Springs sequence) may have stressed the most vulnerable animals, perhaps accelerating the decline of late Pleistocene megafauna in Australia.
Climate-change-driven cooling can kill marine megafauna at their distributional limits
<p>The impacts on marine species from secular warming and heatwaves are well demonstrated, however the impacts of extreme cold events are poorly understood. Here, we link the death of organisms from 81 species to an intense cold upwelling event in the Agulhas Current, and show trends of increasing frequency and intensification of upwelling in the Agulhas Current and East Australian Current. Using electronic tagging, we illustrate potential impacts of upwelling events on the movement behaviour of bull sharks, Carcharhinus leucas including alterations of migratory patterns and maintenance of shallower dive profiles when transiting through upwelling cells. Increasing upwelling could result in "bait-and-switch" situations, where climate change expands subtropical species' distribution, while simultaneously exposing climate-migrants to increased risk of cold-stun/mortality events at poleward distributional limits. This shows the potential impacts of increased cold events, an understudied aspect of climate-change research, and highlights the complexities of climate change effects on marine ecosystems.</p>
Lost mutualisms: seed dispersal by Sumatran rhinos, the world's most threatened megafauna
<p>Diverse assemblages of seed-dispersing megafauna once existed in Asian rainforests, but are now almost solely represented by elephants. Asia's rhinos persist in remnant, ecologically-extinct populations and the most threatened of these is the Sumatran rhino, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis. To understand the seed dispersal role of Sumatran rhinos, we consolidated information on fruit consumption, seed dispersal and fruit traits from a two-month field study (Sumatra), local ecological knowledge (Peninsular Malaysia), and published and unpublished accounts. We evaluated differences between the taxa and traits of fruits dispersed by rhinos and elephants, and identified other dispersers of megafaunal-syndrome fruits that were rhino-dispersed. At least 79 plant species were dispersed by rhinos: overstorey plants (trees and climbers; 78% of species) had large, usually "mammal-coloured", fruits and seeds, and were mainly drupes and berries; 61% of these were megafaunal-syndrome fruits (>4 cm wide). Understorey plants (herbs, shrubs, small trees) had small, often capsular, fruits and seeds that are potentially dispersed following the "foliage-is-the-fruit" hypothesis. Rhinos were the only known disperser for 35% of the megafaunal-fruit genera. The highest dispersal overlap shown was with elephants: fruits dispersed by rhinos tended to be capsular and were smaller than fruits dispersed by both elephants and rhinos. Given these findings and the different foraging and ranging behaviour of Sumatran rhinos and elephants, we suggest these megafauna had important differences in their seed dispersal roles. Asian rainforests have, therefore, lost an important seed dispersal mutualist. Conservation efforts should aim to protect and restore the ecological function of these unique creatures.</p>
Changing diets over time: knock-on effects of marine megafauna overexploitation on their competitors in the South-Western Atlantic Ocean
This study compares the δ<sup>15</sup>N values and the trophic position of two seabird species throughout the Late Holocene in three regions in the South-Western Atlantic Ocean to assess the hypothesis that the decimation of megafauna lead to changes in the trophic position of mesopredators. Modern and ancient mollusc shells were also analysed to account for changes in the isotopic baseline through time. Results revealed that modern Magellanic penguins have higher δ<sup>15</sup>N values than their ancient conspecifics in the three regions, after controlling for changes in the isotopic baseline. This was also true for modern Imperial shags compared to ancient unidentified cormorants/shags from the two areas where ancient specimens were recovered (Southern Patagonia and the Beagle Channel). Such temporal variability might be caused by three non-mutually exclusive processes: decreased availability of pelagic squat lobster resulting from decreasing primary productivity through the Late Holocene, increased availability of small fishes resulting from the sequential depletion of other piscivores (South American fur seal and sea lion and Argentine hake) since the late 18<sup>th</sup> century and modification of the migratory patterns of Magellanic penguins. Although disentangling the relative contribution of all those processes is impossible at this time, the results reported here demonstrate that the ecology of Magellanic penguins and Imperial shags has undergone major changes since the Late Holocene.
Data from: Covariation of diet and gut microbiome in African megafauna
<p>A major challenge in biology is to understand how phylogeny, diet, and environment shape the mammalian gut microbiome. Yet most studies of non-human microbiomes have relied on relatively coarse dietary categorizations and have focused either on individual wild populations or on captive animals that are sheltered from environmental pressures, which may obscure the effects of dietary and environmental variation on microbiome composition in diverse natural communities. We analyzed plant and bacterial DNA in fecal samples from an assemblage of 33 sympatric large-herbivore species (27 native, 6 domesticated) in a semi-arid East African savanna, which enabled high-resolution assessment of seasonal variation in both diet and microbiome composition. Phylogenetic relatedness strongly predicted microbiome composition (r = 0.91) and was weakly but significantly correlated with diet composition (r = 0.20). Dietary diversity did not significantly predict microbiome diversity across species or within any species except kudu; however, diet composition was significantly correlated with microbiome composition both across and within most species. We found a spectrum of seasonal sensitivity at the diet-microbiome nexus: seasonal changes in diet composition explained 25% of seasonal variation in microbiome composition across species. Species' positions on (and deviations from) this spectrum were not obviously driven by phylogeny, body size, digestive strategy, or diet composition; however, domesticated species tended to exhibit greater diet-microbiome turnover than wildlife. Our results reveal marked differences in the influence of environment on the degree of diet-microbiome covariation in free-ranging African megafauna, and this variation is not well explained by canonical predictors of nutritional ecology.</p>
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