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Plant leaf litter generally decomposes faster as a group of different species than when individual species decompose alone, but underlying mechanisms of these diversity effects remain poorly understood. Because resource C : N : P stoichiometry (i.e. the ratios of these key elements) exhibits strong control on consumers, we supposed that stoichiometric dissimilarity of litter mixtures (i.e. the divergence in C : N : P ratios among species) improves resource complementarity to decomposers leading to faster mixture decomposition. We tested this hypothesis with: (i) a wide range of leaf litter mixtures of neotropical tree species varying in C : N : P dissimilarity, and (ii) a nutrient addition experiment (C, N and P) to create stoichiometric similarity. Litter mixtures decomposed in the field using two different types of litterbags allowing or preventing access to soil fauna. Litter mixture mass loss was higher than expected from species decomposing singly, especially in presence of soil fauna. With fauna, synergistic litter mixture effects increased with increasing stoichiometric dissimilarity of litter mixtures and this positive relationship disappeared with fertilizer addition. Our results indicate that litter stoichiometric dissimilarity drives mixture effects via the nutritional requirements of soil fauna. Incorporating ecological stoichiometry in biodiversity research allows refinement of the underlying mechanisms of how changing biodiversity affects ecosystem functioning. Mass loss data setmass loss data set.xlsx

Biodiversity assessments are indispensable tools for planning and monitoring conservation strategies. Camera traps (CT) are widely used to monitor wildlife and have proven their usefulness. Environmental DNA (eDNA)-based approaches are increasingly implemented for biomonitoring, combining sensitivity, high taxonomic coverage and resolution, non-invasiveness and easiness of sampling, but remain challenging for terrestrial fauna. However, in remote desert areas where scattered water bodies attract terrestrial species, which release their DNA into the water, this method presents a unique opportunity for their detection. In order to identify the most efficient method for a given study system, comparative studies are needed. Here, we compare CT and DNA metabarcoding of water samples collected from two desert ecosystems, the Trans-Altai Gobi in Mongolia and the Kalahari in Botswana. We recorded with CT the visiting patterns of wildlife and studied the correlation with the biodiversity captured with the eDNA approach. The aim of the present study was threefold: a) to investigate how well waterborne eDNA captures signals of terrestrial fauna in remote desert environments, which have been so far neglected in terms of biomonitoring efforts; b) to compare two distinct approaches for biomonitoring in such environments and c) to draw recommendations for future eDNA-based biomonitoring. We found significant correlations between the two methodologies and describe a detectability score based on variables extracted from CT data and the visiting patterns of wildlife. This supports the use of eDNA-based biomonitoring in these ecosystems and encourages further research to integrate the methodology in the planning and monitoring of conservation strategies.

Many studies have reported that hydraulic properties vary considerably between tree species, but little is known about their intraspecific variation and, therefore, their capacity to adapt to a warmer and drier climate. Here, we quantify phenotypic divergence and clinal variation for embolism resistance, hydraulic conductivity and branch growth, in four tree species, two angiosperms (Betula pendula, Populus tremula) and two conifers (Picea abies, Pinus sylvestris), across their latitudinal distribution in Europe. Growth and hydraulic efficiency varied widely within species and between populations. The variability of embolism resistance was in general weaker than that of growth and hydraulic efficiency, and very low for all species but Populus tremula. In addition, no and weak support for a safety vs. efficiency trade-off was observed for the angiosperm and conifer species, respectively. The limited variability of embolism resistance observed here for all species except Populus tremula, suggests that forest populations will unlikely be able to adapt hydraulically to drier conditions through the evolution of embolism resistance. Cost hydraulic datasetThis file contains all traits (hydraulic and growth) and climate values per population and site across Europe.Gonzales Munoz cost action database.xlsx

Hurricanes are catastrophically destructive. Beyond their toll on human life and livelihoods, hurricanes have massive and often long-lasting effects on ecological systems. Despite many examples of mass mortality events following hurricanes, hurricane-induced natural selection has never been demonstrated. Immediately after we finished a survey of Anolis scriptus, a common, small-bodied lizard found throughout the Turks and Caicos archipelago, our study populations were battered by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Shortly thereafter, we revisited the populations to determine whether morphological traits related to clinging capacity had shifted in the intervening six weeks and found that surviving lizards differed in body size, relative limb length and toepad size from those present before the storm. Our serendipitous study, the first to employ an immediate before-after comparison to test this question, demonstrates that hurricanes can induce phenotypic change in a population, and strongly implicates natural selection as the cause. In the decades ahead, as extreme climate events are predicted to become more intense and prevalent, our understanding of evolutionary dynamics needs to incorporate the impact of these potentially severe selective episodes. Anolis scriptus morphology and performance from before and after hurricanesLizard morphology data collected from two visits to Pine Cay and Water Cay in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Anolis scriptus lizards were surveyed on both islands four days before hurricane Irma and again, six weeks later, after the islands had been hit by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. We measured morphology and performance and found significant differences in the "before" and "after" hurricane lizard population morphology. All linear measurements are in MM, surface area measurements are in MM2 and force in N. Counts correspond to the number of lamellar scales on the forelimb and hind limb toepads.Donihue 2018-01-00672 Hurricanes Data.csv

The heat flux and thus temperature gradient of the Martian crust is critical for comparison with measurements of crustal properties. This allows for constraints upon the inferred thermal history of Mars. Each file contains the heat flux and temperature at several depths as a function of time after Mars formed, but assuming different crustal properties. The first 5 lines of each datafile detail what each row and column display, including their units. Temperature is given at 11 depths, denoted as a radial distance from the center of Mars (where the last column is the surface). For finer resolution, we linearly interpolate temperature between depths in our own work.  The data are outputs of a 3D thermal evolution model of Mars (Plesa et al. 2018) at the InSight landing site on Mars (4°N, 136°E). Details of each selected case are presented in Table S1 of the Supplementary Material to Plesa et al. (2018).

Contains Data and Matlab codes for analysis of orientational light-seeking behavior experiments analysis Data Pooled Folder 'Data_pooled' contains matlab datafiles with the sequences of navigation under different modalities (see below). Each line is one trajectory. AngleSource is the fish's body angle to the virtual light source, expressed in radian. AngleLab is the fish's body angle in the frame of reference of the laboratory. xCoord and yCoord are the fish center of mass position expressed in pixel size (11,5 px = 1mm). Time of bout (TimeBout) is measured from the onset of the recording sequence, in seconds. FishN is the number of individual fish. Different modalities : - No stimulus (Figure 1) : 'spontaneous_swim.mat' - Stereo-visual/Contrast-driven orientational phototaxis (Figure 2) : 'lateralized_exps.mat' - Temporal orientational phototaxis (Figure 3) : 'temporal_exps.mat' - Temporal orientational phototaxis with enucleated fish (Figure 3 supplement) : 'enucleated_exps.mat' Programs Folder 'Programs' contains matlab scripts and functions in following folders: - Matlab routines used to analyse the fish trajectories in no stimulus (Figure 1) modality: 'Spontaneous' - Matlab routines used to analyse the fish trajectories in stereo-visual/Contrast-driven orientational phototaxis (Figure 2) modality : 'Lateralized' - Matlab routines used to analyse the fish trajectories in temporal orientational phototaxis (Figure 3) : 'Temporal' - Matlab routines used to analyse the fish trajectories in temporal orientational phototaxis with enucleated fish (Figure 3 supplement) : 'Enucleated' - Matlab routines used to analyse the fish trajectories for behavioral (biased) random walk simulations (Figure 4) : 'Simulations/BehavioralModel' - Matlab routines used to analyse the fish trajectories for neural model simulations (Figure 5) : 'Simulations/NeuralModel' Bridging brain-scale circuit dynamics and organism-scale behavior is a central challenge in neuroscience. It requires the concurrent development of minimal behavioral and neural circuit models that can quantitatively capture basic sensorimotor operations. Here we focus on light-seeking navigation in zebrafish larvae. Using a virtual reality assay, we first characterize how motor and visual stimulation sequences govern the selection of discrete swim-bout events that subserve the fish navigation in the presence of a distant light source. These mechanisms are combined into a comprehensive Markov-chain model of navigation that quantitatively predict the stationary distribution of the fish’s body orientation under any given illumination profile. We then map this behavioral description onto a neuronal model of the ARTR, a small neural circuit involved in the orientation-selection of swim bouts. We demonstrate that this visually-biased decision-making circuit can similarly capture the statistics of both spontaneous and contrast-driven navigation. Data acquisition and pre-processing are described in the associated manuscript, which can be found at: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/810960v1

Body size often varies among insular populations relative to continental conspecifics – the ‘island rule’ – and functional, context-dependent morphological differences tend to track this body size variation on islands. Two hypotheses are often proposed as potential drivers of insular population differences in morphology: one relating to diet and the other involving intraspecific competition and aggression. We directly tested whether differences in morphology and maximum bite capacity were explained by interisland changes in hardness of both available and consumed prey, and levels of lizard-to-lizard aggression among small-island populations. Our study included 11 islands in the Greek Cyclades and made use of a gradient in island area spanning five orders of magnitude. We focused on the widespread lizard Podarcis erhardii. We found that on smaller islands, P. erhardii body size was larger, head height was larger relative to body size, and maximum bite capacity became proportionally stronger. This pattern in morphology and performance was not related to differences in diet, but was highly correlated with proxies of intraspecific aggression – bite scars and missing toes. Our findings suggest that critical functional traits such as body size and bite force in P. erhardii follow the predictions of the island rule and are changing in response to changes in the competitive landscape across islands of different sizes. Donihue et al. 2015 Feed or Fight DataAll data archived here were used for analyses in Donihue et al. "Feed or Fight: Testing the impact of food availability and intraspecific aggression on the functional ecology of an island lizard." Data is in five worksheets. Please see ReadMe file for additional information.

The Tara Oceans Expedition (2009-2013) was a global survey of ocean ecosystems aboard the Sailing Vessel Tara. It carried out extensive measurements of evironmental conditions and collected plankton (viruses, bacteria, protists and metazoans) for later analysis using modern sequencing and state-of-the-art imaging technologies. Tara Oceans Data are particularly suited to study the genetic, morphological and functional diversity of plankton. The present data set includes properties of seawater, particulate matter and dissolved matter that were measured from discrete water samples collected with Niskin bottles during the 2009-2013 Tara Oceans expedition. Properties include pigment concentrations from HPLC analysis (10 depths per vertical profile, 25 pigments per depth), the carbonate system (Surface and 400m; pH (total scale), CO2, pCO2, fCO2, HCO3, CO3, Total alkalinity, Total carbon, OmegaAragonite, OmegaCalcite, and dosage Flags), nutrients (10 depths per vertical profile; NO2, PO4, N02/NO3, SI, quality Flags), DOC, CDOM, and dissolved oxygen isotopes. The Service National d'Analyse des Paramètres Océaniques du CO2, at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, determined CT and AT potentiometrically. More than 200 vertical profiles of these properties were made across the world ocean. DOC, CDOM and dissolved oxygen isotopes are available only for the Arctic Ocean and Arctic Seas (2013). marc.picheral@obs-vlfr.fr>2014-10-03T13:23:32>D:\process_ctd_data\Tara_validated_CTD_data_20121011\Tara_Oceans_Data_RVSS-NISKIN_2009-2013_20141003>

Andøya on the NW coast of Norway is a key site for understanding the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in northern Europe. Controversy has arisen concerning the local conditions, especially about the timing and extent of local glacial cover, maximum July temperatures and whether pine and/or spruce could have grown there. We reviewed all existing data and add newly analysed ancient sedimentary DNA, pollen, macrofossils, geochemistry and stable isotopes from three lake sediment cores from Øvre Æråsvatnet. A total of 23 new dates and age-depth modelling suggests the lake has been ice-free since GI2 (<22.8 k cal. BP) and possibly GS3 (<27.4 k cal. BP). Pinus and Picea sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) was found in all three cores but at such low frequencies that it could not be distinguished from background contamination. LGM samples have an exceptionally high organic matter content, with isotopic values indicating that carbon and nitrogen derives from a marine source. Along with finds of bones of the little auk (Alle alle), this indicates that the lake received guano from an adjacent bird colony. DNA, pollen and macrofossil assemblages were dominated by Poaceae, Brassicaceae and Papaver, but scattered occurrence of species currently restricted to the Low Arctic Tundra Zone (July temperature of 8-9°C) such as Apiaceae (DNA, 8-9°C), and Alchemilla alpina (macrofossil, 8-9°C) were also recorded. The review showed 94 recorded vascular plant taxa, of which 38% have a northern limit in Shrub Tundra or more southern vegetation zones. This unusual assemblage likely stems from a combination of proximity to ice-free water in summer, geographical isolation linked with stochastic long- distance dispersal events, and the presence of bird-fertilized habitats. The environmental reconstruction based on all records from the area does not preclude local growth of tree species, as the local climate combined with high nutrient input may have led to periodically suitable environmental ‘hotspot’ conditions. DNA metabarcoding of ancient lake sediments collected from Andøya, Norway. The chloroplast trnL (UAA) intron, or p6-loop, was amplified for the sediment extracts. This dataset includes two raw Illumina NextSeq 500 libraries (paired-end sequenced) and the associated OBITools PCR-tag lookup tables required for demultiplexing.