More Like this

1. Long-term study of tree cholla demography in the Los Pinos mountains, Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge

   https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/dd06df3f950afe4a4642306182237d13  

   Miller, Tom EX (January 2020, Environmental Data Initiative)

   This study was initiated in 2004 by TEX Miller to quantify individual-level demographic rates of tree cholla cacti (Cylindriopuntia imbricata) at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, Socorro Co., NM. This data package spans 2004-2018, though the study is maintained through the present. In each year, censuses were conducted over several days in the last week of May and/or the first week of June. Individuals were marked with aluminum tags and tracked longitudinally through time, with annual measures of survival, size, reproductive output, and interactions with insect herbivores and mutualists (extra-floral nectar-feeding ants). For the years 2004-2008, plants were grouped into spatial blocks (T1, T2, T3) lacking defined boundaries. Beginning in 2009, the study design changed to 30m x 30m plots (Plots 1-8) with an entirely new cohort of individuals that does not overlap with the 2004-2008 data. From 2009 onward, plots were searched each year and new plants were added to the census as they were discovered. Seedlings typically require several years of growth before they are detectable in our census, so counts of new plants in a given year do not necessarily reflect recruitment in that year. The data frame is set up such that one row is a transition year (May of year t to May of year t+1) for one individual; this means that all but the first and last years’ observations occur twice, once as the start of a transition year and once as the end. 

   more » « less
2. Demography of the understory herb Heliconia acuminata (Heliconiaceae) in an experimentally fragmented tropical landscape

   https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.stqjq2c8d  

   Bruna, Emilio; Uriarte, María; Darrigo, Maria Rosa; Rubim, Paulo; Jurinitz, Cristiane; Scott, Eric; Ferreira da Silva, Osmaildo; Kress, John W.; Dynamics, Biological of (January 2023, Dryad)

   Habitat fragmentation remains a major focus of research by ecologists decades after being put forward as a threat to the integrity of ecosystems. While studies have documented myriad biotic changes in fragmented landscapes, including the local extinction of species from fragments, the demographic mechanisms underlying these extinctions are rarely known. However, many of them – especially in lowland tropical forests – are thought to be driven by one of two mechanisms: (1) reduced recruitment in fragments resulting from changes in the diversity or abundance of pollinators and seed dispersers or (2) increased rates of individual mortality in fragments due to dramatically altered abiotic conditions, especially near fragment edges. Unfortunately, there have been few tests of these potential mechanisms due to the paucity of long-term and comprehensive demographic data collected in both forest fragments and continuous forest sites. Here we report 11 years (1998-2009) of demographic data from populations of the Amazonian understory herb Heliconia acuminata (LC Rich.) found at Brazil’s Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP). The resulting data set comprises 66000 plant×year records of 8586 plants, including 3464 seedlings that became established after the initial census. Seven populations were in experimentally isolated fragments (one in each of four 1-ha fragments and one in each of three 10-ha fragments), with the remaining six populations in continuous forest. Each population was in a 50×100m permanent plot, with the distance between plots ranging from 500 m-60 km. The plants in each plot were censused annually, at which time we recorded, identified, marked, and measured new seedlings, identified any previously marked plants that died, and recorded the size of surviving individuals. Each plot was also surveyed 4-5 times during the flowering season to identify reproductive plants and record the number of inflorescences each produced. These data have been used to investigate topics ranging from the way fragmentation-related reductions in germination influence population dynamics to statistical methods for analyzing reproductive rates. This breadth of prior use reflects the value of these data to future researchers. In addition to analyses of plant responses to habitat fragmentation, these data can be used to address fundamental questions in plant demography, the evolutionary ecology of tropical plants, and for developing and testing demographic models and tools. Though we welcome opportunities to collaborate with interested users, there are no restrictions on the use this data set. However, we do request that those using the data for teaching or research inform us of how they are doing so and cite this paper and the data archive when appropriate. Any publication using the data must also include a BDFFP Technical Series Number in the Acknowledgments. Authors can request this series number upon the acceptance of their article by contacting the BDFFP’s Scientific Coordinator or E. M. Bruna. 

   more » « less
3. Data for: Predicting the contribution of single trait evolution to rescuing a plant population from demographic impacts of climate change

   https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ht76hdrtn  

   Campbell, Diane; Powers, John; Kipness, Justin; Laboratory, Rocky_Mountain Biological (January 2025, Dryad)

   {"Abstract":["Evolutionary adaptation can allow a population to persist in the face of a\n new environmental challenge. With many populations now threatened by\n environmental change, it is important to understand whether this process\n of evolutionary rescue is feasible under natural conditions, yet work on\n this topic has been largely theoretical. We used unique long-term data to\n parameterize deterministic and stochastic models of the contribution of\n one trait to evolutionary rescue using field estimates for the subalpine\n plant Ipomopsis aggregata and hybrids with its close relative I.\n tenuituba. In the absence of evolution or plasticity, the two studied\n populations are projected to go locally extinct due to earlier snowmelt\n under climate change, which imposes drought conditions. Phenotypic\n selection on specific leaf area (SLA) was estimated in 12 years and\n multiple populations. Those data on selection and its environmental\n sensitivity to annual snowmelt timing in the spring were combined with\n previous data on heritability of the trait, phenotypic plasticity of the\n trait, and the impact of snowmelt timing on mean absolute fitness.\n Selection favored low values of SLA (thicker leaves). The evolutionary\n response to selection on that single trait was insufficient to allow\n evolutionary rescue by itself, but in combination with phenotypic\n plasticity it promoted evolutionary rescue in one of the two populations.\n The number of years until population size would stop declining and begin\n to rise again was heavily dependent upon stochastic environmental changes\n in snowmelt timing around the trend line. Our study illustrates how field\n estimates of quantitative genetic parameters can be used to predict the\n likelihood of evolutionary rescue. Although a complete set of parameter\n estimates are generally unavailable, it may also be possible to predict\n the general likelihood of evolutionary rescue based on published ranges\n for phenotypic selection and heritability and the extent to which early\n snowmelt impacts fitness."],"Methods":["The study sites consisted of three “Poverty Gulch” sites in\n Gunnsion National Forest and one site “Vera Falls” at the Rocky Mountain\n Biological Laboratory, all in Gunnison County, CO, USA. Focal plants\n included two sets of plants. One set (data from 2009-2019) consisted of\n plants in common gardens at three sites: an I. aggregata\n site (hereafter “agg”), an I. tenuituba\n site (hereafter “ten”) and a site at the center of the natural\n hybrid zone (hereafter “hyb”). The second set consisted of plants growing\n in situ at two of the same Poverty Gulch sites (“agg” and “hyb”), and\n an I. aggregata site at Vera Falls (hereafter “VF”;\n data from 2017-2023).  The common gardens were started\n from seed in 2007 and 2008. Measurements of SLA in these gardens began\n when plants were 2 years old, either 2009 or 2010 depending upon the\n garden, as they are only small seedlings during their first summer after\n seed maturation. By 2018, all but 15 of the 4512 plants originally planted\n had died, with or without blooming, and we stopped following these\n gardens. Starting in 2017, in situ vegetative plants at the I.\n aggregata site and the hybrid site whose longest leaf exceeded\n 25 mm were marked with metal tags to facilitate\n identification.   In each year of the study, one leaf\n from each vegetative plant was collected in the field and transported on\n ice to the RMBL, 8 km distant. There each leaf was scanned with a flatbed\n scanner and analyzed using ImageJ to measure leaf area. The leaf was dried\n at 70 deg C for 2 hours and then weighed to obtain dry mass and calculate\n SLA as area/dry mass. For plants in the common gardens, SLA was measured\n on 982 leaves from 383 plants in 2009 – 2014. For in situ plants, SLA was\n measured on one leaf from each of 877 plants in 2017 – 2022. Fitness was\n estimated as the binary variable of survival to flowering. Plants that\n were still alive in 2019 in the common gardens or in 2023 at the end of\n the study were assumed to survive to flowering. These\n data were used to estimate selection differentials on SLA in each of 12\n years. We then combined this information with previous information on\n heritability and the effect of snowmelt date in the spring on mean\n absolute fitness, measured as the finite rate of population increase, from\n a previous demographic study. This information was used to parameterize\n models of evolutionary rescue that we developed. We developed two models\n that differed in how snowmelt timing changed: a Step-change model and a\n Gradual environmental change model and analyzed both deterministic and\n stochastic versions. All analysis and modeling was done in R ver\n 4.2.2.  "],"TechnicalInfo":["# Data for: Predicting the contribution of single trait evolution to\n rescuing a plant population from demographic impacts of climate change\n Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.ht76hdrtn](10.5061/dryad.ht76hdrtn) ##\n Description of the data and file structure File\n "mastervegtraitsSLA2023.csv" contains data on specific leaf area\n for Ipomopsis plants in the field. Files\n "masterdemography_insitu_2023.csv" and\n "masterdemography_commongarden.csv" provide the corresponding\n information on survival to flowering. File "snowmelt.csv"\n provides dates of snowmelt in the spring. File\n "selection_vs_snowmelt.csv" provides intermediate results on\n selection intensities from analysis with the first parts of the code\n "Campbell-EvolutionLettersMay2025.Rmd". File\n "IPMresults.csv" provides estimates of the finite rate of\n increase (lambda) predicted from the publication by Campbell\n [https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1820096116](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1820096116) File "Campbell-EvolutionLettersMay2025.Rmd" provides the R code for statistical analysis and the deterministic and stochastic models of evolutionary rescue. All data analysis and modeling was done in R ver. 4.4.2 on a Windows machine. All necessary input data files are provided. The R code is annotated to indicate which portions produce analyses and figures in the manuscript. For the multipart figures 6-9 the code needs to be manually updated to produce each part of the figure before assembling them. In those cases, each part represents a model with a unique set of parameters. ### Files and variables #### File: Data\\_files\\_for\\_EVL\\_Campbell\\_2025.zip **Description:** All data files Blank cells are indicated by "." except in "selection_vs_snowmelt.csv" where they are indicated by "NA" **File:** mastervegtraitsSLA2023.csv * meltday = first day of bare ground at the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab (RMBL) in units of days starting with January 1 * year = year * site = site. agg = site with I. aggregata. hyb = site with natural hybrids. ten = site with I. tenuituba. VF = Vera Falls site containing I. aggregata. * idtag = metal tag used to identify plant * planttype = type of plant. AA = progeny of I. aggregata x I. aggregata. AT = progeny of I. aggregata x I. tenuituba. TA = progeny of I. tenuituba x I. aggregata. TT = progeny of I. tenuituba x I. tenuituba. F2 = progeny of F1 (either AT or TA) x F1. agg = natural I. aggregata. hyb = natural hybrid. * sla = specific leaf area in units of cm2/g * uniqueid = an id used to identify the plant uniquely across all years and sites **File:** masterdemography\\_insitu\\_2023.csv * site = site. agg = site with I. aggregata. hyb = site with hybrids. VF = Vera Falls site containing I. aggregata. * idtag = metal tag used to identify plant * yeartagged = year the plant was first tagged * flrlabelxx = label for plants flowering in year 20xx * stagexxxx = stage in year xxxx. 0 = dead. 1 = single vegetative rosette. 2 = single inflorescence. 3 = multiple vegetative rosette. 4 = multiple inflorescence. * lengthxx = length of longest leaf in year 20xx in mm * leavesxx = number of leaves in rosette(s) in year 20xx **File:** masterdemography_commongarden.csv * site = site. agg = site with I. aggregata. hyb = site with natural hybrids. ten = site with I. tenuituba. * IDTAG = metal tag used to identify plant * Planttype = type of plant. AA = progeny of I. aggregata x I. aggregata. AT = progeny of I. aggregata x I. tenuituba. TA = progeny of I. tenuituba x I. aggregata. TT = progeny of I. tenuituba x I. tenuituba. F2full = full-sib progeny of F1 (either AT or TA) x F1. F2non = non full-sib progeny of F1 x F1. * stagexx = stage of plant in year 20xx. 0 = dead. 1 = single vegetative rosette. 2 = single inflorescence. 3 = multiple vegetative rosette. 4 = multiple inflorescence. * lengthxx = length of longest leaf in year 20xx in mm. * leavesxx = number of leaves in rosette(s) in year 20xx. **File:** snowmelt.csv * Year = year * Snowmelt = day of first bare ground at the RMBL in units of day starting with January 1. Values prior to 1975 were estimated. **File:** selection*vs*snowmelt.csv * meltday = day of first bare ground at the RMBL in units of day starting with January 1. * year = year * Sbyyearwithsite = standardized selection differential on SLA in model that includes site. These values are reproduced with standard errors in Table 1. * bwithsite = regression coefficient for raw survival on raw SLA in model that includes site. * meansurv = mean survival * covwsla = raw selection differential on SLA * bwithsitehyb = regression coefficient for raw survival on SLA at site hyb * meansurvhyb = mean survival at site hyb * covwslahyb = raw selection differential on SLA at site hyb used in the Gradual environmental change model * covwslaagg = raw selection differential on SLA at site agg used in the Gradual environmental change model * meansurvagg = mean survival at site agg * melthyb = estimated date of bare ground at site hyb * meltagg = estimated date of bare ground at site agg **File:** IPMresults.csv * site = site. agg = site with I. aggregata. hyb = site with natural hybrids. * day = predicted day of snowmelt (all predictions are from Campbell, D. R. 2019. Early snowmelt projected to cause population decline in a subalpine plant. PNAS (USA) 116(26) 1290-12906.) Units are days starting with January 1. * lambda = predicted finite rate of increase **File:** Campbell-EvolutionLettersMay2025.Rmd Contains R code for data analysis and modeling. All analysis and modeling was done in R ver 4.2.2."]} 

   more » « less
4. Demography of the understory herb H eliconia acuminata ( H eliconiaceae) in an experimentally fragmented tropical landscape

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4174  

   Bruna, Emilio M.; Uriarte, María; Darrigo, Maria Rosa; Rubim, Paulo; Jurinitz, Cristiane F.; Scott, Eric R.; Ferreira da Silva, Osmaildo; Kress, W. John (November 2023, Ecology)

   Abstract Habitat fragmentation remains a major focus of research by ecologists decades after being put forward as a threat to the integrity of ecosystems. While studies have documented myriad biotic changes in fragmented landscapes, including the local extinction of species from fragments, the demographic mechanisms underlying these extinctions are rarely known. However, many of them—especially in lowland tropical forests—are thought to be driven by one of two mechanisms: (1) reduced recruitment in fragments resulting from changes in the diversity or abundance of pollinators and seed dispersers or (2) increased rates of individual mortality in fragments due to dramatically altered abiotic conditions, especially near fragment edges. Unfortunately, there have been few tests of these potential mechanisms due to the paucity of long‐term and comprehensive demographic data collected in both forest fragments and continuous forest sites. Here we report 11 years (1998–2009) of demographic data from populations of the Amazonian understory herbHeliconia acuminata(LC Rich.) found at Brazil's Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP). The data set comprises >66,000 plant × year records of 8586 plants, including 3464 seedlings established after the first census. Seven populations were in experimentally isolated fragments (one in each of four 1‐ha fragments and one in each of three 10‐ha fragments), with the remaining six populations in continuous forest. Each population was in a 50 × 100 m permanent plot, with the distance between plots ranging from 500 m to 60 km. The plants in each plot were censused annually, at which time we recorded, identified, marked, and measured new seedlings, identified any previously marked plants that died, and recorded the size of surviving individuals. Each plot was also surveyed four to five times during the flowering season to identify reproductive plants and record the number of inflorescences each produced. These data have been used to investigate topics ranging from the way fragmentation‐related reductions in germination influence population dynamics to statistical methods for analyzing reproductive rates. This breadth of prior use reflects the value of these data to future researchers. In addition to analyses of plant responses to habitat fragmentation, these data can be used to address fundamental questions in plant demography and the evolutionary ecology of tropical plants and to develop and test demographic models and tools. Though we welcome opportunities to collaborate with interested users, there are no restrictions on the use of this data set. However, we do request that those using the data for teaching or research purposes inform us of how they are doing so and cite this paper and the data archive when appropriate. Any publication using the data must also include a BDFFP Technical Series Number in the Acknowledgments. Authors can request this series number upon the acceptance of their article by contacting the BDFFP's Scientific Coordinator or E. M. Bruna. 

   more » « less
5. Increased temperature, N and snowpack experiment for north of saddle, 2006 - ongoing.

   https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/16a21e3a638169d4bfe7bd2710fff201  

   Suding, Katharine N; Smith, Jane G; Ashton, Isabel W (December 2024, Environmental Data Initiative)

   In 2006 we established a global change experiment in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains to investigate how manipulations of warmer summer temperature, N deposition, and increased snowpack would affect the growth of alpine plants. The experiment was implemented on Niwot Ridge, where shrub cover has expanded by over 400% since 1946 (Formica et al. 2014). We established experimental plots north of the Niwot Ridge saddle, in an area of moist meadow tundra where willow shrub (Salix sp.) patches are present. Within experimental plots, Salix glauca seedlings were transplanted in 2006 and 2007 to test whether changing environmental conditions facilitated shrub survival and growth. In 2007 and 2008, phenological observations were recorded for all (2007) or abundant (2008) species in experimental plots. Measurements of plant species composition and aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) are also made annually or biennially (ANPP, 2017-onward). In 2021, canopy height and NDVI began being measured annually. In July of 2016, a community transplant experiment was implemented to test whether changing environmental conditions support changes in alpine tundra plant communities. Two species characteristic of (1) dry meadow tundra (Tetraneuris acaulis, Erigeron pinnatisectus), (2) snowbed tundra (Ranunculus adoneus, Saxifraga rhomboidea) and (3) subalpine meadow (Trollius albiflorus, Polemonium pulcherrimum) were transplanted into experimental plots. Survival and growth of transplants was documented annually through 2021. 

   more » « less