27 research outputs found
Phylogenetic tree of 49 studied taxa
The file contains the phylogenetic tree of 49 studied taxa from the Fushan subtropical rain forest. The phylogenetic tree is generated by PHYLOMATIC given the species list. The tree is in NEWICK format
Monthly climate data
This file contains the local climate data from the Fushan meteorological station and three ENSO indices. These monthly time series start from January, 2001, and end at December, 2012. The local climate data has five variables: mean temperature, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, precipitation, and irradiance. Three ENSO indices are ENSO4, ENSO34, and SOI. The ENSO indices can also be obtained from the Climate Prediction Center, NOAA
Spatial genetic structure and body size divergence in endangered <i>Gymnogobius isaza</i> in ancient Lake Biwa
<p><i>Gymnogobius isaza</i> is a freshwater goby endemic to ancient Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan. The species is now listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ in the Red Data Book of Japan. Nevertheless, it remains subject to fishing without any specific management strategies. Previous studies using mitochondrial DNA markers showed that this fish species has two cryptic lineages. However, little is known about spatial genetic structure and ecological differences across the broad lakescape. In this study, we collected fish samples at nine locations along the lakeshore during the breeding season and tested for the presence of spatial heterogeneity in the lineage’s composition while measuring body size as the most fundamental biological trait. The results showed that the major lineage dominated all the sampling locations whereas the minor lineage consisted of only 11% (16/143) of samples. Furthermore, although their spatial distributions overlapped (i.e. the two lineages may be well mixed), we found it possible that the minor lineage may have a potentially narrower distribution than the major lineage. In addition, we found that the two lineages differ in body size; specifically, the minor lineage is smaller in size. From the viewpoint of genetic diversity conservation and sustainable resource use, this fish should be managed as two genetic stocks and spatial and/or body size-based fishery management is desirable, with particular attention to the minor (smaller sized) lineage.</p
Appendix C. Distinguishing temporal variation of species abundance distribution from sampling and statistical artifacts.
Distinguishing temporal variation of species abundance distribution from sampling and statistical artifacts
Appendix F. Multivariate linear model analyses for testing littoral ratio responses to environmental factors.
Multivariate linear model analyses for testing littoral ratio responses to environmental factors
Appendix B. The truncation of left-hand tail of species abundance distribution in phytoplankton community appeared in four seasons.
The truncation of left-hand tail of species abundance distribution in phytoplankton community appeared in four seasons
Individual Species-Area Relationship of Woody Plant Communities in a Heterogeneous Subtropical Monsoon Rainforest
<div><p>The spatial structure of species richness is often characterized by the species-area relationship (SAR). However, the SAR approach rarely considers the spatial variability of individual plants that arises from species interactions and species’ habitat associations. Here, we explored how the interactions of individual plants of target species influence SAR patterns at a range of neighborhood distances. We analyzed the data of 113,988 woody plants of 110 species from the Fushan Forest Dynamics Plot (25 ha), northern Taiwan, which is a subtropical rainforest heavily influenced by typhoons. We classified 34 dominant species into 3 species types (i.e., accumulator, repeller, or no effect) by testing how the individual species-area relationship (i.e., statistics describing how neighborhood species richness changes around individuals) of target species departs (i.e., positively, negatively, or with no obvious trend) from a null model that accounts for habitat association. Deviation from the null model suggests that the net effect of species’ interactions increases (accumulate) or decreases (repel) neighborhood species richness. We found that (i) accumulators were dominant at small interaction distances (<10–30 m); (ii) the detection of accumulator species was lower at large interaction distances (>30 m); (iii) repellers were rarely detected; and (iv) large-sized and abundant species tended to be accumulators. The findings suggest that positive species interactions have the potential to accumulate neighborhood species richness, particularly through size- and density-dependent mechanisms. We hypothesized that the frequently disturbed environment of this subtropical rainforest (e.g., typhoon-driven natural disturbances such as landslides, soil erosion, flooding, and windthrow) might create the spatial heterogeneity of species richness and promote positive species interactions.</p></div
Appendix D. Using species traits to partition species abundance distribution.
Using species traits to partition species abundance distribution
Appendix H. Exploring the water warming-induced size-selection hypothesis.
Exploring the water warming-induced size-selection hypothesis
Long-Term Changes in the Diet of <em>Gymnogobius isaza</em> from Lake Biwa, Japan: Effects of Body Size and Environmental Prey Availability
<div><p>Body size and environmental prey availability are both key factors determining feeding habits of gape-limited fish predators. However, our understanding of their interactive or relative effects is still limited. In this study, we performed quantitative dietary analysis of different body sizes of goby (<em>Gymnogobius isaza</em>) specimens collected from Lake Biwa between 1962 and 2004. First, we report that the diet was composed mainly of zooplankton (cladocerans and copepods) before the 1980s, and thereafter, shifted to zoobenthos (gammarids). This foraging shift coincided with, and thus can be linked to, known historical events in the lake at that time: decrease in zooplankton abundance with the alleviation of eutrophication, increase in fish body size resulting from fish population collapse, and increase in gammarid abundance due to reduced fish predation pressure. Supporting this view, our data analyses revealed how the long-term changes in the diet composition would be co-mediated by changes in fish body size and environmental prey availability. Specifically, while zoobenthos abundance strongly affected the fish diet composition, larger (smaller) fish preferred zoobenthos (zooplankton). Furthermore, the body size effects were stronger than those of prey availability. These results provide the best long-term evidence that fish feeding habits vary over decades with its body size and prey community due to anthropogenic disturbances.</p> </div