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- Culina, Antica, et al.
(författare)
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Connecting the data landscape of long-term ecological studies : The SPI-Birds data hub
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Animal Ecology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0021-8790 .- 1365-2656. ; 90:9, s. 2147-2160
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The integration and synthesis of the data in different areas of science is drastically slowed and hindered by a lack of standards and networking programmes. Long-term studies of individually marked animals are not an exception. These studies are especially important as instrumental for understanding evolutionary and ecological processes in the wild. Furthermore, their number and global distribution provides a unique opportunity to assess the generality of patterns and to address broad-scale global issues (e.g. climate change). To solve data integration issues and enable a new scale of ecological and evolutionary research based on long-term studies of birds, we have created the SPI-Birds Network and Database ()-a large-scale initiative that connects data from, and researchers working on, studies of wild populations of individually recognizable (usually ringed) birds. Within year and a half since the establishment, SPI-Birds has recruited over 120 members, and currently hosts data on almost 1.5 million individual birds collected in 80 populations over 2,000 cumulative years, and counting. SPI-Birds acts as a data hub and a catalogue of studied populations. It prevents data loss, secures easy data finding, use and integration and thus facilitates collaboration and synthesis. We provide community-derived data and meta-data standards and improve data integrity guided by the principles of Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR), and aligned with the existing metadata languages (e.g. ecological meta-data language). The encouraging community involvement stems from SPI-Bird's decentralized approach: research groups retain full control over data use and their way of data management, while SPI-Birds creates tailored pipelines to convert each unique data format into a standard format. We outline the lessons learned, so that other communities (e.g. those working on other taxa) can adapt our successful model. Creating community-specific hubs (such as ours, COMADRE for animal demography, etc.) will aid much-needed large-scale ecological data integration.
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| 2. |
- Lehtonen, Paula K., et al.
(författare)
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Geographic patterns of genetic differentiation and plumage colour variation are different in the pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)
- 2009
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology. - 0962-1083. ; 18:21, s. 4463-4476
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The pied flycatcher is one of the most phenotypically variable bird species in Europe. The geographic variation in phenotypes has often been attributed to spatial variation in selection regimes that is associated with the presence or absence of the congeneric collared flycatcher. Spatial variation in phenotypes could however also be generated by spatially restricted gene flow and genetic drift. We examined the genetic population structure of pied flycatchers across the breeding range and applied the phenotypic Q(ST) (P(ST))-F(ST) approach to detect indirect signals of divergent selection on dorsal plumage colouration in pied flycatcher males. Allelic frequencies at neutral markers were found to significantly differ among populations breeding in central and southern Europe whereas northerly breeding pied flycatchers were found to be one apparently panmictic group of individuals. Pairwise differences between phenotypic (P(ST)) and neutral genetic distances (F(ST)) were positively correlated after removing the most differentiated Spanish and Swiss populations from the analysis, suggesting that genetic drift may have contributed to the observed phenotypic differentiation in some parts of the pied flycatcher breeding range. Differentiation in dorsal plumage colouration however greatly exceeded that observed at neutral genetic markers, which indicates that the observed pattern of phenotypic differentiation is unlikely to be solely maintained by restricted gene flow and genetic drift.
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| 3. |
- Mills, James A., et al.
(författare)
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Archiving Primary Data : Solutions for Long-Term Studies
- 2015
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Ingår i: Trends in Ecology & Evolution. - : Elsevier BV. - 0169-5347 .- 1872-8383. ; 30:10, s. 581-589
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The recent trend for journals to require open access to primary data included in publications has been embraced by many biologists, but has caused apprehension amongst researchers engaged in long-term ecological and evolutionary studies. A worldwide survey of 73 principal investigators (PIs) with long-term studies revealed positive attitudes towards sharing data with the agreement or involvement of the PI, and 93% of PIs have historically shared data. Only 8% were in favor of uncontrolled, open access to primary data while 63% expressed serious concern. We present here their viewpoint on an issue that can have non-trivial scientific consequences. We discuss potential costs of public data archiving and provide possible solutions to meet the needs of journals and researchers.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Ruuskanen, Suvi, et al.
(författare)
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Large-scale geographical variation in eggshell metal and calcium content in a passerine bird (Ficedula hypoleuca)
- 2014
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Pollution Research. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0944-1344 .- 1614-7499. ; 21:5, s. 3304-3317
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Birds have been used as bioindicators of pollution, such as toxic metals. Levels of pollutants in eggs are especially interesting, as developing birds are more sensitive to detrimental effects of pollutants than adults. Only very few studies have monitored intraspecific, large-scale variation in metal pollution across a species' breeding range. We studied large-scale geographic variation in metal levels in the eggs of a small passerine, the pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca), sampled from 15 populations across Europe. We measured 10 eggshell elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, Se, Sr, and Ca) and several shell characteristics (mass, thickness, porosity, and color). We found significant variation among populations in eggshell metal levels for all metals except copper. Eggshell lead, zinc, and chromium levels decreased from central Europe to the north, in line with the gradient in pollution levels over Europe, thus suggesting that eggshell can be used as an indicator of pollution levels. Eggshell lead levels were also correlated with soil lead levels and pH. Most of the metals were not correlated with eggshell characteristics, with the exception of shell mass, or with breeding success, which may suggest that birds can cope well with the current background exposure levels across Europe.
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| 6. |
- Sirkiä, Päivi M., et al.
(författare)
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Fecundity selection does not vary along a large geographical cline of trait means in a passerine bird
- 2015
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Ingår i: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0024-4066. ; 114:4, s. 808-827
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Local environmental and ecological conditions are commonly expected to result in local adaptation, although there are few examples of variation in phenotypic selection across continent-wide spatial scales. We collected standardized data on selection with respect to the highly variable plumage coloration of pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleucaPall.) males from 17 populations across the species' breeding range. The observed selection on multiple male coloration traits via the annual number of fledged young was generally relatively weak. The main aim of the present study, however, was to examine whether the current directional selection estimates are associated with distance to the sympatric area with the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollisTemminck), a sister species with which the pied flycatcher is showing character displacement. This pattern was expected because plumage traits in male pied flycatchers are changing with the distance to these areas of sympatry. However, we did not find such a pattern in current selection on coloration. There were no associations between current directional selection on ornamentation and latitude or longitude either. Interestingly, current selection on coloration traits was not associated with the observed mean plumage traits of the populations. Thus, there do not appear to be geographical gradients in current directional fecundity selection on male plumage ornamentation. The results of the present study do not support the idea that constant patterns in directional fecundity selection would play a major role in the maintenance of coloration among populations in this species. By contrast, the tendency for relatively weak mosaic-like variation in selection among populations could reflect just a snapshot of temporally variable, potentially environment-dependent, selection, as suggested by other studies in this system. Such fine-grained variable selection coupled with gene flow could maintain extensive phenotypic variation across populations.(c) 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2015, 114, 808-827.
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