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    Supersized fruit eater database on climate change frontline    
      
     Date:   
         June 20, 2023   
     Source:   
         Michigan State University   
     Summary:   
         To conserve precious and fragile biodiversity hotspots, a crucial   
         step is knowing how the fruit eaters are doing. To assist in that,   
         scientists and students have supersized a database to keep track   
         of such animals and birds.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
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   To conserve precious and fragile biodiversity hotspots, a crucial step is   
   knowing how the fruit eaters are doing. To assist in that, scientists and   
   students at Michigan State University (MSU) have supersized a database   
   to keep track of such animals and birds.   
      
   In this month's open-access journal Global Ecology and Biogeography, the   
   group introduces for the first time a hulking list of more than 45,000   
   traits for creatures that eat fruit. Frugivoria, named for the species   
   called frugivores who survive mainly on fruit, supersizes existing   
   databases by providing researchers and conservationists with one-stop   
   listings of both critters and birds in the forests of Central and South   
   America. Frugivoria's data and workflow are open and accessible to all   
   to help facilitate its use for addressing the biodiversity crisis.   
      
   In a time of rapid climate change, it's crucial to understand how the   
   fruit eaters are doing in specific ways.   
      
   "With climate change, seed dispersion is really important," said Beth   
   Gerstner, a PhD candidate in the MSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife   
   who led the development. "Fruit eaters maintain forest composition and   
   health by pooping - - which spreads seeds. Frugivoria is an important   
   contribution because researchers can use this to understand the diversity   
   of their roles in the ecosystem."  Knowing what is doing the fruit   
   eating and pooping, as well as their distribution and life traits --   
   their life expectancies, breeding habits, habitat preferences -- is   
   critical to tracking changes that climate change may bring. Yet current   
   databases were fragmented or incomplete.   
      
   Starting in 2018 at MSU, 12 undergraduate students were tasked with   
   sleuthing through of mounds of scientific publications to flesh out   
   existing records of fruit eaters, adding birds for a more holistic   
   understanding of the forests.   
      
   Most exciting, Gerstner said, was entering 44 new species, like the   
   olinguito.   
      
   That's a member of the same family as racoons that lives in the cloud   
   forests of the northern Andes, and one that Gerstner studies. The   
   olinguito had been mistaken for the larger olingo, but upon being   
   discovered in 2013 has been found to indeed be genetically different.   
      
   "Natural history is entering the age of big data," said Phoebe Zarnetske,   
   associate professor in integrative biology and director, Institute for   
   Biodiversity, Ecology, Evolution, and Macrosystems (IBEEM). "Through   
   Frugivoria, we are contributing to increasing the accessibility of natural   
   history information traditionally found in museums and collections. This   
   project provided a unique opportunity to engage numerous undergraduates   
   in research with data science and functional ecology.   
      
   Zarnetske said Frugivoria can help with both basic and applied questions   
   about species' functions in their environment. It can be used by   
   community scientists to learn more about species' natural history, and   
   it can aid in species conservation assessments "As a result," she said,   
   "Frugivoria is part of something bigger -- we can leverage the power of   
   its big data to help solve the biodiversity crises."  Getting Frugivoria   
   out where it's needed is Gerstner's goal. "My hope," she said, "is for   
   the database to be used by the International Union for the Conservation   
   of Nature and people doing on-the-ground conservation."  Both Gerstner   
   and Zarnetske are members of MSU's Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior   
   Program and Spatial and Community Ecology (SpaCE) Lab The work behind   
   "Frugivoria: A trait database for birds and mammals exhibiting frugivory   
   across contiguous Neotropical moist forests" was supported by a NASA   
   Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology,   
   a National Science Foundation Campus Cyberinfrastructure program and   
   computational resources and services provided by the Institute for   
   Cyber-Enabled Research of which co-author Patrick Bills is a member. In   
   addition to the open access paper in Global Ecology and Biogeography,   
   the database itself is published open access with the Environmental   
   Data Initiative.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Plants_&_Animals   
                   # Nature # Ecology_Research # Biology # New_Species   
             o Earth_&_Climate   
                   # Ecology # Environmental_Awareness # Environmental_Issues   
                   # Environmental_Policy   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Biodiversity_hotspot o Biodiversity o GenBank o Crane_fly   
             o Cormorant o Cheetah o Raining_animals o Veterinary_medicine   
      
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   Story Source: Materials provided by Michigan_State_University. Note:   
   Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
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   Journal Reference:   
      1. Beth E. Gerstner, Patrick Bills, Phoebe L. Zarnetske. Frugivoria:   
      A trait   
         database for birds and mammals exhibiting frugivory across   
         contiguous Neotropical moist forests. Global Ecology and   
         Biogeography, 2023; DOI: 10.1111/geb.13716   
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   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230620113803.htm   
      
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