Data from: Seed dormancy explains plant response to mass mortality events
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Mass mortality events (MMEs) are large-scale, rapid die-offs resulting in extreme inputs of carrion biomass. Recent work demonstrates the effects of increasing carrion biomass on plant communities modulated by vertebrate scavengers and herbivores. However, the mechanisms underlying plant response to MMEs remain unclear. We hypothesized that carrion decomposition would interact with vertebrate herbivory and scavenging to generate distinct ecological filters on plants grouped by three seed dormancy classes (no dormancy, physiological dormancy, and physical dormancy). We designed a replicated field experiment crossing two levels of carrion biomass (~30 kg and ~360 kg) with three levels of vertebrate exclusion (open/no exclusion, scavenger exclusion, and herbivore exclusion) to quantify plant extirpation and colonization, plant performance, and the response of simulated seed bank and seed rain. We measured carrion decomposition rate, plant tissue nutrients (N, P, and K), seed survival, plant height, flower production, and plant community changes over 3 years. Carrion biomass levels associated with mass mortality increased plant tissue nutrients and plant extirpation and decreased seed bank survival, likely promoting plant colonization from seed rain. Vertebrate exclusion determined colonization probability in different ways, depending on seed dormancy classes. Vertebrate scavenger exclusion delayed decomposition, and the resulting environment favored the colonization of plants with impermeable seed coats (physical dormancy). In contrast, vertebrate herbivore exclusion promoted rapid germinators (no dormancy) that arrived as seed rain and quickly capitalized on the nutrient-rich exposed soil. With both functional roles intact (open/no exclusion), vertebrate scavenging ameliorated the negative effects of decomposition on seeds and plants, and selective herbivory on nutrient-rich plant tissue reduced overall plant height and flower production. The activity of both functional roles favored plants of the dominant physiological seed dormancy class and those with physical dormancy. Our results suggest that seed response to carrion decomposition and vertebrate functional activity can inform plant community response to MMEs.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.004 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.277 | 0.142 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".