HomeRange: A global database of mammalian home ranges

Motivation

Home range is a common measure of use of space by animals because it provides ecological information that is useful for conservation applications. In macroecological studies, values are typically aggregated to species means to examine general patterns of use of space by animals. However, this ignores the environmental context in which the home range was estimated and does not account for intraspecific variation in home range size. In addition, the focus of macroecological studies on home ranges has historically been biased towards terrestrial mammals. The use of aggregated numbers and the terrestrial focus limit our ability to examine home-range patterns across different environments, their variation in time and variation between different levels of organization. Here, we introduce HomeRange, a global database with 75,611 home-range values across 960 different species of mammals, including terrestrial, aquatic and aerial species.

Main types of variables contained

The dataset contains estimates of home ranges of mammals, species names, methodological information on data collection, method of home-range estimation, period of data collection, study coordinates and name of location, in addition to species traits derived from the studies, such as body mass, life stage, reproductive status and locomotor habit.

Spatial location and grain

The collected data are distributed globally. Across studies, the spatial accuracy varies, with the coarsest resolution being 1°.

Time period and grain

The data represent information published between 1939 and 2022. Across studies, the temporal accuracy varies; some studies report start and end dates specific to the day, whereas for other studies only the month or year is reported.

Major taxa and level of measurement

Mammalian species from 24 of the 27 different taxonomic orders. Home-range estimates range from individual-level values to population-level averages.

Software format

Data are supplied as a comma-delimited text file (.csv) and can be loaded directly into R using the “HomeRange” R package ( https://github.com/SHoeks/HomeRange ).     

The early life of Octopus vulgaris (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae) in the plankton and at settlement: a change in lifestyle

Newly hatched young of the benthic, coastal-living octopod, Octopus vulgaris , enter the plankton and remain there for perhaps eight weeks. At hatching the arms are short and bear a few, large, primary suckers. The buccal mass is relatively large in proportion to the size of the animal. The eyes are large. The central nervous system has fairly well-defined lobes, some of which develop earlier than others. We shall follow the development of several features of O. vulgaris from hatching, through its life in the plankton until settlement and correlate them with changes in the brain and behaviour.     

Crypt architecture of tonsilla lingualis in the monkey,Macaca fascicularis

Summary Crypts of the lingual tonsil were investigated in 10 male and female Macaca fascicularis by use of correlated light and scanning-electron microscopy. Counting of crypt openings provided an estimate of the total number of respective crypto-lymphatic units, which were found to range from 20 to 39. Crypt openings appeared in three distinct morphological varieties, i.e. circular, oval or slit-like. Tonsillar units existed individually or were arranged in a rosary fashion below a slit-like mucosal fold serving as a common exit. Although the crypt epithelium was generally non-keratinized, individual cells showing a surface pattern similar to that of the keratinized cells could be encountered. The crypt epithelium was frequently fragmented and showed heavy mononuclear cell infiltration and surface discontinuities, with lymphoid cells coming in contact with luminal contents. The crypt lumen either appeared as a simple epithelial invagination or existed as a complex, cavernous pouch with many blind-ending diverticula. The lumen contained a mixture of exfoliated epithelial cells, leucocytes and bacteria. The secretory ducts of the posterior lingual glands opened occasionally at various levels into the crypt lumina or independently to the exterior.     

Morphological investigations on follicular atresia in canine ovaries

Summary Morphologically, canine ovaries show two types of regression pattern in secondary follicles. In type A necrotic changes of the oocytes and the zona pellucida dominate, whereas in type B degeneration, necrobiosis and necrosis of the granulosa prevail. The atretic course of type B regression results in a pseudoantrum and leads, by pseudogrowth, to a structure imitating tertiary follicles. In both type A and type B regression, four consecutive stages of atresia are distinguished by light- and electron microscopy.True tertiary follicles display only one regression pattern which resembles type B of secondary follicles. Early, advanced, late, and terminal stages of atresia are again described.     

Postnatal development of palmitate oxidation and mitochondrial enzyme activities in rat cardiac and skeletal muscle

1. The palmitate oxidation rate was measured in intact diaphragm and m. flexor digitorum brevis and in whole homogenates of heart, diaphragm and m. quadriceps of developing rats between late foetal life and maturity. Activities of the mitochondrial enzymes cytochrome c oxidase and citrate synthase were also determined. 2. Immediately after birth the palmitate oxidation rate increases markedly in both intact diaphragm and m. flexor digitorum brevis and falls gradually after day 1 to adult values which are about 35% of those at birth. 3. The oxidation capacities of diaphragm and m. quadriceps, but especially of heart, increase steadily during development, starting before birth and reaching adult values at 15-20 days postnatally. The activities of the mitochondrial enzymes show a similar developmental pattern. 4. In heart the increase of oxidative capacity is the result of an increase of both mitochondrial content and mitochondrial activity. The mitochondrial contents of diaphragm and m. quadriceps, on the other hand, decrease with age and the increase of their oxidative capacities is due to a large rise of the mitochondrial activity.     

Recovery of a charged-fusion protein from cell extracts by polyelectrolyte precipitation

Beta-galactosidase served as a model system to explore the feasibility of enhancing the selectivity of a low-cost, easily scaled separation method-precipitation. Enhanced selectivity was sought by fusing the enzyme with polypeptide tails including 5 and 11 aspartates. The unfused protein could not be selectively removed from the Escherichia coli cell extract by precipitation with polyethylenimine (PEI), but the longest fusion could be selectively removed. The presence of nucleic acids limited the purification attainable. Pretreatment with nuclease followed by diafiltration resulted in an extract from which the same fusion could be precipitated with greater than fivefold enrichment, while the untailed enzyme remained unenriched by the same precipitation step. Selectivity is attributed to the binding strength of the polyanionic tails to the polycationic PEI.     

Lipid metabolism and cell composition of the oleaginous yeast Apiotrichum curvatum grown at different carbon to nitrogen ratios

Apiotrichum curvatum ATCC 20509, an oleaginous yeast that can accumulate up to 60% of its cellular dry weight as intracellular lipid when grown with excess carbon, was grown in nitrogen-limited, balanced, and lactose-free medium with asparagine as nitrogen source and lactose as carbon source. Biomass and lipid accumulation were measured, cell composition was analyzed, and catalase activity was followed as marker enzyme for peroxisomes. The organism accumulated 54% of its dry weight as total cellular lipid when grown under nitrogen limitation and accumulated only 20-25% of its dry weight as lipid when grown in balanced medium. When starved for carbon, cells utilized endogenous lipid and carbohydrate as carbon and energy sources; the intracellular contents of lipid and carbohydrate decreased by 31 and 26%, respectively. Intracellular carbohydrates also seemed to be used as intermediates for lipid accumulation and lipid turnover. Catalase activity was strongly induced (over 10-fold increase in specific activity) when cells metabolized endogenous lipid. The lipid content of cells was inversely related to catalase activity and to intracellular protein or total nitrogen content. Lipid content showed no correlation with intracellular carbohydrate content.