DOI: 10.5061/dryad.7wm37pvvr
title: Data from: Cascading effects of a disease outbreak in a remote protected area

description: Disease outbreaks induced by humans increasingly threaten wildlife
 communities worldwide. Like predators, pathogens can be key top-down
 forces in ecosystems, initiating trophic cascades that may alter food
 webs. An outbreak of mange in a remote Andean protected area caused a
 dramatic population decline in a mammalian herbivore (the vicuña),
 creating conditions to test the cascading effects of disease on the
 ecological community. By comparing a suite of ecological measurements to
 pre-disease baseline records, we demonstrate that mange restructured
 tightly-linked trophic interactions previously driven by a mammalian
 predator (the puma). Following the mange outbreak, scavenger (Andean
 condor) occurrence in the ecosystem declined sharply and plant biomass and
 cover increased dramatically in predation refuges where herbivory was
 historically concentrated. The evidence shows that a disease-induced
 trophic cascade, mediated by vicuña density, could supplant the
 predator-induced trophic cascade, mediated by vicuña behavior, thereby
 transforming the Andean ecosystem. 
description: For full methods, see Monk et al., "Cascading effects of a
 disease outbreak in a remote protected area", Ecology Letters and
 associated online Supplement.
description: We report puma and vicuña habitat use, vicuña density, condor
 activity, field-measured plant variables, and remotely-sensed time series
 data (soil-adjusted vegetation index, precipitation, temp) for San
 Guillermo National Park, Argentina. For more details, see associated
 publication and the ReadMe file.
description: # Data from: Cascading effects of a disease outbreak in a remote protected
 area Data for “Cascading
 effects of a disease outbreak in a remote protected area”, by Monk, J.D.,
 J.A. Smith, E. Donadio, P.L. Perrig, R.D. Crego, M. Fileni, O. Bidder,
 S.A. Lambertucci, J.N. Pauli, O.J. Schmitz and A.D. Middleton, 2022,
 Ecology Letters Julia D. Monk Yale University 
 Justine A. Smith Univerisity of California Davis
 Data collected in San Guillermo National
 Park (SGNP), Argentina, from 2000-2020 FILES: MonkSmith_Biomass.csv
 MonkSmith_condor_all_locations.csv MonkSmith_condor_foraging_locations
 MonkSmith_CoverHeight.csv MonkSmith_kill_locations.csv
 MonkSmith_puma_locations.csv MonkSmith_SeedSpike.csv
 MonkSmith_timeseries.csv MonkSmith_vicuna_locations.csv
 MonkSmith_VicunaDistanceData.csv *MonkSmith_Biomass.csv* Dataset used for
 analyzing field-measured biomass year: Year of sampling (2011 vs. 2019)
 Site_ID: ID of sampling plot habitat: Habitat of sampling plot (Plain =
 open plains refuge habitat, sparsely vegetated; Canyon: rocky canyons and
 mountain slopes, high-predation risk habitat, sparsely vegetated; Meadow:
 heavily vegetated wet meadow, high-predation risk habitat) treatment:
 Treatment type in original exclosure experiment from which 2011 data were
 sourced; for this analysis, only values from "Control" (unfenced
 and available for herbivory) plots were analyzed Biomass: standing green
 biomass (g/m^2) *MonkSmith_condor_all_locations.csv* Dataset used for
 analyzing all condor locations in SGNP Month: date of sampling (mm/d/yy)
 Ind: individual condor ID Prop: proportion of total locations for that
 month inside SGNP n.inside: number of locations inside SGNP for that month
 n: total number of locations detected for that month Period: time period
 in relation to mange outbreak *MonkSmith_condor_foraging_locations.csv*
 Dataset used for analyzing condor foraging locations in SGNP (subset of
 locations taken at midday when velocity was equal to 0) Month: date of
 sampling (mm/d/yy) Ind: individual condor ID Prop: proportion of total
 locations for that month inside SGNP n.inside: number of locations inside
 SGNP for that month n: total number of locations detected for that month
 Period: time period in relation to mange outbreak
 *MonkSmith_CoverHeight.csv* Dataset used for analyzing field-measured
 graminoid cover and height Site_ID: ID of sampling plot year: Year of
 sampling (2011 vs. 2019) habitat: Habitat of sampling plot (Plain = open
 plains refuge habitat, sparsely vegetated; Canyon: rocky canyons and
 mountain slopes, high-predation risk habitat, sparsely vegetated; Meadow:
 heavily vegetated wet meadow, high-predation risk habitat) treatment:
 Treatment type in original exclosure experiment from which 2011 data were
 sourced; for this analysis, only values from "Control" (unfenced
 and available for herbivory) plots were analyzed transect: number of the
 within-plot transect (5/plot) CoverGramin: Graminoid cover (%), determined
 by point-intercept method along each transect AvHeightGramin: mean height
 (in cm) of all graminoids intercepted using the point-intercept method
 along each transect NHeight: Number of graminoid plants intercepted along
 each transect (N for AvHeightGramin) *MonkSmith_kill_locations.csv*
 Dataset used for analyzing the proportion of puma kills in each habitat
 ID: individual puma ID timestamp: date and time of kill
 (yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ssZ) habclass: ID for habitat of location (1 = canyons,
 2 = meadows, 3 = plains) *MonkSmith_puma_locations.csv* Dataset used for
 analyzing the proportion of puma locations in each habitat ID: individual
 puma ID timestamp: date and time of location record (yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ssZ)
 habclass: ID for habitat of location (1 = canyons, 2 = meadows, 3 =
 plains) *MonkSmith_SeedSpike.csv* Dataset used for analyzing
 field-measured seed spike prevalence Site_ID: ID of sampling plot year:
 Year of sampling (2011 vs. 2019) habitat: Habitat of sampling plot (Plain
 = open plains refuge habitat, sparsely vegetated; Canyon = rocky canyons
 and mountain slopes, high-predation risk habitat, sparsely vegetated;
 Meadow = heavily vegetated wet meadow, high-predation risk habitat)
 treatment: Treatment type in original exclosure experiment from which 2011
 data were sourced; for this analysis, only values from "Control"
 (unfenced and available for herbivory) plots were analyzed ConEsp: Total
 number of individual grasses per plot with seed spikes (as determined by
 the point-intercept method along 5 transects in each plot) SinEsp: Total
 number of individual grasses per plot without seed spikes (as determined
 by the point-intercept method along 5 transects in each plot) ConSin: The
 total number of grasses intercepted per plot (ConEsp + SinEsp)
 PropWithSeed: The proportion of intercepted grasses with seed spikes
 (ConEsp/ConSin) *MonkSmith_time_series.csv* Dataset used for
 remotely-sensed SAVI and time series analyses date: date of sampling
 (mm/d/yy) precip: total monthly precipitation (mm) temp: mean monthly
 temperature (degrees Celsius) plainsSAVImean: monthly mean of the
 Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index in plains meadowSAVImean: monthly mean of
 the Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index in meadows canyonSAVImean: monthly mean
 of the Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index in canyons
 *MonkSmith_vicuna_locations.csv* Dataset used for analyzing the proportion
 of vicuña locations in each habitat ID: individual vicuña ID timestamp:
 date and time of location record (yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ssZ) habclass: ID for
 habitat of location (1 = canyons, 2 = meadows, 3 = plains)
 *MonkSmith_VicunaDistanceData.csv* Dataset used for analyzing vicuña
 densities based on distance sampling id: observation ID Year: year of
 sampling Season: season in which sampling was conducted (Win = Winter,
 Fall=Fall, Sum = Summer) Site: site of sampling (LCAS = Llano de
 Caserones, LL = Llano de los Leones, LSG = Llano de San Guillermo)
 Long_km: length of the transect (km) SP: species (V = vicuña) Angle: angle
 to the center of the group of animals, from the observer Dist_m: distance
 to the center of the group, from the observer (using laser rangefinder)