A dataset from SIMPER analysis identifying bacterial genera that contribute most to Bray-Curtis dissimilarity among age classes of American black bears. The 12.4 KB CSV file was authored by Erin A. McKenney and last updated on April 20, 2026. Bear ages were estimated by counting cementum layers from canine teeth, and samples were collected from wild bears harvested in eastern North Carolina.
Use Cases
- Identify key bacterial taxa responsible for microbiome differences between bear life stages based on the SIMPER analysis results.
- Study age-related shifts in the gut or oral microbiome of a wildlife species based on the described age-class categorization.
- Validate or compare SIMPER analysis methodologies in ecological community data based on the provided statistical output.
Strengths
- Dataset is openly licensed under CC-BY-4.0.
- Specific methodology for age estimation (cementum layer counting) and sample origin (wild American black bears in eastern North Carolina) is described.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- The dataset's 12.4 KB size indicates it is a small, likely summary-level output, not raw sequence data.
Provenance
- Source
- figshare, author Erin A. McKenney.
- Collection Method
- Samples collected from wild American black bears; age estimated via cementum layer counting; bacterial genera identified via SIMPER analysis.
- Time Range
- null
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-04-20 17:46:26; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Eastern North Carolina, United States.