A global database for metacommunity ecology, integrating species, traits, environment and space

• Published in: Scientific data Vol. 7; no. 1; p. 6
• Main Authors: Jeliazkov, Alienor, Mijatovic, Darko, Chantepie, Stéphane, Andrew, Nigel, Arlettaz, Raphaël, Barbaro, Luc, Barsoum, Nadia, Bartonova, Alena, Belskaya, Elena, Bonada, Núria, Brind’Amour, Anik, Carvalho, Rodrigo, Castro, Helena, Chmura, Damian, Choler, Philippe, Chong-Seng, Karen, Cleary, Daniel, Cormont, Anouk, Cornwell, William, de Campos, Ramiro, de Voogd, Nicole, Doledec, Sylvain, Drew, Joshua, Dziock, Frank, Eallonardo, Anthony, Edgar, Melanie J., Farneda, Fábio, Hernandez, Domingo Flores, Frenette-Dussault, Cédric, Fried, Guillaume, Gallardo, Belinda, Gibb, Heloise, Gonçalves-Souza, Thiago, Higuti, Janet, Humbert, Jean-Yves, Krasnov, Boris R., Saux, Eric Le, Lindo, Zoe, Lopez-Baucells, Adria, Lowe, Elizabeth, Marteinsdottir, Bryndis, Martens, Koen, Meffert, Peter, Mellado-Díaz, Andres, Menz, Myles H. M., Meyer, Christoph F. J., Miranda, Julia Ramos, Mouillot, David, Ossola, Alessandro, Pakeman, Robin, Pavoine, Sandrine, Pekin, Burak, Pino, Joan, Pocheville, Arnaud, Pomati, Francesco, Poschlod, Peter, Prentice, Honor C., Purschke, Oliver, Raevel, Valerie, Reitalu, Triin, Renema, Willem, Ribera, Ignacio, Robinson, Natalie, Robroek, Bjorn, Rocha, Ricardo, Shieh, Sen-Her, Spake, Rebecca, Staniaszek-Kik, Monika, Stanko, Michal, Tejerina-Garro, Francisco Leonardo, Braak, Cajo ter, Urban, Mark C., Klink, Roel van, Villéger, Sébastien, Wegman, Ruut, Westgate, Martin J., Wolff, Jonas, Żarnowiec, Jan, Zolotarev, Maxim, Chase, Jonathan M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 08.01.2020; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/158/851; 631/158/853; 704/158/670; Animals; Biodiversity; Biodiversity and Ecology; Biologi; Biological Sciences; Biota; community ecology; Data collection; Data Descriptor; Digital curation; Ecology; Ecology (including Biodiversity Conservation); ecosystem; Ecosystems; Ekologi; Environmental changes; Environmental Sciences; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Natural Sciences; Naturvetenskap; Plants; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Species composition
• ISSN: 2052-4463; 2052-4463
• DOI: 10.1038/s41597-019-0344-7

The use of functional information in the form of species traits plays an important role in explaining biodiversity patterns and responses to environmental changes. Although relationships between species composition, their traits, and the environment have been extensively studied on a case-by-case basis, results are variable, and it remains unclear how generalizable these relationships are across ecosystems, taxa and spatial scales. To address this gap, we collated 80 datasets from trait-based studies into a global database for metaCommunity Ecology: Species, Traits, Environment and Space ; “CESTES”. Each dataset includes four matrices: species community abundances or presences/absences across multiple sites, species trait information, environmental variables and spatial coordinates of the sampling sites. The CESTES database is a live database: it will be maintained and expanded in the future as new datasets become available. By its harmonized structure, and the diversity of ecosystem types, taxonomic groups, and spatial scales it covers, the CESTES database provides an important opportunity for synthetic trait-based research in community ecology. Measurement(s) species abundance • species trait • environmental feature • latitude • longitude Technology Type(s) digital curation Factor Type(s) year of data collection • type of ecosystem • level of human disturbance Sample Characteristic - Environment terrestrial natural environment • fresh water • marine biome • anthropogenic terrestrial biome • natural environment • area of mixed forest • cultivated environment Sample Characteristic - Location Earth (planet) Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.11317790