Data from: Accumulating time lags across biodiversity levels following land-use change
Data files
Nov 05, 2025 version files 340.17 KB
Abstract
Delayed biodiversity responses to environmental changes occur from genes over communities to ecosystem functions. Despite growing insights into the mechanisms governing both the magnitude and time lags of biodiversity responses at individual levels of biodiversity, how interactions among levels of biodiversity affect ecosystem-wide inertia in response to an environmental forcing event remains a largely unanswered question.
As several sources causing time lags interact within and across multiple biodiversity levels, we hypothesize these mechanisms control how time lags at one biodiversity level may cascade into increasingly extended lags at higher biodiversity levels.
We analysed empirical data on genetic diversity, species distributions, community diversity, and functional diversity in semi-natural grassland patches for the existence and length of lagged responses across biodiversity levels in response to 165 years of land-use change.
Time lags were present at all tested biodiversity levels (from genes to traits), none yet in equilibrium with the current landscape. Significant variation in delays among individual species possibly controlled by delayed loss in genetic diversity may affect the scale of future biodiversity losses at the community level.
Functional diversity appeared to have the most delayed response, likely due to high functional redundancy in species-rich grassland communities.
Synthesis: Species identity seems central in governing the observed delays at each level of biodiversity, from genetic to functional diversity. In particular, species identity controls the slowest responses at the genetic level, potentially leading to accumulating underestimations of the size and duration of time lags at species, community and functional diversity levels compared to average community responses. Conservation and restoration actions must therefore anticipate the potentially systematic underestimation of time lags in biodiversity responses following habitat change to ensure their effectiveness in halting biodiversity loss.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2280gb65p
Description of the data and file structure
Across 27 islands of the Stockholm archipelago (Sweden), we studied species and functional (trait) diversity of 138 grassland plant communities and genetic diversity (based on 10 microsatellite markers) of 36 populations of the grassland perennial Campanula rotundifolia, in response to 165 of landscape change, with changes in open habitat cover quantified at four points in time, 1850, 1900, 1950 and 2015.
Files and variables
File: Dataset_S1_-_Landscape_characteristics.xlsx
Description: Descriptive data, historical and contemporary habitat area [m^2^] and nearest neighbor distance [m], extracted and calculated from digitized land cover maps for 1850, 1901, 1950, and 2015 for each of the 138 plant relevés executed in the Stockholm archipelago, Sweden. Data on contemporary grassland management [Grazing or Mowing] and whether or not leaf samples of Campanula rotundifolia were taken [0 no; 1 Yes] for all 138 plant relevés are also listed.
Variables
- Sampled Campanula rotundifola
- Management
- Open habitat area in 1850, 1900, 1950 and 2015
- Nearest neighbour in 1850, 1900, 1950 and 2015
File: Dataset_S2_-_760_genotyped_Campanula_rotundifolia_individuals.xlsx
Description: Full long-list dataset of alleles recorded at each of 10 microsatellite loci in 760 Campanula rotundifolia individuals sampled across 36 populations in the Stockholm archipelago, Sweden. References on the microsatellites used in the PCR multiplexes to genotype the samples are included in a separate worksheet.
Variables
- Sample Name
- MarkerID
- Allele 1
- Allele 2
- Allele 3
- Allele 4
File: Dataset_S3_-_Presence-absence_plant_community_matrix.xlsx
Description: Full 176 species × 138 plot plant community matrix for plant relevés performed in the Stockholm archipelago, Sweden.
File: Dataset_S4_-_Full_species_x_trait_matrix.xlsx
Description: Full 160 species × 13 life-history trait matrix used for the calculation of functional diversity metrics for each of the 138 plant communities sampled in the Stockholm archipelago, Sweden.
Variables
See column headers in file for units/legends.
- Seed mass
- Seed length
- Seed width
- Canopy height
- Seed production
- Seed longevity index
- Specific leaf area
- Life span
- Dispersal mode
- Clonality
- Releasing height
- Ploidy category
- Habitat specialisation
Code/software
All analyses were performed in R