This dataset concerns moth (Lepidoptera) species in Great Britain and was compiled to address the question: Which landscape attributes have caused differential speeds of range expansion since 1985, both between landscapes and between species? More specifically, does the ‘conductance’ measured across a network of habitat help to predict the speed of range expansion? Conductance is a modelled measure of the speed at which a species could colonise a defined ‘target’ from a defined ‘source’ via a network of habitat patches. If it is predictive of real range expansion rates, it could be used to pinpoint the best places to target habitat conservation and restoration efforts.

Our analysis leverages climate and landcover data alongside two exceptional spatio-temporal databases for moth species in Britain. The Rothamsted Insect Survey is a scattered network of traps that are continuously monitored, which provides ideal “target” locations to test when each species arrived. The National Moth Recording Scheme collates verified records of species from all locations, providing the most complete picture possible of the “source” distribution where expanding species could have originated. We used previous studies (Fox et al., 2014) and these databases to select 54 species that were southerly distributed in Britain and showed some sign of range expansion. Then we tested how attributes of both the species and the landscapes affected the observed arrival times.

See the uploaded README file

See the uploaded README file