https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ht76hdrr4

Description of the data and file structure

README

Title: Insect seed-predator networks respond positively to restoration on a tropical island

Authors: Alba Costa, Ruben Heleno, Yanick Dufrene, Eleanor Huckle, Sara Beatriz Mendes, Andrew E. Whittington, Frank J.F. van Veen, Christopher N. Kaiser-Bunbury

Journal: Journal of Applied Ecology

Contact Author: Alba Costa; Email: ac920@exeter.ac.uk; a.costa@csic.es

DATASETS

fruit_abundance.csv

Data on fruit abundance of ripe fleshy-fruited plant species collected monthly along linear transects for 12 consecutive months, from September 2018 to August 2019, on the island of Mahé, Seychelles.

Variables:

·       date: date of record

·       **julian & z_julian: **julian day and scaled julian day, respectively

·       site: identity code of each site (“ber”: Bernica, “cas”: Casse Dent, “cop”: Copolia, “res”: La Reserve, “ros”: Rosebelle, “sal”: Salazie, “tea”: Tea Plantation, “tro”: Trois Frères)

·       treatment: restoration status (“restored”: sites cleared of all exotic plants between 2011 and 2012; “unrestored”: sites not cleared of exotic plants)

·       transect: transect identity

·       section: identity of 25-meter section within the transect

·       plant_spp: plant species

·       plant_origin: origin of the plant species (“native”, “exotic”). In publication, “exotic” = “non-native”

·       fruit_crop: total number of fruits recorded

·       plant_individuals: number of plant individuals of each species recorded

·       fpc: fruits per cápita or fruit_crop/plant_individuals

SP_richness.csv

Species richness of pre-dispersal insect seed predator reared from fruits collected for 12 consecutive months, from September 2018 to August 2019, on the island of Mahé, Seychelles.

Variables:

·       treatment: restoration status (“restored”: sites cleared of all exotic plants between 2011 and 2012; “unrestored”: sites not cleared of exotic plants)

·       site: identity code of each site (“ber”: Bernica, “cas”: Casse Dent, “cop”: Copolia, “res”: La Reserve, “ros”: Rosebelle, “sal”: Salazie, “tea”: Tea Plantation, “tro”: Trois Frères)

·       plant_spp: plant species

·       **n: **number of seed predator species

SP_abundance.csv

Species richness of pre-dispersal insect seed predator reared from fruits collected for 12 consecutive months, from September 2018 to August 2019, on the island of Mahé, Seychelles.

Variables:

·       treatment: restoration status (“restored”: sites cleared of all exotic plants between 2011 and 2012; “unrestored”: sites not cleared of exotic plants)

·       site: identity code of each site (“ber”: Bernica, “cas”: Casse Dent, “cop”: Copolia, “res”: La Reserve, “ros”: Rosebelle, “sal”: Salazie, “tea”: Tea Plantation, “tro”: Trois Frères)

·       plant_spp: plant species

·       **species: **seed predator species or morphospecies

·       **origin: **seed predator biogeographical origin

·       **number: **number of seed predator individuals

SP_attack_rates.csv

Proportion of fruit samples (10 fruits) predated by pre-dispersal seed predators. Samples were collected from September 2018 to August 2019, on the island of Mahé, Seychelles.

Variables:

·       site: identity code of each site (“ber”: Bernica, “cas”: Casse Dent, “cop”: Copolia, “res”: La Reserve, “ros”: Rosebelle, “sal”: Salazie, “tea”: Tea Plantation, “tro”: Trois Frères)

·       month: month of data collection

·       treatment: restoration status (“restored”: sites cleared of all exotic plants between 2011 and 2012; “unrestored”: sites not cleared of exotic plants)

·       plant_spp: plant species

·       plant_origin: origin of the plant species (“native”, “exotic”). In publication, “exotic” = “non-native”

·       sample_code: identity of sample containing 10 fruits

·       predation: predated sample = 1, non-predated sample = 0

·       no_insects: number of seed-predator insect individuals found in sample

·       fruit_crop: total number of fruits recorded

predation_intensity.csv

Predation intensity data, measured as mean abundance of seed predators per fruit. Samples were collected from September 2018 to August 2019, on the island of Mahé, Seychelles.

Variables:

·       site: identity code of each site (“ber”: Bernica, “cas”: Casse Dent, “cop”: Copolia, “res”: La Reserve, “ros”: Rosebelle, “sal”: Salazie, “tea”: Tea Plantation, “tro”: Trois Frères)

·       treatment: restoration status (“restored”: sites cleared of all exotic plants between 2011 and 2012; “unrestored”: sites not cleared of exotic plants)

·       plant_spp: plant species

·       plant_origin: origin of the plant species (“native”, “exotic”). In publication, “exotic” = “non-native”

·       sample_code: identity of sample containing 10 fruits

·       insect_abun: number of insects per sample of 10 fruits

·       fruits_col: number of fruits per sample

·       insect_abun_fruit: number of seed-predator insect individuals per fruit

·       fruit_crop: total number of fruits recorded

SP_plant_interactions.csv

Data on the frequency of interactions in matrix format between plants (rows) and pre-dispersal seed predator insects (columns) obtained from fruit samples (10 fruits) collected on eight inselberg plant communities (4 restored and 4 unrestored) on the island of Mahé, Seychelles, over one year (Sep. 2018 to Aug. 2019). Each matrix cell depicts the number of individuals of a seed predator insect found in the samples of a given plant species. The sheet “SP_pooled_freq” contains the data for all sites, “SP_restored_freq” only the interaction data for the four restored sites, and “SP_unrestored_freq” for the unrestored sites.

Code/software

All analyses were conducted in R 4.3.2 (R Core Team, 2022). Poisson generalized mixed effects models (GLMMs) were fitted using the package “lme4” (Bates et al., 2015), negative binomial and truncated poisson models using “glmmTMB” (Brooks et al., 2017), and LMMs using the ‘lmertest’ package (Kuznetsova et al., 2017). Model design and selection followed the recommendations by Zuur et al. (2009) and Harrison et al. (2018).