DOI: 10.5061/dryad.4kh20
title: Data from: Mesoclosures – increasing realism in mesocosm studies of ecosystem functioning

description: 1. Experimental studies linking community composition to functioning are
 typically confined to small and closed micro- or mesocosms. Such
 restricted conditions may affect both species’ biology and their
 environment. Yet, targeting simple features in the behaviour of species
 may circumvent these constraints. Focusing on ecological functions
 provided by dung beetles, we test whether large, open-top cages –
 MESOCLOSURES – will intercept the flight trajectories of beetles, thereby
 allowing manipulation of local community composition. 2. MESOCLOSURES were
 built in both tropical forest (Brazil) and temperate grasslands (Finland),
 thus testing their general efficiency. Within the respective environments,
 we varied different aspects of MESOCLOSURE design: in the tropical forest,
 we examined the impact of MESOCLOSURE dimensions on exclusion efficiency,
 whereas in the temperate grassland, we assessed the potential for
 selectively excluding and including community members by different mesh
 sizes. In the temperate environment, we also went from method to
 application, using MESOCLOSURES to relate community composition to
 functioning under two simulated grazing regimes. 3. MESOCLOSURES allowed
 efficient manipulation of dung beetle communities, maintaining dung beetle
 densities at intended levels in both temperate and tropical systems. In
 the tropics, the smallest cages (1 × 1 m) offered the highest contrast in
 beetle densities inside vs. outside of the fence, whereas the largest
 cages (9 × 9 m) offered the lowest. Nonetheless, densities inside cages
 never exceed one-fifth of those outside. At the temperate site,
 manipulations of community structure through mesh size yielded significant
 differences in functioning and suggested an interaction between small
 dung-dwelling species and large tunnelling species. Within cages, higher
 grazing was reflected in augmented dung removal. 4. We conclude that
 MESOCLOSURES can be effectively used to study dung beetle functions across
 habitats and latitudes. As applied insights, the present study adds
 resolution to the significance of different functional groups of dung
 beetles and shows that grazing pressure may have an important impact on
 the ecosystem functions that they provide. Overall, this study suggests
 that targeted manipulation of dispersal may offer new solutions for
 linking fauna to ecosystem functions with minimal impact on the processes
 measured.
description: Brazilian_efficiencyThis file offers the data behind Fig. 3A of Lähteenmäki et al., estimating the efficiency of the Brazilian MESOCLOSURES in preventing the inflow of beetles as a function of MESOCLOSURE size. Included are counts of beetles caught by identical traps in two settings: traps within the MESOCLOSURES and traps outside the MESOCLOSURES. The specific columns are the following: Time: day of experiment (with individual trapping periods extending over 24 hours) Size: the dimension of the MESOCLOSURE (given as the length of MESOCLOSURE side, in metres) Replicate: the identity of the replicate cage Total: the summed number of beetles caught inside and outside of the MESOCLOSURE Inside: the number of beetles caught inside of the MESOCLOSUREDungweightThis file offers the data behind Fig. 4A-C of Lähteenmäki et al., estimating the effects of time, grazing regime (i.e. of grass length) and beetle taxa present on dung pat weight in the temperate experiment (for an in-depth description, see Appendix 1, section Experimental design, Finland). The specific columns are the following: BlockID: block identity CageID: cage identity Pat: dung pat replicate Grass height: simulated grazing regime, with L identifying long grass and S identifying short grass Geotrupes presence: design variable indicating whether Geotrupes was present or not Aphodius presence: design variable whether Aphodius was present or not Measurement: measurement day (treated as a categorical variable) Weight: dung weight, in gramsFinnish_efficiencyThis file offers the data behind Fig. 3B of Lähteenmäki et al., estimating the efficiency of the Finnish MESOCLOSURES in preventing the inflow of beetles as a function of species identity. Included are counts of beetles caught by bait pats in two settings: baits within the MESOCLOSURES, and baits outside the MESOCLOSURES. The specific columns are the following: Replicate: the identity of the replicate MESOCLOSURE Species: the identity of the species Total: the summed number of beetles caught inside and outside of the MESOCLOSURES Inside: the number of beetles caught inside of the MESOCLOSURESoil temperaturesThis file offers data on soil temperature, as recorded in each of four subplots on 27th July and reported verbally in the Results. The specific columns are the following: Replicate: the identity of the replicate MESOCLOSURE Enclosure type: treatment applied at the MESOCLOSURE level (for an in-depth description of treatment types, see main paper) Grass height: simulated grazing regime, with L identifying long grass and S identifying short grass Temperature: temperature recorded, in °C, with missing data indicated by an empty cell