DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2rbnzs7zb
title: Data from: A macroecological analysis of ecological uniqueness of freshwater macrophyte assemblages across Europe and North America

description: Understanding spatial variation of species composition at different scales
 is essential for efficient conservation planning. Here, we investigate
 ecological uniqueness patterns of freshwater macrophyte assemblages at
 continental extents. We explored the similarities and differences
 in the patterns of ecological uniqueness between Europe and North America
 in relation to species richness and environmental variables using
 macrophyte presence-absence data in 50 × 50 km grid cells. To describe the
 ecological uniqueness of macrophyte assemblages, we used an index called
 ‘local contribution to beta diversity’ (LCBD). First, we used
 linear regression to evaluate the relationship between ecological
 uniqueness and species richness. Second, variation of ecological
 uniqueness was modelled using environmental variables in generalized
 additive modelling (GAM). Third, boosted regression tree (BRT) analysis
 was performed with the same environmental variables to compare BRT results
 with the results from GAM. The results revealed relatively
 similar patterns of ecological uniqueness in both continents. The
 relationship between species richness and ecological uniqueness was
 overall negative but showed differences in the form and degree of the
 relationship between Europe and North America. The main driver of
 ecological uniqueness in both continents was mean annual temperature, with
 further effects associated with annual precipitation, elevation range,
 alkalinity, and the proportion of freshwaters in a grid cell. Synthesis.
 Our results showed that species richness and ecological uniqueness may be
 negatively correlated at large spatial extents, and that the form of the
 relationship is likely to depend on the species richness profile of the
 area. The significant influence of climate on the ecological uniqueness of
 macrophyte assemblages suggests that changes in climate and land use may
 shape unique macrophyte assemblages. Thus, conservation strategies should
 consider protection measures especially in the northern areas with unique
 macrophyte species assemblages, as they are expected to face many changes
 in the future. Identifying areas with high ecological uniqueness at
 different scales is important for efficient implementation of biodiversity
 conservation practices.
description: # A macroecological analysis of ecological uniqueness of freshwater
 macrophyte assemblages across Europe and North America: Data
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2rbnzs7zb](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2rbnzs7zb) ## Description of the data and file structure **Files and variables:** **File: Luukkonen_etal_JEcol-2024-0340_Data.xls** **Variables** grid_code: grid cell code to which response and environmental variables have been calculated S: species richness X: longitude Y: latitude alkalinity: mean water alkalinity concentration at 50 km resolution (mequiv. l-1, Marcé et al., 2015) elev_mean: mean elevation at 1 km resolution (m above sea level, Hijmans et al., 2005) elev_range: elevation range at 1 km resolution (m, Hijmans et al., 2005) water: proportion of freshwaters at 150 m resolution (presence/absence, Lamarche et al., 2017) crop: proportion of cropland at 1 km resolution (%, Latham et al. 2014) urban: proportion of urban areas at 1 km resolution (%, Latham et al. 2014) bio1_mean: mean annual air temperature (°C) (Karger et al., 2017) bio7_mean: range in annual mean temperature  (°C) (Karger et al., 2017) bio12_mean: annual precipitation (mm) (Karger et al., 2017) velocity_mean: mean velocity of temperature change (Sandel et al., 2011) LCBD: local contribution to beta diversity Projected coordinate system for X & Y:        Europe: Europe_Lambert_Conformal_Conic North America: North_America_Lambert_Conformal_Conic References:   Marcé, R., Obrador, B., Josep-Anton Morguí, López, J. L. R. P., & Joan, A. (2015). Carbonate weathering as a driver of CO 2 supersaturation in lakes. Nature Geoscience, 8, 107–111.        Hijmans, R. J., Cameron, S. E., Parra, J. L., Jones, P. G., & Jarvis, A. (2005). Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. International Journal of Climatology, 25(15), 1965–1978. doi:10.1002/joc.1276             Lamarche, C., Santoro, M., Bontemps, S., Andrimont, R., Radoux, J., Giustarini, L., … Arino, O. 2017. Compilation and Validation of SAR and Optical Data Products for a Complete and Global Map of Inland / Ocean Water Tailored to the Climate Modeling Community. Remote Sensing, 9(1), 36. doi:10.3390/rs9010036   Latham, J., Cumani, R., Rosati, I. & Bloise, M. (2014). FAO global land cover (GLC-SHARE) beta-release 1.0 database, Land and Water Division. Available at:  [http://www.glcn.org/databases/lc_glcshare_en.jsp](http://www.glcn.org/databases/lc_glcshare_en.jsp).                    Karger, D.N., Conrad, O., Böhner, J., Kawohl, T., Kreft, H., Soria-Auza, R.W.,...& Kessler, M. (2017). Climatologies at high resolution for the Earth's land surface areas. Scientific Data 4 170122. [https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.122](https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.122)   Sandel, B., Arge, L., Davies, R. G., Gaston, K. J., Sutherland, W. J. Dalsgaard, B., & Svenning, J.-C. (2011). Data from: The influence of Late Quaternary climate-change velocity on species endemism, Dryad. [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b13j1](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b13j1)            Data was derived from the following sources: * Flora Europeae and Flora of North America