DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2280gb65p
title: Data from: Accumulating time lags across biodiversity levels following land-use change

description: 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.
description: # Data from: Accumulating time lags across biodiversity levels following
 land-use change Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.2280gb65p](https://doi.org/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