DOI: 10.5061/dryad.h9w0vt4t6
title: Data from: Macroecological patterns of rodent population dynamics shaped by bioclimatic gradients

description: Long-term studies of cyclic rodent populations have contributed
 fundamentally to the development of population ecology. Pioneering rodent
 studies have shown macroecological patterns of population dynamics in
 relation to latitude and have inspired similar studies in several other
 taxa. Nevertheless, such studies have not been able to disentangle the
 role of different environmental variables in shaping the macroecological
 patterns. We collected rodent time-series from 26 locations spanning 10
 latitudinal degrees in the tundra biome of Fennoscandia and assessed how
 population dynamics characteristics of the most prevalent species varied
 with latitude and environmental variables. While we found no relationship
 between latitude and population cycle peak interval, other characteristics
 of population dynamics showed latitudinal patterns. The environmental
 predictor variables provided insight into causes of these patterns, as i)
 increased proportion of optimal habitat in the landscape led to higher
 density amplitudes in all species and ii) mid-winter climate variability
 lowered the amplitude in Norwegian lemmings and grey-sided voles. These
 results indicate that biome-scale climate and landscape change can be
 expected to have profound impacts on rodent population cycles and that the
 macro-ecology of such functionally important tundra ecosystem
 characteristics is likely to be subjected to transient dynamics.
description: This dataset is a collection of rodent time-series from
 Fennoscandia, together with spatial variables on climate an bioclimatic
 zonation. 
description: # Macroecological patterns of rodent population dynamics shaped by
 bioclimatic gradients
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h9w0vt4t6](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h9w0vt4t6) ## Description of the data and file structure This dataset is a collection of small rodent trapping datasets and spatial variables on climate and bioclimatic zonation derived for the trapping localities.  ### Files and variables **time_series_data.txt** = time-series data used each row represents trapping event per location/sampling unit variables: LOC = locality ID year = year season = trapping season (fall or spring) samp_unit = sampling unit ID trapn = number of trapnights Mruf = number of grey-sided voles (Myodes rufocanus) Mrut = number of red-backed voles (Myodes rutilus) Magr = number of Field voles (Microtus agrestis) Llem = number of Norwegian lemming (Lemmus lemmus) Msch = number of Wood lemmings (Myopus schisticolor) Mgla = number of bank voles (Myodes glareolus) Moec = number of tundra voles (Microtus oeconomus) Asyl = number of Wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) vole_ssp = number of vole individuals not specified to species \- variables ending with ind are trapping index number of individuals per 100 trapnights **samp_unit_variables_all_series.txt** = data per sampling unit, both population dynamics variables derived from time-series data and spatial predictor variables. dataset for all data. variables LOC = locality ID samp_unit = sampling unit ID easting = longitude coordinate UTM 33 northing = latitude coordinate UTM 33 start_year = first year of dataseries end_year = last year of dataseries season = trapping season included in the analyses prop_Mruf = proportion (community contribution) Myodes rufocanus prop_Llem = proportion (community contribution) Lemmus lemmus prop_Microtus = proportion (community contribution) Microtus prop_other = proportion (community contribution) other species Mruf_mean = mean number of Myodes rufocanus Llem_mean = mean number of Lemmus lemmus Microtus_mean = mean number of Microtus Com_mean = mean number of all species Mruf_amp = amplitude (s-index) Myodes rufocanus Llem_amp = amplitude (s-index) Lemmus lemmus Microtus_amp = amplitude (s-index) Microtus Com_amp = amplitude (s-index) entire rodent community Mruf_skew = skewness Myodes rufocanus Llem_skew = skewness Lemmus lemmus Microtus_skew = skewness Microtus Com_skew = skewness entire rodent community median_interval = median population peak interval entire rodent community mean_interval = mean population peak interval entire rodent community sd_interval = standard deviation of population peak interval entire rodent community MEAN_DAYSABOVE_3km = mean number of days in January-March when the daily mean temperature was above zero, calculated for a 9sqkm buffer zone SD_DAYSABOVE_3km = standard deviation of days in January-March when the daily mean temperature was above zero, calculated for a 9sqkm buffer zone MEAN_DAYSABOVE_5km = mean number of days in January-March when the daily mean temperature was above zero, calculated for a 25sqkm buffer zone SD_DAYSABOVE_5km = standard deviation of days in January-March when the daily mean temperature was above zero, calculated for a 25sqkm buffer zone MEAN_DAYSABOVE = mean number of days in January-March when the daily mean temperature was above zero, calculated for a 1sqkm buffer zone SD_DAYSABOVE = standard deviation of days in January-March when the daily mean temperature was above zero, calculated for a 1sqkm buffer zone july_temp_1km = mean July temperature, calculated for a 1sqkm buffer zone july_temp_3km = mean July temperature, calculated for a 9sqkm buffer zone july_temp_5km = mean July temperature, calculated for a 25sqkm buffer zone **samp_unit_variables_Norway_series.txt** = data per sampling unit, both population dynamics variables derived from time-series data and spatial predictor variables. dataset for Norwegia sseries only. List of variables is the same as in the datafile for all data, except for: low_alpine_1km = proportion of low alpine bioclimatic zone in a 1sqkm buffer zone middle_alpine_1km = proportion of middle alpine bioclimatic zone in a 1sqkm buffer zone high_alpine_1km = proportion of high alpine bioclimatic zone in a 1sqkm buffer zone low_alpine_3km = proportion of low alpine bioclimatic zone in a 9sqkm buffer zone middle_alpine_3km = proportion of middle alpine bioclimatic zone in a 9sqkm buffer zone high_alpine_3km = proportion of high alpine bioclimatic zone in a 9sqkm buffer zone low_alpine_5km = proportion of low alpine bioclimatic zone in a 25sqkm buffer zone middle_alpine_5km = proportion of middle alpine bioclimatic zone in a 25sqkm buffer zone high_alpine_5km = proportion of high alpine bioclimatic zone in a 25sqkm buffer zone **coordinates_locality.txt** = locality-specific coordinates, northing and easting in UTM 33 **peak_interval_locality.txt** = locality-specific peak interval **proportion_locality.txt** = community contribution at locality Level variables: LOC = locality SEASON = trapping season included in the analyses prop_Mruf = proportion (community contribution) Myodes rufocanus prop_Llem = proportion (community contribution) Lemmus lemmus prop_Microtus = proportion (community contribution) Microtus prop_other = proportion (community contribution) other species ## Code/software All data analyses were done in the software R, using packages lme4 and AICcmodavg. The file time_series_data.txt has the rodent trapping data that was used to calculate population dynamics variables per sampling unit (files having "sampling_unit" in the filename) and location (files having "locality" in the file name).  ## Access information Data was derived from the following sources: * Rodent trapping time-series were acquired from the authors.  * July temperature data was derived from a temperature raster map of the July mean temperature for the normal period of 1981-2010, available from the Norwegian Meteorological institute, Climatology Division * Winter climate data was derived from gridded daily mean temperature raster maps of Fennoscandia, available from the Norwegian Meteorological institute, Climatology Division (senorge.no). * the bioclimatic zonation was derived from a map of tundra bioclimatic zones in Norway, published by Blumentrath and Hanssen (2010)  Beregning av areal -In: Nybø (ed) Datagrunnlaget for ”Naturindeks i Norge 2010”, DN-utredning 4-2010 (in Norwegian).