DOI: 10.5061/dryad.dfn2z3580
title: Micro- and macroclimate interactively shape diversity, niches, and traits of Orthoptera communities along elevational gradients

description: Temperature is one of the main drivers shaping species diversity and
 assembly processes. Yet, site-specific effects of the local microclimate
 on species and trait compositions of insect communities have rarely been
 assessed along macroclimatic temperature clines. Bavarian Alps, Germany
 Bayesian joint species distribution models were applied to investigate how
 ecological and morphological traits drive variation in the climatic niches
 of 32 Orthoptera species on 93 grassland sites with contrasting
 microclimatic conditions along a steep elevational macroclimatic gradient
 in an Alpine region in Central Europe. Species richness and abundance
 decreased along the elevational macroclimatic gradient, and both
 benefitted from warm microclimate. Interactive effects of elevation and
 microclimate on the abundance were, however, species-specific, and partly
 mediated by traits: Warm microclimatic conditions facilitated the
 occurrence of demanding xerophilic and late-hatching species, resulting in
 marked community dissimilarities at mid-elevations where colder sites
 harboured only a subset of the species. The latter mainly occurred at low
 elevations together with long-winged species. Abundance peaks of
 non-xerophilic species were further upslope when microclimate was warm.
 Intraspecifically, the body sizes and wing lengths of the larger females,
 but not the males, decreased with elevation akin the community mean, and
 brown colour morphs were more frequent at sites with warm microclimate.
 Our nuanced results reveal that trait-dependent responses of species to
 microclimate play a key role in the assembly and structuring of insect
 communities along macroclimatic gradients. Since microclimate preferences
 changed with elevation, we conclude that species temperature niches are
 narrower than the elevational range suggests and both macro- and
 microclimatic conditions must be considered when predicting species
 responses to climate change. Microclimatic contrasts among sites at
 similar elevations enhanced species turnover mediated by moisture
 preferences and phenology, highlighting the importance of mountains for
 conservation as climatic refugia where species with diverging niches can
 persist in proximity.
description: We assessed the abundances of Orthoptera species at 93 study
 sites (60x60m) located along elevational gradients (600 - 2.100 m a.s.l.)
 during surveys between May and October 2020.  To characterize the impact
 of microclimate, we measured microclimatic temperatures at 93 study sites
 in the Bavarian Alps with 3 temperature loggers per site. Those were
 regressed against modelled temperatures to measure the microclimatic
 deviation from macroclimatic temperatures.
description: # Interplay of microclimate and elevation on Orthoptera communities
 ## Description of the data
 and file structure This dataset contains one community table of Orthoptera
 abundances, where columns represent Orthoptera species and rows represent
 the study sites. Another table contains site specific environmental
 variables (Elevation = elevation above sea level,
 Microclimate_Mean_Temperature = microclimatic temperature residuals).
 Another table includes the coordinates and other environmental variables
 measured. The last table contains the body size and wing length
 measurmenets of grasshoppers. All datasets can be matched over the row
 names. Missing values / empty cells are indicated with "NA".