DOI: 10.5061/dryad.w9ghx3g12
title: Data from: The limited legacy of post-glacial recolonization in the floristic patterns of the European Alps

description: Past glacial periods were highly disruptive to plant species distributions
 in mid-latitude mountain belts, such as the European Alps, and drove many
 species to survive in peripheral or nunatak refugia. Progressive glacial
 retreat during the late Pleistocene and Holocene is thought to have
 triggered a mass recolonization event in the European Alps. Here, we asked
 whether this recolonization event has left a spatial legacy in the
 floristic patterns of the extant Alpine flora, and if so, how strongly
 this determines floristic patterns in comparison to present-day landscape
 and climatic drivers. We built on approximately 6 million data points
 sourced from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility and herbaria to
 build plant species ranges within a 10 x 10 km grid system laid across the
 European Alps, and then calculated species assemblage turnover across the
 grid. Additionally, we used a recent species-level molecular phylogeny
 encompassing over 80% of the Alpine flora to calculate standardized
 phylogenetic diversity, phylogenetic endemism and phylogenetic turnover
 between grid cells. Using spatial autoregressive and generalised
 dissimilarity modelling, we showed that all floristic measures vary
 significantly, albeit weakly, with three key post-glacial variables:
 climate change velocity, time since deglaciation, and distance from the
 nearest refugium. Unexpectedly, differences in species’ dispersal ability
 did not explain these patterns. The post-glacial variables have little
 explanatory power relative to contemporary climate and landscape drivers.
 We conclude that postglacial recolonization of the Alps is largely
 complete for the flora as a whole, and that the spatial structure of the
 extant flora is primarily driven by the contemporary environmental
 conditions.
description: # Data from: The limited legacy of post-glacial recolonization in the
 floristic patterns of the European Alps
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w9ghx3g12](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w9ghx3g12) ## Description of the data and file structure Methods of data collection/generation: see manuscript for details ### Files and variables #### File: Legacy\_supps.zip **Description:** File/Folder Details \========================== Folder:  GIS \------------------- This folder contains shapefiles and rasters of environmental variables generated in this study \* Grid.zip   -&gt; Shapefile of the Alpine grid \* Velocity.tiff    -&gt; Temperature-based climate change velocity in the Alps. Units are 30 arc seconds per 1ky. \* Nunatak_refugia.zip    -&gt; Shapefile of nunatak refugia \* Peripheral_refugia.zip    -&gt; Shapefile of peripheral refugia Folder:  Data \------------------- \* Community_matrix.csv    -&gt; The community matrix for the 509 grid cells retained in the study. The first column “Code” refers to the name of the grid cell. 1 = species present, 0 = species absent \* Phylosor_distance_matrix.csv   -&gt; The phylogenetic sorenson’s distance between the 509 grid cells retained in the study. Used as the input for GDMs of phylogenetic turnover. Cells “pg1”, “E0o”, and “ftW” were removed from the analysis as clear outliers. \* Supplementary_data_glacial_legacy.csv   -&gt; Contains the values of floristic and environmental measures within each grid cell. \- Code = identifier of each grid cell, equivalent to those in the grid shapefile \- Elev_mean = mean elevation within the grid cell (m) \- Elev_sd = elevation standard deviation within the grid cell \- Slope_deg = mean slope (degrees) \- Precip_total = mean annual precipitation (kg m-2 year-1) \- Nunatak_distance = distance to the nearest nunatak refugium (km) \- Periph_refugia_distance = distance to the nearest peripheral refugium (km) \- Refugia_distance_all = distance to the closest refugium whether nunatak of peripheral (km) \- Deglac = time since most recent deglaciation (ky) \- Temp_annual = mean annual temperature (degrees C) \- Paleo_temp = mean annual temperature at the LGM 21,000 years ago (degrees C) \- Pet = mean monthly potential evapotranspiration (kg m-2 month-1) \- Velocity_med = median value of climate change velocity (km/ky) \- Bedrock_class = Identity of the most common bedrock in the grid cell, Ca = calcareous, Si = siliceous \- n = total number of occurrences points \- S.obs = observed number of species \- SC = sampling completeness (proportion, 0 = least complete, 1 = most complete) \- Standardised_SR = standardised species richness \- Tamme_mean = mean dispersal ability (log(m)) of all species in the grid cell for which there is dispersal ability data \- n_tamme = number of species with dispersal ability data  \- Ses_pd = standardised phylogenetic diversity \- Phylo_endem = phylogenetic endemnism \- coords.X = longitudinal position of the top left corner of the grid cell \- coords.Y = latitudinal position of the top left corner of the grid cell