DOI: 10.5061/dryad.9zw3r22b9
title: Carabids data of Pterostichus flavofemoratus and Carabus depressus in the Gran Paradiso National Park (2006, 2007, 2012, 2013)

description: Understanding risks to biodiversity requires predictions of the spatial
 distribution of species adapting to changing ecosystems and, to that end,
 earth observations integrating field surveys prove essential as they
 provide key figures for assessing landscape-wide biodiversity scenarios.
 Here, we develop, and apply to a relevant case study, a method suited to
 merge earth/field observations with spatially explicit stochastic
 metapopulation models to study the near-term ecological dynamics of target
 species in complex terrains. Our framework incorporates the use of species
 distribution models for a reasoned estimation of the initial presence of
 the target species, and accounts for imperfect and incomplete detection of
 the species presence in the study area. It also uses a metapopulation
 fitness function derived from earth observation data subsuming the
 ecological niche of the target species. This framework is applied to
 contrast occupancy of two species of carabids (Pterostichus
 flavofemoratus, Carabus depressus) observed  in the context of a
 large ecological monitoring program carried out within the Gran Paradiso
 National Park (GPNP, Italy). Results suggest that the proposed framework
 may indeed exploit the hallmarks of spatially explicit ecological
 approaches and of remote Earth observations. The model reproduces well the
 observed in-situ data. Moreover, it projects in the near-term the two
 species' presence both in space and time, highlighting the features
 of the metapopulation dynamics of colonization and extinction, and their
 expected trends within verifiable timeframes.
description: The data originating from a large ecological monitoring program
 called <em>Biodiversity Monitoring Project</em> performed in
 the Gran Paradiso National Park (GPNP), a protected area located in the
 Italian Alpes. In this study, data on invertebrates (<em>Coleoptera
 Carabidae, Coleoptera Staphylinidae, Araneae, Hymenoptera Formicidae,
 Orthoptera, Lepidoptera Rhopalocera</em>) and birds
 (<em>Aves</em>) have been routinely gathered since 2006 to
 gain an extended understanding on elevation-driven biodiversity
 patterns.<br> The data have been gathered in the park's five
 valleys (Gran Piano, San Besso, Lauson, Orvieilles, Vaudalettaz, in a 2
 years sampling, 4 years break scheme, i.e. the processed data is available
 in 2006, 2007, 2012, 2013. The project monitors species presence and
 abundance by considering a series of circular plots (5 to 7 in each
 valley, for a total of 30) of a radius of 100 m. These plots are separated
 by 200 m in elevation along a transect of the valley.
 The presented data show the occupancy of two species of carabids
 (<em>Pterostichus flavofemoratus</em>, <em>Carabus
 depressus</em>). The data are presented in two formats:<br> 1)
 a raw format as given by the GPNP reserachers, where each plot contains
 five pitfall traps which researchers would sample each two-three weeks
 (sampling dates are given in the data).<br> 2) a processed format
 where data are provided as used in the accompanying paper "<em>Earth and field observations underpin metapopulation dynamics in complex landscapes: near-term study on Carabids</em>", where the the data was compiled as number of times the species was observed in each plot vs the number of times the plot was sampled per year.
description: <b>In-situ data used
 in the paper "Earth and field observations underpin metapopulation
 dynamics in complex landscapes: near-term study on
 Carabids"</b> Raw data:
 The raw data contains the following information:
 Species
 name: <i>Pterostichus flavofemoratus</i> or <i>Carabus
 depressus</i> Valley: the valley where the
 trap is located inside the Gran Paradiso National Park (Gran Piano, San
 Besso, Lauson, Orvieilles, Vaudalettaz) Plot: the
 identifier for the plot Trap: the identifier for the
 trap in the plot Num: the number of times the species
 has been counted at the given date Date: the date the
 sampling occurred Year: the year the sampling
 occurred month: the month the sampling
 occurred The
 coordinates of the trap in WGS 84, EPSG:43326 
   
 Processed data: The processed data contains
 the following information, extracted from the raw data: Species name:
 <i>Pterostichus flavofemoratus</i> or <i>Carabus
 depressus</i> Valley: the valley where the
 trap is located inside the Gran Paradiso National Park (Gran Piano, San
 Besso, Lauson, Orvieilles, Vaudalettaz) Plot: the
 identifier for the plot Observed: the number of times
 the species was found in the given plot and year (data aggregated over one
 year and all traps for each plot) Sampled: the number
 of times the plot was sampled in the given year Year:
 the year of interest (2006, 2007, 2012 or 2013) The coordinates of the plot in
 WGS 84, EPSG:43326