Herbivore Asynchrony data from BEF-China (Wang et al.)

The dataset was used to analyze the mechanisms underlying herbivore community stability in a species-rich subtropical forest ecosystem (BEF-China experiment), assessing key properties of herbivore communities and the extent to which these are coupled to the dynamics and diversity of their host communities under changing tree diversity. We used time series data (17 replicated sampling seasons of six years from 2017 to 2022 in 52 study plots) of a dominant group of insect herbivores (lepidopteran larvae) and their host tree communities in a large-scale tree biodiversity experiment (BEF-China). Specifically, we tested the relative importance of functional diversity, community asynchrony, and average population stability of both the herbivore and their host tree communities on the temporal stability of herbivore abundance and species richness.

本数据集用于解析物种丰富的亚热带森林生态系统（BEF-China实验）中植食动物群落稳定性的潜在机制，评估植食动物群落的关键特征，以及在树木多样性变化的背景下，这些特征与寄主群落的动态和多样性的关联程度。我们依托大型树木生物多样性实验（BEF-China），获取了优势昆虫植食类群——鳞翅目幼虫（lepidopteran larvae）及其寄主树木群落的时间序列数据：该数据覆盖2017至2022年共6年，包含52个研究样地的17次重复采样季。具体而言，本研究检验了植食动物群落与寄主树木群落的功能多样性、群落异步性以及种群平均稳定性，对植食动物丰度和物种丰富度的时间稳定性的相对重要性。