Flow intermittence shapes fish metacommunity variability in a Neotropical ecoregion

Drying River Networks (DRNs) comprise intermittent reaches that cease to flow or dry, and these networks are becoming more prevalent with ongoing climate change. However, their distribution, constituent species, and ecological processes remain underexplored in the Neotropics, limiting our ability to predict future scenarios for freshwater biodiversity. Drying is a strong environmental filter, leading to low α-diversity at intermittent reaches as taxa lacking adaptations to resist and recover from drying are lost. Additionally, because drying creates a complex mosaic of lotic and lentic habitats that change through time, β-diversity (variability in community composition) is high in intermittent reaches. To explore these dynamics, we analyzed the influence of local and regional factors on the spatio-temporal variability of a fish metacommunity in the Chocó Biodiversity hotspot in Northwestern Ecuador. Fish α-diversity was lower in intermittent reaches during both seasons, while temporal β..., , , # Data from: Flow intermittence shapes fish metacommunity variability in a Neotropical ecoregion

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3tx95x6rj](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3tx95x6rj)

## Description of the data and file structure

This dataset contains two separate files: one with environmental data and one containing fish abundance data from samples collected at perennial and intermittent reaches of a drying river network (DRN) in the Cube River basin, western Ecuador, across wet and dry seasons. Both files are in comma-separated values format.

1. Cube_fish_env_2021.csv refers to environmental variables collected in two sampling seasons of 2021
2. Cube_fish_spp_2021.csv refers to the species collected in two sampling seasons of 2021

The environmental dataset file (Cube_fish_env_2021.csv) is organized with sampled environmental variables as columns and samples (reach IDs) from both seasons as rows.

###### ***Variables***

* Alti = Elevation (m)
* Slope = Slope
* Width = Average wetted ...,