Mammal communities of primeval forests as sentinels of global change

Understanding the drivers and consequences of global environmental change is crucial to inform predictions of effects on ecosystems. We used the mammal community of Białowieża Forest, the last lowland near-primeval forest in temperate Europe, as a sentinel of global change. We analyzed changes in stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope values of hair in 687 specimens from 50 mammal species across seven decades (1946–2011). We classified mammals into four taxonomic-dietary groups (herbivores, carnivores, insectivores, bats). We found a significant negative trend in hair δ15N for the mammal community, particularly strong for herbivores. This trend is consistent with temporal patterns in nitrogen deposition from (15N depleted) industrial fertilizers and fossil fuel emissions. It is also in line with global-scale declines in δ15N  reported in forests and other unfertilized, non-urban terrestrial ecosystems and with local decreases in N foliar concentrations. The global depletion of..., The dataset contains the δ13C and δ15N stable isotope values for 687 hair samples belonging to 50 mammal species and collected between 1946 and 2011 in Białowieża Forest (Poland). The δ13C values corrected for the Suess effect are also included (see the article for explanations on the formula applied). The dataset also includes the species name (both common and scientific) and the year of collection., , # Data from: Mammal communities of primeval forests as sentinels of global change

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8kprr4xtv](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8kprr4xtv)

The dataset contains the stable isotope values for 687 hair samples belonging to 50 mammal species and collected between 1946 and 2011 in Białowieża Forest (Poland).

## Description of the data and file structure

* Scientific name of the mammal species
* Common name of the mammal species
* Dietary-taxonomic group (herbivores, carnivores, insectivores, bats)
* Year of sample collection
* Stable isotope ratio for carbon (δ13C) in ‰
* Stable isotope ratio for carbon (δ13C) in ‰, corrected for the Suess effect applying the formula δ13Catm = -6.429–0.0060 exp [0.0217(t-1740)] from Feng (1998), [https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442005062](https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442005062), **according to the year (t) of collection of the sample, following Bocherens et al. (2015)**, [https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0115090](https://doi.or...