Diversity patterns and community structure of the macrofauna along the beach-inland transition zone of small tropical islands: supporting raw data and code

Biodiversity follows distinct and observable patterns. Where to systems meet, biodiversity is often increased, due to overlapping occurrence ranges and the presence of specialized species that can tolerate the dynamic conditions of the transition zones. One of the most pronounced transition zones occurs at shores, where oceans and terrestrial habitat collide, forming the shore-inland transition zone. The relevance of this transition zone in shaping a system’s community structure is particularly pronounced on small islands due to their high shore-to-inland-area ratio. However, the community structure of insular faunas along this transition zone is unknown. Here, we investigated the diversity patterns along the beach-inland transition zone of small islands and tested the hypothesis that species diversity increases towards the transition zone where beach and interior habitat meet. By measuring environmental parameters, resource availability, and macrofauna diversity along transects running...