Micro- and macroclimate interactively shape diversity, niches, and traits of Orthoptera communities along elevational gradients

Temperature is one of the main drivers shaping species diversity and assembly processes. Yet, site-specific effects of the local microclimate on species and trait compositions of insect communities have rarely been assessed along macroclimatic temperature clines. Bavarian Alps, Germany Bayesian joint species distribution models were applied to investigate how ecological and morphological traits drive variation in the climatic niches of 32 Orthoptera species on 93 grassland sites with contrasting microclimatic conditions along a steep elevational macroclimatic gradient in an Alpine region in Central Europe. Species richness and abundance decreased along the elevational macroclimatic gradient, and both benefitted from warm microclimate. Interactive effects of elevation and microclimate on the abundance were, however, species-specific, and partly mediated by traits: Warm microclimatic conditions facilitated the occurrence of demanding xerophilic and late-hatching species, resulting in mark..., We assessed the abundances of Orthoptera species at 93 study sites (60x60m) located along elevational gradients (600 - 2.100 m a.s.l.) during surveys between May and October 2020.  To characterize the impact of microclimate, we measured microclimatic temperatures at 93 study sites in the Bavarian Alps with 3 temperature loggers per site. Those were regressed against modelled temperatures to measure the microclimatic deviation from macroclimatic temperatures., , # Interplay of microclimate and elevation on Orthoptera communities

## Description of the data and file structure

This dataset contains one community table of Orthoptera abundances, where columns represent Orthoptera species and rows represent the study sites. Another table contains site specific environmental variables (Elevation = elevation above sea level, Microclimate_Mean_Temperature = microclimatic temperature residuals). Another table includes the coordinates and other environmental variables measured. The last table contains the body size and wing length measurmenets of grasshoppers. All datasets can be matched over the row names. Missing values / empty cells are indicated with \"NA\".