Fish modulate how connectivity and local factors shape food webs of permanent ponds

The propagation of metacommunity processes through local trophic interactions has seldom been explored, particularly in empirical studies. This study examines how local environmental conditions and metacommunity connectivity influence community assembly and food web structure in pondscapes. We survey taxonomic richness, abundance, and isotopic niches across multiple assemblage, including zooplankton, macroinvertebrates, tadpoles, turtles, and fish. A gradient in the composition of the pond community representing the dominance of fish or other taxa and another gradient associated with macroinvertebrate diversity were evidenced. Pond size and connectivity promoted fish richness and abundance, representing the main path through which metacommunity processes cascade down within communities, determining the assembly of the whole system. The dominance of fish was associated with large food chains, a reduction in the width of the food web width, and the trophic spacing. Local conditions such a..., The data were collected in two pondscapes located in the grassland landscape of Uruguay, where sampling was conducted in permanent ponds to assess taxonomic richness, abundance, and isotopic niches of different assemblages, including zooplankton, macroinvertebrates, tadpoles, turtles, and fish. The sampling was designed to explore how local conditions and metacommunity connectivity influence community structure and food web dynamics, as described in the forthcoming article titled 'Fish modulate how connectivity and local factors shape food webs of permanent ponds' (to be published in Oikos). Following data collection, the data were processed using statistical analyses in R, including data cleaning and correction for sampling effort, as well as analyses to evaluate trophic interactions and the effects of connectivity and local conditions on community composition and food web structure., , # Fish modulate how connectivity and local factors shape food webs of permanent ponds

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.j6q573nqr](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.j6q573nqr)

## Description of the data and file structure

The data was collected as part of a study investigating how local environmental conditions and metacommunity connectivity influence community assembly and food web structure in pondscapes. The research focused on assessing taxonomic richness, abundance, and isotopic niches across various assemblages, including zooplankton, macroinvertebrates, tadpoles, turtles, and fish. Sampling was conducted in multiple ponds across two pondscapes in Uruguay. The dataset includes local environmental variables of the ponds, such as area, maximum depth, macrophyte coverage, and edge heterogeneity, as well as centrality measures. Additionally, the dataset includes community-level variables such as abundance and richness of different assemblages, along with isotopic niche metrics.

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