Large-scale variation in biodiversity–ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships in aquatic metacommunities on terrestrial islands

Recent work has shown that the biodiversity of potential colonists in a landscape (the local species pool) may be more important for ecosystem functioning than the biodiversity in local habitat patches. However, it is unknown how such biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships may change across different biomes. To explore such patterns, nested insular ecosystems where variation in local biodiversity and local species pool biodiversity can be reliably quantified can provide important insights. Study locations were rock pool metacommunities on isolated rocky outcrops (i.e., inselbergs) in Africa, Australia, Europe, and North America. The sampling time period was 2011-2019. Major taxa studied were freshwater invertebrates. We assembled a large-scale dataset of invertebrate metacommunities from replicated rock pool clusters on inselbergs as a model system to test the ability of local biodiversity and local species pool biodiversity to explain community biomass in organisms with..., The dataset consists of invertebrate communities sampled in 238 rock pools from ten different inselbergs across four continents. On each inselberg site, between 12 and 34 pools were sampled. After sampling, the invertebrates from each rock pool were identified to the lowest possible taxonomic resolution in the laboratory (genus or species, when possible), and the number of individuals of each group was counted. The community-level invertebrate biomass per litre was calculated for each pool by multiplying species-specific biomass estimates by density. Alpha diversity was calculated as the local-scale species richness of each rock pool, and gamma diversity was calculated as the inselberg-scale species richness representing the diversity of the local species pool.
, , # Large-scale variation in BEF relationships in rock pools

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.wwpzgmsv0](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.wwpzgmsv0)

## Description of the data and file structure

All code and data to reproduce the analysis reported in the following publication can be found in this repository: \"Large-scale variation in biodiversity–ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships in aquatic metacommunities on terrestrial islands.\"

We assembled a global dataset of invertebrate metacommunities from replicated rock pool clusters on inselbergs as a convenient natural model system to test the ability of local biodiversity and local species pool biodiversity to explain community biomass in organisms with different survival strategies (active or passive dispersers). To test our macro-ecological hypotheses, we used a combination of hierarchical piecewise structural equation models (SEM) and general linear models.

### Files and variables

#### File: active-passive-split-taxa.csv

**Descrip...,