Spider species collected in Macaronesian islands using COBRA sampling protocols

Aim: Habitat diversity has been linked to the diversity and structure of island communities, however, little is known about patterns and processes within habitats. Here we aim to determine the contributions of habitat type and inferred dispersal frequency to the differences in taxonomic structure between assemblages in the same island habitat.
Location: The Macaronesian archipelagos (Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands and Cabo Verde).
Taxon: Spiders (Araneae).
Methods: We established forest and dry habitat sites (each with five plots) on two islands per archipelago. We collected spiders using standardised sampling protocols. We tested the differences in beta diversity separately for each habitat and for each inferred category of ballooning (an aerial dispersal strategy) frequency across geographic scales through nested non-parametric PerMANOVA. We then tested whether ballooning and habitat influenced heterogeneity in species composition (dispersion in beta diversity) in the two habitat...