Data from: Trophic level, successional age and trait matching determine specialization of deadwood-based interaction networks of saproxylic beetles

The specialization of ecological networks provides important insights into
possible consequences of biodiversity loss for ecosystem functioning.
However, mostly mutualistic and antagonistic interactions of living
organisms have been studied, whereas detritivore networks and their
successional changes are largely unexplored. We studied the interactions
of saproxylic (deadwood-dependent) beetles with their dead host trees. In
a large-scale experiment, 764 logs of 13 tree species were exposed to
analyse network structure of three trophic groups of saproxylic beetles
over 3 successional years. We found remarkably high specialization of
deadwood-feeding xylophages and lower specialization of fungivorous and
predatory species. During deadwood succession, community composition,
network specialization and network robustness changed differently for the
functional groups. To reveal potential drivers of network specialization,
we linked species' functional traits to their network roles, and
tested for trait matching between plant (i.e. chemical compounds) and
beetle (i.e. body size) traits. We found that both plant and animal traits
are major drivers of species specialization, and that trait matching can
be more important in explaining interactions than neutral processes
reflecting species abundance distributions. High network specialization in
the early successional stage and decreasing network robustness during
succession indicate vulnerability of detritivore networks to reduced tree
species diversity and beetle extinctions, with unknown consequences for
wood decomposition and nutrient cycling.