Raw data: Temperature and water availability drive insect seasonality across a temperate and a tropical region

To describe the large-scale distribution of flying insect biomass, we sampled insects during one year in a temperate (Sweden; latitude 55.3 to 69.1) and a tropical (Madagascar; latitude -25.6 to -12.0) country, across the full latitudinal and longitudinal gradient of each country. Sweden and Madagascar are comparable in their surface area, covering ~450,000 and ~590,000 km2 respectively. The climate in Sweden ranges from oceanic to sub-Arctic, and in Madagascar from tropical humid to dry tropical. Insects were collected with Malaise traps, and preserved in 95% ethanol. In Sweden, 195 Malaise traps were set out between January and December 2019. Samples from Malaise traps were collected monthly or bi-weekly during winter and autumn (approx. October to February, depending on latitude) and weekly during spring and summer (approx. March to September, depending on latitude). In Madagascar, 50 Malaise traps were set out from August 2019 to July 2020. Samples from Malaise traps were collected every week during the entire year, and about 75% of the catch was processed further. The collection dates of the selected samples for each trap were evenly distributed across the year. Hence, the selected samples provided us with weekly to biweekly data on insect biomass in Madagascar. Insect biomass from each sample was obtained following the protocol described in Iwaszkiewicz-Eggebrecht et al. (in revision). All samples were drained to remove excess ethanol. The insect biomass in the sample was then weighed to the nearest 0.001 gram, and the average bottle weight was subtracted from this value.