R_code, data and supplementary materials associated with the manuscript "Deciphering the patterns and drivers of tardigrade diversity along altitudinal gradients"

This dataset accompanies the study "Deciphering the patterns and drivers of tardigrade diversity along altitudinal gradients." It includes metadata, environmental variables, bryophyte trait data, tardigrade trait assignments, and bioinformatics outputs from a DNA metabarcoding survey of 546 bryophyte samples collected across altitudinal gradients in the Italian Alps. Tardigrade communities were identified using high-throughput COI sequencing, and diversity was analyzed at taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional levels. The data support analyses of alpha/beta diversity, trait-environment relationships, and community assembly in meiofaunal taxa.Dataset comprises:SM.1: Sample information: collection data and all tested variable.SM.2: Models’ results and additional figures supporting the analyses. Includes: Figure S2:1 - 4 and Table S2:1 - 18.SM.3: Archive including pipelines and raw data used for the analysis (Metabarcoding_pipeline.html, Statistical_procedures.html, Phylogenetic_tree_calculation.docx, Phylogenetic_tree.tre, OTU_table.xlsx, OTU_x_trait_matrix.xlsx, Sample_data.xlsx, Metadata.xlsx).SM.4: Tardigrade traits data and list of all data sources.The data are associated with the following paper:Surmacz, B., D. Fontaneto, G. Vončina, and D. Stec. 2025. “Deciphering the Patterns and Drivers of Tardigrade Diversity Along Altitudinal Gradients.” Molecular Ecology e70196. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.70196