The joint effects of forest habitat area and fragmentation on Dung beetles

Habitat loss and habitat fragmentation usually occur together, at the same time and place.  However, while there is consensus that habitat loss is the preeminent threat to biodiversity, the effects of fragmentation are contentious.  Some argue that habitat fragmentation is not bad for biodiversity, and even that it is good.  Generally, the studies that find no harm or positive outcomes of fragmentation invariably assume that it is independent of habitat loss.  However, dissociating the effects of habitat fragmentation from habitat loss is questionable because the two are essentially coupled.  Accordingly, we evaluated how forest area and fragmentation (via edge effects) influenced dung beetles per se, and through their effects on the abundance of mammals, using structural equation modeling (SEM).  Dung beetles are very sensitive to forest habitat loss and fragmentation, and to changes in the abundance of mammals on which they depend for dung.  Our study area was in the Tana River, Kenya..., , , # The joint effects of forest habitat area and fragmentation on Dung beetles

## Columns A to AA contain the covariates associated with each plot (plotID)

Each row represents a plot, 5 pitfalls combined constituting one visit to one sampling station on one of the six sampling periods

All data are original measurements, i.e. not transformed for normality.

* abdist2matrix.m, Distance of the plot to the matrix in meters
* allIndividuals, sum of all individuals of all species in the five pitfalls from the same plot
* asy.Hill.q0, asymptotic species richness for this plot
* asy.Hill.q1, asymptotic Shannon diversity for this plot
* basA, basal area of trees in the plot in square centimeters
* cent2matrix, centrod distance to matrix in meters
* colo.mang.grp, colobus and mangabey groups in the forest where this plot was located
* colo.mang.inds, number of colobus and mangabeys in the forest where this plot was located\"
* comb.area, area of forest fragment (m2)
* comb.a...