Lingquan_Stream_macroinvertebrate_data.xlsx

This dataset contains benthic macroinvertebrate community data, environmental variables, and functional trait information collected from Lingquan Stream, a mountain-to-lake inflow stream of Lake Erhai, southwestern China. The dataset was generated for the study entitled “Compressed environmental gradients reveal taxonomic and functional reorganization within a mountain-to-lake stream”. The study investigated how compressed environmental gradients within a short mountain-to-lake stream were reflected in taxonomic composition and community-weighted functional trait composition. The dataset includes four components: (1) sample metadata, including sampling year, season, and longitudinal section information; (2) macroinvertebrate community data; (3) environmental measurements, including physicochemical, hydromorphological, and substrate variables; and (4) functional trait categories assigned to macroinvertebrate taxa. For data sharing purposes, the community dataset provided here is a simplified occurrence matrix, where taxa are coded as present (1) or absent (0). The original abundance matrix containing individual counts was used for the statistical analyses reported in the manuscript but is not included in this shared dataset. This dataset supports research on freshwater biodiversity assessment, functional trait-based ecology, and environmental filtering in mountain-to-lake stream ecosystems.