Aboveground and belowground arthropod communities experience different relative influences of stochastic and deterministic assembly processes following disturbance

This data set was collected to assess community assembly processes governing ground-dwelling arthropod community structure following tree mortality in a subalpine conifer forest. This study and data are presented in:"Ferrenberg, S., Martinez, A. S., & Faist, A. M. (in press). Aboveground and belowground arthropod communities experience different relative influences of stochastic and deterministic assembly processes following disturbance. PeerJ."Data includes environmental variables (understory vegetation and soil properties) and two arthropod species matrices: aboveground (surface-active) and belowground (soil-dwelling) arthropod community data collected from each year of a 5-year chronosequence of tree mortality.Aboveground arthropods were collected via pitfall traps, belowground arthropods were collected from soils placed in modified Winkler funnels. Tree mortality was due to a multi-year bark beetle epidemic in the Rocky Mountains, Boulder County, CO, USA. Arthropods were collected in the summer months of 2011 and sorted to morphospecies.