Biodiversity and Abundance in beaver systems

This dataset contains processed species richness, abundance, richness of unique species and evenness data collected to evaluate the ecological impacts of beaver-engineered ponds on ten aquatic and terrestrial taxa across a land-use gradient. We sampled plankton, aquatic invertebrates, fish, macrophytes, amphibians, dragonflies, terrestrial invertebrates (called terrestrial arthropods in code and data), flying arthropods, terrestrial plants, and bats. Site and treatment information (beaver pond vs. paired control sites along the same stream) and land-use variables (natural, agricultural, urban) are also provided.
Temporal and Spatial Coverage:
Data were collected from 16 sites in Switzerland in 2021 and 2022, with 8 sites per year.
Overview of the sampling:
Data was collected in 16 paired stream systems (beaver pond vs. control) in Switzerland. We sampled a 100 m stream section (for the beaver section, 25 metres below the dam to 75 metres above the dam for the pool, and 100 metres section in the Control area, 500 metres up-or downstream of the beaver dam) for amphibians, dragonflies and damselflies, macrophytes and fish. Aquatic invertebrates, flying arthropods and plankton were sampled at the aquatic central location of the pool. Bats, terrestrial plants and terrestrial invertebrates were sampled 1 m away from the water line at the centre of each transect. Land-use composition was quantified from GIS data within a 250-metre radius of the centre of each stream section.