Warming threatens aquatic-terrestrial linkages: evidence from tropical geothermal streams

Terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are connected through energy fluxes partially driven by aquatic organisms that migrate to terrestrial environments during adulthood. According to the thermal performance curve (TPC) framework the physiological performance of organisms is limited at low temperatures, which can affect the body mass of freshwater insects, stoichiometric imbalances, abundances, and emergence frequency to riparian systems. As temperatures approach the optimal point on the TPC, energy fluxes to terrestrial ecosystems are expected to accelerate. However, in warmer environments, where temperatures exceed the optimal point, organism performance can be severely compromised, restricting the occurrence of aquatic species and potentially leading to a collapse of energy fluxes between ecosystems. Therefore, we predict that terrestrial predators that rely on aquatic subsidies (e.g., spiders) will benefit by living near water sources with intermediate temperatures, where aquatic insec..., , # Warming threatens aquatic-terrestrial linkages: evidence from tropical geothermal streams

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.kprr4xhj0](10.5061/dryad.kprr4xhj0)

## Description of the data and file structure

This repository contains the dataset and analysis script used in the article **\"Warming threatens aquatic-terrestrial linkages: evidence from tropical geothermal streams\"**, which investigates how natural thermal gradients in tropical geothermal streams influence the abundance of aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, focusing on energy flow between ecosystems. The dataset includes thermal variables, abundances of arthropod functional groups, and geographic coordinates of each sampling point. Analyses were conducted using **piecewise Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)** and **Moran’s I tests** to assess spatial autocorrelation.

Field sampling was conducted across seven catchments located in Mato Grosso and Goiás, Brazil, between 2021 and 2022, along a temperature gradient ranging from...,