Taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity patterns of Saturniidae moth communities along a tropical forest recovery gradient in Ecuador

We studied patterns of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity as well as community composition of Saturniidae, as one of the most conspicuous and well-studied families of moths. Our study covered a forest recovery gradient from active agriculture via early and advanced stages of regrowth to old-growth rainforests in the lowland Chocó region of Ecuador.Saturniidae diversity patterns did not follow the hypothesized increase from agriculture to old-growth forest, but instead, highest taxonomic and functional diversity was found in early regrowth, and highest phylogenetic diversity in active agriculture. Diversity differences along the forest recovery gradient were overall weak and occurred mainly when focusing on common and dominant species, but community composition showed a gradual turnover with strongest differences between old-growth forest and active agriculture.<br>Dataset includes all data and R script to peform analyses.Community data of Saturniidae: Saturniidae_2021_2022final.csvEnvironmental data: Environment.csvPhylogeny of Saturniidae: Phylo_Saturniidae_rooted.nwkTraits of Saturniidae: Saturniidae_Traits_reduced3.csvR Script: Seibold_etal_Saturniidae_script_public.R Supporting R function loaded during analyses: DivPairCoverage_V2.R<br><br>