Data from: Epigeal arthropods in small-scale oil palm plantations of Central America driven by landscape-scale habitat disturbance

With anthropogenic pressures driving global biodiversity declines, there
is an urgent need to better understand how agricultural practices shape
species communities. This study evaluated the potential benefits of
diversified oil palm plantations on biodiversity by comparing epigeal
arthropod (EA) communities in the oil palm monoculture and polyculture
field sites of the Experimental African Palm Laboratory (LAPA) project in
southwest Costa Rica. EA were sampled using pitfall traps to assess the
effects of cropping system (monoculture vs. polyculture), landscape-scale
habitat disturbance, sampling session (dry vs. rainy season), and
site-specific soil characteristics on arthropod diversity. Specimens were
sorted to order level, with Coleoptera further sorted to species to detect
potential taxon-specific responses. General additive mixed models
indicated higher EA diversity in oil palm monocultures, with a similar,
non-significant trend observed for Coleoptera, and diversity of both EA
and Coleoptera was higher in the dry season. Interestingly,
landscape-scale habitat disturbance negatively affected EA and Coleoptera
diversity in monocultures. This finding suggests that, in smallholder oil
palm plantations, maintaining landscape integrity can support arthropod
diversity and that polyculture practices may buffer the impacts of
landscape-scale habitat disturbance at patch level. Given the limitations
associated with pitfall trapping and coarse taxonomic resolution, we
recommend future research to employ complementary sampling methods and
time- and cost-effective sorting techniques to further explore the
patterns observed in our study.