Aquatic-terrestrial linkages drive contrasting biodiversity patterns in tropical and temperate forests

Riparian ecosystems harbour unique biodiversity because of their close interconnections with adjacent aquatic ecosystems. Yet, how aquatic ecosystems influence terrestrial biodiversity over different spatial scales is poorly understood, particularly in the tropics. We conducted field campaigns to collect 235 terrestrial invertebrate assemblages along 150 m transects from 47 streams in both Brazil and the UK, one of the largest known datasets of riparian invertebrate community composition at multiple spatial scales. Invertebrate densities increased towards water in both regions. In Brazil this was driven by an increase in spiders, with a corresponding decrease in non-predators, resulting in higher predator:prey ratios near water. In the UK, non-predator densities increased towards water, decreasing predator:prey ratios. Whilst pairwise dissimilarity increased with distance from water in both regions, β-diversity was significantly higher in tropical assemblages, with more β-diversity expl..., , , # **Aquatic-terrestrial linkages drive contrasting biodiversity patterns in tropical and temperate forests** [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.34tmpg4sd](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.34tmpg4sd) This dataset contains terrestrial, riparian invertebrate community data sampled from riparian zones, following a hierarchical, spatially nested design. Sampling of invertebrate communities was conducted at five distances away from streams along 150m perpendicular transects going from the stream bank into riparian forest. Sampling was replicated at 47 streams in 7 sites in two regions (tropical and temperate), for 235 total riparian communities sampled. ## Description of the data and file structure The dataset is in a .csv file. Each row represents a single invertebrate morphospecies from a single community sampled at a specific distance from a specific stream. Invertebrates were identified to family level or the lowest taxonomic unit necessary to determine functional feeding guild, before sorti...