Published August 28, 2018 | Version V1
Dataset Open

A precipitation gradient drives change in macroinvertebrate composition and interactions within bromeliads.

  • 1. University of British Columbia
  • 2. Vrije Universiteit Brussel
  • 3. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

Description

Tank bromeliads accumulate water inside their leaf axils, providing habitat for communities of aquatic macro invertebrates. Here we sampled the macro invertebrate community in 100 bromeliads along the sand dunes of coastal Brazil in the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. We sampled ten sites, seven of which were within the Jurubatiba National Park in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. The other three sites were located in the sand dunes of Arraial do Cabo (Rio de Janeiro), Marica (Rio de Janeiro), and Ilha Bela (Sao Paulo).

We sampled all macroinvertebrate communities between March and May 2015. In each site, we dissected ten bromeliads (totalling 100 bromeliads across all sites) to collect all the invertebrates in each plant. Macroinvertebrates were counted and identified to genus level whenever possible.  For every bromeliad, we measured a suite of  environmental variables to assess the amount and quality of habitat available to the invertebrates including: the height (cm) and diameter (cm, measured as the maximum distance between leaf tips) of the plant, maximum water volume (mL, calculated by emptying the plant and calculating how much water the plant could hold before it overflowed), actual water volume (mL), longest leaf length (cm), longest leaf width (cm), number of leaves, canopy cover (% of shaded pixels in photos taken looking directly up from the bromeliad), total detritus (g dry mass), pH, oxygen concentration (% saturation), salinity (ppt), temperature (oC), and turbidity (NTU). Water chemistry and temperature variables were measured using a portable multiparameter waterproof meter in the field as soon as the water was collected from the plant.

The zip file contains two csv files. Environment contains all the environmental variables described above, and Species_presence contains the species ID and whether it is present in a given bromeliad. 

 

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