Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO)
Published January 4, 2024 | Version v1
Dataset Open

Data from: 'Species traits to guide moth conservation in anthropogenic regions: a multi-species approach using distribution trends in Flanders'

Authors/Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Research Institute for Nature and Forest
  • 2. ROR icon Radboud University Nijmegen
  • 3. Natuurpunt Studie
  • 4. ROR icon Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Contributors

Data curator:

  • 1. ROR icon Research Institute for Nature and Forest

Description

These data are related to the investigation of species traits as a guidance for moth conservation in the highly anthropogenic European region of Flanders (northern part of Belgium) based on Multi-Species Change Indices (MSCIs).

Abstract

  1. Insects appear to decline rapidly in recent decades. This so-called sixth mass extinction garnered significant media attention, raising public awareness.
  2. Macro-moths—a species-rich and ecologically diverse insect group—face severe declines, particularly in urbanised and intensively farmed areas.
  3. Flanders is a highly anthropogenic region, serving as a case study where the impact on macro-moths of stressors like intensive agriculture, industrialization and urbanization has been quantified through a recently compiled Red List. Here, for 717 macro-moth species, we calculated relative changes in distribution area between a reference period (1980-2012) and the subsequent period (2013-2022). By correlating these species-specific trends with ten key ecological and life-history traits, we calculated more general Multi-Species Change Indices (MSCIs).
  4. These MSCIs showed that species associated with wet biotopes and heathlands declined on average by 20-25%, while (sub)urban species increased by more than 60%. Species feeding on lichens or mosses increased by 31%, while grass-feeding species decreased by 20%. Both very small (+34%) and very large species (+15%) increased, whereas medium-sized species decreased by 5%. Monophagous (+17%), migrant (+88%), and colour-invariable species (+5%) increased, while colour-variable species decreased (-8%). Finally, Holarctic (-21%) and Palearctic species (-5%) decreased, while Mediterranean (+27%) and Western-Palearctic species (+9%) increased.
  5. Our trait-based approach identifies key threats and mitigation strategies for moths in anthropogenic regions, offering evidence-based insights for crafting efficient management recommendations and informed conservation policies to safeguard moth communities.

Technical info (English)

The dataset consists of seven files. The files are described below.

prop_data_per_trait_intermed.csv: gives the intermediate data with following columns:

  • species_nl: Dutch vernacular name of the species
  • n_grids: number of 5 x 5 km² grids in which the species was encountered
  • period: period of 1980-2012 (p1980_2012) or 2013-2022 (p2013_2022)
  • rel_prop: relative proportion of 5 x 5 km² grids in which the species was encountered
  • trait_name: name of trait
  • trait_value: value of trait linked to species

prop_data_per_trait_nozero_intermed.csv: gives the intermediate data where species with zero occurrences were removed with the same columns as the previous datafile.

prop_data_per_trait.csv: gives the processed data used for final analysis with additional columns compared to the intermediate datafile:

  • species_new: adjusted names for species that have two different trait values for the same trait
  • sum_per_period: number of 5 x 5 km² grid cells visited per period
  • n_spec: number of species per trait value

prop_data_per_trait_nozero.csv: gives the processed data where species with zero occurrences were removed with the same columns as the previous datafile.

sci_species_summary.csv: gives the summary data of the species change index (SCI) analysis with following columns:

  • species_nl: Dutch vernacular name of the species
  • sci.median: posterior median of the SCI
  • sci.lower: lower bound of the credible interval of the SCI
  • sci.upper: upper bound of the credible interval of the SCI
  • trend_course: course classification of the trend of the SCI
  • trend_fine: fine classification of the trend of the SCI
  • .point: point summary used for SCI (we calculated the median)
  • .interval: type of credible interval used for SCI (we calculated the quantile interval (= equi-tailed interval))
  • .width: with of the credible interval (we used 90 %)

msci_trait_summary.csv: gives the summary data for traits of interest of the multi-species change index (MSCI) analysis with columns already described above.

msci_draw_list_log.rds: is an R object that is a list containing dataframes for traits of interest with the posterior draws of the MSCI in the log scale.

Files

prop_data_per_trait.csv

Files (10.1 MB)

Name Size Download all
md5:e460c8441a3ba2ad205924234ff0961f
2.0 MB Download
md5:6a2eda3ad874ff430b07339cc5fb94d0
3.5 kB Preview Download
md5:91107853dd7734c5d157203dbfb5ca61
2.1 MB Preview Download
md5:c53148f01e42d071c7d28fe9b88dc5ec
1.9 MB Preview Download
md5:99e83819f14d03743423cecf84e27005
2.1 MB Preview Download
md5:a6a63d6960593ed72aed0b09b55e88f0
1.9 MB Preview Download
md5:ba5a815b6cae147660e56eb603ed004e
47.0 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Related works

Is cited by
Journal article: 10.1111/icad.12767 (DOI)
Is supplemented by
Software: 10.5281/zenodo.10519391 (DOI)