Beetle communities reared from beech branches and associated forest and environmental variables

The data was generated during a landscape experiment performed on 69 plots in Sihlwald forest between 2016 and 2019. Branch bundles of different sizes consisting of beech branches were exposed in the forest for one year to be colonized by saproxylic beetles and later reared for one year in emergence traps. All beetles emerging from the branches were collected. Overall 244 branch bundles are included and we found 66 beetles species (23511 individuals) of which 43 were classified as saproxylic (20873 individuals).

Two community matrices (including abundance): one for saproxylic beetles and one for all beetles. Beetles were classfied as saproxylic following an extended list of the list reported in Schmidl & Bussler (2004).

Response variables Species richness and abundance of (saproxylic) beetles.

Branch bundles Branch bundles consisted of 1, 3, 6 or 12 branches and each bundle size was installed at each of the 69 plots. The bundles consisted of standardized freshly cut beech branches (Fagus sylvatica) with a length of 80 cm and a diameter between 3 and 6 cm. Total surface and volume of each bundle is reported.

Tree on which the bundle was installed Information on the tree to which the bundles were attached (tree species, dbh, distance and azimut from the plot center).

Temperature and light availability Temperature (plot level) and light availability (bundle level) were calculated.

Deadwood availability in the landscape Based on a map of lying dead wood, dead wood amount and isolation were calculated for concentric circles with a radius ranging from 20 to 200 m (in 10 m steps) around each branch bundle.

• BAFU

Kriegel P., Vogel S., Angeleri R., Baldrian P., Borken W., Bouget C., … Thorn S. (2023) Ambient and substrate energy influence decomposer diversity differentially across trophic levels. Ecol. Lett. 26(7), 1157-1173. doi.org/10.1111/ele.14227