Raw annual and perennial abundance data

This data set contains annual abundances for all sites and all years (2008-2012) as well as perennial heights in cms (2009-2012) and perennial ground covers as percentages (2008-2012). It also contains a column called "relationship" which shows the type of relationship found between annual abundances and perennial heights (one of positive, negative or quadratic) according to the method described in the paper. This data was used to produce figures 4, 5, 6, B2 and B4

Environmental data along the latitudinal gradient

This file contains data on the abiotic and biotic conditions experienced by both annual and perennial guilds along the sampled latitudinal gradient. Variables include mean rainfall in mm, temperatures in degree celcius (mean monthly maximum, mean monthly minimum, mean daily), mean sunshine hours in autumn, spring and winter, mean number of rabbit faecal pellets (a proxy for grazing intensity), mean soil nitrogen concentration, as well as mean bryophyte ground cover and mat thickness, and mean correlation between annual abundances and bryophyte ground cover. This data was used to produce figures 3, B1 and B3

Body size data of Australian diving beetles

Excel file containing 1) body sizes of individuals of diving beetle species collected in the field, 2) body size ranges for additional beetle species, taken from Watts and Humphreys 200

Communities consisting of triplets of blind diving beetle species found in different underground aquifers (numbers) that became isolated 5 million years ago when Australian climate became arid.

<p>Independently of the founder species, evolution led to a small a medium and a large species in each aquifer. H, B and C code the tribes Bidessini, Hydroporini and Copelatini; bars connect pairs of species that evolved from the same founder species (illustration courtesy of Chris Watts and Howard Hamond).</p