High Arctic Microclimate Effects on Parasitoid Communities and Herbivory Rates

20 sites along a mountain slope were sampled to record parasitoid communities, herbivory rates on Dryas flowers, and parasitism rates in Sympistis zetterstedtii larvae. The dataset was created by Tuomas Kankaanpää of the University of Helsinki to examine how microclimatic gradients structure ecological communities and interactions. It links community-level responses to parasitoid life-history traits and measures outcomes like parasitism and herbivory rates.

Use Cases

• Modeling parasitoid community composition based on microclimatic variables like temperature and snowmelt timing.
• Analyzing the relationship between parasitoid life-history strategies (koinobiont/idiobiont) and local abiotic conditions.
• Investigating the effects of microclimate on ecological interaction outcomes, specifically parasitism and herbivory rates.
• Studying the cascading effects of climate warming on a High Arctic food web based on a common resource plant.

Strengths

• Data was collected from 20 distinct field sites along a multidimensional microclimatic gradient.
• Links species-level trait data (parasitism strategy, phenology) to community-level patterns and interaction outcomes.
• Applies joint species distribution modelling and generalized linear/additive mixed models, suggesting structured analysis.

Limitations

• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

University of Helsinki

Collection Method

Field recordings of communities and rates at 20 sites, analyzed with statistical modelling.

Geography

High Arctic mountain slope