Data from: Climate-associated tundra thaw pond formation and range expansion of boreal zooplankton predators ...

• Main Authors: Taylor, Derek J., Ballinger, Matthew J., Medeiros, Andrew S., Kotov, Alexey A.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2015
• Subjects: Ponds; Daphnia tenebrosa; Hydrocarina; Daphnia dentifera; Chaoborus flavicans; Chaoborus americanus; Heterocope septentrionalis; Daphnia longiremis; Ceriodaphnia; Polyartemiella; Branchinecta paludosa; Lynceus; Cyclops; Hesperodiaptomus arcticus; Daphnia pulex; Eubosmina longispina; Bosmina; Chaoborus trivittatus; Simocephalus; Leptodiaptomus angustilobus; Holopedium; Seward Peninsula; Tundra; Zooplankton; Alaska
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2mk7k; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.2mk7k

Most of the freshwater component of the Earth's surface is composed of shallow tundra ponds. These high latitude ecosystems have been exposed to a variety of abiotic disturbances associated with recent environmental change. However, the biological significance of these changes remains poorly understood. Here, we characterize the abiotic disturbance to the shallow tundra ponds of northwest Alaska. We used historical aerial imagery to determine that up to 53% of the sampled ponds have formed during the recent warmer decades (since the 1970s). We discovered that two top predator species (phantom midges of the genus Chaoborus) of the freshwater zooplankton have recently undergone range expansion, forming widespread (a scale of hundreds of km) stable tundra populations. We assessed the population persistence of these boreal predators by longitudinal sampling over 14 yr. Recent thaw ponds had significantly dissimilar zooplankton communities to communities of ponds that formed before 1950. Both predator and ... : Seward Peninsula Pond locations, physical data and zooplankton presence/absenceThe file contains data for 345 persistent ponds on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska. Pond locations (Lat.,Long.), physical parameters (including pond areas and perimeters), and zooplankton presence/absences from the most recent sampling. Recently formed ponds are flagged as a "1" using the old_new variable.Taylor_et_al_2015_Ecography_dyrad.csv ...