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This dataset contains a set of images that display moss samples from six distinct species over seedling trays from a common garden experimental set-up. We grow these moss samples on a background of white synthetic material. The capture of the images was in both near-infrared and visible light wavelengths. We provide additional files to fit the main dataset objective: use it as a test platform for evaluating the PhotomossR package. In this repository, you will discover images taken in both the near-infrared and visible light spectrums. These images offer comprehensive data for testing different spectral indices using the PhotomossR package (Molina-Bustamante, DeCastro-Arrazola, Doherty, & Medina, 2022).

The dataset comprises a subset of the information recorded in the thesis “Dung beetle traits: a conceptual, experimental and biogeographical approach”. It contains 2086 occurrences of Scarabaeidae species recorded from Mexico, Morocco and South Africa and 4 occurrences of Trogidae family from Morocco. Dung beetles specimens were surveyed along aridity gradients at the border of three deserts: Chihuahua (Mexico), Kalahari (South Africa) and Sahara (Morocco). The sampling campaigns took place before the rainy season (September 2013-14 Sahara, November 2014 Kalahari) and after the rainy season (April 2013-2014 Sahara, May 2014 Sahara and September 2015 Chihuahua). The National Spanish Museum of Sciences kept the specimens preserved at the 'Entomología' collection. Those from South Africa and Mexico were dried. A wing and elytra were extracted and pinned. Specimens from Morocco were preserved in alcohol., Desentrañando los determinantes geográficos y evolutivos de la diversidad de coleópteros coprógafos del Paleártico Occidental.

Semi‐natural meadows host a great number of species coexisting at fine spatial scales. Different assembly mechanisms, related to differences in functional traits between species, can influence such coexistence. Coexisting species could be either functionally dissimilar to occupy different niches (‘divergence’) or functionally similar due to exclusion of species with traits less adapted to the prevailing abiotic and biotic conditions (‘convergence’). Various theories differently predict how trait convergence and divergence should differ due to disturbance, along productivity gradients, and across different functional traits. We tested such theories in 21 wet meadows of different productivity in central Europe. In each meadow, four 1 × 1 m plots were established in which disturbance by mowing was combined with fertilization. Species presence was recorded in 100 quadrats 10 × 10 cm in size within the plots over five years. Convergence and divergence were assessed at very fine spatial scales (10 × 10 cm) to focus on the processes driven by the interactions for similar resources. Convergence emerged as the dominant pattern for all traits and across all years. It was particularly strong in the least productive conditions while divergence emerged in some of the most productive meadows. Mowing increased convergence in meadows with low productivity, but increased divergence in productive meadows. Fertilization generally increased convergence, with this increase being more pronounced in mown plots. Convergence in unproductive conditions could be caused by either higher fitness of stress‐tolerant species (more abundant in the species pool of these sites) or by functionally similar species sharing similar patches within fine‐scale heterogeneous plots. This outcome also suggests abiotic filters can have an important role at fine scales, where plant‐ecological theory usually predicts the prevalence of biotic processes.