Thermophilisation drives multi-scale declines in carabid species richness in temperate forests over 25 years

This dataset comprises long-term resurvey data on carabid beetle
communities collected from 54 temperate forest plots in Belgium. The
original sampling took place in 1997 using standardized pitfall trapping
methods and was repeated in 2023 following the same protocol, enabling
direct comparisons over a 25-year interval. Each plot was selected to
represent relatively undisturbed forest conditions, spanning gradients in
microclimate and landscape context. The dataset includes species-level
abundance data, thermal affinity classifications, and site-level
environmental metadata and a site-by-species matrix showing the number of
individuals of each species found in each plot. It supports analyses of
climate-driven thermophilisation, species turnover, and biodiversity
change across spatial scales. This resource is especially valuable for
understanding temporal shifts in community composition and trait-based
responses to global change.

May 15, 2026