2.4 Species trait data
We split our dataset into merolimnic and hololimnic species because we
expected to see differences in species and OTU numbers over our sampling
period based on their different life cycles. Additionally we looked more
in detail into species and OTU numbers of the most abundant merolimnic
(EPT and Diptera) and hololimnic orders (Annelida and Coleoptera) and
their associated FFG. To assign life cycle characteristics and FFG to
our taxa, we used trait data from freshwaterecology.info
(Schmidt-Kloiber and Hering, 2015) for a given taxon if available. If
not available, we used data from a higher taxonomic level, such as
genus-level trait values if species-level values were missing. For taxa
with no trait values at the species-, genus-, or family-level, we used
an averaging procedure whereby values were averaged across species
within the genus if species-level values were available and across all
taxa within the family if not (Kunz et al., 2022). We used the relative
proportion of the different FFG as the proportion of the overall
detected feeding types divided by the number of all species found per
sampling day.