Environmental Filtering Dominates Butterfly Community Assembly Along Himalayan Elevational Gradients

The dataset includes butterfly community composition, functional trait data, and environmental variables collected along 43 elevational transects (350-4,200 m) across the Teesta and Rangeet valleys in Sikkim, India. These data were used to quantify species richness, density, and multifaceted functional diversity and to evaluate the relative roles of environmental filtering, competition, convergence, and geometric constraints in shaping butterfly communities along environmental gradients.

Environmental predictors describing climatic conditions, vegetation productivity, habitat structure, and topographic variation were also used to investigate drivers of biodiversity patterns. The dataset is provided to support transparency and reproducibility of the analyses.</p>