Data from: Ant brightness and size influence the seasonal vegetation use by ground-dwelling ants in an Amazonia-Cerrado transition zone
Data files
Jul 02, 2025 version files 258.79 KB
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Anex.xlsx
17.46 KB
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raw_data.xlsx
224.51 KB
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README.md
2.93 KB
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Size_Brightness.xlsx
13.90 KB
Abstract
Several factors influence species distribution within communities, with ecological filters playing a major role by shaping morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations. Seasonal changes in environmental conditions—such as light incidence, temperature, and humidity—can favor species capable of foraging under varying conditions or in different strata. Ants are excellent models for studying how ecological filters structure communities throughout the year, as they exhibit traits that enable them to occupy a wide range of microhabitats. Two such traits that may reflect responses to environmental filters are body size and brightness. In this study, we investigated how ant distribution varies between soil and lower vegetation across two seasons, and how these patterns relate to ant morphology in an ecotonal area between the Amazon and Cerrado biomes. Ants were sampled using pitfall traps placed on the ground and in the lower vegetation. We measured the size and brightness of representative individuals from each species. A total of 2,659 occurrences were recorded, representing 237 species, 53 genera, and 8 subfamilies. Species richness was higher during the dry season, especially in the soil. Species turnover was the main component of beta diversity, although this pattern varied with season. During the rainy season, many ground-dwelling ants shifted to the vegetation, increasing the nestedness component in cross-strata comparisons. Larger ants were more frequent in vegetation, while smaller ants predominated in the soil. Darker individuals were more common in vegetation during the dry season; however, this seasonal migration of ground ants to the vegetation led to a lighter-colored ant community on average during the rainy season. These findings show that the ant community composition in the soil and lower vegetation is not stable year-round. Seasonal climatic conditions influence foraging activity and species presence, highlighting the importance of seasonal dynamics and vertical stratification in shaping community structure.
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.r2280gbp8
Description of the Data and File Structure
The attached files are associated with the manuscript “Ant brightness and size influence the seasonal vegetation use by ground-dwelling ants in an Amazonia-Cerrado transition zone”, to be published in Ecological Entomology.
All files include the raw data and R scripts used for the statistical analyses presented in the paper.
rawdata.xlsx
This file contains the raw and formatted data on ant frequency per pitfall across all samples. Pitfalls were arranged in a transect (plot), with traps placed every 25 meters. In the study, we summed the data per plot.
Variables:
- Season: The season when the sample was collected — either DRY or RAINY.
- plot: A simple code to differentiate samples. Each plot was placed in a grid, with a minimum distance of 1 km between grids.
- STRATA: The stratum where ants were collected, either SOIL (pitfalls placed on the ground) or VEGETATION (pitfalls placed in lower vegetation).
- All other columns refer to the presence/absence (or frequency) of a given species or morphospecies (as indicated by the column name).
Size_Brightness.xlsx
This file contains the average body size and brightness for each species or morphospecies collected.
Variables:
- Specie: The name of each species or morphospecies (genus followed by a code number).
- Mean_size: The average Weber’s length (in mm) from five individuals per species.
- Mean_brightness: The average brightness score, based on the evaluation of five individuals by five independent observers using a color palette method, following Bishop et al. (2016) and Parr et al. (2017).
References:
- Bishop, T. R., et al. (2016). Ant assemblages have darker and larger members in cold environments. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 25: 1489–1499.
- Parr, C. L., et al. (2017). GlobalAnts: a new database on the geography of ant traits (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Insect Conservation and Diversity, 10: 5–20.
Anex.xlsx
This file contains the summed frequency of each species in each stratum and season.
Variables:
- Specie: The name of each species or morphospecies, grouped by ant subfamily.
- Soil_Dry: Total frequency in all soil samples during the dry season.
- Soil_Rainy: Total frequency in all soil samples during the rainy season.
- Vegetation_Dry: Total frequency in all vegetation samples during the dry season.
- Vegetation_Rainy: Total frequency in all vegetation samples during the rainy season.
Code/software
The codes where done in R software.
The package used to run this script is : MASS, glmmTMB, car, lme4, DHARMa, vegan, betapart, performance, emmeans