Data from: Preference for mammalian urine is higher in the canopy than on the ground in a tropical rainforest ant community in Yunnan, China
Data files
Mar 05, 2024 version files 65.74 KB
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DryadFiles.zip
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README.md
Abstract
Ants are among the most abundant groups of arthropods, and approximately half of all ant species are associated with forest canopies. The forest canopy environment is distinct from the understory and forest floor, and vertical stratification in environmental conditions shapes species assembly and organismal traits and behaviors across taxa in forest communities. Canopy ants are faced with a more nitrogen-limited environment compared with ground ants because of their reliance on nitrogen-poor plant and insect exudates. Despite prior work suggesting that some ant species consume mammalian urine and use symbiotic bacteria to extract nitrogen, we have little knowledge about the consumption of urine in canopy ants or the relative preference for urine between ground and canopy ants. We conducted an observational field experiment in a lowland tropical rainforest in southern China to test for vertical stratification in ant preference for sugar and urine, setting ground and canopy baited pitfall traps with the use of a canopy crane. We found distinct vertical stratification in the use of urine, with higher richness and abundance in sugar baits on the ground, and a higher abundance in urine baits in the canopy. Furthermore, the composition of captured ants differentiated according to both vertical stratum and bait type. This distinct vertical stratification of niche preference may represent an important case of niche partitioning that contributes to high ant species diversity in tropical rainforests as well as high species turnover between ground and canopy strata. The preference of canopy ants for mammalian urine also highlights the importance of interspecific interactions across highly unrelated animal taxa and emphasizes the need for a holistic understanding of biological networks to effectively conserve threatened tropical forest communities.
README
This revised README file was generated on 2024-03-04 by Benjamin D. Blanchard.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Title of Dataset: Preference for mammalian urine is higher in the canopy than on the ground in a tropical rainforest ant community in Yunnan, China
Author Information
A. Corresponding Author Contact Information
Name: Benjamin D. Blanchard
Institution: Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, CAS
Address: CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, XTBG, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China
Email: benjamin@xtbg.ac.cnDate of data collection (single date, range, approximate date): 2022
Geographic location of data collection: Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China
Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: CAS PIFI 2021PB0085, NSFC International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Project 32161160324, and Advanced Field Course in Ecology and Conservation (XTBG, CAS)
##SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION
Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain
Links to publications that cite or use the data:
Blanchard, B. D., Dai, Q., Duan, M., Nie, Y., Njoroge, D. M., & Nakamura, A. (2024). Preference for mammalian urine is higher in the canopy than on the ground in a tropical rainforest ant community in Yunnan, China. Myrmecological News, 34:57-69. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25849/myrmecol.news_034:057
Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data: None
Links/relationshops to ancillary data sets: None
Was data derived from another source? No
If yes, list source(s):Recommended citation for this dataset:
Blanchard, B. D., Dai, Q., Duan, M., Nie, Y., Njoroge, D. M., & Nakamura, A. (2024). Data from: Preference for mammalian urine is higher in the canopy than on the ground in a tropical rainforest ant community in Yunnan, China. Dryad Digital Repository. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.73n5tb33w
DATA & FILE OVERVIEW
This dataset includes XLSX- and csv-formatted raw collection information data from the study reported in the associated Myrmecological News article, as well as two csv-formatted files that are transformations of the raw data (one with only species, trap, and species abundance for each trap; one with only data used in the study retained). Lastly, the commented R file is provided.
- File list:
A. AFEC_DATA_Apr25.csv
B. AFEC_DATA_Apr25.xlsx
C. Ant_species.csv
D. ants_Apr25.csv
E. VerticalStratificationUrineSugarAnalyses.R
Relationship between the files, if important: None
Additional related data collected that was not included in the current data package: None
Are there multiple version of the dataset? No
A. If yes, name of file(s) that was updated: NA
i. Why was the file updated? NA
ii. When was the file updated? NA
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DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: AFEC_DATA_Apr25.csv
Number of variables: 16 [considering Species names collectively as a single variable - see below]
Number of cases/rows: 144
Variable List:
* Collection_Code: Unique code for tree (#1-12), stratum (A = Canopy, B = Ground; 1 or 2 corresponds to replicate #), and treatment (C = Control, S = Sugar, N = Urine) (e.g., T1A1C = Tree 1 Canopy Replicate 1 Control)
* Accession_Number: Unique collection code
* Trap_Date: Date pitfall trapped installed (left for 48 hours before collection), in Year.Month.Date format
* Season: Tropical season (Dry or Wet; all Dry for these data)
* Stratum: Forest stratum (Canopy = canopy crown, Ground = in the soil)
* Treatment: Pitfall trap liquid food type (Control = water, Sugar = sugar water, Urine = urine water)
* Tree: Unique code for tree (#1-12)
* Tree_Species: Tree species (Parashorea chinensis [note, here listed with typo as "Pararashoria chinensis"] or Pseuduvaria trimera)
* Tree_height_m: Estimated tree height from the ground in meters
* Trap_height_m: Estimated trap height from the ground in meters
* Tree_DBH_m: Measured tree diameter at breast height (DBH) in meters
* Total_Abundance: Abundance of all individuals (ants + non-ant invertebrates)
* Other_Species_Abundance: Abundance of non-ant invertebrates
* Ant_Richness: Number of ant species
* Ant_Abundance: Number of ant individuals
* [Species names: Species names in Genus_species format]: Number of individuals collected for each ant species
Missing data codes: NA
Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None
#########################################################################
DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: AFEC_DATA_Apr25.xlsx
Number of variables: 16 [considering Species names collectively as a single variable - see below]
Number of cases/rows: 144
Variable List:
[NOTE: Three rows with red values are samples that were removed from analyses due to trap spillage - see associated publication]
* Collection_Code: Unique code for tree (#1-12), stratum (A = Canopy, B = Ground; 1 or 2 corresponds to replicate #), and treatment (C = Control, S = Sugar, N = Urine) (e.g., T1A1C = Tree 1 Canopy Replicate 1 Control)
* Accession_Number: Unique collection code
* Trap_Date: Date pitfall trapped installed (left for 48 hours before collection), in Year.Month.Date format
* Season: Tropical season (Dry or Wet; all Dry for these data)
* Stratum: Forest stratum (Canopy = canopy crown, Ground = in the soil)
* Treatment: Pitfall trap liquid food type (Control = water, Sugar = sugar water, Urine = urine water)
* Tree: Unique code for tree (#1-12)
* Tree_Species: Tree species (Parashorea chinensis [note, here listed with typo as "Pararashoria chinensis"] or Pseuduvaria trimera)
* Tree_height_m: Estimated tree height from the ground in meters
* Trap_height_m: Estimated trap height from the ground in meters
* Tree_DBH_m: Measured tree diameter at breast height (DBH) in meters
* Total_Abundance: Abundance of all individuals (ants + non-ant invertebrates)
* Other_Species_Abundance: Abundance of non-ant invertebrates
* Ant_Richness: Number of ant species
* Ant_Abundance: Number of ant individuals
* [Species names: Species names in Genus_species format]: Number of individuals collected for each ant species
Missing data codes: NA
Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None
#########################################################################
DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Ant_species.csv
Number of variables: 2 [considering Species names collectively as a single variable - see below]
Number of cases/rows: 144
Variable List:
* [unlabeled]: Unique code for tree (#1-12), stratum (A = Canopy, B = Ground; 1 or 2 corresponds to replicate #), and treatment (C = Control, S = Sugar, N = Urine) (e.g., T1A1C = Tree 1 Canopy Replicate 1 Control)
* [Species names: Species names in Genus_species format]: Number of individuals collected for each ant species
Missing data codes: None
Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None
#########################################################################
DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: ants_Apr25.csv
Number of variables: 14 [considering Species names collectively as a single variable - see below]
Number of cases/rows: 144
Variable List:
* [unlabeled]: Label #1-144 to assign each row a unique numeral
* Collection_Code: Unique code for tree (#1-12), stratum (A = Canopy, B = Ground; 1 or 2 corresponds to replicate #), and treatment (C = Control, S = Sugar, N = Urine) (e.g., T1A1C = Tree 1 Canopy Replicate 1 Control)
* Stratum: Forest stratum (Canopy = canopy crown, Ground = in the soil)
* Treatment: Pitfall trap liquid food type (Control = water, Sugar = sugar water, Urine = urine water)
* Tree: Unique code for tree (#1-12)
* Tree_Species: Tree species (Parashorea chinensis [note, here listed with typo as "Pararashoria chinensis"] or Pseuduvaria trimera)
* Tree_height_m: Estimated tree height from the ground in meters
* Trap_height_m: Estimated trap height from the ground in meters
* Tree_DBH_m: Measured tree diameter at breast height (DBH) in meters
* Total_Abundance: Abundance of all individuals (ants + non-ant invertebrates)
* Other_Species_Abundance: Abundance of non-ant invertebrates
* Ant_Richness: Number of ant species
* Ant_Abundance: Number of ant individuals
* [Species names: Species names in Genus_species format]: Number of individuals collected for each ant species
Missing data codes: None
Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None
#########################################################################
DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: VerticalStratificationUrineSugarAnalyses.R
- Description: R script detailing analyses
Methods
See the associated manuscript for detailed methods of data collection.
In brief, ants were collected in the canopy and the ground from (or below) 12 trees in the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China, using liquid baited pitfall traps with three different food sources (sugar water, urine water, and water).