Legume and ant polygons for range size analysis and visualization
Data files
Sep 12, 2023 version files 466.26 MB
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Bentity2_shapefile_fullres.dbf
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Bentity2_shapefile_fullres.prj
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Bentity2_shapefile_fullres.shp
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Bentity2_shapefile_fullres.shx
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GABI_Data_Release1.0_18012020.csv
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README.md
Abstract
Mutualism improves organismal fitness, but strong dependence on another species can also limit a species’ ability to thrive in a new range if its partner is absent. We assembled a large, global dataset on mutualistic traits and species ranges to investigate how multiple plant-animal and plant-microbe mutualisms affect the spread of legumes and ants to novel ranges. We found that generalized mutualisms increase the likelihood that a species establishes and thrives beyond its native range, whereas specialized mutualisms either do not affect or reduce non-native spread. This pattern held in both legumes and ants, indicating that specificity between mutualistic partners is a key determinant of ecological success in a new habitat. Our global analysis shows that mutualism plays an important, if often overlooked, role in plant and insect invasions.
README: Ant polygons for range size analysis and visualization
Contact information of the corresponding author:
Name: Pooja Nathan
Affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
University of Toronto, St. George, Toronto, Canada.
Email: pooja.nathan@mail.utoronto.ca
Description:
These files are part of the data used in the manuscript "Generalized mutualisms promote range expansion in both plant and ant partners" published in September 2023 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. This dataset contains information on spatial polygons in which various ant species are found, and the polygons themselves in various formats.
The data were assembled using the Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics (GABI) database as part of the Antmaps project by co-authors BG and EPE and their colleagues. For detailed information on how these data were collated, please see https://antmaps.org/about.html
Access this dataset on Dryad: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.jm63xsjh6
Description of the data and file structure
File list:
A) Bentity2_shapefile_fullres.dbf
B) Bentity2_shapefile_fullres.prj
C) Bentity2_shapefile_fullres.shp
D) Bentity2_shapefile_fullres.shx
E) GABI_Data_Release1.0_18012020.csv
The data consist of a CSV file containing the names of the spatial polygons in which each ant species was recorded in the GABI database. The names of the unique polygons are given in the "bentity2_name" column in the CSV file.
The other four files are the spatial polygons shapefiles in various formats. Only the .shp file was used in our analysis (to see code, please visit the Github repository mentioned at the end of this document.
File specific information for: GABI_Data_Release1.0_18012020.csv
- Number of columns: 18
- Number of cases/rows: 1048575
- Description: (Written by Guénard et. al., 2017)
This file (GABI_Data_release1.0_18012020.csv) reflects occurrence data for valid ant species and subspecies data compiled as part of the Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics (GABI) Project, as of January 18, 2020. Some data visualized on Antmaps.org have been excluded from this release, notably the Antweb data, because they should be retrieved directly from Antweb.org. We also have excluded records that couldn’t be assigned to a valid species, couldn’t be assigned to a bentity_2 polygon, and those that we believe are outside the native ranges of the species.
Methods: The methods for compiling the data are included in the following publication.
Guénard, B., Weiser, M., Gomez, K., Narula, N., Economo, E.P. (2017) The Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics (GABI) database: synthesizing data on the geographic distributions of ant species. Myrmecological News 24: 83-89.
- Description of the variables:
- GABI_acc_number: A unique code we use to organize our data.
- accession_number: Additional codes that are inherited from or refer to the original data source.
- citation: The source of the record.
- genus_name_pub: The ant genus name included as reported in the original source.
- species_name_pub: The ant species name as reported in the original source.
- valid_species_name: The valid species name based on current taxonomy, determined by us to the best of our ability.
- type_of_data: Refers to the basis of the record (Literature, Museum Specimen, Personal collection)
- dubious: Indicates whether the record has been flagged as potentially invalid. These should be filtered out before analysis.
- note_dubious: A note for more info on why a record is considered dubious, if available.
- locality: Text description of the locality.
- country: The country.
- adm1: The 1st level administrative area.
- adm2: The 2nd level administrative area.
- dec_lat: The latitude in decimal degrees.
- dec_long: The longitude in decimal degrees.
- bentity2_name: Since many points do not have latitude-longitude point data, we assigned each record to a common system of 546 polygons for visualization and analysis. These mostly reflect political boundaries but can be on the country level (for small- and medium-sized countries) or adm1 levels (for larger countries). Some polygons reflect spatial units that are biogeographic in nature rather than political, for example island boundaries. The bentity2 polygons are included in the accompanying shapefile.
- insert_date: The date the record was added to our PostGRES database, although it may have been originally recorded by other sources earlier.
- update_date: The date the record was last changed.
- Missing data codes: " "
- Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None
Sharing/Access information
Data was derived from the following sources:
- https://benoitguenard.wordpress.com/gabi-articles/
- https://antmaps.org/about.html
Code/Software
All other data used in the analysis along with the code can be found at https://github.com/The-Frederickson-Lab/ant-legume-range
Usage notes
All analysis and visualization can be reproduced using the R programming language. The code used in the analysis is found in the GitHub repository for this paper: https://github.com/The-Frederickson-Lab/ant-legume-range