uid=HFR,o=lter,dc=ecoinformatics,dc=org all public read doi:10.6073/pasta/45f2fa55d95302435b8970ea4f24725d Aaron Ellison https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4151-6081 Nicholas Gotelli https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5409-7456 Alexander Arguello Researcher Sydne Record https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7293-2155 Researcher 2023 English

Ants are key indicators of ecological change, but few studies have investigated how ant assemblages may respond to dramatic changes in vegetation structure in temperate forests. Pests and pathogens are causing widespread loss of dominant canopy tree species; ant species composition and abundance may be very sensitive to such losses. Prior to the experimental removal of red oak trees to simulate effects of sudden oak death and examine the long-term impact of oak loss at the Black Rock Forest (Cornwall, New York), we carried out a rapid assessment of the ant assemblage in the 10-hectare experimental area. We also determined the efficacy in a northern temperate forest of five different collecting methods - pitfall traps, litter samples, tuna-fish and cookie baits, and hand collection - routinely used to sample ants in tropical systems. A total of 33 species in 14 genera were collected and identified; the myrmecines Aphaenogaster rudis and Myrmica punctiventris, and the formicine Formica neogagates were the most common and abundant species encountered. Ninety-four percent (31 of 33) of the species were collected by litter sampling and structured hand sampling together, and we conclude that in combination, these two methods are sufficient to assess species richness and composition of ant assemblages in northern temperate forests. Using new, unbiased estimators, we project that 38-58 ant species are likely to occur at Black Rock Forest. Loss of oak from these forests may favor Camponotus species that nest in decomposing wood and open-habitat specialists in the genus Lasius.

ants biodiversity inventories oak LTER controlled vocabulary populations LTER core area Harvard Forest HFR LTER USA HFR default

This dataset is released to the public under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (No Rights Reserved). Please keep the dataset creators informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset should include proper acknowledgement.

Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal https://spdx.org/licenses/CC0-1.0.html CC0-1.0 https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/exist/apps/datasets/showData.html?id=hf097 Black Rock Forest (Cornwall NY). Coordinates based on WGS84 datum. -74.01 -74.01 +41.45 +41.45 400 400 meter 2006 2015 family Formicidae ants genus Acanthomyops species sp. genus Brachymyrmex species sp. genus Camponotus species sp. genus Formica species sp. genus Lasius species sp. genus Prenolepis species sp. genus Myrmica species sp. genus Protomognathus species sp. genus Stenamma species sp. genus Temnothorax species sp. genus Tapinoma species sp. complete Information Manager Harvard Forest

324 North Main Street Petersham MA 01366 USA

(978) 724-3302 hf-im@lists.fas.harvard.edu Harvard Forest

324 North Main Street Petersham MA 01366 USA

(978) 724-3302 (978) 724-3595 https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu

See publication for additional details: Ellison, A.M., S. Record, A. Arguello, and N.J. Gotelli. 2007. Rapid inventory of the ant assemblage in a temperate hardwood forest: species composition and assessment of sampling methods. Environmental Entomology 36: 766-775.

Harvard Forest

324 North Main Street Petersham MA 01366 USA

(978) 724-3302 (978) 724-3595 https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu https://ror.org/059cpzx98 pointOfContact The Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program examines ecological dynamics in the New England region resulting from natural disturbances, environmental change, and human impacts. National Science Foundation LTER grants: DEB-8811764, DEB-9411975, DEB-0080592, DEB-0620443, DEB-1237491, DEB-1832210. hf097-01-ants.csv ant data hf097-01-ants.csv 250691 088baf1e69fea614ec23069d124b3b6b 1 \r\n column , https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p09/hf097/hf097-01-ants.csv date sampling date YYYY-MM-DD plot plot name plot name treatment canopy manipulation treatment applied in July 2008 none no treatment applied all all trees greater than 10 cm dbh girdled O all oaks greater than 10 cm dbh girdled O50 50% of all oaks greater than 10 cm dbh girdled N all non-oaks greater than 10 cm dbh girdled C control plots for all, O, N deer within or outside the deer exclosure set up in each plot main oustide the exclosure exclosure inside the exclosure trap.no trap number, range 1 to 10 trap number trap.type type of trap Cookie Bait Cookie Bait Hand Hand Litter Litter Pitfall Pitfall Tuna Bait Tuna Bait genus genus of ant collected genus of ant collected species species of ant collected species of ant collected spec.code species code: a combination of genus (first 3 letters) and species (first 3-4 letters). Alphanumeric, usually 6 characters (sometimes 7) species code no.ants number of ants of a given genus and species collected in each TrapType and TrapNo combination number 1 natural NA missing value ref.no reference number of the specimen(s) in HF Biota database reference number of the specimen(s) in HF Biota database caste worker, queen, or male male male queen queen worker worker voucher indicates that the individual of a given RefNo is vouchered either at the MCZ (Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University) or HFR (Harvard Forest, Harvard University). Note that there is one voucher for each species, not one voucher for each record (or RefNo). All non-vouchered specimens are maintained at HFR. HFR Harvard Forest, Harvard University MCZ Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University Free text (unrestricted) .* 3120 hf097-02-vegetation.csv vegetation date hf097-02-vegetation.csv 22183 5507e00d8cafd91a01491dad6c9c74d4 1 \r\n column , https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p09/hf097/hf097-02-vegetation.csv date sampling date YYYY-MM-DD plot plot name plot name trap.no location of ant sampling station, range 1 to 10 location of ant sampling station acepen Acer pensylvanicum 0 absent 1 present acerub Acer rubrum 0 absent 1 present acesac Acer saccharum 0 absent 1 present acespe Acer sp. 0 absent 1 present arghye Agrostis hyemalis 0 absent 1 present argper Agrostis perennans 0 absent 1 present alloff Alliaria officinalis 0 absent 1 present ariatr Arisaema atrorubrens 0 absent 1 present astdiv Aster divaricatus 0 absent 1 present berthu Berberis thunbergii 0 absent 1 present betlen Betula lenta 0 absent 1 present carcom Carex communis 0 absent 1 present cardig Carex digitalis 0 absent 1 present cardpen Cardamine pennsylvanica 0 absent 1 present carepen Carex pennsylvanica 0 absent 1 present cargla Carya glabra 0 absent 1 present carlax Carex laxiflora 0 absent 1 present carspe Carex sp. 0 absent 1 present carswa Carex swanii 0 absent 1 present chiumb Chimaphila umbellata 0 absent 1 present cinaru Cinna arundinacea 0 absent 1 present coname Conopholis americana 0 absent 1 present denpun Dennstaedtia punctiloba 0 absent 1 present desfle Deschampsia flexuosa 0 absent 1 present euoatr Euonymus atropurpureus 0 absent 1 present faggra Fagus grandifolia 0 absent 1 present fraame Fraxinus americana 0 absent 1 present fravir Fragaria virginiana 0 absent 1 present galpal Galium palustre 0 absent 1 present gaybac Gaylussacia baccata 0 absent 1 present hamvir Hamamelis virginiana 0 absent 1 present kallat Kalmia latifolia 0 absent 1 present lyster Lysimachia terrestris 0 absent 1 present maican Maianthemum canadense 0 absent 1 present mitrep Mitchella repens 0 absent 1 present monuni Monotropa uniflora 0 absent 1 present onosen Onoclea sensibilis 0 absent 1 present oxaeur Oxalis europea 0 absent 1 present parqui Parthenocissus quinquefolia 0 absent 1 present polacr Polystichum acrostichoides 0 absent 1 present polpun Polygonum punctatum 0 absent 1 present polsag Polygonum sagitatum 0 absent 1 present pteaqu Pteridium aquilinum 0 absent 1 present quepri Quercus prinus 0 absent 1 present querub Quercus rubra 0 absent 1 present rhurad Rhus radicans 0 absent 1 present sculat Scutellaria lateriflora 0 absent 1 present solrug Solidago rugosa 0 absent 1 present tsucan Tsuga canadensis 0 absent 1 present uvuses Uvularia sessilifolia 0 absent 1 present veroff Veronia officinalis 0 absent 1 present viospe Viola sp. 0 absent 1 present 180 hf097-03-functional-traits.csv functional traits hf097-03-functional-traits.csv 12286 ad07e3a57b8d2fac2070a7fcee68d871 1 \r\n column , https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p09/hf097/hf097-03-functional-traits.csv species.code ant species code species code NA missing value subfamily ant subfamily ant subfamily NA missing value genus ant generic epithet ant generic epithet NA missing value species ant specific epithet ant specific epithet NA missing value hl head length. We used trait definitions from Del Toro et al. (2015) and filled in missing species’ data with information from Ellison et al. millimeter 0.000000001 real NA missing value rel eye length relative to body size millimeter 0.000000001 real NA missing value rll femur length relative to body size millimeter 0.000000001 real NA missing value colony.size size of colony for each species Small <100 workers Medium 100-1000 workers Large 1000-5000 workers Very Large >5000 workers NA missing value feeding.preference feeding preference for each species Predatory predatory Granivore granivore Honeydew honeydew Omnivore omnivore NA missing value nest.substrate nest substrate Soil soil Wood wood Grass grass Acorns acorns NA missing value primary.habitat primary habitat Open open habitat Conifer forests conifer forests Forests forests (either coniferous or deciduous) Edge edge habitat Bogs bogs Deciduous forests deciduous forests Subterranean subterranean NA missing value secondary.habitat secondary habitat associations Wet wet soils Sandy sandy soils Edge edge habitat Litter exclusively leaf litter Grassy exclusively grassy areas Rocky rocky soils NA missing value seed.disperser whether or not a seed dispersing species N no Y yes NA missing value slavemaker.sp whether or not a slavemaking species N no Y yes NA missing value behavior classifications based on behavioral interactions with other ants neutral neutral dominant competitive dominant submissive submissive NA missing value biogeographic.affinity biogeographic affinity based on available occurrence records widespread widespread (distributed throughout the entire extent of eastern North America) cold climate cold climate (distributed only in the northern extent of eastern North America) warm climate warm climate (distributed only in the southern extent of eastern North America) NA missing value source where trait information was found. Full citations for literature are as follows: Del Toro, I., R.R. Silva, and A.M. Ellison. 2015. Predicated impacts of climatic change on ant functional diversity and distributions in eastern North American forests. Diversity and Distributions 21:781-791; Ellison, A.M., N.J. Gotelli, G. Alpert, and E.J. Farnsworth. 2012. A field guide to the ants of New England. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. species code NA missing value 82 hf097-04-simes-BRF-Rcode.txt R code for paper entitled "Are foundation species effects different than those of dominant species: A case study of ant assemblages in northeastern North American forests" hf097-04-simes-BRF-Rcode.txt 92325 4daffa03fdce495b7467e5b37976180b none R script https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/data/p09/hf097/hf097-04-simes-BRF-Rcode.txt script community regional short-term measurement https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/exist/apps/datasets/showData.html?id=hf065