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Harvard Forest Data Archive

HF097

Inventory of Ants at the Black Rock Forest in Cornwall NY 2006-2015

Related Publications

Data

  • hf097-01: ant data (preview)
  • hf097-02: vegetation date (preview)
  • hf097-03: functional traits (preview)
  • hf097-04: 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"

Overview

  • Lead: Aaron Ellison, Nicholas Gotelli
  • Investigators: Alexander Arguello, Sydne Record
  • Contact: Information Manager
  • Start date: 2006
  • End date: 2015
  • Status: completed
  • Location: Black Rock Forest (Cornwall NY)
  • Latitude: +41.45
  • Longitude: -74.01
  • Elevation: 400 meter
  • Taxa: Formicidae (ants), Acanthomyops sp., Brachymyrmex sp., Camponotus sp., Formica sp., Lasius sp., Prenolepis sp., Myrmica sp., Protomognathus sp., Stenamma sp., Temnothorax sp., Tapinoma sp.
  • Release date: 2017
  • Revisions:
  • EML file: knb-lter-hfr.97.25
  • DOI: digital object identifier
  • EDI: data package
  • DataONE: data package
  • Related links:
  • Study type: short-term measurement
  • Research topic: physiological ecology, population dynamics and species interactions; regional studies
  • LTER core area: populations
  • Keywords: ants, biodiversity, inventories, oak
  • Abstract:

    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.

  • Methods:

    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.

  • Use:

    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.

  • Citation:

    Ellison A, Gotelli N. 2017. Inventory of Ants at the Black Rock Forest in Cornwall NY 2006-2015. Harvard Forest Data Archive: HF097 (v.25). Environmental Data Initiative: https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/6915dda0dc36aaae0fa3d7727d339f7e.

Detailed Metadata

hf097-01: ant data

  1. date: sampling date
  2. plot: plot name
  3. 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
  4. deer: within or outside the deer exclosure set up in each plot
    • main: oustide the exclosure
    • exclosure: inside the exclosure
  5. trap.no: trap number, range 1 to 10
  6. trap.type: type of trap
    • Cookie Bait: Cookie Bait
    • Hand: Hand
    • Litter: Litter
    • Pitfall: Pitfall
    • Tuna Bait: Tuna Bait
  7. genus: genus of ant collected
  8. species: species of ant collected
  9. spec.code: species code: a combination of genus (first 3 letters) and species (first 3-4 letters). Alphanumeric, usually 6 characters (sometimes 7)
  10. no.ants: number of ants of a given genus and species collected in each TrapType and TrapNo combination (unit: number / missing value: NA)
  11. ref.no: reference number of the specimen(s) in HF Biota database
  12. caste: worker, queen, or male
    • male: male
    • queen: queen
    • worker: worker
  13. 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

hf097-02: vegetation date

  1. date: sampling date
  2. plot: plot name
  3. trap.no: location of ant sampling station, range 1 to 10
  4. acepen: Acer pensylvanicum
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  5. acerub: Acer rubrum
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  6. acesac: Acer saccharum
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  7. acespe: Acer sp.
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  8. arghye: Agrostis hyemalis
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  9. argper: Agrostis perennans
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  10. alloff: Alliaria officinalis
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  11. ariatr: Arisaema atrorubrens
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  12. astdiv: Aster divaricatus
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  13. berthu: Berberis thunbergii
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  14. betlen: Betula lenta
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  15. carcom: Carex communis
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  16. cardig: Carex digitalis
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  17. cardpen: Cardamine pennsylvanica
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  18. carepen: Carex pennsylvanica
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  19. cargla: Carya glabra
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  20. carlax: Carex laxiflora
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  21. carspe: Carex sp.
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  22. carswa: Carex swanii
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  23. chiumb: Chimaphila umbellata
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  24. cinaru: Cinna arundinacea
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  25. coname: Conopholis americana
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  26. denpun: Dennstaedtia punctiloba
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  27. desfle: Deschampsia flexuosa
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  28. euoatr: Euonymus atropurpureus
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  29. faggra: Fagus grandifolia
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  30. fraame: Fraxinus americana
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  31. fravir: Fragaria virginiana
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  32. galpal: Galium palustre
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  33. gaybac: Gaylussacia baccata
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  34. hamvir: Hamamelis virginiana
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  35. kallat: Kalmia latifolia
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  36. lyster: Lysimachia terrestris
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  37. maican: Maianthemum canadense
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  38. mitrep: Mitchella repens
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  39. monuni: Monotropa uniflora
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  40. onosen: Onoclea sensibilis
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  41. oxaeur: Oxalis europea
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  42. parqui: Parthenocissus quinquefolia
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  43. polacr: Polystichum acrostichoides
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  44. polpun: Polygonum punctatum
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  45. polsag: Polygonum sagitatum
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  46. pteaqu: Pteridium aquilinum
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  47. quepri: Quercus prinus
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  48. querub: Quercus rubra
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  49. rhurad: Rhus radicans
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  50. sculat: Scutellaria lateriflora
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  51. solrug: Solidago rugosa
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  52. tsucan: Tsuga canadensis
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  53. uvuses: Uvularia sessilifolia
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  54. veroff: Veronia officinalis
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
  55. viospe: Viola sp.
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present

hf097-03: functional traits

  1. species.code: ant species code
  2. subfamily: ant subfamily
  3. genus: ant generic epithet
  4. species: ant specific epithet
  5. 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. (unit: millimeter / missing value: NA)
  6. rel: eye length relative to body size (unit: millimeter / missing value: NA)
  7. rll: femur length relative to body size (unit: millimeter / missing value: NA)
  8. colony.size: size of colony for each species
    • Small: <100 workers
    • Medium: 100-1000 workers
    • Large: 1000-5000 workers
    • Very Large: >5000 workers
  9. feeding.preference: feeding preference for each species
    • Predatory: predatory
    • Granivore: granivore
    • Honeydew: honeydew
    • Omnivore: omnivore
  10. nest.substrate: nest substrate
    • Soil: soil
    • Wood: wood
    • Grass: grass
    • Acorns: acorns
  11. 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
  12. 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
  13. seed.disperser: whether or not a seed dispersing species
    • N: no
    • Y: yes
  14. slavemaker.sp: whether or not a slavemaking species
    • N: no
    • Y: yes
  15. behavior: classifications based on behavioral interactions with other ants
    • neutral: neutral
    • dominant: competitive dominant
    • submissive: submissive
  16. 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)
  17. 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.

hf097-04: 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"

  • Compression: none
  • Format: R script
  • Type: script