Harvard Forest Data Archive

HF350

Ants of the Adirondack Mountains High Peaks 2016

Related Publications

Data

• hf350-01: adirondack ants 2016 (preview)
• hf350-02: field notes

Overview

• Lead: Aaron Ellison
• Investigators: Grace Barber, Julia Goren, Kayla White
• Contact: Information Manager
• Start date: 2016
• End date: 2016
• Status: complete
• Location: Adirondack Mountains NY
• Latitude: +44.1 to +44.4 degrees
• Longitude: -78.0 to -73.7 degrees
• Elevation: 600 to 1800 meter
• Datum: WGS84
• Taxa: Formicidae (ants), Camponotus sp., Formica sp., Lasius sp., Lasius Leptothorax, Lasius Myrmica
• Release date: 2023
• Language: English
• EML file: knb-lter-hfr.350.4
• DOI: digital object identifier
• EDI: data package
• DataONE: data package
• Related links:
• Ant Distribution and Abundance in New England since 1990
• Northern Range Limit of Aphaenogaster picea in Maine 2015
• Study type: short-term measurement
• Research topic: biodiversity studies
• LTER core area: population studies
• Keywords: abundance, ants, biodiversity, distribution, inventories
• Abstract:

  The ants of the Adirondack Mountains are rarely sampled, and it was of interest to inventory their diversity as part of a general biodiversity survey of the Adirondack Park in New York State. A first set of collections were done in 2016 in the “High Peaks” region (mountains over 1200 meters (4000 feet) high). Ants were collected haphazardly from nests encountered by Adirondack Mountain trail stewards during June and July 2016 when they were doing regular botanical inventories and trail maintenance. Eleven species were collected, with the cold-climate species Formica neorufibarbis and Camponotus herculeanus accounting for 75% of the nests encountered. The species composition of ants in the Adirondack High Peaks is similar to that of other alpine and subalpine habitats in adjacent New England.

• Methods:

  Ants were collected haphazardly in 2016 by Adirondack trail stewards during routine field visits and maintenance activities across the Adirondack High Peaks. When ant nests were encountered, 1 – 5 individual workers were collected from the nest into a single alcohol-filled vial. Identification of specimens was done at the Harvard Forest by Aaron Ellison. All specimens are stored in alcohol at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ).

• Organization: Harvard Forest. 324 North Main Street, Petersham, MA 01366, USA. Phone (978) 724-3302. Fax (978) 724-3595.

• Project: 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. (ROR).

• Funding: National Science Foundation LTER grants: DEB-8811764, DEB-9411975, DEB-0080592, DEB-0620443, DEB-1237491, DEB-1832210.

• 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.

• License: Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal (CC0-1.0)

• Citation: Ellison A. 2023. Ants of the Adirondack Mountains High Peaks 2016. Harvard Forest Data Archive: HF350 (v.4). Environmental Data Initiative: https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/22c3e82b3ee8da597d95a1ce9132928e.

Detailed Metadata

hf350-01: adirondack ants 2016

1. vial: vial number
2. date: date specimen collected
3. state: state
   • new york: New York
4. county: county
   • essex: Essex
5. locality: name of mountain or other locality where ant was collected
6. zone: alpine, subalpine, above or below treeline, krummholz, or forest type
7. latitude: latitude in decimal degrees (unit: degree / missing value: NA)
8. longitude: longitude in decimal degrees (unit: radian / missing value: NA)
9. masl: elevation in meters above sea level, if recorded (unit: number / missing value: NA)
10. subfamily: subfamily of ant
11. genus: genus of ant
12. species: species of ant
13. speccode: species code
    • aphpic: Aphaenogaster picea
    • camher: Camponotus herculeanus
    • camnov: Camponotus novaeboracensis
    • campen: Camponotus pennsylvanicus
    • forase: Formica aserva
    • forneo2: Formica neorufibarbis
    • lasame: Lasius americanus
    • lasaph: Lasius aphidicolus
    • lassub2: Lasius subumbratus
    • lepcan: Leptothorax canadensis
    • myrala: Myrmica alaskensis
    • myrdet: Myrmica detritinodis
    • myrsmi: Myrmica AF-smi (“smithana”)
14. collector: collector
    • Grace Barber: Grace Barber
    • Adirondack Mountain Stewards: Adirondack Mountain Steward

hf350-02: field notes

• Compression: none
• Format: pdf
• Type: document