Harvard Forest Data Archive

HF065

Structure of Ant Communities in Declining Hemlock Stands at Harvard Forest 2003

Related Publications

Data

• hf065-01: ant data (preview)

Overview

• Lead: Aaron Ellison, Nicholas Gotelli
• Investigators:
• Contact: Information Manager
• Start date: 2003
• End date: 2003
• Status: completed
• Location: Prospect Hill Tract (Harvard Forest), Simes Tract (Harvard Forest)
• Latitude: +42.46 to +42.55
• Longitude: -72.22 to -72.17
• Elevation: 210 to 420 meter
• Taxa: Formicidae (ants)
• Release date: 2020
• Revisions:
• EML file: knb-lter-hfr.65.21
• DOI: digital object identifier
• EDI: data package
• DataONE: data package
• Related links:
• Ecosystem Response to Hemlock Woolly Adelgid in Southern New England since 1998
• Landscape Response to Hemlock Woolly Adelgid in Southern New England 1997-2004
• Stand and Community Response to Hemlock Woolly Adelgid in Southern New England since 1995
• Study type: short-term measurement
• Research topic: physiological ecology, population dynamics and species interactions
• LTER core area: populations
• Keywords: ants, biodiversity, community structure, hemlock
• Abstract:

  In biomass and ecological dominance, ants are the most important invertebrate taxon in terrestrial ecosystems and they can alter significantly fundamental processes and dynamics of soil ecosystems. Relative to deciduous stands, hemlock stands are depauperate in ant species that are linked to differences in rates of soil turnover and nutrient mineralization between these forest types. In both hemlock and deciduous stands, we will document ant species richness and abundance; assess their role in soil nutrient cycling; determine temporal trajectories of ant community assembly as hemlock declines following woolly adelgid infestation, and is subsequently replaced by birch; and discover how these trajectories influence nutrient availability during this transition.

  For more details see: Ellison, A. M., J. Chen, D. Dz, C. Kammerer-Burnham, and M. Lau. 2005. Changes in ant community structure and composition associated with hemlock decline in New England. Pages 280-289 in B. Onken and R. Reardon, editors. Proceedings of the 3rd Symposium on Hemlock Woolly Adelgid in the Eastern United States. US Department of Agriculgure - US Forest Service - Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team, Morgantown, West Virginia.

• Methods:

  We will use a modified version of the Ants of the Leaf Litter (ALL) protocol tailored for hemlock and deciduous stands. In each plot across the Harvard Forest space-for-time transect (see project HF021, HF081, HF083) in which we sample for hemlock woolly adelgid, at Prospect Hill, and in each experimental plot on the Simes Tract, a 10 x 10 m sampling grid (2.5 m spacing) will be established. At each point in these grids, pitfall traps (95-mm diameter cups with 20-ml dilute soapy water) will be buried so that the upper lip of each trap is flush with the soil (N = 25 traps/grid). Traps will be left in place for 48 h. Trap contents will be fixed in the field in 95% EtOH. Pitfall trapping will be supplemented with tuna-fish baiting at each grid point for 3 h during the middle of the day, and 1 h of active searching and hand-collecting adjacent to the grid. Four 1L litter samples will be collected in each stand and ants extracted from the litter using Berlese funnels and Winkler sacks. Samples will be identified to species and vouchered at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology. Nitrogen mineralization rates will be assessed in areas of different ant diversity and density (as identified through sampling) in the experimental plots and across the space-for-time transect using buried bags and standard assays in parallel with studies of soil ecosystem dynamics (see HF083).

• 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. 2020. Structure of Ant Communities in Declining Hemlock Stands at Harvard Forest 2003. Harvard Forest Data Archive: HF065 (v.21). Environmental Data Initiative: https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/1026a641fce303912d90e229fc9f8927.

Detailed Metadata

hf065-01: ant data

1. site: site name
2. latitude: latitude in decimal degrees north (unit: degree / missing value: NA)
3. longitude: longitude in decimal degrees west (negative by convention) (unit: degree / missing value: NA)
4. elevation: elevation in meters above sea level (unit: meter / missing value: NA)
5. overstory.ba: total basal area of the overstory of the sample plot in square meters per hectare (unit: meterSquaredPerHectare / missing value: NA)
6. hemlock.ba: percent of the total basal area of the overstory of the sample plot that is hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) (unit: number / missing value: NA)
7. gsf: global site factor estimated from hemispherical canopy photographs (unit: number / missing value: NA)
8. dsf: direct site factor estimated from hemispherical canopy photographs (unit: number / missing value: NA)
9. ponpen: Ponera pennsylvanica
   • 0: absent
   • 1: present
10. preimp: Prenolepis imparis
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
11. lasint: Lasius interjectus
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
12. camchr: Camponotus chromaiodes
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
13. camnea: Camponotus nearcticus
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
14. camnov: Camponotus novaboracensis
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
15. campen: Camponotus pennsylvanicus
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
16. forase: Formica aserva
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
17. forneo: Formica neogagates
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
18. forsub1: Formica subaenescens
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
19. forsub3: Formica subsericea
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
20. lasame: Lasius americanus
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
21. lasbre: Lasius brevicornis
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
22. lasnea: Lasius nearcticus
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
23. lasspe: Lasius speculiventris
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
24. aphful: Aphaenogaster fulva
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
25. aphpic: Aphaenogaster picea
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
26. myrame1: Myrmecina americana
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
27. myrpun: Myrmica punctiventris
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
28. stedie: Stenamma diecki
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
29. steimp: Stenamma impar
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
30. stesch: Stennama schmitti
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present
31. temlon: Temnothorax longispinosus
    • 0: absent
    • 1: present