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Law, S.; Bishop, T.R.; Eggleton, P.; Griffiths, H.M.; Ashton, L.; Parr, C.

Ant colour data from an experiment in Malaysian Borneo, 2015-2018

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This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence

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https://doi.org/10.5285/c0f65bf5-3cb0-41ab-be3d-982490cecba9
This dataset measures colour and estimates body size of ant species collected across four vertical strata: subterranean, ground, understory and canopy in lowland tropical rainforest. Ants were collected using different trapping techniques in each stratum; baited traps were used in the subterranean, understory and canopy strata and Winkler extractions were used to collect ground ants. The colour of each ant species was classified categorically by eye using a set pre-determined colours. A single dominant colour was assigned for each species, this was determined as the modal colour across all body parts and individuals for each species. Each colour was linked to a set of RGB (red, green and blue) values which were extracted from the original colour wheel using the image editing software paint.NET (v.4.0.3); RGB values for each colour were converted into HSV (hue, saturation and value) format. Body size of each species was estimated by measuring Weber's length.

Accompanying the ant species data set are four additional data files: 1) data set measuring intraspecific variation in colour, 2) data set measuring intraspecific variation in Weber's length, 3) data set measuring soil temperature, and 4) data set measuring UVB radiation at 5 m vertical intervals from the ground to the canopy. This data is a contribution from the UK NERC-funded Biodiversity And Land-use Impacts on Tropical Ecosystem Function (BALI) consortium.
Publication date: 2019-09-02
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View numbers valid from 01 June 2023 Download numbers valid from 20 June 2024 (information prior to this was not collected)

Format

Comma-separated values (CSV)

Spatial information

Study area
Spatial representation type
Tabular (text)
Spatial reference system
WGS 84

Temporal information

Temporal extent
2014-10-01    to    2017-10-31

Provenance & quality

Twelve 50 m x 50 m experimental plots were located in lowland, tropical rainforest in Maliau Basin Conservation Area (MBCA) this included: four control plots, four ant suppression plots and four termite suppression plots. In ant suppression plots ground-dwelling ants were suppressed and in termite suppression plots ground-dwelling termites were suppressed. All plots were established in October 2014 and suppression of ants and termites was maintained until October 2017. Data on the colour of ants were only collected from control plots.

Licensing and constraints

This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence

Cite this dataset as:
Law, S.; Bishop, T.R.; Eggleton, P.; Griffiths, H.M.; Ashton, L.; Parr, C. (2019). Ant colour data from an experiment in Malaysian Borneo, 2015-2018. NERC Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/c0f65bf5-3cb0-41ab-be3d-982490cecba9

© Natural Environment Research Council

Related

This dataset is included in the following collections

NERC Human-modified Tropical Forest (HMTF) Programme

Citations

Law, S.J., Bishop, T.R., Eggleton, P., Griffiths, H., Ashton, L., & Parr, C. (2019). Darker ants dominate the canopy: Testing macroecological hypotheses for patterns in colour along a microclimatic gradient. Journal of Animal Ecology, 89(2), 347–359. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13110

Supplemental information

Website for the UK NERC-funded Biodiversity And Land-use Impacts on Tropical Ecosystem Function (BALI) consortium

Correspondence/contact details

Stephanie Law
University of Liverpool
 stephaniejanelaw@gmail.com

Authors

Law, S.
University of Liverpool
Bishop, T.R.
University of Liverpool
Eggleton, P.
Natural History Museum, London
Griffiths, H.M.
University of Liverpool
Ashton, L.
University of Hong Kong
Parr, C.
University of Liverpool

Other contacts

Custodian
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
 info@eidc.ac.uk
Publisher
NERC Environmental Information Data Centre
 info@eidc.ac.uk

Additional metadata

Topic categories
biota
Keywords
Ants , Borneo , colour , Environmental survey , Weber's length
Funding
Natural Environment Research Council
Last updated
14 March 2024 15:45