R-code and data from: New lethal liquid bait for control of pest ants

The data set described here is a supplement to an article titled: "New lethal liquid bait for control of pest ants". The article uses both laboratory and field data to evaluate the effectiveness of a new liquid bait for ants. The methods to generate the data contained here are described in the aforementioned article.

Abstract from article:
"An aqueous ant bait consisting of sucrose (4.55% w/v), essential amino acids (1%), and water is known to be highly appealing to multiple ant species throughout the foraging season. Here, we tested whether this bait, combined with boric acid as the lethal agent, has potential for control of pest ants. Specifically, we: (1) assessed bait lethality to diverse species of ants (European fire ants, Myrmica rubra, western carpenter ants, Camponotus modoc, thatching ants, Formica oreas); (2) tested the effect of boric acid concentration on mortality of M. rubra workers and colonies; (3) compared consumption, and demise timeline, of lethal liquid baits and lethal gel baits; and (4) investigated whether lethal liquid baits reduce the size of M. rubra colonies. In laboratory experiments, the bait induced rapid worker mortality (<22 days) in all three species of ants tested. Increasing the concentration of boric acid from 1% to 5.4% accelerated the demise of only worker ants, but not queen ants, in M. rubra colonies, indicating that 1% boric acid is sufficiently lethal. Worker ants of M. rubra strongly preferred liquid baits to gel baits of identical nutrient composition, with the former bait accelerating worker demise. In a field experiment in a public park heavily infested with M. rubra, the 12 treatment colonies provided with a lethal liquid bait (4.55% sucrose; 1% EAA; 1% boric acid) over 114 days significantly declined, whereas the 12 control colonies provided with the corresponding non-lethal bait did not. The bait, with appropriately adapted bait deployment protocol, should be tested for control of other pest ants, particularly those that preferentially feed on liquid foods."

This is uploaded as an R studio project and code used to wrangle data, analyze data and generate plots can be accessed in the project folder by opening the project file. The project contains:

---Data
Data files of laboratory and field experiments to assess ant mortality to various bait formulations.

---Outputs
Plots and csv files generated from data analysis.

---Scripts
Scripts of R code used to wrangle data, conduct analyses, and generate outputs.