Data from: Investigating ungulate site use as a driver of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) emergence from larval habitats

This data set was generated for a study investigating the influence of three different hooved animals on the emergence of Culicoides biting midges from natural larval habitats. Culicoides often develop in semi-aquatic habitats at the periphery of water bodies. These are also areas that are frequented by animal populations, which may impact biting midge development and emergence from these habitats. The research took place at the Konza Prairie Biological Station (KPBS) near Manhattan, KS, which is a large expanse of native tallgrass prairie with interspersed gallery forests. KPBS has managed populations of cattle and bison present as well as native populations of wild white-tailed deer and elk, all of which were investigated for this study to represent impacts of agricultural (cattle), wild (cervid), and intermediate (bison) animal populations on midge emergence.
This data set represents paired Culicoides larval data and trail camera vertebrate data at eight sites within KPBS representing stream, pond, and spring environments. Larval data were collected by sampling larval substrate from around the larval habitat and placing the substrate on petri dishes in the lab to monitor for adult midge emergence. At each of these larval habitats, trail cameras were set up to view the area from which larval collections were made to investigate animal use of the habitat in the month preceding the larval substrate collections. These collections were conducted monthly from April to November in 2021 and May to November in 2022 and 2023. Data collected from trail cameras included the days since the last animal event (Days_Last_Activity), last animal recorded (Last_Activity_Species), number of animal activity days (Cow_Days, Deer_Days, Bison_Days, and Total_Days), number of animal activity events (Cow_Events, Deer_Events, Bison_Events, Total_Events), total number of animals (Cows, Deer, Bison, Total_Animals), average number of animals per event (Avg_Cow, Avg_Deer, Avg_Bison), total time spent by animals in minutes (Total_Time_Cow, Total_Time_Deer, Total_Time_Bison, Total Time), and the average time spent per event in minutes (Avg_Time_Cow, Avg_Time_Deer, Avg_Time_Bison). Midge data were recorded as total midge emergence (Total_Midge; male and female combined), number of females that emerged (Total_Females), and then specific emergence for six species, C. crepuscularis, C. haematopotus, C. sonorensis, C. stellifer, C. variipennis, and C. venustus.