Assessing non-reproductive labour in Platycerium bifurcatum

In complex animal societies, group members often sub-divide labor by focusing on different tasks such as reproduction and defense. While division of labor is well documented in animals, little is known about whether colonial plants exhibit similar patterns in task differentiation. To help bridge this gap in our understanding of sociality, we investigated non-reproductive division of labor in the staghorn fern (Platycerium bifurcatum, Polypodiaceae), an epiphyte that forms colonies of many individual plants, which coalesce into a communal water and nutrient store. We conducted a series of field observations and glasshouse experiments to answer three questions: 1) Are individuals in the upper regions of colonies shaped in ways that facilitate the capture of airborne particulate matter (e.g., leaf-litter)? 2) Do individuals at the apex of colonies decay in ways that inhibit the invasion of colonies by other plant species? 3) Does the anatomy of fronds at the bottom of colonies facilitate w..., , , # Assessing non-reproductive labour in Platycerium bifurcatum

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ksn02v7fb](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ksn02v7fb)

## Description of the data and file structure

This dataset accompanies a study investigating non-reproductive labour in the staghorn fern, *Platycerium bifurcatum*. The data span field measurements and glasshouse experiments, assessing frond morphology, frond orientation, and leaflitter entrapment. These traits were analyzed to evaluate the potential roles of non-reproductive (nest) fronds in colony structure and function.

The variables frond size, shape, moisture (water content), and orientation were collected in the field on wild colonies.

The variable leaf dislodgement was a glasshouse experiment. 

### Files and variables

Colony ID is a factor present in all data files and represents sample size for that field or laboratory experiment, and was not directly used in analyses.

### **File: `Dislodgement.`csv**

**Purpose:**\
Contains dat...,