Data from: Tropical ant communities under agroforestry can be diverse but lack trait-and-environment associations

Human landuse often alters community composition that affects many related
ecosystem functions. However, intermediate-intensity landuse, such as
agroforestry, can be a refuge for biodiversity and can maintain ecosystem
functions and services in working landscapes. We quantified how the alpha
and beta diversity of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) vary with human
landuse in the Kodagu region of the Western Ghats, India, across four
landuse types (forests, forest fragments, and two types of coffee
plantations with either native or non-native shade trees). We studied
ants, as they perform a wide range of ecological functions such as
predation, herbivory, seed dispersal, decomposition, etc. in such
landscapes. We also assessed the functional diversity of ants and
estimated the interactions between their traits and the environment. We
found that the plantations, on average, had 26% lower species richness
than forests and forest fragments, and functional richness was 31% lower
in non-native plantations. However, plantations showed higher beta
diversity than forests at both taxonomic and functional levels.
Interestingly, turnover was higher in non-native than native plantations
by 32% and 24% at taxonomic and functional levels, respectively.
Plantations also had weak and few ants’ trait-and-environment
interactions, suggesting that environmental filters may not be influential
in structuring ant communities under human landuse, compared to forests.
Overall, while ant communities under human landuse differ from that in
forests, they can be heterogeneous and be able to perform similar
functions. Our findings highlight the importance of agroforestry as
working landscapes which can maintain biodiversity and ecosystem
functions.