Ant occurrences in Guadarrama Range

Source Silvestre, M., Carmona, C.P., Azcárate, F.M. and Seoane, J. (2021), Diverging facets of grassland ant diversity along a Mediterranean elevational gradient. Ecol Entomol, 46: 1301-1314. https://doi.org/10.1111/een.13077 Measurements We measured head width, eye width, scape length and tibia length of hind leg (in mm) for three randomly selected individuals of each species present in each sampling plot. Six rare species, accounting for a marginal proportion in the assemblages, had fewer individuals Sampling design: There were n = 54 sampling plots (approximately 20 m x 15 m) with 12 pitfall traps each. Pitfalls were deployed in a grid of 3 x 4 traps distanced by 5 m for seven consecutive days. Traps were small plastic tubes (2.5 cm diameter x 5 cm depth) buried at ground level and contained 70% ethanol and 30% ethylene glycol solution as preservative. We sampled along an elevational gradient: six elevation belts replicated three times, approximately at 650 m, 1000 m, 1300 m, 1700 m, 2000 m, 2250 m in a total of 18 sites. Each site had three sampling plots (that is, three grids of pitfall traps) separated by 50 m. Thus, we have 3 plots x 6 sites x 3 replicates (elevation belts). The sampling was conducted in the southern slopes of the Sierra de Guadarrama Range (central Spain), on Mediterranean dry grasslands in summer, the period of higher ant activity (July 2016).