Different aspects of dominance are not equivalent when testing for trade-offs in ant communities

Differences in dominance are frequently invoked to explain the outcomes of competition. Yet, what it means to be dominant, and which traits underlie dominance, are poorly understood. Here, we sought to determine the relationships between multiple aspects of dominance, the potential for trade-offs with discovery ability, and the traits associated with these patterns within a high elevation community of five ant taxa. We examined several common dominance metrics – behavioral dominance (winning aggressive encounters at both the individual and colony levels), numerical dominance (abundance and activity in baits and pitfall traps), and ecological dominance (high relative frequency in baits) – and found that individual- and colony-level behavioral dominance were positively correlated, as were ecological and numerical dominance. However, colony-level behavioral and numerical dominance were negatively correlated, and no other dominance metrics were associated. There was a dominance-discovery tr..., , , # Data from: Different aspects of dominance are not equivalent when testing for trade-offs in ant communities

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.c866t1ggn](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.c866t1ggn)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

#### **File 1: AntBodySize.csv**

**Description:** The body sizes of each ant taxon.

##### Variables

* date: The date(s) when the bait was deployed.
* tot.hrs: The total number of hours for which the pitfall trap was deployed.
* site: The field site in which the bait was deployed.
* pitfall.trap.id: The plot within each field site where the pitfall trap was deployed.
* taxon: The ant taxon measured.
* body.length.mm: Ant body length (in millimeters).
* head.width.mm: Ant head width (in millimeters).

#### **File 2: AntMasses.csv**

**Description:** The masses of ants collected from the field.

##### Variables

* taxon: The ant taxon measured.
* mass.mg: Ant body mass (in milligrams).

#### **File 3: BaitData.csv**

**Descr...,