Data from: The influence of lightning on insect and fungal dynamics in a lowland tropical forest

Lightning strikes are a common source of disturbance in tropical forests,
and a typical strike generates large quantities of dead wood. 
Lightning-damaged trees are a consistent resource for tropical saproxylic
organisms (i.e., dead wood dependent), but patterns of consumer
colonization and succession following lightning strikes are not
known.  Here, we explored temporal variation in the occurrence of
four common consumer taxa that span multiple trophic levels—beetles,
Azteca ants, termites, and fungi—in lightning strike sites and nearby
undamaged control sites in a lowland forest of Panama.  Beetle
abundance was 10 times higher in lightning strike sites than in paired
control sites, and beetle assemblages were compositionally
distinct.  Beetle assemblages were initially dominated by bark
and ambrosia beetles (Curculionidae: Platypodinae, Scolytinae), and
predators (including bark and ambrosia beetle specialist predators)
increased in abundance relatively synchronously.  At the
tree-level, beetle activity and fungal fruiting bodies respectively were
3.8 and 12.2 times more likely to be observed in lightning-damaged trees
in lightning strike sites vs. undamaged trees in paired control sites,
whereas the occurrence probabilities of Azteca ants and termites were
similar between lightning-damaged trees in lightning strike sites and
undamaged trees in control sites.  Tree size also was important;
larger dead trees in strike sites were more likely to support beetles,
termites, and fungal fruiting bodies, and larger trees—regardless of
mortality status—were more likely to host Azteca.  Beetle
presence was associated with higher rates of subsequent fungal presence,
providing some evidence of beetle-associated priority effects on
colonization patterns.  These results indicate that lightning
plays a key role in supporting tropical insect and fungal consumers by
providing localized patches of suitable habitat.  Any
climate-driven changes in lightning frequency in tropical forests will
likely affect a broad suite of consumer organisms, potentially altering
community and ecosystem-level processes.