Habitat simplification affects functional group structure along with taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of temperate-zone ant assemblages over a ten-year period

Biodiversity is declining at various scales due to habitat simplification. Nevertheless, there is scarce information on how the biotic and abiotic changes linked to simplification affect several diversity dimensions, such as taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversities. This study investigated whether transforming natural oak forests into induced grasslands affected species diversity, functional group structure, and phylogenetic diversity of ant assemblages inhabiting a temperate forest in central Mexico. We placed over 1,000 pitfall traps in five sampling events covering a ten-year period. We used Hill numbers to evaluate species diversity differences between vegetation types and patterns over time. Ant species were classified into stress-related functional groups, which were analyzed for their association with vegetation types and changes to their proportional abundance over time. We calculated the standardized effect size of the mean nearest taxon distance to quantify the evol..., Study site
The study was conducted in the temperate natural protected area of Flor del Bosque State Park (FBSP). The FBSP consists of 699.2 ha and is located in Puebla, Mexico (19°01'N, 98° 20'W, 2,225–2,400 m.a.s.l.). The climate is temperate-subhumid with an annual average temperature of 14 to 16 °C and average annual precipitation of 750 to 950 mm. The rainy season occurs during the summer, and the dry season from November to April. The soil type is mainly lithosol and cambisol (Costes-Quijano et al., 2006). Its vegetation is composed of oak forest (41.71% of the park's surface), secondarily induced grassland (16.25%), and abandoned eucalyptus plantations (1.52%); the remaining 40.52% of the surface consists of thorny scrub and urban areas (Costes Quijano et al., 2006).
Ant sampling
Ant sampling was conducted in FBSP at six sampling events during the dry and rainy seasons, covering ten years. The sampling years were 2007, 2009, 2015, 2016, and 2017 (Table 1). Oak forests and induced ..., , # Habitat simplification affects functional group structure along with taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of temperate-zone ant assemblages over a ten-year period.

## Description of the data and file structure

Data from S6 to S9 were utilized to compare alpha, functional, and phylogenetic diversity between a native oak forest and an induced grassland in a temperate forest in central Mexico

**Authors**

**Pérez-Toledo, G.** Red de Ecología Funcional, Instituto de Ecología AC, Carretera Antigua a Coatepec No. 351, El Haya, Xalapa, Veracruz 91070, México.

**Cuautle, M.** Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Km 10.5 Autopista Tlaxcala-San Martín Texmelucan, San Felipe Ixtacuixtla, Tlaxcala 90120, México.

**Castillo-Guevara, C.** Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Km 10.5 Autopista Tlaxcala-San Martín Texmelucan, San Felipe Ixtacuixtla, Tlaxcala 90120, México.

**Miguelena, J.G.** Arkansas...