Ant-Plant Interactions in Brazilian Rupestrian Grasslands - Dataset from 2014

Data was collected in the southern region of the Espinhaço Mountain Range, southeastern Brazil. We selected seven sites similar to one another in altitudinal range (from 1100 to 1200 m asl.), climate regime, and plant species richness, but distant by at least 1.44 km from one another. At each site, we delimited one transect 200 m in length and 1 m in width, which was divided into 20 plots (10 x 1 m). We randomly sampled five plots at least 30 m away from one another. In each plot, we marked all trees, shrubs, subshrubs, rosettes and herbs that were fully accessible to us, those 50-200 cm in height. We monitored the marked plants quarterly in 2014, at the peak and at the end of the rainy and dry seasons (respectively, January, April, July, and October). Between 0800â 1200 and 1400-1700, each plant was observed for approximately 3 min. The interaction event was recorded only when the ant was observed feeding upon the food source. We computed interaction frequency when we observed the same pair of species interacting in a different event. We also recorded the number of worker ants using the resource at the time of monitoring to estimate the recruitment rate of each ant species. We classified interaction events according to the type of resource used by ants: extrafloral nectar and similar secretions (EFNs), floral nectar or pollen (flowers), glands and fleshy pulp of fruits (fruits), and honeydew droplets from trophobiont hemipterans (trophobionts). When we observed an ant on an individual plant that did not provide any resource, or an ant that left a plant without making contact with resources of any type, we defined the interaction as a â visitâ .