Elevational gradient in ant diversity in the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in 2005

This study will examine spatial patterns of ant diversity, body size, and community composition along the elevational gradient at Coweeta. The data will be part of a larger study that will examine several gradients in the US and abroad to assess whether there are general mechanisms that shape these diversity gradients. Patterns of ant species diversity are well documented and yet the mechanisms promoting species coexistence among communities are often elusive. Two emerging hypotheses that account for coexistence in ant communities are the discovery-dominance tradeoff and the dominance-thermal tolerance tradeoff. Here we used behavioural assays and community-level sampling from ant assemblages in the southern Appalachians, USA to test for the discovery-dominance and dominance-thermal tolerance tradeoffs. The investigators involved were Nathan Sanders, Robert Dunn, JP Lessard, and Melissa Geraghty.