Data from: Mammalian herbivory indirectly shapes savanna arthropod communities, but only at very low or high levels

Savanna ecosystems support unique biodiversity and provide livelihoods for
millions of people. Yet, wild herbivores are in decline due to poaching
and land-use change while livestock numbers are increasing. These changes
in density and composition alter savanna vegetation. There are likely
indirect cascading effects of altered vegetation on savanna arthropods,
but our understanding is limited despite their pivotal role in ecosystem
functioning. We evaluate how differences in mammalian herbivory affect
terrestrial arthropods in a semiarid Kenyan savanna. We sampled
ground-active arthropods (focusing on ants) in six herbivory treatments
ranging from high-intensity herbivory to complete exclusion of large
herbivores. Ant abundance and richness were not affected by herbivory
treatments, but the community composition of ants and arthropods differed
at extremely high and low levels of herbivory due to indirect impacts on
vegetation. The dataset consists of the raw ant data, the raw arthropod
data and the raw vegetation data. The ant data consist of the plot ID,
pitfall ID, treatment category and the ant morphospecies with the
respecitve count numbers per pitfall trap. The raw arthropod data consist
of the plot ID, the treatment category and the arthropods at order level,
this data has been pooled togehter across all pitfall traps from the same
plot. The vegetation data consist of plot ID, treatment category, and the
vegetation parameters grass richness, forb richness, mean hight of
standing vegetation, mean percentage of bare ground cover, and tree
density per hectare.