Local habitat complexity and its effects on herbivores and predators in urban agroecosystems

# Herbivores and predators Access this dataset on Dryad: These datasets are the summary data from the paper, "Local Habitat Complexity and Its Effects on Herbivores and Predators in Urban Agroecosystems," by Azucena Lucatero, Shalene Jha, and Stacy Philpott published in *Insects* in 2024. They describe herbivore and predator biodiversity, predation on corn earworm moth eggs, and vegetation characteristics (cover, diversity, and connectivity) of plots in urban community garden sites in the California central coast sampled in August 2019. ## Description of the data and file structure We include the two datasets that were analyzed in this study: **1) PitfallTrap_1.5.24.csv** This dataset includes the abundance and species richness of arthropods sampled through pitfall traps, egg predation measured through sentinel pest experiments, and sample plot characteristics. Column Heads: * Site * VegTreat (vegetation complexity treatment; highveg = high vegetation complexity, lowveg = low vegetation complexity) * SamplingRound (1 indicating sampling on August 1st, 2019; 2 indicating sampling on August 3rd, 2019) Response Variables: * TotalHerbAbundance (abundance of all sampled herbivores) * TotalHerbRichness (species richness of all sampled herbivores) * TotalNEAbundance (abundance of all sampled predators; NE = natural enemies) * TotalNERichness (species richness of all sampled predators; NE = natural enemies) * AntAbundance (abundance of all sampled ants) * AntSpeciesRichness (species richness of all sampled ants) * SpiderAbundance (abundance of all sampled spiders) * SpiderSpeciesRichness (species richness of all sampled spiders) * EggLRR (effect size of predation on corn earworm moth eggs in sentinel pest experiments; calculated as the log response ratio (LRR = LN(proportion eggs removed in open treatments)—LN(proportion eggs removed in bagged treatments)) Predictor Variables * VegDensity (vegetation cover, measured as the percent cover of plants in 1.5 x 1.5 m sample plot) * VegDiversity (vegetation diversity, measured as the number of plant species in 1.5 x 1.5 m sample plot) * VegConnectivity (vegetation connectivity, measured as the 1/the longest distance between two plants in 1.5 x 1.5 m sample plot) **2) VisualSurvey_1.5.24.csv** This dataset includes the abundance and species richness of arthropods sampled through visual surveys of plants, egg predation measured through sentinel pest experiments, and sample plot characteristics. Column Heads: * Site * VegTreat (vegetation complexity treatment; highveg = high vegetation complexity, lowveg = low vegetation complexity) * SamplingRound (1 indicating sampling on August 1st, 2019; 2 indicating sampling on August 3rd, 2019) Response Variables: * HerbAbundance (abundance of all sampled herbivores) * HerbRichness (species richness of all sampled herbivores) * AphidAbundance (abundance of all sampled aphids) * AphidRichness (species richness of all sampled aphids) * WhiteflyAbundance (abundance of all sampled whiteflies) * NEAbundance (abundance of all sampled predators; NE = natural enemies) * NERichness (species richness of all sampled predators; NE = natural enemies) * SpiderAbundance (abundance of all sampled spiders) * SpiderRichness (species richness of all sampled spiders) * AntAbundance (abundance of all sampled ants) * AntRichness (species richness of all sampled ants) * EggLRR (effect size of predation on corn earworm moth eggs in sentinel pest experiments; calculated as the log response ratio (LRR = LN(proportion eggs removed in open treatments)—LN(proportion eggs removed in bagged treatments)) Predictor Variables: * VegDensity (vegetation cover, measured as the percent cover of plants in 1.5 x 1.5 m sample plot) * VegDiversity (vegetation diversity, measured as the number of plant species in 1.5 x 1.5 m sample plot) * VegConnectivity (vegetation connectivity, measured as the 1/the longest distance between two plants in 1.5 x 1.5 m sample plot) * BedSize (length x width of the entire garden bed; 1.5 x 1.5 m plots are each within a gardener bed) ## Sharing/Access information This dataset was analyzed in the following published article: Lucatero, A., Jha, S., & Philpott, S. M. (2024). Local Habitat Complexity and Its Effects on Herbivores and Predators in Urban Agroecosystems. *Insects*, 15(1), 41.