Ants in Guadarrama range

Dataset of ant species occurrences (1: presences / 0: absences) in baits located in six sites along an elevational gradient in the Guadarrama range (central Spain) in .csv format. We aimed to describe the niche of the species considering two main dimensions on resource acquisition: (a) food type and (b) period of aboveground activity. We estimated the use of each food resource by offering baits (5 replicates per treatment) along (c) a ~ 1.600 m elevational gradient. The four food resources were offered in plastic Petri dishes (5.5cm diameter x 0.7cm depth) with two 1.5cm openings to facilitate food collection by ants. (a) To encompass a wide as possible range of food resource types but limiting their number to a manageable quantity, we set the following four levels: sugar water, live crickets, dry worms and seeds (a collection of commercial seeds of different weights, from clovers to lentils). Live crickets were offered as baits by tying the crickets with thread to nails attached to Petri dishes. It was assumed that these would be most attractive to predator species. (b) To define the period of activity, we divided up the 24h cycle of a day into the following four 6-hour periods: morning (6 am to 12 am), afternoon (12 am to 6 pm), evening (6 pm to 12 pm) and night (12 pm to 6 am). (c) Sampling sites were Mediterranean south-facing dry grasslands growing on siliceous substrate with gentle slopes <10% (UTM, datum WGS84): Valdeloshielos (PS1 in the manuscript below): 30T 437745 449434 at 684 m.a.s.l., Soto del Real (PS3): 30T 431575 4513574 at 1044 m.a.s.l. La Barranca (PD4): 30T 416166 4511164 at 1331 m.a.s.l. Puerto de Cotos (PD6): 30T 419717 4519643 at 1786 m.a.s.l. Laguna Chica (PS8): 30T 419276 4520625 at 2026 m.a.s.l. Pico Peñalara (PD9): 30T 419192 4522196 at 2352 m.a.s.l. Columns are: - id. Identificator for the bait. - site. Sampling site. - resource. Food type offered. - period. Central hour for the sampling period. - Aphaenogaster_gibbosa to Tetramorium_forte. 27 species that appeared at least once in the baits. Thus the dataset has 6 sites x 4 food types x 4 time periods x 5 replicates = 480 rows, and 31 columns. Reference Seoane, J., Silvestre, M., Hevia, V., Ariño, R., & Azcárate, F. M. (2021). Abiotic controls, but not species richness, shape niche overlap and breadth of ant assemblages along an elevational gradient in central Spain. Acta Oecologica, 110, 103695. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actao.2020.103695