Data for: Effects of fire on ground-dwelling arthropods in a shrub-dominated grassland

Arthropods are abundant and diverse animals in many terrestrial food webs. In western Oklahoma, some shrublands are interspersed with discrete, dense thickets of tall, woody vegetation, known as mottes. Some of these shrublands are managed with prescribed burning. The goal of this study was to examine if prescribed burning interacted with habitat type (i.e., shrubland vs. mottes) to affect ground-dwelling arthropod communities. Arthropods were collected in pitfall traps at four sampling locations in relation to mottes; in the center of mottes, and three plot location in shrublands; 1m, 15m, and 50m away from the edge of the motte. There were three treatment levels for burning: one-year post burn (burned in dormant months of 2017), two-years post burn (burned in dormant months of 2016), and unburned (burned in dormant season of 2014 and prior). There were no significant interactions between prescribed burning and habitat type. Mottes had a different community of arthropods compared to th...