Nest shape influences colony organization in ants: spatial distribution and connectedness of colony members differs from that predicted by random movement and is affected by nest space

Overview

Data used for the manuscript: Nest shape influences colony organization in ants: spatial distribution and connectedness of colony members differs from that predicted by random movement and is affected by available space

Purpose of the study

Investigating how nest shape influences how Temnothorax rugatulus colonies spatially organize in their nests. This includes physical location of colony members and their distances from the entrance, mobile colony member distance to the brood center, worker distance to the physical center of the nest, and comparing worker distributions with those predicted by a random walk model.

Structure of the data

EMPIRICAL DATA

WORKERS: FullDataCoordWorkers.csv, FullDataCoordWorkersRD2.csv

Raw experimental data with worker x and y position in nests

Colony: Unique experimental colony identifiers

Nest: The nest shape treatment (Tube / Circle)

Day: The experimental day that the observation was collected on

ScaledX: X-axis coordinate, scaled from original (px) to (cm) in the software Fiji (Schindelin et al., 2012)

ScaledY: Y-axis coordinate, scaled from original (px) to (cm) in the software Fiji

ColorID: The unique color marking assigned to an individual worker's head, thorax, abdomen1, abdomen2 (i.e., Yellow, White, Green, Green = Y,W,G,G)

Density: The density treatment (High / Low)

BROOD / QUEENS: FullDataCoordBrood.csv, FullDataCoordBroodRD2.csv; FullDataCoordQueen.csv, FullDataCoordQueenRD2.csv

Raw experimental data with brood (OR) queen x and y position in nests

Colony: Unique experimental colony identifiers

Nest: The nest shape treatment (Tube / Circle)

Day: The experimental day that the observation was collected on

ScaledX: X-axis coordinate, scaled from original (px) to (cm) in the software Fiji (Schindelin et al., 2012)

ScaledY: Y-axis coordinate, scaled from original (px) to (cm) in the software Fiji

Density: The density treatment (High / Low)

ALATES: FullDataCoordAlate.csv

Raw experimental data with alate (winged reproductive individuals) x and y position in nests

Colony: Unique experimental colony identifiers

Nest: The nest shape treatment (Tube / Circle)

Day: The experimental day that the observation was collected on

ScaledX: X-axis coordinate, scaled from original (px) to (cm) in the software Fiji (Schindelin et al., 2012)

ScaledY: Y-axis coordinate, scaled from original (px) to (cm) in the software Fiji

SexID: The unique sex assignment and number given to an individual alate: Sex, SexNumber, TotalNumber (i.e., the first male alate observation that came after three queen alates making it the fourth total observation = M,1,4)

NETLOGO SIMULATIONS: ArchitectureMoveModelFull.csv

Raw netlogo simulation data with agent x and y positions in nests

RunNumber: The simulation number - 1 to 4000 - there are 1000 simulations for each combination of nest shape and size

NestSize: The size of the nest area that agents were allowed to move throughout (Small / Large)

Nest: The nest shape treatment (Tube / Circle)

TimeStep: The duration of each simulation (should be 50000)

xcor: a list of every agent x coordinate position at the end of the simulation

ycor: a list of every agent y coordinate position at the end of the simulation

REFERENCE DATA 

NEST BINS: Empirical

BinsNullFull.csv

Null data sheet with eight bins for tube and circle nests in every colony

Colony: Unique experimental colony identifiers

Nest: The nest shape treatment (Tube / Circle)

Bin: Nest section identifier (1-8)

BinCoordFull.csv

Reference binning coordinates to group empirical coordinates into nest sections

Colony: Unique experimental colony identifiers

Nest: The nest shape treatment (Tube / Circle)

CoordID: The unique coordinate identifier within each colony and nest combination

ScaledX: X-axis coordinate, scaled from original (px) to (cm) in the software Fiji (Schindelin et al., 2012)

ScaledY: Y-axis coordinate, scaled from original (px) to (cm) in the software Fiji

NEST BINS: Netlogo Simulations

BinsNullNetlogo.csv

Null data sheet with eight bins for tube and circle nests in each simulation treatment

Nest: The nest shape treatment (Tube / Circle)

NestSize: The size treatment for simulations (Small / Large)

Bin: Nest section identifier (1-8)

BinCoordNetlogo.csv

Reference binning coordinates to group Netlogo simulation coordinates into nest sections

Nest: The nest shape treatment (Tube / Circle)

NestSize: The size treatment for simulations (Small / Large)

ScaledX: X-axis coordinate

ScaledY: Y-axis coordinate

CoordID: The unique coordinate identifier within each colony and nest combination

CORNERS: Empirical

CornerFull.csv

Whether a nest section has a corner or not

Colony: Unique experimental colony identifiers

Nest: The nest shape treatment (Tube / Circle)

Bin: Nest section identifier (1-8)

Corner: Presence of a corner (Y / N)

CORNERS: Empirical

CornerFullSim.csv

Nest: The nest shape treatment (Tube / Circle)

Bin: Nest section identifier (1-8)

Corner: Presence of a corner (Y / N)

REFERENCE DATA 

DISTANCES IN THE NEST: Empirical

DistBinsFull.csv

Reference coordinates for the entrance of nest sections (Bin) front-to-back and shortest distance to the entrance from each nest section entrance

Colony: Unique experimental colony identifiers

Nest: The nest shape treatment (Tube / Circle)

Distance: Reference shortest distance from a nest section to the entrance

Bin: Nest section identifier (1-8)

BinX: X-axis reference coodinate for a nest section entrance

BinY: Y-axis reference coodinate for a nest section entrance

Xmax: Max X-axis coordinate possible within the nest

Ymax: Max Y-axis coordinate possible within the nest

MaxDist: Max possible shortest distance from the nest entrance

TubeRatio: Ratio of shortest distance to the nest entrance in circle nest / tube nest

DISTANCES IN THE NEST: Netlogo Simulations

DistBinsFullNetlogo.csv

Reference coordinates for the entrance of nest sections (Bin) front-to-back and shortest distance to the entrance from each nest section entrance

NestSize: The size treatment for simulations (Small / Large)

Nest: The nest shape treatment (Tube / Circle)

Distance: Reference shortest distance from a nest section to the entrance

Bin: Nest section identifier (1-8)

BinX: X-axis reference coodinate for a nest section entrance

BinY: Y-axis reference coodinate for a nest section entrance

Xmax: Max X-axis coordinate possible within the nest

Ymax: Max Y-axis coordinate possible within the nest

MaxDist: Max possible shortest distance from the nest entrance

TubeRatio: Ratio of shortest distance to the nest entrance in circle nest / tube nest

REFERENCE DATA 

WORKER SITE FIDELITY (SPATIAL FIDELITY & OCCURRENCE ZONE SIZES), ALSO RELATING SIZES TO DISTANCES IN THE NEST

ColorRefFull.csv

Reference of all possible unique color identifiers paint marked workers

Colony: Unique experimental colony identifiers

Head: Head color mark

Thorax: Thorax color mark

Abd1: Left side abdomen mark

Abd2: Right side abdomen mark

NestAreaFull.csv

Reference for colony size (number of workers in the colony) and nest area

Colony: Unique experimental colony identifiers

Number.ants: Number of workers in the colony after painting

Diameter: The diameter of the circle nest

Area: The area of the nest

ScalingCircleSFZ.csv

Reference to scale the radius of circle nests to make coordinates representing fidelity zone bins

Colony: Unique experimental colony identifiers

Scaling: The scaling factor that is applied to the radius of each circle nest