DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2rbnzs81s
title: Data from: Central place foraging and the long-term liability of selecting the ‘wrong’ central place

description: Shelter provided by a fixed refuge like a burrow or nest has obvious
 advantages for central place foragers: the energy and time required to
 construct the refuge is expected to be offset by improvements in survival
 and reproduction. This assumes the refuge is positioned appropriately in
 the environment to access food and other resources, and that the
 environment itself remains stable over time. We investigated the long-term
 liability of refuge placement and adverse environmental change on an
 iconic central place forager, the Australian meat ant (Iridomyrmex
 purpureus). We measured the consequences of nest location on the thermal
 conditions experienced at the nest and how those conditions influenced the
 opportunity to forage and defend the nest from predation. These data were
 combined with direct field observations of foraging effort and changes in
 nest size obtained from over a decade of study. Getting the location of a
 nest wrong had a lasting impact on the growth of a nest and colonies were
 unable to compensate for subsequent time restrictions on activity through
 changes in behaviour. Our data suggests that central place foragers
 relying on the long-term occupancy of a fixed refuge are especially
 vulnerable to environmental change. Unless these species compensate
 through changes in behaviour or construct a new central refuge in an area
 outside of the zone of impact, the increasing frequency and severity of
 environmental change occurring with the climate crisis could increase the
 risk of local extinction.
description: # Data from: Central place foraging and the long-term liability of
 selecting the ‘wrong’ central place Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.2rbnzs81s](10.5061/dryad.2rbnzs81s) ## Description of the
 data and file structure Data files are .csv and can be opened using any
 text, spreadsheet or statistical program. Missing values are indicated by
 NA. ### Files and variables ##### **File:
 OrdBlazek\_foraging\_performance.csv** **Description:**  This file
 contains the data used to compute temperature-dependent performance curves
 of meat ant foraging behaviour The file has the following columns:
 nest_size_number_of_entrance_holes \- An estimate of nest size based on
 the number of visible entrance holes on the surface of the nest ant_nestID
 \- The unique ID number of a given nest time_of_day_24hr \- The time of
 day in 24 hour-time when the data was collected surface_tempC_gun \- Trail
 surface temperature in degrees C as measured by the thermometer gun
 surface_tempC_converted \- Trail surface temperature in degrees C
 calibrated to temperature measured using a tiny tag probe using formulate
 described in Table S7 surface_light_mu_mol \- The level of ambient light
 at the trail surface measured in average moles per metre squared per
 second wind_kmhr \- Wind speed at the trail surface measured in kilometres
 per hour total_ants_over1min \- Total number of meat ants visible in trail
 recordings moving along the tree trail over 1 minute ##### **File:
 OrdBlazek\_swarm\_performance.csv** **Description:**  This file contains
 the data used to compute temperature-dependent performance curves of meat
 ant swarm behaviour. The file has the following columns:
 nest_size_number_of_entrance_holes \- An estimate of nest size based on
 the number of visible entrance holes on the surface of the nest ant_nestID
 \- The unique ID number of a given nest time_of_day_24hr \- The time of
 day in 24 hour-time when the data was collected surface_tempC_gun \- Nest
 surface temperature in degrees C as measured by the thermometer gun
 surface_tempC_converted \- Nest surface temperature in degrees C
 calibrated to temperature measured using a tiny tag probe using formulate
 described in Table S7 surface_light_mu_mol \- The level of ambient light
 at the nest surface measured in average moles per metre squared per second
 wind_kmhr \- Wind speed at the nest surface measured in kilometres per
 hour swarm_speed_mm_per_s \- Estimated swarm speed in millimetres per
 second of workers moving over the surface of the nest after the nest
 surface has been scrapped three times with a stick to simulate a predator
 attack **File: OrdBlazek_nest_surface_temp.csv** **Description:**  This
 file contains the temperature data measured at 30 minute intervals at the
 surface of each nest. The file has the following columns: date_time24hr \-
 The calendar date and time of day in 24 hour-time when data was recorded
 ant_nestID \- The unique ID number of a given nest
 nest_surface_tempC_probe \- Nest surface temperature in degrees C as
 measured by a tinytag temperature probe probe_type \- The type of probe
 used to record temperature, either temperature and humidity probe or a
 temperature only probe, which is relevant for converting data to
 equivalent temperature measured using the thermometer gun **File:
 OrdBlazek_nest_surface_cali.csv** **Description:**  This file contains the
 data used to calculate the conversion formulate of temperature recorded
 using the thermometer gun and tiny tag probe. The file has the following
 columns: ant_nestID \- The unique ID number of a given nest Date \-
 Calendar date of when data was recorded time24hr \- Time of day in 24
 hour-time when data was recorded probe_type \- The type of probe used to
 record temperature when using the tinytag data logger, either temperature
 and humidity probe or a temperature only probe nest_surface_tempC_probe \-
 Nest surface temperature in degrees C as measured by a tinytag temperature
 probe nest_surface_tempC_gun \- Nest surface temperature in degrees C as
 measured by a thermometer gun **File: OrdBlazek_nest_trails.csv**
 **Description:**  This file contains the data multi-year nest monitoring
 of nest size and trail number. The file has the following columns:
 ant_nestID \- The unique ID number of a given nest calender_year \- The
 year of survey entrance_holes_N \- An estimate of nest size based on the
 number of visible entrance holes on the surface of the nest forage_trail_N
 \- The total number of foraging trails observed leading from the nest
 tree_trail_N \- The total number of tree trails observed leading from the
 nest. ## Code/software Data can be imported using any statistical
 software, including R ## Access information Data was derived from the
 following sources: * All data was collected in the field by Terry Ord
 ([t.ord@unsw.edu.au](mailto:t.ord@unsw.edu.au))