DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2v6wwpzwn
title: Data from: Reaching new heights: Arboreal ant diversity in a North American temperate forest ecosystem

description: Most canopy insect research takes place in tropical forests, where
 communities are highly vertically stratified. However, temperate forest
 canopies also provide critical resources to many species and are under
 intense pressure from global change drivers. The relative lack of
 knowledge regarding temperate canopy insect ecology impedes our forest
 management and conservation decisions, such that we may be losing
 temperate canopy biodiversity before we know it exists. Here, we directly
 compare ant diversity and community composition on the ground and in the
 tree canopy of North American temperate deciduous forests for the first
 time. We also evaluate two canopy sampling methods—bait stations and hand
 collections. We collected 34 ant species from 102 trees across 7 sites in
 North Carolina, USA. Ant diversity was greater on the ground than in the
 canopy, and species turnover created distinct communities across vertical
 strata. Only 12% of species were exclusively arboreal, but 47% were
 collected in both strata, indicating the forest canopy is an important
 resource for temperate ants, even if they are not restricted there.
 Baiting and hand collecting recovered similar species richness overall,
 but whether baits captured a nested subset or unique assemblage of species
 was context dependent. Nevertheless, we suggest that these methods are
 most effective in conjunction. Hand collection allowed us to document the
 arboreal nesting habits of 10 species, including the invasive needle ant,
 Brachyponera chinensis (Emery), which was previously thought to be
 strictly terrestrial. Our results emphasize the importance of including
 the canopy in temperate forest ecology and conservation assessments.
description: Methods are described in the manuscript.
description: # Data from: Reaching new heights: Arboreal ant diversity in a North
 American temperate forest ecosystem
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2v6wwpzwn](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2v6wwpzwn) ## collections\_unpooled.csv This dataset was used for all analyses and contains the following information for each individual sample collected: | sample\_code | unique code identifying each individual collection event; specific codes refer to other projects and are arbitrary for the purposes of this manuscript | | :------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | specimen\_code | unique code identifying each pinned individual | | genus\_species | genus and species of the pinned individual from that sample | | site | site at which sample was collected | | stratum | vertical stratum from which sample was collected; arboreal/terrestrial | | tree\_code | tree at which each sample was collected; unique code for each individual tree consists of site-tree | | ants\_present | 1 = ants collected, 0 = no ants present | | year | year in which sample was collected | | method | collection method for that sample; bait/AHC = arboreal hand collection/THC = terrestrial hand collection | | tree\_species | tree genus or species from which sample was collected | ## nests\_unpooled.csv This dataset was not used for analyses, but contributed data to Table 1 about the nesting habits of each species collected. It contains the following information for each nest from which we collected:  | sample\_code | unique code identifying each individual collection event; specific codes refer to other projects and are arbitrary for the purposes of this manuscript | | :------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | specimen\_code | unique code identifying each pinned individual | | genus\_species | genus and species of the pinned individual from that sample | | site | site at which sample was collected | | stratum | vertical stratum from which sample was collected; arboreal/terrestrial | | tree\_code | tree at which each sample was collected; unique code for each individual tree consists of site-tree | | year | year in which sample was collected | | method | collection method for that sample; AHC = arboreal hand collection/THC = terrestrial hand collection | | height\_m | vertical height (in m) at which nest was found; 0m given for all terrestrial nests | | microhabitat | nest microhabitat | Code for all analyses and figures can be found in the R script: **Kirchneretal_arborealantdiversity.R**