DOI: 10.5061/dryad.kkwh70sdt
title: Effect of changes in mowing intensity on stem-dwelling insects in an urban meadowscape

description: This data represents the sum total of all specimens collected during a
 study of the effects of changing mowing intensity on the mortality
 outcomes of overwintering stem-dwelling insects. This study was conducted
 in a meadow restoration project called The Meadoway, located in Toronto,
 ON. Stems of Solidago altissima were collected from the
 meadowscape and subjected to various mowing intensities to determine
 whether changes in intensity affect mowing as an environmental filter of
 this ecological guild. Specimens in this dataset either emerged naturally
 from stems or were obtained during stem dissections and represent insects
 which failed to emerge. All data comes from a single year of sampling.
description: This is the raw data for the study. Stems of <em>Solidago
 altissima</em> were collected from 12 plots in The Meadoway. 400
 stems were collected in late October - early November of 2022. 100 stems
 were collected in mid-April in 2023 from the same plots. The relevant
 stems were overwintered outdoors in containers and then brought into a
 climatized growth chamber to allow insects to emerge. Prior to
 overwintering, 100 stems per plot from the 400 collected in the fall were
 allocated to pre-overwintering dissections to record insect traits during
 their overwintering life stage (sessility, galling, parasitoid host,
 feeding guild). The remaining 300 stems were randomly allocated to three
 different mowing treatments: no mowing, cutting into 20cm segments, and
 cutting into 8cm segments, both using a miter saw. The 100 stems collected
 in spring 2023 comprised the overwintering control where stems had
 overwintered naturally in the meadow rather than in closed containers. In
 the growth chamber, stems for each plot x treatment group were placed in
 transparent mesh-top containers. The growth chamber was set to a relative
 humidity of 50%, a temperature of 22°C, and a day-night cycle with a 12
 hour photoperiod.  After 4 months, insects which emerged from stems were
 collected and all stems were dissected to obtain insects which did not
 complete their life cycle. Specimens were separated into preliminary
 morphospecies and keyed out where possible. Problematic morphospecies were
 barcoded using the primer pairs LepF1/LepR1 and MLepF1/LepR1. 
description: # Effect of changes in mowing intensity on stem-dwelling insects in an
 urban meadowscape
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.kkwh70sdt](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.kkwh70sdt) ## Description of the data and file structure This is the raw data for the study. Stems of *Solidago altissima* were collected from 12 plots in The Meadoway. 400 stems were collected in late October - early November of 2022. 100 stems were collected in mid-April in 2023 from the same plots. The relevant stems were overwintered outdoors in containers and then brought into a climatized growth chamber to allow insects to emerge. Prior to overwintering, 100 stems per plot from the 400 collected in the fall were allocated to pre-overwintering dissections to record insect traits during their overwintering life stage (sessility, galling, parasitoid host, feeding guild). The remaining 300 stems were randomly allocated to three different mowing treatments: no mowing, cutting into 20cm segments, and cutting into 8cm segments, both using a miter saw. The 100 stems collected in spring 2023 comprised the overwintering control where stems had overwintered naturally in the meadow rather than in closed containers. In the growth chamber, stems for each plot x treatment group were placed in transparent mesh-top containers. The growth chamber was set to a relative humidity of 50%, a temperature of 22°C, and a day-night cycle with a 12 hour photoperiod.  After 4 months, insects which emerged from stems were collected and all stems were dissected to obtain insects which did not complete their life cycle. Specimens were separated into preliminary morphospecies and keyed out where possible. Problematic morphospecies were barcoded using the primer pairs LepF1/LepR1 and MLepF1/LepR1.  ### Files and variables #### File: FinalDataSheet\_-\_Jan\_2.csv **Description:**  NAs represent cells where no data was collected or where the cell is not useful for the purpose of the column (Stem_Number and Outside_Stem_Dup). Cells with null indicate where data was purposefully not collected. ##### Variables * ID: Unique ID number for each specimen found during study. * Stem_Number: Unique ID number for each stem from which specimens were obtained. * Outside_Stem_Dup: ID number used to unify all observations of the same species within a plot x treatment group found outside of a stem. * Site: Plot name. Ex: 4.4EE1 -&gt; 4.4/E/E/1 -        Subsection of The Meadoway (4.4, 4.3) -        Area of subsection (E – East, W – West) -        Edge proximity (E – Edge, C – Center) -        Plot replicate number (1, 2) * Treatment: Mowing treatment applied. (OC – Overwintering Control, MC – No-mow control, LIT – Low intensity treatment, HIT – High intensity treatment) * Location: Location of specimen. Used to determine mortality outcome. (Outside – emerged from stem, Inside – found during stem dissections) * Order: Taxonomic order of specimen * Consensus_Sp.: Identification of specimen based on either DNA barcoding, traditional identification, or both * Host: Host of specimen if it is a parasitoid. * Remove_Comm_Str: Whether to remove the specimen from analyses of community structure (YES/NO) * Remove_Mort: Whether to remove the specimen from analyses of mortality rate (YES/NO) * Stage: Life stage of specimen when found * Dead_Alive: Whether the specimen was found dead or alive * Mowing_Injury: Whether the specimen sustained physical injury as a result of cutting using the miter saw * Galling: Whether the specimen is associated with galls * Motility: Whether the specimen needs to move around within a stem at any point after the mowing treatments to complete its life cycle * Trophic_Level: Known or presumed feeding guild of specimen * Cause_Death: Insect mortality outcome * Barcoded: Barcode ID number as deposited on BOLD