DOI: 10.5061/dryad.kwh70rzk2
title: Data from: Mammalian herbivory indirectly shapes savanna arthropod communities, but only at very low or high levels

description: Savanna ecosystems support unique biodiversity and provide livelihoods for
 millions of people. Yet, wild herbivores are in decline due to poaching
 and land-use change while livestock numbers are increasing. These changes
 in density and composition alter savanna vegetation. There are likely
 indirect cascading effects of altered vegetation on savanna arthropods,
 but our understanding is limited despite their pivotal role in ecosystem
 functioning. We evaluate how differences in mammalian herbivory affect
 terrestrial arthropods in a semiarid Kenyan savanna. We sampled
 ground-active arthropods (focusing on ants) in six herbivory treatments
 ranging from high-intensity herbivory to complete exclusion of large
 herbivores. Ant abundance and richness were not affected by herbivory
 treatments, but the community composition of ants and arthropods differed
 at extremely high and low levels of herbivory due to indirect impacts on
 vegetation. The dataset consists of the raw ant data, the raw arthropod
 data and the raw vegetation data. The ant data consist of the plot ID,
 pitfall ID, treatment category and the ant morphospecies with the
 respecitve count numbers per pitfall trap. The raw arthropod data consist
 of the plot ID, the treatment category and the arthropods at order level,
 this data has been pooled togehter across all pitfall traps from the same
 plot. The vegetation data consist of plot ID, treatment category, and the
 vegetation parameters grass richness, forb richness, mean hight of
 standing vegetation, mean percentage of bare ground cover, and tree
 density per hectare.
description: # Data from: Mammalian herbivory indirectly shapes savanna arthropod
 communities, but only at very low or high levels Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.kwh70rzk2](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.kwh70rzk2) ##
 Description of the data and file structure The ant and arthropod data were
 collected by pitfall traps. Fifteen pitfall traps were placed in three
 transects with ten meters distance between traps. The traps were filled
 with propylene-glycol (50%) and left for three days, until they were
 retrieved and samples identified under a microscope. All arthropods were
 identified to order level, ants were identified to genus level, and then
 assigned to morphospecies. The vegetation data were collected on 50 x 50
 meter sampling plots. Grass and forb richness and percentage of bare
 ground were assessed on two parallel 50-m transects, using a 1 m^2^
 quadrat placed every 5 m along the two transects, i.e., 20 vegetation
 measurements per variable plot. All trees in each plot with a diameter of
 5 cm or greater (measured at a height of 50 cm from the ground) were
 counted to estimate tree density (ha). We measured herbaceous vegetation
 height using a Disc Pasture Meter with a disc diameter of 45.5cm on 100
 points equally distributed across each plot and used the mean of these 100
 measurements for analysis. ### Files and variables #### File:
 Mammalian_herbivory_ant_data_2025.csv ##### Variables * Plot_ID: Unique ID
 of each of the 20 sampling plots (1-20) * Pitfall_ID: ID of each of the 15
 pitfall traps from the three transects (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, B1,...B5,
 C1,....,C5) * Treatment: ID of each of the six herbivory treatments (A -
 F), ranking from high intensity herbivory (A) over intermediate levels of
 herbivory (B-E) to mammalian herbivory suppression (F) * Cardiocondyla_1
 to Tetraponera_1 : Counts of ants at morphospecies level #### File:
 Mammalian_herbivory_arthropod_data_2025.csv ##### Variables *
 Plot_ID: Unique ID of each of the 20 sampling plots (1-20) * Treatment: ID
 of each of the six herbivory treatments (A - F), ranking from high
 intensity herbivory (A) over intermediate levels of herbivory (B-E) to
 mammalian herbivory suppression (F) * Coleoptera to Hymenoptera: Counts of
 arthropods at order level #### File:
 Mammalian_herbivory_vegetation_data_2025.csv ##### Variables *
 Plot_ID: Unique ID of each of the 20 sampling plots (1-20) * Treatment: ID
 of each of the six herbivory treatments (A - F), ranking from high
 intensity herbivory (A) over intermediate levels of herbivory (B-E) to
 mammalian herbivory suppression (F) * grass_richness: number of different
 grass species found in the 20 sampling quadrats * forb_richness: number of
 different forb species found in the 20 sampling quadrats *
 mean_height_of_standing_vegetation: mean value of the 100 DPM measurements
 (cm) * mean_bare_soil: mean value of percentage of bare ground cover from
 the 20 sampling quadrats * tree_density: number of trees per hectare ##
 Code/software All files are in csv. format and can be opened with Excel, R
 and other software ## Access information Other publicly accessible
 locations of the data: * n/a Data was derived from the following sources:
 * n/a