Data from: Thomson FJ, Auld TD, Ramp D, Kingsford RT (in review) A Switch in Keystone Seed-Dispersing Ant Genera between Two Elevations for a Myrmecochorous Plant, Acacia terminalis. Please cite this when using the data. Any questions please contact the author (contact details below). Contents: 1. README.txt (this file) which includes a description of each file and the variables they contain. 2. Thomson et al. Ant Community Data.txt - provides abundance data for ant genera found at each site based on pitfall data. 3. Thomson et al. Day Five Exclusion Trial.txt - provides the data used for the seed exclusion trial analysis. 4. Thomson et al. Observation data.txt - provides the seed removal by ants observation data used in the analysis. 5. Thomson et al. site data.txt - provides additional data about each plot not included in original manuscript. ************************************************************************************************************* Descriptions: 2.Thomson et al. Ant Community Data.txt Genus = Ant genus based on identification using Shattuck S. (1999) Australian Ants: Their Biology and Identification. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood. Family = Ant Family based on identification using Shattuck S. (1999) Australian Ants: Their Biology and Identification. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood. The rest of the columns are the plot names for the 20x20m plots (sites) which provide abundance of ants at each site. Plot names starting with 'L' are low elevation sites, sites starting with 'H' are high elevation sites. 3. Thomson et al. Day Five Exclusion Trial.txt Day = Day of Trial (only day 5 data provided here) Elevation = Elevation of site 'high' or 'low' Site = Individual site number Block = Replicate number for blocks of the four exclusion treatments Treatments = The four exclusion treatments Seeds left = Number of seeds left after 5 days of exposure TotalSeedsPlaced = Total number of seeds place in each petri dish during experiment (this is always 5 seeds) PercentageSeedsLeft = Percentage of seeds left after 5 days PlotName = Name of the 20x20m plot (site). Plot names starting with 'L' are low elevation sites, sites starting with 'H' are high elevation sites. 4.Thomson et al. Observation.txt Elevation = Elevation of site 'high' or 'low' Site = Individual site number Observation = 1 hour observation period (6 done at each site, 3 morning and 3 at night) Found = Number of seeds (out of 5) at each seed depot that were found by ants Moved = Number of seeds (out of 5) at each seed depot that were moved by ants Temp.per.observation = Temperature at time of observation in degrees celsius. Data were collected from the nearest weather station to high elevation (Katoomba) and low elevation sites (Penrith Lakes; Australian Bureau of Meteorology). PlotName = Name of the 20x20m plot (site). Plot names starting with 'L' are low elevation sites, sites starting with 'H' are high elevation sites. 5. Thomson et al. site data.txt PlotName = Name of the 20x20m plot (site). Plot names starting with 'L' are low elevation sites, sites starting with 'H' are high elevation sites. RhyAbundance = Abundance of Rhytidoponera species at each site (based Thomson et al. Ant Community Data.txt) AphAbundance = Abundance of Aphaenogaster species at each site (based Thomson et al. Ant Community Data.txt) Rhytidoponera = Presence of Rhytidoponera species at a site (based Thomson et al. Ant Community Data.txt & observation data) Aphaenogaster = Presence of Aphaenogaster species at a site (based Thomson et al. Ant Community Data.txt & observation data) AntGeneraRichness = Richness of ant genera at each site (based Thomson et al. Ant Community Data.txt) AntGeneraAbundance = Abundance of ant genera at each site (based Thomson et al. Ant Community Data.txt) MyrAntRichness = Richness of myrmecochorous ant genera at each site (based Thomson et al. Ant Community Data.txt & Table 1 in manuscript) MyrAntAbundance = Abundance of myrmecochorous ant genera at each site (based Thomson et al. Ant Community Data.txt & Table 1 in manuscript) MeanATerm = Mean at the site level of the average distance (m) of the nearest 3 Acacia terminalis individuals to each seed observation depot. Measured as a surrogate for Acacia Terminalis density. Longitude = Longitude of site Latitude = Latitude of site ******************************************************************************** Contacting: Fiona J. Thomson email: thomsonf@landcareresearch.co.nz OR email: fthomson@hotmail.com Dr Fiona J. Thomson Researcher Ecosystems & Global Change Landcare Research - Manaaki Whenua PO Box 69040 Lincoln 7640 New Zealand ******************************************************************************** Acknowledgements This database is the result of work done by Fiona J Thomson during her PhD: Local to global patterns in seed dispersal. University of New south Wales, Australia Coauthors Dr Tony Auld and Professor Richard Kingsford were Fiona Thomson's supervisors during her PhD. Dr Daniel Ramp also supervised Fiona Thomson during this work. Thanks to the field assistants, including Tom Mullaney for helping collate this data. This data was from work which was part of the Managing for Ecosystem Change in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area project, funded by the Australian Research Council. Thank you to the industry partners: Office of Environment and Heritage NSW, Hawkesbury Nepean Catchment Management Authority, Blue Mountains City Council, New South Wales Department of Primary Industry. We would like to thank our research collaborators on this project; the University of Wollongong, the University of Western Sydney and the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute. ******************************************************************************** History No changes at present