A global database of ant species abundances

Heloise Gibb¹, Rob R Dunn^{2

3}, Nathan J Sanders³, Blair F Grossman¹, Manoli Photakis¹, Silvia Abril⁴, Donat Agosti⁵, Alan N Andersen⁶, Elena Angulo⁷, Inge Armbrecht⁸, Xavier Arnan⁹, Fabricio B Baccaro¹⁰, Tom R Bishop^{11

12}, Raphaël Boulay¹³, Carsten Brühl¹⁴, Cristina Castracani¹⁵, Xim Cerda⁷, Israel Del Toro³, Thibaut Delsinne¹⁶, Mireia Diaz⁴, David A Donoso¹⁷, Aaron M Ellison^{18

19

20}, Martha L Enriquez⁴, Tom M Fayle^{21

22}, Donald H Feener Jr²³, Brian L Fisher²⁴, Robert N Fisher²⁵, Matthew C Fitzpatrick²⁶, Crisanto Gómez⁴, Nicholas J Gotelli²⁷, Aaron Gove^{28

29}, Donato A Grasso¹⁵, Sarah Groc³⁰, Benoit Guenard³¹, Nihara Gunawardene²⁹, Brian Heterick²⁹, Benjamin Hoffmann⁶, Milan Janda^{21

32}, Clinton Jenkins³³, Michael Kaspari³⁴, Petr Klimes^{21

35}, Lori Lach³⁶, Thomas Laeger³⁷, John Lattke³⁸, Maurice Leponce³⁹, Jean-Philippe Lessard⁴⁰, John Longino²³, Andrea Lucky⁴¹, Sarah H Luke^{42

43}, Jonathan Majer^{29

44}, Terrence P McGlynn^{45

46}, Sean Menke⁴⁷, Dirk Mezger⁴⁸, Alessandra Mori¹⁵, Jimmy Moses^{21

35}, Thinandavha Caswell Munyai⁴⁹, Renata Pacheco³⁰, Omid Paknia⁵⁰, Jessica Pearce-Duvet²³, Martin Pfeiffer⁵¹, Stacy M Philpott⁵², Julian Resasco⁵³, Javier Retana⁵⁴, Rogerio R Silva⁵⁵, Magdalena D Sorger², Jorge Souza⁵⁶, Andrew Suarez⁵⁷, Melanie Tista⁵⁸, Heraldo L Vasconcelos³⁰, Merav Vonshak⁵⁹, Michael D Weiser³⁴, Michelle Yates⁶⁰, Catherine L Parr¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution, La Trobe University, Melbourne, 3086, Victoria, Australia.
² Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27695, USA.
³ Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.
⁴ Department of Environmental Science, University of Girona, Montilivi Campus s/n, 17071, Girona, Spain.
⁵ Naturhistorisches Museum Bern, Bernastrasse 15, 3005, Bern, Switzerland.
⁶ CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Tropical Ecosystems Research Centre, PMB 44, Winnellie, Northern Territory, 0822, Australia.
⁷ Departamento de Etología y Conservación de la Biodiversidad, Estación Biológica de Doñana, Avenida Americo Vespucio s/n (Isla de la Cartuja), Sevilla, 41092, Spain.
⁸ Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia.
⁹ Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal Pernambuco, Avenida Prof Moraes Rego s/no, Cidade Universitária, Pernambuco, Brazil.
¹⁰ Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Amazonas-UFAM, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
¹¹ Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GP, United Kingdom.
¹² Department of Zoology and Entomology, Centre for Invasion Biology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa.
¹³ Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l'Insecte et Département, d'Aménagement du Territoire Université, François Rabelais de Tours, Tours, 37200, France.
¹⁴ Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Fortstraße 7, 76829, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany.
¹⁵ Department of Life Sciences, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/A, Parma, 43124, Italy.
¹⁶ Société d'Histoire Naturelle Alcide-d'Orbigny, 57 rue de Gergovie, 63170, Aubière, France.
¹⁷ Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Avenida Ladrón de Guevara, E11253, Quito, Ecuador.
¹⁸ Harvard Forest, Harvard University, 324 North Main Street, Petersham, Massachusetts, 01366, USA.
¹⁹ Departments of Biology and Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Morrill Science Center and Holdsworth Hall, 611 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003, USA.
²⁰ Faculty of Arts, Business and Law, Tropical Forests and People Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, 90 Sippy Downs Drive, Sippy Downs, Queensland, 4556, Australia.
²¹ Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre of Academy of Sciences Czech Republic and Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, České Budějovice, 370 05, Czech Republic.
²² Forest Ecology and Conservation Group, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, SL5 7PY, United Kingdom.
²³ Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84112, USA.
²⁴ Entomology, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California, USA.
²⁵ Western Ecological Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey, San Diego Field Station 4165 Spruance Road, Suite 200, San Diego, California, 92101, USA.
²⁶ Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland Centre for Environmental Science, Frostburg, Maryland, 21532, USA.
²⁷ Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, 05405, USA.
²⁸ Astron Environmental Services, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
²⁹ Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, G.P.O. Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia, 6845, Australia.
³⁰ Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU) Rua Ceara, Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, 38400-902, Brazil.
³¹ School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong Kong, China.
³² Department of Biology, University of Guanajuato, Noria Alta sn., Guanajuato, Mexico.
³³ IPÊ-Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas, Nazaré Paulista, São Paulo, 12960-000, Brazil.
³⁴ Department of Biology, University of Oklahoma, 730 Van Vleet Oval, Room 314, Norman, Oklahoma, 73019, USA.
³⁵ New Guinea Binatang Research Center, P.O. Box 604, Madang, Papua New Guinea.
³⁶ Centre for Tropical Biology and Climate Change, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, P.O. Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland, 4870, Australia.
³⁷ Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany.
³⁸ Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Caixa Postal 19020, 81531-980, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
³⁹ Section of Biological Evaluation, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Rue Vautier, 29, Brussels, 1000, Belgium.
⁴⁰ Department of Biology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, H4B 1R6, Canada.
⁴¹ Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida, 970 Natural Area Drive, Gainesville, Florida, 32611, USA.
⁴² School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom.
⁴³ Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom.
⁴⁴ School of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia, 6009, Australia.
⁴⁵ Depatment of Biology, California State University Dominguez Hills, 1000 East Victoria Street, Carson, California, 90747, USA.
⁴⁶ Department of Entomology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁴⁷ Department of Biology, Lake Forest College, 555 North Sheridan Road, Lake Forest, Illinois, 60045, USA.
⁴⁸ Division of Insects, Department of Zoology, Moreau Lab, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois, 60605, USA.
⁴⁹ School of Life Sciences, College of Agriculture Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 3209, South Africa.
⁵⁰ Institute of Animal Ecology and Cell Biology, TiHo Hannover, Bünteweg 17d, Hannover, 30559, Germany.
⁵¹ Department of Ecology, National University of Mongolia, Baga Toiruu 47, P.O. Box 377, Ulaanbaatar, 210646, Mongolia.
⁵² Environmental Studies Department, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, California, 95060, USA.
⁵³ The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, UCB 334, Boulder, Colorado, 80309, USA.
⁵⁴ Universitat Autònoma Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, 08193, Spain.
⁵⁵ Coordenação de Ciências da Terra e Ecologia, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Pará, Brazil.
⁵⁶ Coordenação de Biodiversidade, National Institute of Amazonian Research, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
⁵⁷ Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA.
⁵⁸ Department of Tropical Ecology and Animal Biodiversity, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, Vienna, 1030, Austria.
⁵⁹ Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305, USA.
⁶⁰ Centre for Behavioural and Physiological Ecology, Zoology, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.

PMID: 27984661
DOI: 10.1002/ecy.1682

Free article

A global database of ant species abundances

Heloise Gibb et al. Ecology. 2017 Mar.

Free article

. 2017 Mar;98(3):883-884.

doi: 10.1002/ecy.1682.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ecology, Environment and Evolution, La Trobe University, Melbourne, 3086, Victoria, Australia.
² Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27695, USA.
³ Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.
⁴ Department of Environmental Science, University of Girona, Montilivi Campus s/n, 17071, Girona, Spain.
⁵ Naturhistorisches Museum Bern, Bernastrasse 15, 3005, Bern, Switzerland.
⁶ CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Tropical Ecosystems Research Centre, PMB 44, Winnellie, Northern Territory, 0822, Australia.
⁷ Departamento de Etología y Conservación de la Biodiversidad, Estación Biológica de Doñana, Avenida Americo Vespucio s/n (Isla de la Cartuja), Sevilla, 41092, Spain.
⁸ Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia.
⁹ Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal Pernambuco, Avenida Prof Moraes Rego s/no, Cidade Universitária, Pernambuco, Brazil.
¹⁰ Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Amazonas-UFAM, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
¹¹ Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GP, United Kingdom.
¹² Department of Zoology and Entomology, Centre for Invasion Biology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa.
¹³ Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l'Insecte et Département, d'Aménagement du Territoire Université, François Rabelais de Tours, Tours, 37200, France.
¹⁴ Institute for Environmental Sciences, University Koblenz-Landau, Fortstraße 7, 76829, Landau in der Pfalz, Germany.
¹⁵ Department of Life Sciences, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/A, Parma, 43124, Italy.
¹⁶ Société d'Histoire Naturelle Alcide-d'Orbigny, 57 rue de Gergovie, 63170, Aubière, France.
¹⁷ Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Avenida Ladrón de Guevara, E11253, Quito, Ecuador.
¹⁸ Harvard Forest, Harvard University, 324 North Main Street, Petersham, Massachusetts, 01366, USA.
¹⁹ Departments of Biology and Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Morrill Science Center and Holdsworth Hall, 611 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003, USA.
²⁰ Faculty of Arts, Business and Law, Tropical Forests and People Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, 90 Sippy Downs Drive, Sippy Downs, Queensland, 4556, Australia.
²¹ Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre of Academy of Sciences Czech Republic and Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31, České Budějovice, 370 05, Czech Republic.
²² Forest Ecology and Conservation Group, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, SL5 7PY, United Kingdom.
²³ Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84112, USA.
²⁴ Entomology, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California, USA.
²⁵ Western Ecological Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey, San Diego Field Station 4165 Spruance Road, Suite 200, San Diego, California, 92101, USA.
²⁶ Appalachian Laboratory, University of Maryland Centre for Environmental Science, Frostburg, Maryland, 21532, USA.
²⁷ Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, 05405, USA.
²⁸ Astron Environmental Services, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
²⁹ Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, G.P.O. Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia, 6845, Australia.
³⁰ Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU) Rua Ceara, Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, 38400-902, Brazil.
³¹ School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong Kong, China.
³² Department of Biology, University of Guanajuato, Noria Alta sn., Guanajuato, Mexico.
³³ IPÊ-Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas, Nazaré Paulista, São Paulo, 12960-000, Brazil.
³⁴ Department of Biology, University of Oklahoma, 730 Van Vleet Oval, Room 314, Norman, Oklahoma, 73019, USA.
³⁵ New Guinea Binatang Research Center, P.O. Box 604, Madang, Papua New Guinea.
³⁶ Centre for Tropical Biology and Climate Change, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, P.O. Box 6811, Cairns, Queensland, 4870, Australia.
³⁷ Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany.
³⁸ Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Caixa Postal 19020, 81531-980, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
³⁹ Section of Biological Evaluation, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Rue Vautier, 29, Brussels, 1000, Belgium.
⁴⁰ Department of Biology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, H4B 1R6, Canada.
⁴¹ Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida, 970 Natural Area Drive, Gainesville, Florida, 32611, USA.
⁴² School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom.
⁴³ Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom.
⁴⁴ School of Plant Biology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia, 6009, Australia.
⁴⁵ Depatment of Biology, California State University Dominguez Hills, 1000 East Victoria Street, Carson, California, 90747, USA.
⁴⁶ Department of Entomology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁴⁷ Department of Biology, Lake Forest College, 555 North Sheridan Road, Lake Forest, Illinois, 60045, USA.
⁴⁸ Division of Insects, Department of Zoology, Moreau Lab, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois, 60605, USA.
⁴⁹ School of Life Sciences, College of Agriculture Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 3209, South Africa.
⁵⁰ Institute of Animal Ecology and Cell Biology, TiHo Hannover, Bünteweg 17d, Hannover, 30559, Germany.
⁵¹ Department of Ecology, National University of Mongolia, Baga Toiruu 47, P.O. Box 377, Ulaanbaatar, 210646, Mongolia.
⁵² Environmental Studies Department, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, California, 95060, USA.
⁵³ The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, UCB 334, Boulder, Colorado, 80309, USA.
⁵⁴ Universitat Autònoma Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, 08193, Spain.
⁵⁵ Coordenação de Ciências da Terra e Ecologia, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Pará, Brazil.
⁵⁶ Coordenação de Biodiversidade, National Institute of Amazonian Research, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
⁵⁷ Department of Entomology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA.
⁵⁸ Department of Tropical Ecology and Animal Biodiversity, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, Vienna, 1030, Austria.
⁵⁹ Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305, USA.
⁶⁰ Centre for Behavioural and Physiological Ecology, Zoology, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.

PMID: 27984661
DOI: 10.1002/ecy.1682

Abstract

What forces structure ecological assemblages? A key limitation to general insights about assemblage structure is the availability of data that are collected at a small spatial grain (local assemblages) and a large spatial extent (global coverage). Here, we present published and unpublished data from 51 ,388 ant abundance and occurrence records of more than 2,693 species and 7,953 morphospecies from local assemblages collected at 4,212 locations around the world. Ants were selected because they are diverse and abundant globally, comprise a large fraction of animal biomass in most terrestrial communities, and are key contributors to a range of ecosystem functions. Data were collected between 1949 and 2014, and include, for each geo-referenced sampling site, both the identity of the ants collected and details of sampling design, habitat type, and degree of disturbance. The aim of compiling this data set was to provide comprehensive species abundance data in order to test relationships between assemblage structure and environmental and biogeographic factors. Data were collected using a variety of standardized methods, such as pitfall and Winkler traps, and will be valuable for studies investigating large-scale forces structuring local assemblages. Understanding such relationships is particularly critical under current rates of global change. We encourage authors holding additional data on systematically collected ant assemblages, especially those in dry and cold, and remote areas, to contact us and contribute their data to this growing data set.

Keywords: Formicidae; Winkler trap; abundance; ants; database; disturbance; geo-referenced; habitat; local assemblage; occurrence; pitfall trap.

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A global database of ant species abundances

Affiliations

A global database of ant species abundances

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Other Literature Sources