Experiments

Experiment 312 - EAGER-NEON: 20 Year Dynamics of North American Ant Communities: Evaluating the Role of Climate and Biogeochemistry on Ecological Change

Temporal dynamics provide strong tests of mechanism, informed extrapolation, and
often-unexpected insights into pattern and process. Toward this aim, we propose to resample 34
high-resolution ant transects first studied in 1994-95. These transects have generated
important, continent-scale insights into how this keystone clade is structured by temperature,
seasonality and productivity. We propose to quantify the geography of community level change
in North American ant communities and explore the causes and consequences of that change.
The 34 communities represent 216 ant species, 89 of which occur at multiple locales. We will
test hypotheses of assemblage diversity and dynamics focusing on three major components
that can structure assemblages: thermal tolerance, biogeochemistry and productivity.
Specifically, at Cedar Creek we will 1) sample ground ant species in 30 m 2 plots along a
330m long transect; 2) measure critical thermal limits of the common ant species; and 3)
compare the biogeochemical stoichiometry and isotopic signature (~trophic level) of ant
species, soils and plant tissue. This work will occur on, or as close as is practical, to the
location originally sampled by Mike Kaspari in 1995. The sampling is minimally destructive as
we hand collect the ants by sifting litter and baiting.
Twenty years ago we performed one of the first geographic-scale studies of the
community structure for a clade of terrestrial invertebrates. In doing so, we provided insights for
the newly framed science of Macroecology. This proposed work will be the first continental-scale
glimpse at two-decade changes in this dominant invertebrate.

Temporal dynamics provide strong tests of mechanism, informed extrapolation, and
often-unexpected insights into pattern and process. Toward this aim, we propose to resample 34
high-resolution ant transects first studied in 1994-95. These transects have generated
important, continent-scale insights into how this keystone clade is structured by temperature,
seasonality and productivity. We propose to quantify the geography of community level change
in North American ant communities and explore the causes and consequences of that change.
The 34 communities represent 216 ant species, 89 of which occur at multiple locales. We will
test hypotheses of assemblage diversity and dynamics focusing on three major components
that can structure assemblages: thermal tolerance, biogeochemistry and productivity.
Specifically, at Cedar Creek we will 1) sample ground ant species in 30 m 2 plots along a
330m long transect; 2) measure critical thermal limits of the common ant species; and 3)
compare the biogeochemical stoichiometry and isotopic signature (~trophic level) of ant
species, soils and plant tissue. This work will occur on, or as close as is practical, to the
location originally sampled by Mike Kaspari in 1995. The sampling is minimally destructive as
we hand collect the ants by sifting litter and baiting.
Twenty years ago we performed one of the first geographic-scale studies of the
community structure for a clade of terrestrial invertebrates. In doing so, we provided insights for
the newly framed science of Macroecology. This proposed work will be the first continental-scale
glimpse at two-decade changes in this dominant invertebrate.

Methods for e312

Datasets