Insect Community Data on Native and Introduced Phragmites in Ontario, 2016-2017

28 geographically paired sites in Ontario, Canada were surveyed in 2016-2017 to compare insect communities on native and introduced subspecies of Phragmites australis. The dataset includes site characteristics, stem attack rates for fourteen insect taxa, and alpha- and beta-diversity indices. Data were produced by R. B. deJonge of the University of Toronto for a published ecological study.

Use Cases

• Compare insect attack rates and diversity between native and introduced plant subspecies based on the paired site data.
• Analyze relationships between site characteristics (e.g., latitude, stem density) and insect community metrics.
• Model beta-diversity patterns across different wetland sites in Ontario.
• Assess the presence and absence of specific insect taxa across the surveyed sites.

Strengths

• Data from 28 geographically paired sites provides a controlled comparison between native and introduced plant stands.
• Includes attack rate data for fourteen distinct insect taxa, allowing for taxon-specific analysis.
• Contains multiple calculated biodiversity indices (alpha- and beta-diversity) derived from the raw observations.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for some modeling tasks.
• Data is limited to a two-year survey (2016-2017) in a single Canadian province.

Provenance

Source

University of Toronto, R. B. deJonge

Collection Method

Field survey of 28 paired sites across Ontario, Canada.

Time Range

2016-2017

Geography

Ontario, Canada