Twig-Nesting Ant Communities and Colonization Experiments in Malaysian Forests

154 survey records of naturally occurring twig-nesting ant colonies and 905 observations from experimental twig colonization trials. The data was collected by Imperial College London researcher Isolde Lane Shaw as part of the SAFE Project research on microclimate change and forest disturbance. It includes plot locality information across 28 sampling sites.

Use Cases

• Modeling ant colony occupancy rates based on forest disturbance levels mentioned in the project description
• Analyzing experimental colonization success of twig-dwelling ants over time using the date fields
• Studying genus-level diversity patterns across different SAFE Project sampling blocks
• Correlating search effort (No.Searched) with colony discovery rates (No.Colonies.Found)

Strengths

• Includes both observational survey data (154 rows) and experimental data (905 rows), allowing for comparative analysis
• Provides detailed metadata on 28 distinct sampling plots, enabling spatial analysis
• Contains specific, operational definitions for key variables like 'colony' and search methodology

Limitations

• Row count for the full dataset is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Column-level documentation for some worksheets is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified

Provenance

Source

SAFE Project research led by Imperial College London

Collection Method

Field surveys and controlled twig colonization experiments

Geography

Forest areas within the SAFE Project sampling sites, likely in Malaysia