Table 2 List and description of the ant traits used in this study to analyse the response of ant communities to pastoral land use abandonment
Trait | Data type | Measure* | Unit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Worker size (WS) | Quantitative | Continuous | mm | Distance from the tip of the mandibles to the tip of the gaster |
Worker polymorphism (WP) | Quantitative | Continuous | mm/mm | Mean worker size divided by worker size range |
Colony size (CS) | Quantitative | Continuous | ln-transformed | Number of workers per colony |
Diet (D) | Qualitative | Ordinal | 1 | Generalist (Gen) |
2 | Mainly liquid feeder (LF) | |||
3 | Predator/liquid feeder (PLF) | |||
4 | Strictly predator (P) | |||
5 | Seed harvester (SH) | |||
Behavioural dominance (BD) | Qualitative | Binary | 1 | Dominant (Dom) |
2 | Subordinate (Sub) | |||
Diurnality (Di) | Qualitative | Binary | 1 | Not strictly Diurnal (nD) |
2 | Strictly Diurnal (D) | |||
Foraging strategy (FS) | Qualitative | Ordinal | 1 | Strictly group (FSG) |
2 | Strictly collective (FSC) | |||
3 | Both group and collective (FSGC) | |||
4 | Strictly individual (FSI) | |||
Number of nests per colony (nN) | Qualitative | Ordinal | 1 | Monodomy (Md) |
2 | Both monodomy and polydomy (MPd) | |||
3 | Polydomy (Pd) | |||
Number of queens (nQ) | Qualitative | Ordinal | 1 | Monogyny (Mg) |
2 | Both monogyny and polygyny (MPg) | |||
3 | Polygyny (Pg) | |||
Colony foundation (CF) | Qualitative | Ordinal | 1 | Dependent (Fd) |
2 | Both dependent and independent (Fdi) | |||
3 | Independent (Fi) |