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Warm Ants Experiment - Microclimate

HF113 EML Publications Archive

Data

Overview

  • Lead: Aaron Ellison, Robert Dunn
  • Investigators: Nicholas Gotelli, Shannon Pelini, Nathan Sanders
  • Contact: Aaron Ellison
  • Start date: 2009-01-25
  • End date: ongoing
  • Location: Prospect Hill Tract (Harvard Forest)
  • Latitude: +42.53
  • Longitude: -72.19
  • Elevation: 340 meters
  • Taxa: Dolichoderinae, Formicidae, Formicinae, Myrmicinae, Ponerinae
  • Research topic: plot
  • Study type: long-term measurement
  • LTER core area: disturbance
  • Keywords: ants, assembly rules, climate change, warming
  • Release date: 2009
  • EML version: knb-lter-hfr.113.9
  • Revisions: data updated 2009-11-09
  • Related links:
  • Abstract:

    Experimental field studies are needed to understand the consequences of global climatic changefor local community structure and associated ecosystem processes. We are using 5-m diameter open-top environmental chambers to simultaneously manipulate air and soil temperatures at the Harvard Forest and at the Duke Forest in North Carolina. These field manipulations are designed to reveal the effects of temperature increases on the populations, communities, and associated ecosystem services of assemblages of ground-foraging ants. Ants are a model taxon for studying effects of global climatic change because they comprise the dominant fraction of animal biomass in many terrestrial communities and because they provide essential ecosystem services, including soil turnover, decomposition, and seed dispersal. The experiment is designed to test three predictions: 1. Projected atmospheric warming will lead to declines in ant species’ abundances at the warmer, southern extent of their ranges in the US. Conversely, projected atmospheric warming will lead to increases in abundance or range extensions of ant species at the cooler, northern extent of their ranges in the US. 2. Warming will change the relative abundance and composition of ant communities, and will lead to the loss of ant biodiversity. 3. Warming will potentially diminish ecosystem processes and services provided by ants, particularly with respect to the dispersal of seeds. Twelve open-top chambers at each site which will each be exposed to one of four levels of air temperature increases: ambient, +2, +4, and +8 deg C; soil temperatures will be increased simultaneously from 0 to ~ 2 deg C. After an initial year of pre-intervention measurements, the experiment will run for 3 consecutive years of continuous warming. The response variables measured will include ant activity, population densities and colony sizes of focal species, ant community diversity and species composition, and rates of seed dispersal and predation as mediated by ants.

  • Methods:

    Microclimatic measurements in each chamber include: three measurements of air temperatures, two measurements each of soil temperatures in organic and mineral soil, one measure of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), one measurement of relative humidity, one measurement of soil moisture. In two chambers, we are also measuring soil heat flux, associated soil temperatures at 2 and 6 cm, and volumetric water content. All measurements are hourly averages, and we report out mean, minimum, and maximum values, along with battery voltages.

  • Use:

    This dataset is released to the public and may be freely downloaded. Please keep the designated Contact person informed of any plans to use the dataset. Consultation or collaboration with the original investigators is strongly encouraged. Publications and data products that make use of the dataset must include proper acknowledgement. For more information on LTER Network data access and use policies, please see: http://www.lternet.edu/data/netpolicy.html.

  • Citation:

    Ellison A, Dunn R. 2009. Warm Ants Experiment - Microclimate. Harvard Forest Data Archive: HF113.

Detailed Metadata

hf113-01: chamber data

  1. DateTime: time stamp (MM/DD/YYYY hh:mm)
  2. JD: Julian Day (DDD)
  3. Chamber: chamber number (1-12)
  4. CAT1_Avg: chamber air temperature 1 -average (celsius )
  5. CAT2_Avg: chamber air temperature 2 - average (celsius )
  6. CAT3_Avg: chamber air temperature 3 - average (celsius )
  7. CSTo1_Avg: chamber soil temperature - organic 1 - average (celsius )
  8. CSTo2_Avg: chamber soil temperature - organic 2 - average (celsius )
  9. CSTI1_Avg: chamber soil temperature - inorganic 1 - average (celsius )
  10. CSTI2_Avg: chamber soil temperature - inorganic 2 - average (celsius )
  11. CQ_Avg: chamber quantum sensor flux density - average (micromolesPerMeterSquaredPerSecond )
  12. CRh_Avg: chamber relative humidity - average (dimensionless )
  13. CSM_Avg: chamber soil moisture - average (dimensionless )
  14. CAT1_Min: chamber air temperature 1 - minimum (celsius )
  15. CAT2_Min: chamber air temperature 2 - minimum (celsius )
  16. CAT3_Min: chamber air temperature 3 - minimum (celsius )
  17. CSTo1_Min: chamber organic soil temperature 1 - minimum (celsius )
  18. CSTI1_Min: chamber inorganic soil temperature 1 - minimum (celsius )
  19. CSTo2_Min: chamber organic soil temperature 2 - minimum (celsius )
  20. CSTI2_Min: chamber inorganic soil temperature 2 - minimum (celsius )
  21. CQ_Min: chamber quantum sensor flux density - minimum (micromolesPerMeterSquaredPerSecond )
  22. CRh_Min: chamber relative humidity - minimum (dimensionless )
  23. CSM_Min: chamber soil moisture - minimum (dimensionless )
  24. CAT1_Max: chamber air temperature 1 - maximum (celsius )
  25. CAT2_Max: chamber air temperature 2 - maximum (celsius )
  26. CAT3_Max: chamber air temperature 3 - maximum (celsius )
  27. CSTo1_Max: chamber organic soil temperature 1 - maximum (celsius )
  28. CSTI1_Max: chamber inorganic soil temperature 1 - maximum (celsius )
  29. CSTo2_Max: chamber organic soil temperature 2 - maximum (celsius )
  30. CSTI2_Max: chamber inorganic soil temperature 1 - maximum (celsius )
  31. CQ_Max: chamber quantum sensor flux density - maximum (micromolesPerMeterSquaredPerSecond )
  32. CRh_Max: chamber relative humidity - maximum (dimensionless )
  33. CSM_Max: chamber soil moisture - maximum (dimensionless )

hf113-02: outside data

  1. DateTime: date and time (MM/DD/YYYY hh:mm)
  2. JD: Julian day (DDD)
  3. batt_volt_Min: minimum battery voltage (volt )
  4. PTemp_Avg: average panel temperature (celsius )
  5. PTemp_Min: minimum panel temperature (celsius )
  6. PTemp_Max: maximum panel temperature (celsius )
  7. oAT1_Avg: average outside air temperature - plot 1 (celsius )
  8. oSTo1_Avg: average outside organic soil temperature - plot 1 (celsius )
  9. oSTI1_Avg: average outside inorganic soil temperature - plot 1 (celsius )
  10. oC1Q_Avg: average outside quantum sensor - plot 1 (micromolesPerMeterSquaredPerSecond )
  11. oC1Rh_Avg: average outside relative humidity - plot 1 (dimensionless )
  12. oC1SM_Avg: average outside soil moisture - plot 1 (dimensionless )
  13. oAT1_Min: minimum outside air temperature - plot 1 (celsius )
  14. oSTo1_Min: minimum outside organic soil temperature - plot 1 (celsius )
  15. oSTI1_Min: minimum outside inorganic soil temperature - plot 1 (celsius )
  16. oC1Q_Min: minimum outside quantum sensor - plot 1 (micromolesPerMeterSquaredPerSecond )
  17. oC1Rh_Min: minimum outside relative humidity - plot 1 (dimensionless )
  18. oC1SM_Min: minimum outside soil moisture - plot 1 (dimensionless )
  19. oAT1_Max: maximum outside air temperature - plot 1 (celsius )
  20. oSTo1_Max: maximum outside organic soil temperature - plot 1 (celsius )
  21. oSTI1_Max: maximum outside inorganic soil temperature - plot 1 (celsius )
  22. oC1Q_Max: maximum outside quantum sensor - plot 1 (micromolesPerMeterSquaredPerSecond )
  23. oC1Rh_Max: maximum outside relative humidity - plot 1 (dimensionless )
  24. oC1SM_Max: maximum outside soil moisture - plot 1 (dimensionless )
  25. oAT2_Avg: average outside air temperature - plot 2 (celsius )
  26. oSTo2_Avg: average outside organic soil temperature - plot 2 (celsius )
  27. oSTI2_Avg: average outside inorganic soil temperature - plot 2 (celsius )
  28. oC2Q_Avg: average outside quantum sensor - plot 2 (micromolesPerMeterSquaredPerSecond )
  29. oC2Rh_Avg: average outside relative humidity - plot 2 (dimensionless )
  30. oC2SM_Avg: average outside soil moisture - plot 2 (dimensionless )
  31. oAT2_Min: minimum outside air temperature - plot 2 (celsius )
  32. oSTo2_Min: minimum outside organic soil temperature - plot 2 (celsius )
  33. oSTI2_Min: minimum outside inorganic soil temperature - plot 2 (celsius )
  34. oC2Q_Min: minimum outside quantum sensor - plot 2 (micromolesPerMeterSquaredPerSecond )
  35. oC2Rh_Min: minimum outside relative humidity - plot 2 (dimensionless )
  36. oC2SM_Min: minimum outside soil moisture - plot 2 (dimensionless )
  37. oAT2_Max: maximum outside air temperature - plot 2 (celsius )
  38. oSTo2_Max: maximum outside organic soil temperature - plot 2 (celsius )
  39. oSTI2_Max: maximum outside inorganic soil temperature - plot 2 (celsius )
  40. oC2Q_Max: maximum outside quantum sensor - plot 2 (micromolesPerMeterSquaredPerSecond )
  41. oC2Rh_Max: maximum outside relative humidity - plot 2 (dimensionless )
  42. oC2SM_Max: maximum outside soil moisture - plot 2 (dimensionless )
  43. oAT3_Avg: average outside air temperature - plot 3 (celsius )
  44. oSTo3_Avg: average outside organic soil temperature - plot 3 (celsius )
  45. oSTI3_Avg: average outside inorganic soil temperature - plot 3 (celsius )
  46. oC3Q_Avg: average outside quantum sensor - plot 3 (micromolesPerMeterSquaredPerSecond )
  47. oC3Rh_Avg: average outside relative humidity - plot 3 (dimensionless )
  48. oC3SM_Avg: average outside soil moisture - plot 3 (dimensionless )
  49. oAT3_Min: minimum outside air temperature - plot 3 (celsius )
  50. oSTo3_Min: minimum outside organic soil temperature - plot 3 (celsius )
  51. oSTI3_Min: minimum outside inorganic soil temperature - plot 3 (celsius )
  52. oC3Q_Min: minimum outside quantum sensor - plot 3 (micromolesPerMeterSquaredPerSecond )
  53. oC3Rh_Min: minimum outside relative humidity - plot 3 (dimensionless )
  54. oC3SM_Min: minimum outside soil moisture - plot 3 (dimensionless )
  55. oAT3_Max: maximum outside air temperature - plot 3 (celsius )
  56. oSTo3_Max: maximum outside organic soil temperature - plot 3 (celsius )
  57. oSTI3_Max: maximum outside inorganic soil temperature - plot 3 (celsius )
  58. oC3Q_Max: maximum outside quantum sensor - plot 3 (micromolesPerMeterSquaredPerSecond )
  59. oC3Rh_Max: maximum outside relative humidity - plot 3 (dimensionless )
  60. oC3SM_Max: maximum outside soil moisture - plot 3 (dimensionless )

hf113-03: heat flux plate data

  1. DateTime: date and time (MM/DD/YYYY hh:mm)
  2. JD: Julian Day (DDD)
  3. batt_volt_Avg: battery voltage - average (volt )
  4. SHF_Avg(1): chamber 2 heat flux plate 1 - average (wattsPerMeterSquared )
  5. SHF_Avg(2): chamber 2 heat flux plate 2 - average (wattsPerMeterSquared )
  6. shf_cal(1): chamber 2 soil heat flux calibration for plate 1 (W/(m^2mV)) (number )
  7. shf_cal(2): chamber 2 soil heat flux calibration for plate 2 (W/(m^2mV)) (number )
  8. T109_Avg(1): chamber 2 soil temperature at 2cm - set 1 - average (celsius )
  9. T109_Avg(2): chamber 2 soil temperature at 6cm - set 1 - average (celsius )
  10. T109_Avg(3): chamber 2 soil temperature at 2cm - set 2 - average (celsius )
  11. T109_Avg(4): chamber 2 soil temperature at 6cm - set 2 - average (celsius )
  12. VW_Avg(1): chamber 2 volumetric water content - average (dimensionless )
  13. PA_uS_Avg(1): chamber 2 voltage for volumetric water content - average (microsecond )
  14. SHF_Max(1): chamber 2 heat flux plate 1 - maximum (wattsPerMeterSquared )
  15. SHF_Max(2): chamber 2 heat flux plate 2 - maximum (wattsPerMeterSquared )
  16. T109_Max(1): chamber 2 soil temperature at 2cm - set 1 - maximum (celsius )
  17. T109_Max(2): chamber 2 soil temperature at 6cm - set 1 - maximum (celsius )
  18. T109_Max(3): chamber 2 soil temperature at 2cm - set 2 - maximum (celsius )
  19. T109_Max(4): chamber 2 soil temperature at 6cm - set 2 - maximum (celsius )
  20. VW_Max(1): chamber 2 volumetric water content - maximum (dimensionless )
  21. PA_uS_Max(1): chamber 2 voltage for volumetric water content - maximum (microsecond )
  22. SHF_Min(1): chamber 2 heat flux plate 1 - minimum (wattsPerMeterSquared )
  23. SHF_Min(2): chamber 2 heat flux plate 2 - minimum (wattsPerMeterSquared )
  24. T109_Min(1): chamber 2 soil temperature at 2cm - set 1 - minimum (celsius )
  25. T109_Min(2): chamber 2 soil temperature at 6cm - set 1 - minimum (celsius )
  26. T109_Min(3): chamber 2 soil temperature at 2cm - set 2 - minimum (celsius )
  27. T109_Min(4): chamber 2 soil temperature at 6cm - set 2 - minimum (celsius )
  28. VW_Min(1): chamber 2 volumetric water content - minimum (dimensionless )
  29. PA_uS_Min(1): chamber 2 voltage for volumetric water content - minimum (microsecond )
  30. SHF_Avg(3): chamber 4 heat flux plate 1 - average (wattsPerMeterSquared )
  31. SHF_Avg(4): chamber 4 heat flux plate 2 - average (wattsPerMeterSquared )
  32. shf_cal(3): chamber 4 soil heat flux calibration for plate 1 (W/(m^2mV)) (number )
  33. shf_cal(4): chamber 4 soil heat flux calibration for plate 2 (W/(m^2mV)) (number )
  34. T109_Avg(5): chamber 4 soil temperature at 2cm - set 1 - average (celsius )
  35. T109_Avg(6): chamber 4 soil temperature at 6cm - set 1 - average (celsius )
  36. T109_Avg(7): chamber 4 soil temperature at 2cm - set 2 - average (celsius )
  37. T109_Avg(8): chamber 4 soil temperature at 6cm - set 2 - average (celsius )
  38. VW_Avg(2): chamber 4 volumetric water content - average (dimensionless )
  39. PA_uS_Avg(2): chamber 4 voltage for volumetric water content - average (microsecond )
  40. SHF_Max(3): chamber 4 heat flux plate 1 - maximum (wattsPerMeterSquared )
  41. SHF_Max(4): chamber 4 heat flux plate 2 - maximum (wattsPerMeterSquared )
  42. T109_Max(5): chamber 4 soil temperature at 2cm - set 1 - maximum (celsius )
  43. T109_Max(6): chamber 4 soil temperature at 6cm - set 1 - maximum (celsius )
  44. T109_Max(7): chamber 4 soil temperature at 2cm - set 2 - maximum (celsius )
  45. T109_Max(8): chamber 4 soil temperature at 6cm - set 2 - maximum (celsius )
  46. VW_Max(2): chamber 4 volumetric water content - maximum (dimensionless )
  47. PA_uS_Max(2): chamber 4 voltage for volumetric water content - maximum (microsecond )
  48. SHF_Min(3): chamber 4 heat flux plate 1 - minimum (celsius )
  49. SHF_Min(4): chamber 4 heat flux plate 2 - minimum (celsius )
  50. T109_Min(5): chamber 4 soil temperature at 2cm - set 1 - minimum (celsius )
  51. T109_Min(6): chamber 4 soil temperature at 6cm - set 1 - minimum (celsius )
  52. T109_Min(7): chamber 4 soil temperature at 2cm - set 2 - minimum (celsius )
  53. T109_Min(8): chamber 4 soil temperature at 6cm - set 2 - minimum (celsius )
  54. VW_Min(2): chamber 4 volumetric water content - minimum (dimensionless )
  55. PA_uS_Min(2): chamber 4 voltage for volumetric water content - minimum (microsecond )
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