Data for Plant species and floral traits shape arthropod communities in prairie plantings more than neonicotinoid contamination

Plant species and floral traits shape arthropod communities in restored prairies more than neonicotinoid contamination. Using a manipulated field experiment in an established prairie in Champaign Co., IL, we compared the importance of clothianidin contamination and floral traits on arthropod feeding guild abundances and community structure.

These datasets contain observations of insects and plants collected during all sampling periods throughout the experiment (JT-HT_Insect_Sampling_2022.csv) and combined feeding guild abundances and floral variables by sample (JT-HT_SEM_Data.csv). The columns in the individual observation dataset include: sampling date, plot number, treatment (1 = CLO for Clothianidin; 0 = CONT for Control), flower abundance, order, superfamily, family, genus, species, and assigned feeding guild. There were inconsistencies in insect determinations and taxonomic resolution among the observations. Cells left empty due to undetermined taxonomic resolution are filled with a period.

Additional supporting information—such as seed set, aboveground plant biomass, clothianidin tissue levels, sample design, and proposed structural models—can be found through the publisher. The columns for the combined variables by sample include: Plot #, Plant (USDA plant code), Treatment, Treat (binary variable of treatment required by the R package), Average Seed Set, Plant Dry Weight (in grams), Heads (number of individual flower units), Inflorescences (number of grouped flowering units), Herbivore, Ants, Omnivore, Pollinator, Predator, and Omni. R code for running analyses (SEMs, PERMANOVA) and plot visualization are also provided.