Identification

Title

Mimetic host shifts in a social parasite of ants: Analytical data of surface semio-chemicals on Maculinea rebeli larvae

Abstract

This dataset is part of the study of mimetic host shifts in an endangered social parasite of ants, which is a joint study of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the University of Oxford. It contains the relative abundance data of cuticular hydrocarbons extracted from worker ants of Myrmica sabuleti and M. schencki, and from caterpillars of Maculinea rebeli from two populations at the pre-adoption stage and after being reared by the two ant species. The chemical was analysed from the caterpillars from each region when reared with each ants, by using gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MSD). Various statistical analysis was then carried out to compare the differences between groups. It aims to test whether observed regional differences in M. rebeli's host specificity could be explained by variation in chemical mimicry. Detailed research method can be found in Thomas et al. (2013) Mimetic host shifts in an endangered social parasite of ants. Proc. R. Soc. B vol. 280 no.1751. (https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.2336) Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/b0aec477-0883-4963-a3ae-52e3f0daf5aa

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

https://data-package.ceh.ac.uk/data/b0aec477-0883-4963-a3ae-52e3f0daf5aa

name: Download the data

description: Download a copy of this data

function: download

https://data-package.ceh.ac.uk/sd/b0aec477-0883-4963-a3ae-52e3f0daf5aa.zip

name: Documents

description: Documents available to assist with re-use of this dataset.

function: information

Unique resource identifier

code

1351093101460

codeSpace

CEH:EIDC:

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

biota

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Wikidata

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2012-10-29

Keyword set

keyword value

Conservation ecology

Maculinea rebeli

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-180

East bounding longitude

180

North bounding latitude

90

South bounding latitude

-90

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

2001-01-01

End position

2005-12-31

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2013-01-22

Frequency of update

notPlanned

Quality and validity

Lineage

We tracked the changing chemical profiles of caterpillars from each region when reared with each ant, from uncontaminated pre-adoption final instars, to individuals 6 weeks after adoption, and finally to the latter after isolation from ants for 5 days, which allows acquired semio-chemicals to dissipate and prompts the hungry caterpillars to release their own secretions. Hexane extracts of surface chemicals were obtained from: (i) unparasitized Myrmica schencki and M. sabuleti on our study sites in the Pyrenees, Poland, and the naïve ants in France that had not experienced M. rebeli (n = 5 workers from 5 nests of each ant per locality); (ii) 8 batches per region of pre-adoption final instar M. rebeli larvae sampled after leaving G. cruciata before contact with ants (n = 5 larvae per batch, in total 40 individuals for each type of M. rebeli); (iii) M. rebeli larvae after living 6 weeks with naïve French ants, n = 5 (Spanish+schencki and Polish+sabuleti), n = 3 (Spanish+sabuleti and Polish+schencki); and (iv) M. rebeli larvae reared as in (iii), then isolated from ants and kept unfed and singly in sterile conditions for 5 days; n = 5 (Spanish+schencki), n = 4 (Polish+schencki), n = 3 (Spanish+sabuleti and Polish+sabuleti). The chemical and statistical analyses of extracts followed an established protocol. Maculinea extracts were concentrated to 20ml, ant workers to 50ml, and 2ml of every sample were analyzed by gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MSD) using a HP 5890II GC and HP 5971A MSD, and ultra-high purity helium as the carrier gas with 10 psi column head pressure. Mass spectral data were acquired in full scan mode over 40 - 600 m/z. Mass chromatograms were initially screened for hydrocarbons by examining the selected ion chromatogram of m/z = 57. The chromatogram was integrated at a threshold value of 12 (HP integrator) to obtain the areas under the peaks measuring the total ion count. With each sequence of samples we also analysed alkane standards (n-C20 - n-C36), and the position of each peak within that range in a sample was calculated as an Equivalent Chain Length (ECL). Mass chromatograms were inspected to ensure that they were free of gross interferences and that peaks of interest such as branched and straight alkanes and alkenes, were chromatographically distinct and symmetrical. We excluded peaks that were column bleed, siloxanes, or phthalate plasticizers as indicated by a characteristic abundant ion at m/z 149. Peaks of interest were tentatively identified by a combination of ECL number and inspections of their full scan mass spectra and matching with the NIST-97/08 mass spectral database. For statistical analysis, the area under each peak was expressed as the proportion of the sum of all peaks in the chromatogram. Samples were compared using multivariate and non-parametric multidimensional scaling (MDS) on the ranks of the Bray-Curtis similarities. The extent of a final lack of fit was assessed by a STRESS statistic before pair-wise differences between species and treatments were assessed using an analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) in Primer-e v6. We used the average pairwise distance between groups, and assessed two averages with a two-sample t-test, to compare differences in the shift of similarities between groups.

Conformity

Conformity report

specification

title

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2010-12-08

degree

explanation

Data format

name of format

Comma-separated values (CSV)

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

You must acknowledge the following resource: Thomas et al. (2013). Mimetic host shifts in an endangered social parasite of ants. Proc. R. Soc. B vol. 280 no.1751. (doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.2336)

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

organisation name

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

email address

enquiries@ceh.ac.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Responsible party

organisation name

Environmental Information Data Centre

email address

eidc@ceh.ac.uk

responsible party role

custodian

Responsible party

organisation name

Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

email address

enquiries@ceh.ac.uk

responsible party role

author

Responsible party

organisation name

University of Oxford

email address

enquiries@ceh.ac.uk

responsible party role

author

Responsible party

organisation name

Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

email address

enquiries@ceh.ac.uk

responsible party role

author

Responsible party

organisation name

University of Bialystok

email address

enquiries@ceh.ac.uk

responsible party role

author

Responsible party

organisation name

Polish Academy of Sciences

email address

enquiries@ceh.ac.uk

responsible party role

author

Responsible party

organisation name

Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

email address

enquiries@ceh.ac.uk

responsible party role

author

Responsible party

organisation name

UFZ Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research

email address

enquiries@ceh.ac.uk

responsible party role

author

Responsible party

organisation name

NERC Environmental Information Data Centre

email address

eidc@ceh.ac.uk

responsible party role

publisher

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

organisation name

Environmental Information Data Centre

full postal address

Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg

Lancaster

LA1 4AP

UK

email address

eidc@ceh.ac.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2020-01-27T09:23:31

Metadata language

eng