68 Mongolian desert ants. The Journal of Biogeography (Dec.

2003) published an article on the first comprehensive study of ants in Mongolia (Central Asia). Botanists placed seed baits at 11 study sites and observed the ant species attracted to each site. Some of the data recorded at each study site are provided in the table on the next page and saved in the GOBIANTS file.

a. Find the mean, median, and mode for the number of ant species discovered at the 11 sites. Interpret each of these values.

b. Which measure of central tendency would you recommend to describe the center of the number-of-ant-species distribution?

Explain.

c. Find the mean, median, and mode for the percentage of total plant cover at the five Dry Steppe sites only.

d. Find the mean, median, and mode for the percentage of total plant cover at the six Gobi Desert sites only.

e. On the basis of the results of parts c and d , does the center of the distribution for total plant cover percentage appear to be different at the two regions?

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Data for Exercise 68 Annual Max. Daily Total Plant Number of Species Diversity Site Region Rainfall (mm) Temp. (C) Cover (%) Ant Species Index 1 Dry Steppe 196 5.7 40 3 .89 2 Dry Steppe 196 5.7 3 Dry Steppe 179 7.0 4 Dry Steppe 197 8.0 5 Dry Steppe 149 8.5 AN .83 52 1.31 1.48 .97 6 Gobi Desert 112 10.7 30 49 .46 Gobi Desert 125 11.4 16 1.23 8 Gobi Desert 99 10.9 30 9 Gobi Desert 125 11.4 56 .76 10 Gobi Desert 11 Gobi Desert 84 115 11.4 22 1.26 11.4 14 .69 Based on Pfeiffer, M., et al. "Community organization and species richness of ants in Mongolia along an ecological gradient from steppe to Gobi desert." Journal of Biogeography, Vol. 30, No. 12, Dec. 2003 (Table 1 and 2).