Data from: Importance of color for artificial clay caterpillars as sentinel prey in maize, soybean, and prairie

Data files for manuscript titled "Importance of color for artificial clay caterpillars as sentinel prey in maize, soybean, and prairie".

Metadata is contained within excel file that describes all variables for each tab.

Abstract from paper: The use of artificial clay caterpillars to measure predation pressure under real field conditions is one method that has garnered recent support for quantifying ecosystem services that beneficial insects provide. Here, we focus on color and ask whether it is an important variable that should be considered in studies using clay caterpillars as sentinel prey. We deployed a total of 1920 brown, cream, green, gray, terracotta, and white clay caterpillars onto maize, soybean, and prairie plants to test if lighter colored caterpillars will be attacked and retrieved more than caterpillars with darker colors. As hypothesized, color was a significant predictor with green and terracotta caterpillars performing best, whereas brown and gray caterpillars performed the worst. Interestingly, clay caterpillars were also attacked proportionally to the number of insects in the surrounding habitat. Combined, we suggest artificial clay caterpillars could be useful for rapid ecosystem function assessments, but only when their color is considered.


Resources in this dataset:


  • Resource Title: Data for "Importance of color for artificial clay caterpillars as sentinel prey in maize, soybean, and prairie".

    File Name: Sentinal Prey - Final Data File.xlsx

    Resource Description: Excel file with 3 tabs: Metadata, predation and abundance, and predation and color.

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel public
bureauCode {005:18}
catalog_@context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
catalog_describedBy https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
identifier 10.15482/USDA.ADC/1528194
license https://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/
modified 2024-02-21
old-spatial {"type": "MultiPoint", "coordinates": [[-96.804, 44.353], [-97.122, 44.341], [-96.65, 44.24]]}
programCode {005:040}
publisher Agricultural Research Service
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash f6897c5fb4f1ac1adade9bba8a3c97827aaf2764d2738fc383a42ef09e8d0fd4
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial {"type": "MultiPoint", "coordinates": [[-96.804, 44.353], [-97.122, 44.341], [-96.65, 44.24]]}
temporal 2021-06-01/2021-06-30
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • AmeriGEO
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • CKAN
  • GEO
  • GEOSS
  • National
  • North America
  • United States
  • agriculture
  • ars
  • artificial-prey
  • biological-control
  • data-gov
  • dummy-caterpillar
  • lepidoptera
  • np304
  • plasticine-larvae
  • predation
isopen False
license_id us-pd
license_title us-pd
maintainer Roeder, Karl
maintainer_email karl.roeder@usda.gov
metadata_created 2025-09-23T15:17:25.075101
metadata_modified 2025-09-23T15:17:25.075108
notes <p>Data files for manuscript titled "Importance of color for artificial clay caterpillars as sentinel prey in maize, soybean, and prairie".</p> <p>Metadata is contained within excel file that describes all variables for each tab.</p> <p>Abstract from paper: The use of artificial clay caterpillars to measure predation pressure under real field conditions is one method that has garnered recent support for quantifying ecosystem services that beneficial insects provide. Here, we focus on color and ask whether it is an important variable that should be considered in studies using clay caterpillars as sentinel prey. We deployed a total of 1920 brown, cream, green, gray, terracotta, and white clay caterpillars onto maize, soybean, and prairie plants to test if lighter colored caterpillars will be attacked and retrieved more than caterpillars with darker colors. As hypothesized, color was a significant predictor with green and terracotta caterpillars performing best, whereas brown and gray caterpillars performed the worst. Interestingly, clay caterpillars were also attacked proportionally to the number of insects in the surrounding habitat. Combined, we suggest artificial clay caterpillars could be useful for rapid ecosystem function assessments, but only when their color is considered. </p><div><br>Resources in this dataset:</div><br><ul><li><p>Resource Title: Data for "Importance of color for artificial clay caterpillars as sentinel prey in maize, soybean, and prairie".</p> <p>File Name: Sentinal Prey - Final Data File.xlsx</p><p>Resource Description: Excel file with 3 tabs: Metadata, predation and abundance, and predation and color.</p></li></ul><p></p>
num_resources 1
num_tags 18
title Data from: Importance of color for artificial clay caterpillars as sentinel prey in maize, soybean, and prairie