This resource comprises a time series dataset of ant and other invertebrate abundance measured fortnightly at bait monitoring cards on an experimental plot in the Maliau Basin Conservation Area, Malaysian Borneo. The resource includes data regarding the amount of food resource removed from experimental plots when either ants or vertebrates were excluded from the resource. The data were collected to assess the roles that the different groups (ants, invertebrates, vertebrates) play in ecosystem function, and the capacity for functional redundancy within and between these groups. Data were collected between 2014 and 2016 during a project run by the University of Liverpool, which was part of the NERC Human-modified tropical forest (HMTF) Programme.