Author
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Greenstone, Matthew |
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Submitted to: Journal of Entomological Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 9/23/2015 Publication Date: 1/1/2016 Citation: Greenstone, M.H. 2016. Sampling epigeal arthropods: A permanent, sheltered, closeable pitfall trapping station. Journal of Entomological Science. 51:87-93. Interpretive Summary: Surface-dwelling predatory arthropods, such as spiders and ground beetles, are important natural enemies of agricultural pests, but they are difficult to sample due to their small size and cryptic behavior. Pitfall traps are easy to fabricate and deploy and can provide useful information on the number and diversity of predatory species in a location. However, pitfall traps are susceptible to precipitation and flooding, are difficult to close between collecting intervals, and can degrade the habitat if they need to be repeatedly deployed. I describe an inexpensive, permanent pitfall station that shelters the trap from precipitation and flooding, can be securely closed during inactive periods, and can remain in place indefinitely without damaging the site. This work is of interest to insect ecologists and pest management professionals. Technical Abstract: Epigeal arthropods constitute the bulk of herbivore, predator, and decomposer species in soil and litter ecosystems. Being small and difficult to observe within these sometimes densely vegetated habitats, they are inherently difficult to sample quantitatively. Further, most methods have inherent taxon, life-stage, and habitat biases, making biodiversity and other community-wide sampling problematic. Quadrat methods can be quantitative but may under-count active taxa and only work in the structurally simplest habitats. Mark-and-recapture and trapping-out methods can yield defensible quantitative estimates but are not practicable for multi-species sampling. This leaves only flooding the habitat and collecting every animal thus dislodged, an expensive and difficult expedient. Pitfall traps are inexpensive and easily deployed, but they are not quantitative. When used intensively for a sufficiently long period of time, however, the can support reliable estimates of the total number of species and other biodiversity indices. Nevertheless there are technical problems associated with the use of pitfalls, including susceptibility to precipitation and flooding, lack of simple methods to close the traps between collecting intervals, and threats to the integrity of the trapping site. I describe an inexpensive permanent pitfall station that shelters the trap from precipitation and flooding, can be securely closed during inactive periods, and remain in place indefinitely without damage to the site. |
