A comparison of collecting methods in relation to the diversity of Collembola in scree habitats

Abstract

We compared the species composition, relative abundances and life form structure of subterranean Collembola (Hexapoda) captured by two different methods along a depth gradient of five forested scree sites in the Western Carpathians, Slovakia: (1) high-gradient extraction of soil samples, and (2) collection using subterranean traps. Our results showed that the soil samples were more efficient in covering species richness at the majority of the sites. The body size of the captured animals depended remarkably on the sampling method. Extraction was more effective in collecting smaller, less active hemi- and euedaphic forms of Collembola, while collection by subterranean traps favoured both motile ground-dwelling as well as relatively large, active euedaphobionts. Additionally, different trends in the vertical stratification of Collembola life forms and their relative abundances were detected by the two methods. Atmobionts and epigeonts, forming the greater part of the communities in traps compared to soil samples, were distributed along the entire scree profiles, but their relative abundance and species numbers had a strongly decreasing trend with depth. Moreover, motile, large hemi- and euedaphic forms had high relative abundances in traps in the middle and deeper scree levels at three sites. In contrast, in soil samples the hemi- and euedaphobionts with small body size were abundant on the surface of the MSS sites. Thus, soil sampling applied before installation of subterranean traps may serve as an appropriate complementary technique to obtain a more complete pattern of Collembola diversity in forested scree habitats.

Using Trait-Based Approaches to Assess the Response of Epedaphic Collembola to Organic Matter Management Practices: A Case Study in a Rubber Plantation in South-Eastern Côte d’Ivoire

“…Furthermore, the sampling method could have an influence on our results as pitfall traps tend to capture epedaphic and more mobile springtails. Trends might be different with other non-selective methods (soil sampling) or a combination of methods [ 39 , 57 ].…”

Vertical distribution of spiders (Araneae) in Central European shallow subterranean habitats

“…The cups collect animals entering the pipe through holes at different depths, allowing to study the vertical distribution of arthropods in shallow subterranean habitats. For example, this trap design has been used to study the vertical distribution of spiders in soil and fissured rock (Laška et al 2011;Růžička and Dolanský 2016), and springtails (Rendoš et al 2016;Jureková et al 2021), and myriapods (Haľková et al 2020) in forested scree slopes.…”