Comparison of Three Collection Techniques for Capture of Coleoptera, with an Emphasis on Saproxylic Species, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA
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University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Center for Systematic Entomology, Gainesville, Insecta Mundi Florida 11-30-2012 Comparison of three collection techniques for capture of Coleoptera, with an emphasis on saproxylic species, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA Michael L. Ferro Louisiana State Arthropod Museum, [email protected] Matthew L. Gimmel Louisiana State University AgCenter, [email protected] Kyle E. Harms Louisiana State University, [email protected] Christopher E. Carlton Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/insectamundi Part of the Entomology Commons Ferro, Michael L.; Gimmel, Matthew L.; Harms, Kyle E.; and Carlton, Christopher E., "Comparison of three collection techniques for capture of Coleoptera, with an emphasis on saproxylic species, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA" (2012). Insecta Mundi. 772. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/insectamundi/772 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for Systematic Entomology, Gainesville, Florida at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Insecta Mundi by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. INSECTA A Journal of World Insect Systematics MUNDI 0261 Comparison of three collection techniques for capture of Coleoptera, with an emphasis on saproxylic species, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA Michael L. Ferro Louisiana State Arthropod Museum, Department of Entomology Louisiana State University Agricultural Center 402 Life Sciences Building Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, U.S.A. [email protected] Matthew L. Gimmel Division of Entomology Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology University of Kansas 1501 Crestline Drive, Suite 140 Lawrence, KS, 66045, U.S.A. [email protected] Kyle E. Harms Department of Biological Sciences Louisiana State University 202 Life Sciences Building Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, U.S.A. [email protected] Christopher E. Carlton Louisiana State Arthropod Museum, Department of Entomology Louisiana State University Agricultural Center 402 Life Sciences Building Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, U.S.A. [email protected] Date of Issue: November 30, 2012 CENTER FOR SYSTEMATIC ENTOMOLOGY, INC., Gainesville, FL M. L. Ferro, M. L. Gimmel, K. E. Harms and C. E. Carlton Comparison of three collection techniques for capture of Coleoptera, with an emphasis on saproxylic species, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA Insecta Mundi 0261: 1–31 Published in 2012 by Center for Systematic Entomology, Inc. P. O. Box 141874 Gainesville, FL 32614-1874 USA http://www.centerforsystematicentomology.org/ Insecta Mundi is a journal primarily devoted to insect systematics, but articles can be published on any non-marine arthropod. 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Florida Center for Library Automation: http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/insectamundi University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Digital Commons: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/insectamundi/ Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main: http://edocs.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/volltexte/2010/14363/ Author instructions available on the Insecta Mundi page at: http://www.centerforsystematicentomology.org/insectamundi/ Copyright held by the author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Com- mons, Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc/3.0/ 0261: 1-31 2012 Comparison of three collection techniques for capture of Coleoptera, with an emphasis on saproxylic species, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA Michael L. Ferro Louisiana State Arthropod Museum, Department of Entomology Louisiana State University Agricultural Center 402 Life Sciences Building Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, U.S.A. [email protected] Matthew L. Gimmel Division of Entomology Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology University of Kansas 1501 Crestline Drive, Suite 140 Lawrence, KS, 66045, U.S.A. [email protected] Kyle E. Harms Department of Biological Sciences Louisiana State University 202 Life Sciences Building Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, U.S.A. [email protected] Christopher E. Carlton Louisiana State Arthropod Museum, Department of Entomology Louisiana State University Agricultural Center 402 Life Sciences Building Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, U.S.A. [email protected] Abstract. Collection methods and/or habitats sampled influence how many and which species are captured during entomological surveys. Here we compare Coleoptera catches among three survey activities, each using a single collection method, at the same study sites in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA. Activities included: short-term flight intercept trapping (FITs); sifting/Berlese funneling of leaf litter and extremely decayed downed coarse woody debris; and using emergence chambers containing coarse woody debris of various decay classes. In total, 2472 adult beetle specimens, representing 217 lowest identifiable taxa within 164 genera and 42 families, were collected during the FIT survey. Each survey activity yielded more than 2000 specimens, and a combined total of 413 species was collected. A combination of all surveys yielded the highest species richness when normal- ized for number of specimens indicating that variation of habitat and/or collection method significantly increases species richness. Of single surveys the FIT survey had the highest absolute species richness (217) and the highest richness when normalized for number of specimens. Species overlap among survey activities was low (Sorensen’s quotient of similarity was 0.20–0.27), which showed that each was about equally dissimilar from all others. Overlap of catch between FITs and emergence chambers was too low to justify substitution of emergence surveys with the FIT survey protocol used when attempting to collect saproxylic Coleoptera. 1 2 • INSECTA MUNDI 0261, November 2012 FERRO ET AL. Introduction Concerning conservation of biodiversity, Aldo Leopold (1949) once admonished, “To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” However, from a practical standpoint, an inventory of the “cogs” and “wheels” (species) at a location, in a community, or within a habitat can be quite daunting, especially for entomologists. The large number and similarity of many species, difficulty of identification of immature forms, relatively short adult life spans, wide variety of micro-niches, and apparent scarcity of some species all contrive to make full inventories difficult. Habitat and collection method have a major influence over which species and how many specimens are collected. Hammond (1990), in his overview of early results from Project Wallace, where more than 1,000,000 tropical beetle specimens were collected using a wide variety of techniques, reported that 60% of species were collected from only one type of sample. Siitonen (1994) found that window traps collected more saproxylic beetle species associated with a wider variety of habitats than subcortical hand sampling in a northern Finland forest. Hammond (1997) found that window traps and emergence collections showed taxon bias when used to collect arthropods in a Canadian forest. Window traps col- lected 204 beetle species whereas emergence collected