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Optimising design and effort for environmental surveys using dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2016

Claudia Tocco ,
Danielle E.A. Quinn ,
John M. Midgley  and
Martin H. Villet
Claudia Tocco*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology & Entomology, Rhodes University, PO Box 94, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa Department of Entomology and Arachnology, Albany Museum, Somerset Street, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
Danielle E.A. Quinn
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, B4P 2R6, Canada
John M. Midgley
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology & Entomology, Rhodes University, PO Box 94, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa Department of Entomology and Arachnology, Albany Museum, Somerset Street, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
Martin H. Villet
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology & Entomology, Rhodes University, PO Box 94, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
*
1Corresponding author (e-mail: claudia.tocco@me.com)
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Abstract

In biological monitoring, deploying an effective standardised quantitative sampling method, optimised by trap design and sampling effort, is an essential consideration. To exemplify this using dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae) communities, three pitfall trap designs (un-baited (TN), baited at ground level (flat trap, TF), and baited above the trap (hanging trap, TH)), employed with varying levels of sampling effort (number of traps=1, 2, 3 … 10; number of days=1, 2, 3), were evaluated for sampling completeness and efficiency in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Modelling and resampling simulation approaches were used to suggest optimal sampling protocols across environmentally diverse sites. Overall, TF recovered the greatest abundance and species richness of dung beetles, but behavioural guilds showed conflicting trends: endocoprids preferred TH while paracoprids and telocoprids preferred TF. Resampling simulation of trap type and the two components of sampling effort suggested that six TF traps left for three days was most efficient in obtaining a representative sample and allowed differentiation between trap types, allowing the improved efficiency to be recognised. The effect of trap type on non-target specimens, particularly ants, was also investigated. TF and TH caught almost no by-catch, which is ethically desirable.

Type
Biodiversity & Evolution
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 149 , Issue 2 , April 2017 , pp. 214 - 226
Copyright
© Entomological Society of Canada 2016 

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Footnotes

Subject editor: Andrew Smith

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