+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | JORNADA LTER | | New Mexico State University | | Research Project Description Form | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ All Jornada Desert Site NSF / LTER projects must be documented on the following form. In addition, associated data sets must also be described on Data Set Documentation Forms, available from the data manager. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Project ID: PRL2002031 1) Project title: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arthropod Pitfall Traps-II 2) Responsible investigator: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Lightfoot 3) Date research commenced (mm/dd/yyyy): ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 06/16/1989 4) Date research terminated (mm/dd/yyyy): ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11/11/1994 5) PI funding the research: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jornada LTER II 6) Additional investigator(s): ------------------------------------------------------------------------- W. G. Whitford 7) Funding agency (ex. NSF, USDA): ------------------------------------------------------------------------- NSF/LTER 8) Funding cycle (Ex. LTER II, N/A): ------------------------------------------------------------------------- LTER II 9) Informative abstract (Describe research project completely. Include project OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Methods and locations. Pitfall trap grids were installed at three creosotebush sites, three grassland sites, and three mesquite sites, and two tarbush sites. Each grid consisted of 4 x 4 rows of traps at 10 meter intervals. Each pitfall trap was 40 cm deep, and lined with tin can cylinders. A polyethylene funnel was set on a container in each trap. Each trap had a ceramic tile cover which was used to close the trap during non-sampling periods. Traps were opened for two consecutive weeks every month for the period 16 June 1989 to 23 August 1991. For the period post-August 1991, traps were opened for two consecutive weeks quarterly (Feb, May, Aug, Oct). During the summer traps were checked every three days, during the winter they were checked once each week. Non-ground dwelling arthropods were released. Certain large long-lived arthropods such as tarantulas and vinegaroons are recorded and released. All other arthropods are preserved and sorted to taxa in the lab. This project has been continued in LTERIII as Arthropod Pitfall Traps-III project, utilizing a new set of pitfall traps specifically designed for arthropods. Objectives. Desertification is hypothesized to have altered the spatial and temporal availability of resources required by the biota. Results of desertification on the Jornada include changes to shrub dominated communities and major soil changes. We hypothesize that these shifts in vegetation have changed resources temporally for many of the consumers. If grassland systems respond to rainfall without significant lags, but shrub systems do not, then consumer species should reflect these differences. In addition, shifts from grassland to shrubland results in greater structural heterogeneity of the habitats. We have hypothesized that consumer populations, diversity, and densities of some consumers will be higher in grasslands than in shrublands. Diversity and/or densities are hypothesized to be related to the NPP of the sites. Data will be collected for the duration of the LTER program in order to provide data to test these hypotheses. 10) Data set(s) associated with project: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Documentation Dataset ID File Name Dataset Name ---------- ---------------- ------------------------------------------- DSL2002034 ARTHPIT2.DSD Arthropod pitfall trap-II data 11) Publications resulting from project research: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12) Comments (Include any comments that here that more full describe this project): ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) Project file history log: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Project title - Arthropod Pitfall Traps-II Project file name - ARTHPIT2.PRJ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- mm/dd/yyyy - Date of comment (month/day/year) Int - Initials of person making comment KJL - Kevin J. La Fleur JPA - John P. Anderson DCL - David C. Lightfoot JL - Jim Lenz KR - Ken Ramsey Changes/Updates - List any changes made to document mm/dd/yyyy Int Changes/Updates ---------- --- -------------------------------------------------------- 02/13/1990 KJL Project documentation completed by investigator 08/07/1996 KJL Converted project document file to new format. 03/12/1997 DCL Modified documentation to reflect termination of consumer pitfall traps at the end of LTERII, and the initiation of lizard pitfall traps and arthropod pitfall traps as separate projects for LTERIII. 06/13/2002 JL Added Dataset ID and Project ID sections. 01/23/2003 KR Changed format of Associated Datasets section. Added Dataset ID to Associated Datasets section. Moved Project ID to top of form. 06/17/2003 JPA Removed species list as a separate data set; listed file within arthpit2.dsd. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- END OF PROJECT FILE -----------------------------------------------------------------------------