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|                             JORNADA LTER                         |
|                      New Mexico State University                 |
|                   Research Project Description Form              |
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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.   
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 1) Project title:                     
    --------------
    Lizard Pitfall Traps
 
 2) Responsible investigator:          
    -------------------------
    David Lightfoot
 
 3) Date research commenced (mm/dd/yyyy):
    -------------------------------------
    06/16/1989

 4) Date research terminated (mm/dd/yyyy):
    --------------------------------------
    ONGOING

 5) PI funding the research:
    ------------------------
    Jornada LTER II, Jornada LTERIII
 
 6) Additional investigator(s):        
    ---------------------------
    W. G. Whitford
 
 7) Funding agency (ex. NSF, USDA):
    -------------------------------
    NSF/LTER
 
 8) Funding cycle (Ex. LTER III, N/A):
    ---------------------------------
    LTERII, LTER III
 
 9) Informative abstract (Describe research project completely. 
    Include project OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS.)
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         Methods and locations.  Pitfall trap grids have been 
    installed at three creosotebush sites, three grassland 
    sites, and three mesquite sites, and  two tarbush sites.  
    Each grid consists of 4 x 4 rows of traps at 10 meter 
    intervals.  Each pitfall trap is 40 cm deep, and lined with 
    tin can cylinders.  A polyethylene funnel is set on a 
    container in each trap.  Each trap has a ceramic tile cover 
    which is 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 are checked every three days, during the winter they 
    are checked once each week.
         Lizards are removed from the containers and information is
    recorded on data sheets. 

          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:
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                                                       Documentation
    Data set name                                      file name
    -------------------------------------------------  -------------
 
    Lizard pitfall trap data                           LIZRDPIT.DSD
    
11) Publications resulting from project research:
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    <NONE>

12) Comments (Include any comments that here that more full describe 
              this project):
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    <NONE>

13) Project file history log:
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    Project title     - Consumer Pitfall Traps, Lizard Pitfall Traps
    Project file name - LIZRDPIT.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
         Changes/Updates - List any changes made to document

       
    mm/dd/yyyy  Int  Changes/Updates
    ----------  ---  -----------------------------------------------

    02/13/1990  KJL  Project documentation completed by investigator
                     as Consumer Pitfall Traps.
    08/07/1996  KJL  Converted project document file to new format
                     as Consumer Pitfall Traps.
    03/12/1997  DCL  Initiated new project specifically for lizards
                     for LTERIII.
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                           END OF PROJECT FILE
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