+------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                             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. Information that is not available at this time,
must be included when available. For these fields, enter
<NOT AVAILABLE>.  For fields that will not have information, enter
<NONE>. See data manager for any questions regarding this form.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

 1) Project title:
    --------------
    Transect Leaf-litter Microarthropods

 2) Responsible investigator:
    -------------------------
    Jorge G.Cepeda

 3) Date research commenced (mm/dd/yyyy):
    -------------------------------------
    08/20/1984

 4) Date research terminated (mm/dd/yyyy):
    --------------------------------------
    12/22/1985

 5) PI funding the research:
    ------------------------
    Walter G. Whitford

 6) Additional investigator(s):
    ---------------------------
    D. Bachelet, D. Moorehead

 7) Funding agency (ex. NSF, USDA):
    -------------------------------
    NSF

 8) Funding cycle (Ex. LTER II, N/A):
    ---------------------------------
    LTER-I

 9) Informative abstract (Describe research project completely.
    Include project OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS.)
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    *Changes in microarthropod assemblages were monitored in six types
    of decomposing surface leaf-litter confined in mesh bags and set
    across a Chihuahuan Desert watershed for 17 months.  The following
    hypotheses were tested: 1) microarthropod density and diversity are
    higher in soils with maximum surface litter accumulation, and 2)
    temporal patterns of density and diversity are more dependent on
    seasonal factors and physical disturbances than on the
    decompositional stage of the litter.

10) Data set(s) associated with project:
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
                                                       Documentation
    Data set title                                     file name
    -------------------------------------------------  -------------
    Microarthropods data                               TRANMITE.DSD

11) Publications resulting from project research:
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    Cepeda, J.G. 1986. Spatial and temporal patterns of decomposition
        and microarthropod assemblages in decomposing surface
        leaf-litter on a Chihuahuan Desert watershed. Dissertation.
        New Mexico State University.
    Cepeda-Pizarro, J.G. and W.G. Whitford. 1989. Spatial and temporal
        variability of higher microarthropod taxa along a transect in a
        northern Chihuahuan Desert watershed. Pedobiologia
        33(2):101-111.
    Cepeda-Pizarro, J.G. and W.G. Whitford. 1989. Species abundance
        distribution patterns of microarthropods in surface decomposing
        leaf-litter and mineral soil on a desert watershed.
        Pedobiologia 33:254-268.

12) Comments (Include any comments that here that more full describe
              this project):
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    *Taken from Cepeda (1986); see publications.

13) Project file history log:
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    Project title     - Transect Leaf-litter Microarthropod
    Project file name - TRANMITE.PRJ
    -------------------------------------------------------------
         mm/dd/yyyy      - Date of comment (month/day/year)
         Int             - Initials of person making comment
                           JPA = John P. Anderson
                           JGC  =  Jorge G. Cepeda
                           SMG  =  Sophia M. Gehlhausen
                           MAB  =  Michelle A. Buonopane

         Changes/Updates - List any changes made to document

    mm/dd/yyyy  Int  Changes/Updates
    ----------  ---  -----------------------------------------------
    01/29/1997  SMG  Form updated to current format
    11/18/2002  MAB  Completed unfinished or incomplete fields.
    06/10/2003  JPA  Modified project title to better reflect study.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
                           END OF PROJECT FILE
    ----------------------------------------------------------------