Weekly biomass and abundance of sweepnet-captured aboveground arthropods at four sites near Toolik Field Station, Alaska, summers 2010-2014

The abundance and dry biomass of canopy-dwelling arthropods (insects and small spiders) was tracked over five summers (2010-2014) at four sites near Toolik Field Station, Alaska. At each site, a shrub-dominant and tussock-tundra habitat was chosen for sampling, for a total of 8 sampling locations. At each sampling location, a 100-meter transect was established. Arthropods were sampled along the transect weekly by passing a sweepnet through and over the vegetation. After killing the arthropods with pest strips and freezing, they were sorted from the associated leaf litter and counted. Dry biomass of the arthorpods was estimated in one of two was: using family-level identification, digital microscope measurement, and published allometric length-mass equations; or, arthropds were weighed directly on a microbalance following 48 hours in a drying oven at 50°C.