Mojave National Preserve 2013 insect diversity derived estimates

The derived data for this publication:Ruttan, A., Filazzola, A. and Lortie, C. J. (2016) Shrub-annual facilitation complexes mediate insect community structure in arid environments. Journal of Arid Environments 134: 1-9.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140196316301100

The Relative Interaction Index (RII) ± SE was calculated for the
abundance, richness, and Simpson’s diversity of the insects
collected within each pan trap colour, in order to estimate the
ecological significance/importance of shrubs to the insect community.  RII is the weighted difference in response with and without the shrub species present in this sampling design.
Full details of effect size calculations listed in publication.

Insect samples were collected at Kelso dunes over a nine-day
period between April 24th and May 2nd, 2013. Insects were
sampled daily using pan traps (approximately 18 cm in diameter)
set at ground-level along an east-west axis parallel to Kelso Dunes.
Thirty pairs of pan traps were set along two parallel 45 m transects
(transects were 10 m apart) with alternating blue, yellow, and
white traps approximately every 3 m using the NSERC-CANPOLIN
protocol (http://www.uoguelph.ca/canpolin). Pan traps were
paired so that each replicate had one pan trap under the southern
portion of a L. tridentata canopy, halfway between the base of the
shrub and the drip-line, and within a patch of annual plants. The
other pan traps were deployed 2 m south of each paired shrub in an
adjacent open microsite, also with annual plants present (see
Appendix A; Fig. A2). Open microsites were located two metres
from the drip-line of shrubs because this was on average the
maximum distance possible without being within a two metre
radius of another shrub (Ruttan pers. obs). Pan traps were half-filled
with a solution of soapy water prepared by mixing five drops of
unscented dish detergent per litre of water (for protocol, see:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/canpolin). Pan traps were set out by 9:00
a.m. and collected at 5:00 p.m. daily targeting typical peak insect
activity (http://www.uoguelph.ca/canpolin). All samples were
collected on sunny days with no precipitation. Samples were
collected from each pan trap replicate and stored in vials of 70%
ethanol. Insects were then sorted from samples and identified to
the family level for ease of identification using Goulet and Huber
(1993) and Borror et al. (1989).