Chapter 3 Raw Data

Arthropods are critical ecosystem components due to their high diversity and sensitivity to perturbation. Further, due to their ease of capture they are often the focus of environmental health surveys. There is much debate regarding the best sampling method to use in these surveys. Sweep netting and pan trapping are two sampling methods commonly used in agricultural arthropod surveys but have not been contrasted in natural grassland systems at the community-level. The purpose of this study was to determine whether sweep netting was effective at estimating arthropod diversity at the community-level in grasslands or if supplemental pan trapping was needed. The following three standardized evaluation criteria were used to assess efficacy of each method: consistency, reliability, and precision. Neither sampling method was sufficient in any criteria to be used alone for community-level arthropod surveys. On a taxa specific basis however, sweep netting was consistent, reliable, and precise fo...