Arthropod pitfall trap data from 12 NPP study locations at the Jornada Basin LTER site, 1996-2001

This data package contains counts and taxonomic identification of arthropods sampled by pitfall traps at the Jornada Basin LTER site from 1996-2001. The objective of this study is to observe how shifts in vegetation resulting from desertification processes in the Chihuahaun desert have changed the spatial and temporal availability of resources for consumers. Desertification changes in the Jornada Basin include changes from grass to shrub dominated communities and major soil changes. 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 hypothesized that consumer populations, diversity, and densities of some consumers will be higher in grasslands than in shrublands and will be related to the NPP of the sites. Data on arthropods captured in pitfall traps at LTER III consumer plots (a subset of NPP plots) were collected at 2 month intervals. Data includes number of individuals, order, family, genus, and species. This data collection has been completed.本数据包收录了1996-2001年间于霍纳达盆地长期生态研究（Long Term Ecological Research, LTER）站点通过地面陷阱法采集的节肢动物数量统计结果与分类学鉴定信息。本研究旨在探究奇瓦瓦沙漠荒漠化进程引发的植被转变，如何改变了消费者类群可获取资源的时空分布格局。霍纳达盆地的荒漠化变化主要体现为植被群落从草本主导型向灌木主导型的转变，以及显著的土壤理化性质改变。若草原生态系统可无明显滞后地响应降雨变化，而灌木生态系统无法做到这一点，则消费者类群应能反映二者间的差异。此外，从草原向灌丛的植被转变会提升生境的结构异质性。我们提出假说：草原生境中的消费者种群数量、物种多样性以及部分消费者类群的种群密度，均会高于灌丛生境，且该差异与样地的净初级生产力（Net Primary Productivity, NPP）相关。本数据集采集了LTER III号消费者样地（为净初级生产力样地的子集）中地面陷阱法捕获的节肢动物数据，采样间隔为2个月。数据内容包含个体数量、目级分类单元、科级分类单元、属级分类单元以及物种级分类单元的相关信息。本数据采集工作已全部完成。