Time series of population plotted in Figure 5

The collembolans are maintained in the laboratory in polyethylene vials (diameter 52mm, height 65mm) filled with a 30 mm width layer of a plaster of Paris mixed with Indian ink to facilitate detection of the individuals. Food is provided weekly in the form of small dried pellets of a mixture of agar and dried yeast in standardized concentration and volume. Data gives the body length and date of measurement for each individual for the whole time series.