Description
The BALA dataset originates from various projects that employed a consistent sampling protocol to collect arthropods in the Azorean archipelago. Specifically, the Biodiversity of Arthropods from the Laurisilva of the Azores (BALA) project was initiated to comprehensively survey the invertebrate fauna of the Azores, focusing particularly on endemic arthropod species. The core sampling, conducted in three consecutive phases, targeted the identical 30 sites in a repetitive manner. Nevertheless, during the initial sampling round known as BALA1, spanning from 1997 to 2004, a collaborative endeavor from multiple projects led to the surveying of a total of 100 sites across 18 forest fragments in seven islands. During the subsequent rounds, spanning from 2010 to 2012 (BALA2) and 2021 to 2022 (BALA), only the 30 core sites, out of the original 100 sites, located within 15 fragments were revisited and resampled. Altogether, the collection amasses a total of 266,675 specimens of 543 invertebrate morphospecies (123,446 individuals and 404 species in the core dataset), of which 354 are identified at the species level. Of these species 77 (105,919 individuals) are endemic to the Azores, 97 (97,562 individuals) are native but not endemic, and 146 (32,267 individuals) are exotics.
Data Records
The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 10,379 records.
1 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Pozsgai G, Lhoumeau S, Amorim I R, Boieiro M, Cardoso P, Ferreira M T, Leite A, Malumbres-Olarte J, Oyarzabal G, Rigal F, Ros-Prieto A, Santos A M C, Gabriel R, Borges P A V (2024). Long-term monitoring of Azorean forest arthropods: the BALA Project (1997-2022). Version 1.0. Universidade dos Açores. Samplingevent dataset. http://ipt.gbif.pt/ipt/resource?r=bala_arthropods&v=1.0
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is Universidade dos Açores. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 8a4be36d-18cd-484c-b8ce-f67194cf4bac. Universidade dos Açores publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Portugal.
Keywords
Occurrence; Arthropods; Azores; Hyper-humid native forest; monitoring; LTER; canopy arthropods; epigean arthropods
Contacts
- Originator
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2300-6558
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- Metadata Provider ●
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Geographic Coverage
In our study, eight islands of the Azorean archipelago, from west to east were sampled: Flores, Faial, Pico, São Jorge, Graciosa, Terceira, São Miguel, and Santa Maria
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [36.977, -31.193], North East [39.483, -25.087] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
All arthropod taxa, with the exclusion of mites (Acari) and Collembola, were collected. Specimens were categorized to morphospecies and, when possible, identified to their respective species or higher taxonomic levels. Due to the difficulty of their identification, Diptera and Hymenoptera (excluding Formicidae) were not separated to morphospecies but kept in the samples
| Phylum | Arthropoda (Arthropods) |
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Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 1997-08-01 / 2022-09-01 |
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Project Data
The BALA dataset originates from various projects that employed a consistent sampling protocol to collect arthropods in the Azorean archipelago. Specifically, the Biodiversity of Arthropods from the Laurisilva of the Azores (BALA) project was initiated to comprehensively survey the invertebrate fauna of the Azores, focusing particularly on endemic arthropod species. The core sampling, conducted in three consecutive phases, targeted the identical 30 sites in a repetitive manner. Nevertheless, during the initial sampling round known as BALA1, spanning from 1997 to 2004, a collaborative endeavor from multiple projects led to the surveying of a total of 100 sites across 18 forest fragments in seven islands. During the subsequent rounds, spanning from 2010 to 2012 (BALA2) and 2021 to 2022 (BALA), only the 31 core sites, out of the original 100 sites, located within 15 fragments were revisited and resampled.
| Title | BALA - Biodiversity of the Arthropods from the Laurisilva of the Azores |
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| Identifier | BALA |
| Funding | This work was funded by the Azorean Direcção Regional dos Recursos Florestais (Azorean Government / project 17.01-080203) during BALA 1; FCT- project PTDC/BIA-BEC/100182/2008 – “Predicting extinctions on islands: a multi-scale assessment” during BALA 2; and (FCT) - MACRISK-Trait-based prediction of extinction risk and invasiveness for Northern Macaronesian arthropods (FCT-PTDC/BIA-CBI/0625/2021), FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia in the frame of the projects FCT-UIDB/00329/2020-2024 (Thematic Line 1 – integrated ecological assessment of environmental change on biodiversity) and Project LIFE BEETLES (LIFE 18NAT/PT/000864) in BALA 3. Data curation and open Access of this manuscript were supported by the project MACRISK-Trait-based prediction of extinction risk and invasiveness for Northern Macaronesian arthropods (FCT-PTDC/BIA-CBI/0625/2021). |
| Study Area Description | The Azorean archipelago, positioned in the North Atlantic Ocean, comprises nine volcanic islands with a total surface area of 2,346 km2. These islands feature a wet oceanic, mild to warm, subtropical climate, exhibiting moderate variations in both daily and annual temperatures. From a biogeographical perspective, the Azores are part of Macaronesia, characterized by native vegetation that includes hyper-humid Laurisilva forests. Despite their natural heritage, human habitation since the mid-15th century has led to extensive transformation, with the original native forests, which once covered nearly the entire surface of the islands, progressively converted to agricultural cropland, pastures, and settlements. By 1988, when Natural Forest Reserves were established on seven of the nine Azorean islands only 2.5% of the initial native forests remained, existing in isolated fragments. In our study, we sampled eight islands of the Azorean archipelago from west to east: Flores, Faial, Pico, São Jorge, Graciosa, Terceira, São Miguel, and Santa Maria. Notably, Graciosa lacked any pristine areas, leading us to sample secondary forests on this island using the introduced sampling protocol. |
| Design Description | Each site underwent sampling along a 150 m transect, focusing on mapping soil-dwelling fauna through the strategic placement of 30 pitfall traps, each featuring a 5 cm opening diameter, at 5-meter intervals. Out of these traps, 15 were filled with ethylene-glycol as the sampling/preservative liquid, while the remaining 15 alternated with Turquin’s solution. To capture arthropods inhabiting the canopy, the study included sampling the three most prevalent native tree species using a beating technique. |
The personnel involved in the project:
- Content Provider
- Author
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- Author
Sampling Methods
Each site was sampled along a 150 m transect, in which, in order to map soil-dwelling fauna, 30 pitfall traps, each with a 5cm opening diameter, were placed at 5-meter intervals. In 15 traps the sampling/preservative liquid was ethylene-glycol and, in an alternating pattern, the remaining 15 traps employed Turquin’s solution. Additionally, for the purpose of capturing arthropods residing in the canopy, the study also involved the sampling of the three most prevalent native tree species using a beating technique. For a detailed description, readers should consult the works using the BALA protocol (Borges et al., 2005; Ribeiro et al. 2005).
| Study Extent | The foundational dataset comprises 4,929 sampling events conducted along 30 transects, distributed across 15 fragments within native Azorean humid forests spanning seven islands. Sampling activities unfolded over the period from 1997 to 2022, segmented into three comprehensive, multi-year campaigns: BALA1 (1997-2004), BALA2 (2010-2011), and BALA3 (2019-2022). The core dataset specifically includes transects situated in pristine native vegetation, consistently sampled throughout this timeframe. However, the ultimate dataset has been enriched by incorporating data from various projects that adhered to the same methodology for invertebrate sampling across the archipelago. Consequently, the final dataset encompasses information from 124 transects within 27 fragments across eight islands. While the majority of fragments represent primary native forests, the extended dataset also includes data from the early succession of lava flows and secondary forests, particularly on Graciosa island where no native vegetation remains |
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| Quality Control | Each sample was meticulously labeled and stored, with archive samples remaining accessible for additional data verification and analysis. While the majority of species identifications were performed by one of the authors (PAV Borges), challenging specimens were referred to expert taxonomists specializing in the respective taxa. Rigorous checks were undertaken to prevent transcription errors, and various tests were executed to detect and address outliers in the data. Furthermore, segments of the dataset have already been utilized in numerous analyses. To ensure accuracy, all names underwent automatic verification against the GBIF Taxonomy Backbone |
Method step description:
- Several taxonomists identified morphospecies from BALA 1, which were fundamental for the success of the project, namely, Artur R.M. Serrano, Arturo Baz, Fernando Ilharco, Henrik Enghoff, Jordi Ribes, Jörg Wunderlich, Luís Carlos Crespo, Margarida T. Pitta, Ole Karsholt, Richard zur Strassen, Virgílio Vieira, Volker Assing, Volker Mahnert and Wolfgang Rücker
Collection Data
| Collection Name | Entomoteca Dalberto Teixeira Pombo (DTP) |
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| Collection Identifier | DTP |
| Specimen preservation methods | Alcohol |
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Bibliographic Citations
- Borges, P.A.V., Aguiar, C., Amaral, J., Amorim, I.R., André, G., Arraiol, A.,. Baz A., Dinis, F., Enghoff, H., Gaspar, C., Ilharco, F., Mahnert, V., Melo, C., Pereira, F., Quartau, J.A., Ribeiro, S., Ribes, J., Serrano, A.R.M., Sousa, A.B., Strassen, R.Z., Vieira, L., Vieira, V., Vitorino, A. & Wunderlich, J. (2005). Ranking protected areas in the Azores using standardized sampling of soil epigean arthropods. Biodiversity and Conservation, 14: 2029-2060 DOI: 10.1007/s10531-004-4283-y
- Ribeiro, S.P., Borges, P.A.V., Gaspar, C., Melo, C., Serrano, A.R.M., Amaral, J., Aguiar, C., André, G. & Quartau, J.A. (2005). Canopy insect herbivores in the Azorean Laurisilva forests: key host plant species in a highly generalist insect community. Ecography, 28: 315-330 DOI: 10.1111/j.0906-7590.2005.04104.x
Additional Metadata
| Alternative Identifiers | http://ipt.gbif.pt/ipt/resource?r=bala_arthropods |
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