Description
This study intended to contribute to the current international directives concerning biodiversity, aiming to document and safeguard biological resources of the globe. Our objective was to present the most widely distributed and diverse taxa recorded during the sampling phase of the EDEN project (2008-2014), specifically all arthropod fauna, at all strata, within eight representative habitats of five islands of the Azores archipelago (Santa Maria, São Miguel, Terceira, Flores and Pico)
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 3,214 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:
Marcelino J, Borges P A V, Borges I, Soares A (2024). Eden Arthropod Azores Database. Version 1.13. Universidade dos Açores. Samplingevent dataset. http://ipt.gbif.pt/ipt/resource?r=eden_arthropod_database_azores&v=1.13
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: 5cc85d78-4313-4959-b17d-cd3dc32cc155. Universidade dos Açores publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Portugal.
Keywords
Occurrence; Arthropoda; Azores; São Miguel; Terceira; Flores; Santa Maria; Pico; Island; anthropogenic impact gradient; habitat types; Samplingevent
Contacts
- Metadata Provider ●
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
- Publisher ●
- Originator ●
- Point Of Contact
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8448-7623
- Originator
- Originator
Geographic Coverage
Azores (Portugal). Islands of Santa Maria, São Miguel, Terceira, Pico and Flores
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [36.906, -31.311], North East [39.589, -24.961] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
Araneae, Collembola, Insecta
| Class | Insecta (Insects) |
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| Order | Araneae (Spiders), Collembola (Springtails) |
Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 2009-07-20 / 2009-08-23 |
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Project Data
In this paper we present an extensive checklist of arthropods and its distribution in five islands of the Azores, under increasing anthropogenic impacted habitats. Habitat surveys included five herbaceous and four arboreal habitat types, scaling up from native to anthropogenic managed habitats. We aimed to contribute to the ongoing effort to document the terrestrial biodiversity of the world, in particular the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores, as islands harbor a significant portion of unique terrestrial biodiversity. Selection of arthropoda groups for the current checklist were based on their known richness and abundance (Arachnida, Collembola, Hemiptera, Neuroptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera), in almost all terrestrial ecosystems, as well as their importance in current Integrated Pest Management and alternative Biocontrol protocols, at large (i.e., Hymenopteran parasitoids and beneficial Coleoptera). In addition, we include the list of Dermaptera, Orthoptera, Psocoptera and Thysanoptera species. These assembled groups represent part of the monitoring program EDEN Azores (2008-2014), where all Arthropod fauna, at all strata, within eight representative habitats of five islands of the Azores (Santa Maria. São Miguel, Terceira, Flores and Pico) was recorded.
| Title | Species inventory of Arthropoda across anthropogenic impacted habitats in the Azores archipelago |
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| Identifier | EDEN |
| Funding | This study was finance by FLAD – Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento and by the Direção Regional Ciencia, Tecnologia e Comércio (DRCTC) & PROEMPREGO, of the Azores This study was financed by FEDER in 85% and by Azorean Public funds by 15% through Operational Program Azores 2020, under the following projects AZORESBIOPORTAL –PORBIOTA (ACORES-01-0145-FEDER-000072), and under the project ECO2-TUTA (ACORES-01-0145-FEDER-000081). |
| Study Area Description | We selected the islands based on the relative proportion of land used in agriculture and pristine areas (based on published data by Costa et al. 2014), taking in consideration all possible combinations, i.e., São Miguel (SMG), with a high proportion of land allocated to pastures (61%) and a low/medium proportion of scattered native habitats (19.1%); (ii) Terceira (TER), with high proportion of land of pastures (66.9%) and a medium/high proportion of localized native habitats (21.3%); (iii) Pico (PIC), with high proportion of pastureland (50.3%) and medium/high proportion of centrally localized high altitude native habitats (35.5%); (iv) Flores (FLO), with scarce agricultural development (17.7%) and a high proportion of localized native habitats (43%); and, (v) Santa Maria /SMR), with high proportion of agricultural land (56.7%), not presently used, and a low proportion of localized native habitats (17.3%). The importance of incorporating ecological gradients, such as an anthropogenic impact gradient, in biodiversity and conservation projects, has been previously assessed. They constitute a valuable parameter to infer possible causes for the distribution of species across the landscape (Ulrich et al. 2009). We therefore selected habitats that represented a gradient of increasing anthropogenic impact and management intensity. Nine habitat types divided between herbaceous and arborescent habitats were selected to represent a comprehensive range of the flora and fauna communities. These habitats were previously statistically validated (see Marcelino et al 2013, 2014). The herbaceous habitat gradient (Table 1) ranged from pristine meadows (MED) to corn fields (COR). The arborescent habitat gradient (Table 1) ranged from natural pristine forests of Laurus azorica (NAT) to orchards of Citrus sp. (ORC). Pristine meadows were not present on Santa Maria, and semi natural pastures at low altitude (SNPL) were used as a surrogate for MED on this island. |
| Design Description | In order to obtain the maximum information on arthropod biodiversity, all strata present at a given habitat type were sampled, i.e., micro epigean fauna (Berlese-Tullgren trapping), soil fauna (Pitfall trapping), aerial vagility fauna (Vaccum aspirator) and canopy fauna (sweeping nets). Two parallel transects with fifteen pitfall traps (PF) were placed in 150x150 m geo-referenced plots. PF consisted of plastic cylinder cups 78 mm deep and 42 mm diameter filled with ca. 80 ml of a mixture of 96% alcohol and 0.05% liquid detergent. PF were buried in the soil so that the lip was flush with the surface and covered with a plastic plate at ca. 3 cm high, to avoid desiccation, flooding or insectivore predation. Traps remained in the soil for 7 days prior to collection. For each habitat type, and island, two replicate sites were monitored (with a minimum distance of 5 km apart), for a total of 80 sampling sites (i.e., 2 sites x 8 habitat types per island x 5 islands) each with one transects of 15 PF. Suction (SU) and sweeping (SW) sampling followed the parallel transects previously referred for the pitfall traps (PF) and were performed concomitantly with the latter. SU and SW were done to record species at strata other than the epigeic stratum. SU was made with a handheld aspirator (Stihl BG55), collecting the arthropods in shrubs, when available. SU was made individually for ca. 8 seconds, at each of 4 quadrant of the shrub or agro-culture plant. The specimens were transferred to a single cup. SW was made using a 1.5 m plastic stick to gently beat, twice, a primary branch at each quadrant of a given tree and using as a collecting device a 64 cm diameter sweeping net. The four samples per quadrant at a given sampling plant were then transferred to a single collecting cup. Berlese-Tullgreen sampling (BT) was made by collecting ca. 100 grams soil litter per sampling unit (15 samples for each transect established at PF sampling, above described). Samples were then stored in a cooler to avoid proliferation of saprophytic fungi and sent to the Department of Biology, University of the Azores, Ponta Delgada. BT trap units consisted of two plastic darkened containers, assembled together to provide an upper vented area (14 cm diameter x 11.5 cm high) with 4 openings (1 cm diameter covered with a 0.3 x 0.3 mm diameter mesh), and coupled with a 15 W lamp on top. Thea lower collecting area (13 cm diameter x 10 cm high) and partially filled with ca. 80 ml of the same mixture used in PF. Litter samples were placed on a 1.8 x 1.8 mm mesh, attached to a plastic funnel positioned in the assembling zone between the two halves of the device. In order to avoid heat and dryness, Collembola crawl downward the littler sample and drop through the funnel into the collecting mixture. Litter samples remained for 72 h in BT before processing at laboratory facilities. One island per week was sampled during the summer 2009 (July-August). This eliminated seasonal stochastic effects. The total number of samples was 4800 [80 sampling sites x 4 different types of traps x 15 samples per site]. The samples were processed in laboratory facilities and assigned to morphospecies groups, progressing to higher taxonomic degrees of identifications. Species richness and abundance were recorded. Species accumulation curves were performed for inventory completeness using EstimateS (Colwell, 2011). Inventory completeness was 70-75% for Staphylinidae and Collembola (Marcelino et al 2011, Marcelino et al 2016), reaching 80% for Araneae and Hymenoptera parasitoids (data not published). |
The personnel involved in the project:
- Author
- Author
- Author
Sampling Methods
In order to obtain the maximum information on arthropod biodiversity, all strata present at a given habitat type were sampled, i.e., micro epigean fauna (Berlese-Tullgren trapping), soil fauna (Pitfall trapping), aerial vagility fauna (Vaccum aspirator) and canopy fauna (sweeping nets). Two parallel transects with fifteen pitfall traps (PF) were placed in 150x150 m geo-referenced plots. PF consisted of plastic cylinder cups 78 mm deep and 42 mm diameter filled with ca. 80 ml of a mixture of 96% alcohol and 0.05% liquid detergent. PF were buried in the soil so that the lip was flush with the surface and covered with a plastic plate at ca. 3 cm high, to avoid desiccation, flooding or insectivore predation. Traps remained in the soil for 7 days prior to collection. For each habitat type, and island, two replicate sites were monitored (with a minimum distance of 5 km apart), for a total of 80 sampling sites (i.e., 2 sites x 8 habitat types per island x 5 islands) each with one transects of 15 PF. Suction (SU) and sweeping (SW) sampling followed the parallel transects previously referred for the pitfall traps (PF) and were performed concomitantly with the latter. SU and SW were done to record species at strata other than the epigeic stratum. SU was made with a handheld aspirator (Stihl BG55), collecting the arthropods in shrubs, when available. SU was made individually for ca. 8 seconds, at each of 4 quadrant of the shrub or agro-culture plant. The specimens were transferred to a single cup. SW was made using a 1.5 m plastic stick to gently beat, twice, a primary branch at each quadrant of a given tree and using as a collecting device a 64 cm diameter sweeping net. The four samples per quadrant at a given sampling plant were then transferred to a single collecting cup. Berlese-Tullgreen sampling (BT) was made by collecting ca. 100 grams soil litter per sampling unit (15 samples for each transect established at PF sampling, above described). Samples were then stored in a cooler to avoid proliferation of saprophytic fungi and sent to the Department of Biology, University of the Azores, Ponta Delgada. BT trap units consisted of two plastic darkened containers, assembled together to provide an upper vented area (14 cm diameter x 11.5 cm high) with 4 openings (1 cm diameter covered with a 0.3 x 0.3 mm diameter mesh), and coupled with a 15 W lamp on top. Thea lower collecting area (13 cm diameter x 10 cm high) and partially filled with ca. 80 ml of the same mixture used in PF. Litter samples were placed on a 1.8 x 1.8 mm mesh, attached to a plastic funnel positioned in the assembling zone between the two halves of the device. In order to avoid heat and dryness, Collembola crawl downward the littler sample and drop through the funnel into the collecting mixture. Litter samples remained for 72 h in BT before processing at laboratory facilities. One island per week was sampled during the summer 2009 (July-August). This eliminated seasonal stochastic effects. The total number of samples was 4800 [80 sampling sites x 4 different types of traps x 15 samples per site]. The samples were processed in laboratory facilities and assigned to morphospecies groups, progressing to higher taxonomic degrees of identifications. Species richness and abundance were recorded. Species accumulation curves were performed for inventory completeness using EstimateS (Colwell, 2011). Inventory completeness was 70-75% for Staphylinidae and Collembola (Marcelino et al 2011, Marcelino et al 2016), reaching 80% for Araneae and Hymenoptera parasitoids (data not published).
| Study Extent | We selected the islands based on the relative proportion of land used in agriculture and pristine areas (based on published data by Costa et al. 2014), taking in consideration all possible combinations, i.e., São Miguel (SMG), with a high proportion of land allocated to pastures (61%) and a low/medium proportion of scattered native habitats (19.1%); (ii) Terceira (TER), with high proportion of land of pastures (66.9%) and a medium/high proportion of localized native habitats (21.3%); (iii) Pico (PIC), with high proportion of pastureland (50.3%) and medium/high proportion of centrally localized high altitude native habitats (35.5%); (iv) Flores (FLO), with scarce agricultural development (17.7%) and a high proportion of localized native habitats (43%); and, (v) Santa Maria /SMR), with high proportion of agricultural land (56.7%), not presently used, and a low proportion of localized native habitats (17.3%). |
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| Quality Control | Identifications were conducted in a progressive higher degree of taxonomy resolution, i.e., 1) morphospecies were generated and, concomitantly, an ongoing web-based image gallery stock was created (at www.eden-azores.webs.com). This secured consistency assigning specimens to morpho-species without duplications; 2) voucher specimens of morpho-species were sent to Dr. Paulo A. V. Borges to determine genus and species, when possible; 3) species of Collembola and Staphylinidae were genetically profiled to match genetic & morphological ID’s; 4) All voucher specimens where sent to reference taxonomists in the respective Order, family, genus or group (taxonomists listed in the Personnel section of this report), which corroborated identifications from steps 1, 2 and 3. |
Method step description:
- See above details in Sampling description
Collection Data
| Collection Name | EDEN -Database |
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| Collection Identifier | EDEN |
| Specimen preservation methods | Alcohol |
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Additional Metadata
| Alternative Identifiers | 5cc85d78-4313-4959-b17d-cd3dc32cc155 |
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| http://ipt.gbif.pt/ipt/resource?r=eden_arthropod_database_azores |