Monitoring arthropods under the scope of LIFE-Snails project – Baseline Data

Paulo A. V. Borges1, Sébastien Lhoumeau1, Nelson B. Moura2, Mauro Ponte3, Ricardo Abreu3, Lucas Lamelas-López1

1 Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c)/Azorean Biodiversity Group, CHANGE – Global Change and Sustainability Institute, School of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of the Azores, Rua Capitão João d´Ávila, Pico da Urze, 9700-042, Angra do Heroísmo, Portugal; 2 Secretaria Regional do Ambiente e Alterações Climáticas, Project LIFE SNAILS (LIFE20 NAT/PT/001377), Rua Dr. Teófilo Braga nº 10/12/14, 9580 – 535, Vila do Porto, Portugal; 3 Secretaria Regional do Ambiente e Alterações Climáticas, Project LIFE SNAILS (LIFE20 NAT/PT/001377), Rua do Galo nº 118, 9700-040, Angra do Heroísmo, Portugal

Corresponding author(s): Paulo A. V. Borges (paulo.av.borges@uac.pt)Sébastien Lhoumeau (seb.lhoumeau@gmail.com)Nelson B. Moura (Nelson.B.Moura@azores.gov.pt)Mauro Ponte (pontemauro@gmail.com)Ricardo Abreu (Ricardo.JF.Abreu@azores.gov.pt)Lucas Lamelas-López (lucaslamelaslopez@gmail.com)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Borges P A V, Lhoumeau S, Moura N B, Ponte M, Abreu R, Lamelas-López L (2023). Monitoring arthropods under the scope of LIFE-Snails project – Baseline Data. Version 1.2. Universidade dos Açores. Samplingevent dataset. http://ipt.gbif.pt/ipt/resource?r=arthropods_slam_snails&v=1.2

Abstract

The database we present is part of the LIFE SNAILS project (Support and Naturalization in Areas of Importance for Land Snails), which has the main aim of protect three species of terrestrial molluscs, two snails (Oxychilus agostinhoi and Leptaxis minor) and a semislug (Plutonia angulosa), which are endemic of Santa Maria Island, and whose populations are at high risk. 
In this study, we established a comprehensive database derived from a long-term arthropod monitoring campaign utilizing SLAM (Sea, Land, Air, Malaise) traps. While molluscs were not the focus, our findings present a credible proxy for assessing the overall habitat quality for endemic invertebrates, using arthropods as principal indicators. Between September and December of 2022, a total of 11 SLAM traps were installed and monitored monthly in eleven sites of mixed forests of Santa Maria Island. Based on the 33 available samples (11 sites x 3 months), we registered 94 identified taxa. A total of 21 species were endemic, 31 native non-endemic, 32 introduced and 10 indeterminate.
This publication not only contributes to the conservation of highly threatened endemic molluscs, through an assessment of habitat quality based on arthropod communities and habitat description (e.g. native or exotic vegetation), but also provide an updated inventory of arthropods from Santa Maria Island.

Keywords: Occurrence, Azores, Endemic species, Index of Biotic Integrity, Long-term Monitoring, Macaronesia, Molluscs, SLAM, Specimen

Project details

Project title: Baseline Arthropod monitoring for IBI calculation under the scope of LIFE SNAILS project
Personnel: Paulo A. V. Borges, Sébastien Lhoumeau, Lucas Lamelas-López, Nelson B. Moura, Ricardo Abreu, Mauro Ponte
Funding: Secretaria Regional do Ambiente e Alterações Climáticas, Project LIFE SNAILS (LIFE20 NAT/PT/001377
Study area descriptions/descriptor: Santa Maria is a small island (area: 97.2 km²; elevation: 590 m a.s.l.) of volcanic origin, belongs to oriental group of Azores archipelago (36°58′24″N 25°05′40″W). The sampling area consist on mixed-forests of endemic, native and exotic plant species. The main native and endemic species include, Morella faya, Erica azorica, Picconia azorica, Vaccinium cylindraceum or Laurus azorica. The exotic species include Pittosporum undulatum, Hedychium gardnerianum and also forestry plantations of Cryptomeria japonica.
The climate is temperate oceanic, with regular and abundant rainfall, high levels of relative humidity and persistent winds, mainly during the winter and autumn seasons
Design description: Passive flight interception SLAM traps (Sea, Land and Air Malaise trap) were used to sample 11 sites located on mixed-forests of Santa Maria Island.
This trap consists in a structure of 110x110x110 cm, where the trapped arthropods crawl up the mesh and then fall inside the sampling recipient (Borges et al. 2017). Each one is filled with propylene glycol (pure 1,2-PROPANODIOL) to kill the captured arthropods and conserve the sample between collections. Although this protocol was developed to sample flying arthropods, by working as an extension of the tree, non-flying species such as spiders can also crawl into the trap (Borges et al. 2017), enhancing the range of groups that can be sampled by this technique. Because of this, previous studies have used these traps to analyse diversity and abundance changes in the arthropod communities in Azores pristine forest sites (Matthews et al. 2019; Borges et al. 2020). The traps were installed during 30 consecutive days in three periods between September and December 2022, period after which samples were collected.
Information of vegetation composition (dominant plant species in surrounding area) and elevation were recorded

Data published through GBIF: http://ipt.gbif.pt/ipt/resource?r=arthropods_slam_snails

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: Classes: Arachnida, Diplopoda, Insecta
Orders: Araneae, Opiliones, Pseudoscorpiones, Julida, Archaeognatha, Blattodea, Coleoptera, Dermaptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Neuroptera, Phasmida, Psocodea, Thysanoptera.
Taxonomic ranks
Phylum: Arthropoda
Common names: Arthropods

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Santa Maria Island, Azores, (Portugal)
Coordinates: 25°5'45.6''S and 36°59'6''N Latitude; 25°3'0''W and 36°57'46.8''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: September 26, 2022 - December 22, 2022

Natural collections description

Collection name: Entomoteca Dalberto Teixeira Pombo (DTP)
Collection identifier: DTP
Specimen preservation method: Alcohol

Methods

Method step description: A reference collection was made for all collected specimens (whether or not identified at species level) by assigning them a morphospecies code number and depositing them at the Dalberto Teixeira Pombo Insect Collection (DTP), University of Azores (Terceira Island).
Study extent description: A total of 11 sites were sampled in Santa Maria Island. The sampling area consist on mixed-forests of endemic, native and exotic plant species. The main native and endemic species include, Morella faya, Erica azorica, Picconia azorica, Vaccinium cylindraceum or Laurus azorica. The exotic species include Pittosporum undulatum, Hedychium gardnerianum and also forestry plantations of Cryptomeria japonica. Information of vegetation composition (dominant plant species in surrounding area) was recorded
Sampling description: Passive flight interception SLAM traps (Sea, Land and Air Malaise trap) were used to sample each of 11 selected sites on the mixed-forests of Santa Maria Island, between September and December of 2022.
This trap consists in a structure of 110x110x110 cm, where the trapped arthropods crawl up the mesh and then fall inside the sampling recipient (Borges et al. 2017). Each one is filled with propylene glycol (pure 1,2-PROPANODIOL) to kill the captured arthropods and conserve the sample between collections. Although this protocol was developed to sample flying arthropods, by working as an extension of the tree, non-flying species such as spiders can also crawl into the trap (Borges et al. 2017), enhancing the range of groups that can be sampled by this technique. Because of this, previous studies have used these traps to analyse diversity and abundance changes in the arthropod communities in Azores pristine forest sites (Matthews et al. 2019; Borges et al. 2020). The traps were installed during 30 consecutive days, period after which samples were collected during a period of three months (September to December 2022).
Quality control description: All sorted specimens were identified by a taxonomical expert in laboratory

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive Monitoring arthropods under the scope of LIFE-Snails project – Baseline Data
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: http://ipt.gbif.pt/ipt/archive.do?r=arthropods_slam_snails
Publication date of data: 2023-12-04
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2023-11-14
Hierarchy level: Dataset

References
Borges, P.A.V., Pimentel, R., Carvalho, R., Nunes, R., Wallon, S. & Ros Prieto, A. (2017). Seasonal dynamics of arthropods in the humid native forests of Terceira Island (Azores). Arquipelago Life and Marine Sciences, 34: 105-122
Borges, P.A.V., Rigal, F., Ros-Prieto, A. & Cardoso, P. (2020). Increase of insular exotic arthropod diversity is a fundamental dimension of the current biodiversity crisis. Insect Conservation and Diversity, 13: 508-518 DOI: 10.1111/icad.12431
Matthews, T., Sadler, J.P., Carvalho, R., Nunes, R. & Borges, P.A.V. (2019). Differential turnover rates and temporal beta-diversity patterns of native and non-native arthropod species in a fragmented native forest landscape. Ecography, 42: 45–54 DOI: 10.1111/ecog.03812