Realm: Terrestrial
Climate: Tropical
Biome: Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests
Central latitude: 18.166700
Central longitude: -65.500000
Duration: 24 years, from 1991 to 2014

21702 records

19 distinct species

Across the time series Caracolus caracolla is the most frequently occurring species

Methods

One hundred sixty points were selected on the Luquillo Forest DynamicsPlot at El Verde. Circular quadrats (r = 3 m) were established at each point. From June 1991 to present.40 points were sampled four times seasonally for the presence of terrestrial snails and walking sticks.with the following exceptions: (1) in 1995. 1996. and 1997. the wet season surveys comprised 160points. (2) in 1998. the wet season survey comprised 100 points. (3) walking stick surveys began in thewet season of 1992. (4) walking sticks were sampled only twice per season until 1994. (5) snails weresampled only once in Dry season 1991. twice in Wet season 1991. Wet and Dry seasons 1992. and Wetand Dry seasons of 1993. and three times in Wet and Dry seasons 1994. Sampling at each pointconsisted of a minimum of two individuals searching all available surfaces within a quadrat (e.g..vegetation. litter. rock. soil) for the presence of snails and walking sticks. Walking sticks wereidentified to sex whenever possible. with immature or unidentifiable individuals being classified asjuveniles. Exceptions to this classification system are Dry season 1993. Dry season 1996. and Wetseason 1996. when no walking sticks were classified to sex. In these cases. all walking sticks are listedin the data file as juveniles. Beginning in 1995. individuals of C. caracolla and N. tridens weremarked with a numbered plastic dot affixed to the shell and measured to the nearest 0.1 mm using dialcalipers. All surveys occurred between 19:30 and 03:00 hours to coincide with peak snail activity.Population densities were estimated as Minimum Number Known Alive (MNKA). the maximumnumber of individuals of each species recorded for a site in each season. and from Wet Season 1995onward. using the Lincoln-Peterson. Modified Lincoln-Peterson. and Schnabel estimators. Unit of abundance = Count, Unit of biomass = NA

Citation(s)

Willig, M. R. & Bloch, C. P. (2016) "El Verde Grid long-term invertebrate data: Luquillo Long Term Ecological Research Site Database: Data Set 107". Available at:http://luq.lternet.edu/data/luqmetadata107/7427, accessed 2016.