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Eden Arthropod Azores Database

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)

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Default

Identification

Alternate Identifier

5cc85d78-4313-4959-b17d-cd3dc32cc155

Publication Date
2021-02-07
Title

Eden Arthropod Azores Database

Abstract

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)

Dataset Language

ENGLISH

 
Dataset Creator
  Universidade dos Açores; ce3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental - José Marcelino (Researcher)

Rua Madre de Deus

,

Ponta Delgada

,

Azores

,

9500-321

,

PORTUGAL

https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=26030035500
Dataset Creator
  Universidade dos Açores; ce3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental - Paulo Borges (Assistant Professor)

Rua Capitão João d´Ávila, Pico da Urze

,

Angra Do Heroismo

,

Azores

,

9700-042

,

PORTUGAL

http://gba.uac.pt/member/paulo-a-v-borges
Dataset Creator
  Universidade dos Açores - Isabel Borges (Researcher)

Rua da Mãe de Deus

,

Ponta Delgada

,

Azores

,

9500-321

,

PORTUGAL

http://gba.uac.pt/member/isabel-marisa-mateus-borges
Dataset Creator
  Universidade dos Açores; ce3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental - António Soares (Auxiliary Professor)

Rua da Mãe de Deus

,

Ponta Delgada

,

Azores

,

9500-321

,

PORTUGAL

http://gba.uac.pt/member/antoacutenio-onofre-costa-miranda-soares
Metadata Provider
  Universidade dos Açores; ce3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental - Paulo Borges (Aggregate Professor)

Rua Capitão João d´Ávila, Pico da Urze

,

Angra Do Heroismo

,

Azores

,

9700-042

,

PORTUGAL

http://gba.uac.pt/member/paulo-a-v-borges
Associated Party

PUBLISHER

  Universidade dos Açores; ce3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental - Paulo Borges (Aggregate Professor)

Rua Capitão João d´Ávila, Pico da Urze

,

Angra Do Heroismo

,

Azores

,

9700-042

,

PORTUGAL

Dataset Contact
  Universidade dos Açores; ce3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental - José Marcelino (Researcher)

Rua Madre de Deus

,

Ponta Delgada

,

Azores

,

9500-321

,

PORTUGAL

https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=26030035500
Dataset Contact
  Universidade dos Açores; ce3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental - Paulo Borges (Assistant Professor)

Rua Capitão João d´Ávila, Pico da Urze

,

Angra Do Heroismo

,

Azores

,

9700-042

,

PORTUGAL

http://gba.uac.pt/member/paulo-a-v-borges
Keywords (GBIF Dataset Type Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_type.xml)
  • Pico

  • anthropogenic impact gradient

  • habitat types

  • Arthropoda

  • Terceira

  • São Miguel

  • Azores

  • Occurrence

  • Island

  • Flores

  • Santa Maria

Keywords (GBIF Dataset Type Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_type_2015-07-10.xml)
  • Samplingevent

Geographic Coverage

Geographic Description

Azores (Portugal). Islands of Santa Maria, São Miguel, Terceira, Pico and Flores

Bounding Box

West Bounding Coordinate

-31.311

East Bounding Coordinate

-24.961

North Bounding Coordinate

39.589

South Bounding Coordinate

36.906

Temporal Coverage

Range of Dates

Begin Date

2009-07-20

End Date

2009-08-23

Taxonomic Coverage

General Taxonomic Coverage

Araneae, Collembola, Insecta

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name

Order

Taxonomic Rank Value

Araneae

Common Name

Spiders

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name

Order

Taxonomic Rank Value

Collembola

Common Name

Springtails

Taxonomic Classification

Taxonomic Rank Name

Class

Taxonomic Rank Value

Insecta

Common Name

Insects

License Information

Intellectual Rights

This work is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License

.

 
 

Additional Metadata

Metadata

GBIF Metadata Block

Date Stamp

2021-11-29T09:08:07Z

Citation

Marcelino J, Borges P, Borges I, Soares A (2021). Eden Arthropod Azores Database. Version 1.9. Universidade dos Açores. Sampling event dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/38ccb3 accessed via GBIF.org on 2021-11-29.

Collection

EDEN

EDEN -Database

Speciment Preservation Method

ALCOHOL

 

Project

• Project

Title

Species inventory of Arthropoda across anthropogenic impacted habitats in the Azores archipelago

Personnel

Individual Name

Given Name

José

Surname

Marcelino

Role

AUTHOR

Personnel

Individual Name

Given Name

Paulo

Surname

Borges

Role

AUTHOR

Personnel

Individual Name

Given Name

Isabel

Surname

Borges

Role

AUTHOR

Personnel

Individual Name

Given Name

Paulo

Surname

Borges

Role

AUTHOR

Abstract

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.

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

Descriptor

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

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).

 
 

Methods

• Method

Method Step

Description

See above details in Sampling description

Sampling

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%).

Sampling 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).

qualityControl

Description

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.