Sampling macroinvertebrates in a temporary pond: comparing the suitability of two techniques to detect richness, spatial segregation and diel activity
2012
Florencio, Margarita | Díaz-Paniagua, Carmen | Gomez-Mestre, Ivan | Serrano, L. (Laura)
Recent and increasing interest in temporary ponds as biodiversity reservoirs fosters our need to test sampling techniques for characterising their biological communities. We compared the efficiency of dip-netting to that of fyke nets in sampling the macroinvertebrate assemblage of a temporary pond in Doñana National Park (SW Spain). We sampled the pond at four different times—morning, afternoon, evening and night—distinguishing between deep and shallow zones. In our sampling, dip-netting captured a higher number of taxa, and higher abundances of individuals than fyke nets. However, both techniques captured exclusive taxa, not recorded with the other device. Fyke nets distinguished between nocturnal and diurnal macroinvertebrates, and hence are more appropriate to study macroinvertebrate diel activity. We detected nocturnal activity in Gerris thoracicus larvae, and adults of Colymbetes fuscus, Rhantus suturalis, Rhantus hispanicus and Hydrochara flavipes. Conversely, larvae of Sympetrum fonscolombei and Notonecta spp., and adults of Notonecta glauca were mainly diurnal. The overall diel activity pattern of the macroinvertebrate assemblage depended on the diel activities of their integrating taxa and stages. Although dip-netting was more appropriate to sample macroinvertebrate assemblages in different microhabitats, fyke nets better captured nocturnal and fast-swimming invertebrates. Consequently, the joint use of both sampling techniques would capture a better picture of the representative macrofauna of a temporary pond than either one on its own.
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