02280nas a2200181   4500008004100000245011700041210006900158260000800227300001200235490000700247520167800254653005701932100001701989700001902006700002002025700001902045856003402064       2002                        eng d00aPitfall trap size and capture of three taxa of litter-dwelling arthropods: Implications for biodiversity studies0 aPitfall trap size and capture of three taxa of litterdwelling ar  cJun  a438-4480 v313 aCost-effective and ecologically sensitive monitoring techniques are required to assess effects of anthropogenic disturbances on biodiversity. Pitfall trapping is widely used in biodiversity monitoring programs to measure the diversity of organisms active within leaf-litter. We compared catch rates and species richness of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae), rove beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), and spiders (Araneae) across five different diameters of pitfall traps (4.5, 6.5, 11, 15, and 20 cm) and three sizes of rain covers (64, 79.2, and 225 en 12) to determine optimal trap size for studying litter- dwelling arthropod biodiversity. In general, larger pitfall traps collected more individuals, and more species, of all three taxa. Further tests on data standardized to trap circumference showed that catch rates are not directly proportional to trap size, and even the smallest traps collected a disproportionately high number of certain taxa. When catch rate data were standardized by trap circumference smaller traps collected more small-bodied carabid and staphylinid species and large traps collected more wolf spiders (Lycosidae) than smaller traps. Roof size had no effect on species richness or catch rate of beetles or spiders. For the purposes of ecological monitoring, using more small pitfall traps would be the most efficient sampling technique to characterize the dominant epigaeic arthropod fauna; small traps collect few nontarget vertebrates, and sorting the samples involves generally less processing time. From a conservation perspective, however, including several large pitfall traps in the sampling regime Would help detect rare species.10adung beetles tropical forest ecology general ecology1 aWork, T., T.1 aBuddle, C., M.1 aKorinus, L., M.1 aSpence, J., R.  u<Go to ISI>://000178326000003