Ad-Hoc vs. Standardized and Optimized Arthropod Diversity Sampling

• Published in: Diversity (Basel) Vol. 1; no. 1; pp. 36 - 51
• Main Authors: Cardoso, Pedro, Crespo, Luís C., Carvalho, Rui, Rufino, Ana C., Henriques, Sérgio S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-09-2009
• Subjects: abundance classes; accumulation curves; Araneae; biodiversity assessment; Iberian Peninsula; Portugal; rank-abundance curves; species richness estimators
• ISSN: 1424-2818; 1424-2818
• DOI: 10.3390/d1010036

The use of standardized and optimized protocols has been recently advocated for different arthropod taxa instead of ad-hoc sampling or sampling with protocols defined on a case-by-case basis. We present a comparison of both sampling approaches applied for spiders in a natural area of Portugal. Tests were made to their efficiency, over-collection of common species, singletons proportions, species abundance distributions, average specimen size, average taxonomic distinctness and behavior of richness estimators. The standardized protocol revealed three main advantages: (1) higher efficiency; (2) more reliable estimations of true richness; and (3) meaningful comparisons between undersampled areas.