ESTABLISHING LONG-TERM BIOLOGICAL MONITORING PROTOCOLS: COMPARING THREE ARTHROPOD SAMPLING TECHNIQUES IN THE AMURUM FOREST RESERVE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT Amurum Forest Reserve (AFR), the area around the AP Leventis Ornithological Research Institute is not currently systematically monitored in terms of arthropods, which is fundamental to the bird species of the reserve that has been extensively monitored. Research opportunities to relate the bird data to this biotic factor (food resource) are being lost, particularly as Amurum has been protected for over 14 years and is undergoing regeneration in terms of gallery forest and savanna. This project was to determine the best sampling design and effort to efficiently and accurately determine arthropods abundance and diversity at Amurum forest reserve. In view of this, characteristics such as abundance, richness, average body length, effort and statistical power required for collecting arthropods were compared with sweep net, pitfall trap and sticky trap. Proportions of major taxa and size distribution of arthropods differed significantly between all three methods. Family richness showed no significant difference between sweep net and sticky traps. Sticky traps significantly recorded the highest abundant arthropods and required the least effort in time (236. 63 ±108/sec) to complete sampling. Monitoring arthropods with sweep net had the least statistical power and requires as much as thrice the sampling units required for pitfall trap and sticky trap combined. A combination of pitfall and sticky traps sampled a wider variety of prey taxa and may provide a more accurate estimate of arthropods community in the AFR for avian studies.