The Use of Coverboards in Estimating Patterns of Reptile and Amphibian Biodiversity
The Use of Coverboards in Estimating Patterns of Reptile and Amphibian Biodiversity
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使用覆盖板估算爬行动物和两栖动物生物多样性模式
DOI：
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发表时间：
1992
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
J. Gibbons
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Bruce W. Grant;A. Tucker;J. Lovich;A. M. Mills;P. Dixon;J. Gibbons
爬行动物和两栖动物在生态群落中扮演着重要的角色，尽管它们的习性隐秘而神秘，但它们可能是环境变化的极其敏感的指标。为了估计可能归因于自然或人为环境变化的两栖动物群落动态，两栖动物生物多样性管理者将需要特定的、标准化的和有效的野外采样方法。其中一种方法涉及使用木质和锡质盖板阵列，这是本文的主题。1988年1月至1991年8月，在南卡罗来纳州上海岸平原的萨凡纳河遗址进行了研究。与漂移栅栏/陷阱捕集器阵列相比，盖板技术需要较少的维护和采样工作，但只能遇到在阵列检查时使用盖板的爬行动物和两栖动物。相比之下，带电诱捕方法集成的时间更长，因此每个诱捕方法会产生更多的遭遇。尽管如此，根据研究地点、盖板年龄、一天中的时间和盖板的类型(即木材或锡)，大量遇到神秘爬行动物和两栖动物的情况可能是盖板采样的结果。对盖板下氢气和热微气候的详细分析表明，特定的机制可以解释观察到的爬行动物盖板使用的差异。我们的结论是，盖板技术可以提供一种有用的手段来量化两栖动物相对丰度和生物多样性的格局。然而，阵列设计和采样方案应仔细选择，以最大限度地减少由于两栖动物在湿热小气候偏好方面的细微差异而导致的相遇概率的采样偏差。
Reptiles and amphibians play important roles in ecological communities and can be extremely sensitive indicators of environmental change, despite their cryptic and secretive habits. To estimate herpetofaunal community dynamics potentially attributable to either natural or anthropogenic environmental variation, herpetofaunal biodiversity managers will require specific, standardized, and efficient field sampling methods. One such method involves using arrays of wood and tin coverboards and is the subject of this paper. Studies were conducted on the Savannah River Site in the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina from January 1988 to August 1991. Compared with a drift fence/pitfall trap array, the coverboard technique requires less maintenance and sampling effort, but only those reptiles and amphibians using the coverboards at the time of an array check could be encountered. In contrast, live-trapping methods integrate over a longer time period and thereby generate many more encounters per trap. Nonetheless, large numbers of encounters with cryptic reptiles and amphibians can result from coverboard sampling depending upon the study site, coverboard age, time of day, and type of coverboard (i.e., wood or tin). Detailed analyses of hydric and thermal microclimates beneath coverboards suggest specific mechanisms to explain observed differences in herpetofaunal coverboard use. We conclude that the coverboard technique can provide a useful means to quantify patterns in herpetofaunal relative abundance and biodiversity. However, array design and sampling protocol should be carefully selected to minimize sampling biases in encounter probabilities due to subtle differences among herpetofauna in their hygrothermal microclimate preferences.