Lawn biodiversity
I am trying to organise a national test of the biodiversity in organic lawns and the soil, and compare this to chemically treated lawns. The aim is to take up a m2 section of lawn and count all the invertibrates and worms in the grass and the soil below.
I have posted this topic on the
landscapejuicenetwork forum and was told to try and get advice here.
The post is
http://www.landscapejuicenetwork.com/forum/topics/lawn-biodiversity?x=1&...
I am trying to devise a test that is easily done by all those that are willing to participate. Basically I need to know the best way of counting/finding all the insects, and the best time of year to do this.
Thanks
John
Groups:
counting insects
That's a big ask! To find and count all the invertebrates in even a small area of soil is hard to do, and to identify them even harder! However, you might be able to pick up some general trends by choosing a few groups (e.g. worms, beetles, millipedes etc.), identifying them just to group level and counting those.
One technique for extracting soil invertebrates is to use a Tullgren funnel, for info see these links:
http://www.amentsoc.org/insects/glossary/terms/tullgren-funnel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tullgren_funnel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOZmfP1Psac [video]
See also the OPAL soils and earthworms survey, which has been designed for anyone to use and has been successfully applied in a variety of contexts:
http://www.opalexplorenature.org/soilsurvey
The most comprehensive study of garden invertebrates that I'm aware of is the Sheffield University BUGS project, from which there is lots of information to download:
http://www.bugs.group.shef.ac.uk/
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Open University - Biodiversity Observatory