Temporal variation in ground-dwelling invertebrate biomass in the Goldfields of Western Australia

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 7 years ago

ABSTRACT – We examined temporal variation in invertebrate biomass based on pit-trapping data from the semi-arid goldfields region of Western Australia (W.A.). Invertebrate dry biomass varied significantly among taxa, seasons and from year-to-year. There was a peak in dry biomass for all taxonomic groups from September to January that was followed by a significant decline for most families by April, and invertebrate biomass was lowest in midwinter. For Araneae, Blattodea, Scorpionida and Chilopoda there was a significant rapid decline by April, whereas for Coleoptera, Orthoptera and Isopoda the rate of decline was slower. Other than during the winter survey, the dry biomass of Formicidae was unchanged. Chilopoda and Blattodea constituted the highest proportion of the biomass captured and the dry mass
of individuals from these taxa was generally higher than that for the other invertebrate taxa. There was a positive correlation between invertebrate biomass and the number of reptiles caught but not with the number of mammals caught.