[Taxacom] insect inventory in NPR

[JF Mate]

As I don´t have access to the original Science article I got the gist
from the npr.org link that Donat provided, so my information is
probably not accurate. Nevertheless they seem to assert that the site
was thoroughly sampled and that the sorted material was sent to the
appropriate experts. I can imagine that for many groups they either
could not get an expert to help or none is currently living so I
wouldn´t be at all surprised some groups, like your microhymenoptera
were not adequately studied. Even in the UK (arguably the best known
patch in the world) many biodiversity studies are limited as few
people can id staphs, midges, etc.

The taxonomic impediment is the biggest reason why I am weary of
extrapolating from a single site to the meso or macro-scale. There are
so few properly studied sites that these estimates are more leaps of
faith than anything else.

Best

Jason

On 18 December 2012 11:16, John Noyes <j.noyes at nhm.ac.uk> wrote:
> Hi Donat and others,
>
> It also seems that the estimate of 25,000 species of arthropods for this area of forest could be seriously on the low side as it is based on an estimated 6144 species collected in a half hectare plot. Given that there do not seem to be any recognised microhymenopterists involved in the study I would guess that the estimated number of species in this group would be seriously on the  low side. In my experience a similar area of forest in Costa Rica would contain at least 1800 species of microhymenoptera and smaller Coleoptera  alone (a six hour screen sweep sample of vegetation from ground level to about 2.5m in La Selva in Costa Rica produced about 1800 species of these groups - these were all sorted to species by the recognised world authorities in their respective groups - I can send a PDF of this paper if anyone wants a copy). Throw in the other groups, other seasons, other levels of the forest and more intensive sampling in the same area of  forest and you could probably at least double the number estimated by Basset, et al. Add Terry's comments into the mix and you probably get to see that it is all really pie in the sky.
>
> John
>
> John Noyes
> Scientific Associate
> Department of Entomology
> Natural History Museum
> Cromwell Road
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> London SW7 5BD
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>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of JF Mate
> Sent: 15 December 2012 16:43
> To: Taxacom
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] insect inventory in NPR
>
> Oh the irony:
>
> ...Terry Erwin, an entomologist at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., who was not involved in the study, cautions against putting too much weight on the estimated number of species. "This study is exciting because they've taken a large team of people and used every technique available," he says. "But to take a little sample from one place and scale up, it's been critiqued and critiqued and it just doesn't work."
>
> Still, wise words.
>
>
> On 15 December 2012 05:48, Donat Agosti <agosti at amnh.org> wrote:
>> And it is original coverage made it even onto the Science cover
>>
>> http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6113.cover-expansion
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Here a little blurb about an insect survey in Panama in NPR
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.npr.org/2012/12/14/167163274/counting-bugs-in-panama-get-ou
>> t-your-tree-raft
>>
>> and an audio
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1
>> <http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=fal
>> se&id=167163274&m=167230696>
>> &t=1&islist=false&id=167163274&m=167230696
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Donat
>>
>>
>>
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