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1-2.
Methodology
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2-Methods
and Materials
Several
methods were used during the fieldwork in Wadi Rum Protected Area in order to
cover a wide range of macroinvertebrate species inhabiting also a wide range
of microhabitats. Fieldwork was divided into two parts, the preliminary field
visit, and the systematic survey work.
2.1-Preliminary
Field Visit
2.2-Systematic
Survey
2.1-Preliminary Field Visit
A ten days preliminary field
trip was conducted to the study area. Aims of this trip were:
1.
Identify different habitats inside the reserve important for insects.
2.
Correlate insect diversity with vegetation communities in the systematic
survey work. The main vegetation communities were identified, these
communities are:
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Urginea marritima
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Anabasis articiilata
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Haloxylon persicum
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Hammada salicornica
3.
Determine
and apply appropriate methods that will be used later in the systematic
survey, and also test the efficiency of those methods in the field.
4.
Search for hot spots and locations that might be important for insects
regarding their distribution and diversity. Three wadis containing water
bodies were chosen as important insect sites, these wadies are:
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Wadi Esh-shallaleh (Lawrence falls).
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Wadi Sbakh
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Abu ‘Aineh (Lawrence pools)
5.
Train the team on collecting, and preserving techniques.
6.
Collect information about insects’ activity, and ecology.
7. Prepare
the equipment and killing jars that are going to be used in the systematic
survey.
8. Put
the preliminary design for the systematic survey schedule.
Over the 10 days, a sweeping and trapping
program took place, as follows.
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Date
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Activity
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5-3-2000
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Travel
from Amman to Rum
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6-3-2000
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Arrangement
of equipment including the killing jars and the chemicals.
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7-3-2000
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Sweeping
in the central area of the protected area including the central part of
Wadi Rum (from the researcher’s house to Lawrence falls), Jebel
Al-Khaz’ali and Wadi El-Khashkhash.
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8-3-2000
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Sweeping in the western part of the
protected area including the western Barrah, Wadi El-Mat’am (Wadi Abu
Ghadhaah). Sweeping also took place in the Um Mqour in the southeastern
corner of the protected area.
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9-3-2000
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Sweeping in Jebal Infaishiyyeh
(Coordinates 738565E, 3272720N). The team, including the supervisor had
a meeting to put the design for fieldwork of the systematic survey.
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10-3-2000
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Sweeping
in Abu-‘Aineh (Lawrence springs). 20 pitfall traps were put in Um
Mqour area near the dam (coordinates 737095E, 3258800N). Half the traps
were placed close to Retama raetam shrubs, while the other half
were placed between shrubs of Hammada salicornica.
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11-3-200
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Sweeping
in Wadi Sbakh behind the guesthouse (coordinates 734095E, 3275100N)
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12-3-2000
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Sweeping
between a wadi north east of Wadi Marsad and Wadi El-Mat’am (Wadi Abu
Ghadhah) (coordinates 725425E, 3284855N).
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13-3-2000
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OFF
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14-3-2000
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Travel
back to Amman
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2.2-Systematic Survey
2.2.1-Sampling Sites
2.2.2-Sampling Methods
2.2.3-Specimen
Preparation
2.2.4-Preserving
specimens
2.2.5-Organising
the Collection
2.2.1-Sampling Sites
Fieldwork was divided into
three main categories according to geographical and biotic considerations,
these are:
1.
Flat Areas:
a)
This category includes all the main wadis that run through the
protected area. In other words, this category represents all the protected
area excluding the mountains.
b)
The
whole protected area (including the mountains) was divided into 151 squares
(2X2km2), using maps with a scale of 1: 50000. The squares that
were in the mountains were excluded from the next step.
c)
Stratified random sampling was used to chose squares in which the
research will take place, see map (4 A). Fifty (50) squares were randomly
chosen in order to give 33% coverage of the protected area.
d)
Each chosen square was visited for one hour. The
team would do sweeping across the whole square concentrating on the
potentially good parts, like parts that have a dense vegetation.
e)
The UTM starting point was recorded using a
hand-held global positioning system (Garmin GII + GPS receiver). It should be
mentioned that this point was not chosen randomly.
f)
Since insects are active throughout the day,
survey visits were done at different times of the day: early morning, late
morning, midday, afternoon, and to lesser extent at night-time. However, early
in the survey the temperature was relatively low and so, there was less
activity. Generally, most of the activity was seen at the hottest times of the
day.
g)
To avoid seasonal differences between the survey
grids in different parts of the site, the five main wadis in the protected
area were visited in each fieldtrip, so no area was left without being visited
for more than one week. This helped to ensure that, short-lived insects were
not overlooked. .
h)
A brief description of the grid was taken each
time, including temperature, start time, date, altitude, and common species
seen.
2.
Mountains: (Map
4 B)
Some accessible mountains, and those known to
have canyons with good vegetation cover, were visited. Some of these mountains
contain some elements from the Mediterranean region to elevations containing
some Mediterranean elements, for example, Juniperus phoenicia. The
following mountains were visited during the preliminary survey in the
following dates:
9-3-2000: Jebal Infaishiyyeh (Coordinates 7 38 565E, 32 72 720N).
11-4-2000:
Jebal Al-qattar (Coordinates 7 31 445 E 32
66 640N)
3.
Hotspots: (Map
4 B)
These were places that held some special elements
attractive to insects. The three wadis that contain permanent water resources
were included as hotspots, in addition to water collecting constructions
(dams). Hotspots included also locations of previous Bedouins settling areas.
These locations are known to be a good habitat for insects because there are
many materials which insects can feed on (garbage, animal remains)
2.2.2-Sampling Methods
Wide
ranges of species were collected using several methods and techniques. When
specimens were caught alive, only one specimen of each species was taken and
the other individuals were released. Sampling methods used in this survey
included the following:
1-Sweeping Nets
These are made of strong fine-mesh bolting
cloth, tied to a circular frame. This is the principle equipment used to
collect flying insects, and also it can be used to sweep bushes and shrubs for
those insects that rest on flowers, stems, and leaves. The main groups caught
by this method were dragonflies, butterflies, true flies, wasps and bees.
2-Light Traps
Simple light traps are made
of a light bulb suspended over a funnel, and the funnel sits on the rim of a
large can that contains an open killing jar. This method was used to collect
nocturnal flying insects, mainly moths. In order to cover different parts of
the study area, traps were placed in the five main wadis, Marsad, Ramman, Rum,
Um-‘Ishrin, and Um Harraq. Additional traps were placed in front of the
researchers house in Rum village when the weather was suitable. The traps were
set on elevated ground in an open area where they could be seen easily.
Estimation of species richness, and number of specimens of each species in
certain time of the survey, can be given using this method, see map
(5).
3-Pitfall Traps
This trap is simply a plastic
container, sunk in the ground until the rim is at ground level. The bait used
was vinegar (apple, and white). This method was mainly used to trap
ground-inhabiting insects attracted to the strong smell of the vinegar inside
the trap. Traps were arranged in square grids (stations). Each of which
consisted of 16 traps that are 5 meters apart, covering an area of 400m
square, and the surrounding buffer strip. Trapping stations were placed in the
four dominant vegetation communities.
Two stations were placed in the Anabasis
articulate community, the largest community, one in the eastern side of
the protected area (sandy soil), and the other in the western side (gravel and
hard soil). The other three stations were placed in the other three vegetation
communities, see map (6).
Because
of the rapid evaporation, and direct exposure to sunlight, flat rocks on
supports 2-3 cm high were placed as a roof around the opening of the
containers to minimise evaporation, see figure 2. At the beginning, the amount
of vinegar was about, a third of the container's volume (1000 ml) but later
this quantity was found to evaporate very fast, so the quantity was raised to
more than two-thirds of the container's volume. The team checked the level of
vinegar in the traps every two - three days, and extra amounts were added when
necessary. Stations were left for one week, after which specimens were
collected and labelled using sieves.
4-Free Catch
This is an approach
used to collect a broad spectrum of insects by any suitable way. Several tools
were used in Rum including forceps, fine brushes, nets, aspirators, tubes of
different sizes, and hand picking..
Figure
(2): Pitfall trap with small stone supports and roof.
Figure
(3): Light trap: used to catch flying insects (moths).
