This research abstract proposes comparing the micro-communities of arthropods inhabiting riparian and chaparral ecosystems in Mill Creek Canyon in the San Bernardino National Forest. The study would evaluate the frequencies of arthropod species' occurrences, compositions, and richness between the two habitats. Arthropods would be collected using pit-traps, classified morphologically, and their frequencies analyzed using statistical tests. The diversity and change in species composition between the communities would also be compared using an index that measures beta diversity. As plant communities define terrestrial environments and arthropods are important for ecosystem stability and nutrient cycling, preserving both is important for different biomes.

1. Nuria Astrid Perez Varela
Research Abstract
San Bernardino Valley College
11/16/2012
Where Do You Prefer to Live? A Comparison of Arthropod’s Micro-communities of San
Bernardino National Forest
Proposal description
Option 1
The frequencies of species' occurrence, composition, and richness of the arthropod's
micro-communities inhabiting the riparian and chaparral ecosystems in Mill Creek Canyon were
evaluated and compared.
Option 2
How a community of plants can define not only the terrestrial environment of a region
but also the richness of the community of arthropods inhabiting in it.
Abstract
The community of plants has a strong effect in the terrestrial environment of a region
and in the lives of all organisms inhabiting in it (Sadava et al. 2011). Each species' population
has a particular habitat requirements and tolerance (Pianka 1999), therefore, it is most likely to
find different species in areas under distinct environmental conditions because the different
adaptative and acclimation abilities of each species.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate if there is a difference between the frequencies
of the arthropod species that inhabit the riparian and the chaparral ecosystems and to estimate the
change in species composition between the two arthropod communities found in the two habitats
in the same canyon where no geographical barrier divides them.
The arthropods, collected with the use of pit-traps, were morphologically classified and
the frequency of occurrence of each species was counted and analyzed with a Chi square
analysis. The richness of the two arthropod communities' diversity were compared using the
Sorenson's index that measures beta diversity, which estimates the change in species composition
from one community to another and the significance of the species shared between the two.
As the preservation of a plant community and different biomes is being a hot topic in our
society, the preservation of the arthropod communities should be also taken under account
because the arthropods found in the leaf litter are highly important for the stability of the
different biomes. They decompose death material into nutrients used for plant's metabolism and
they are source of energy for larger animal species. Where arthropods prefer to live has an effect
on the other species' communities of that region.
Work cited
Pianka E. 1999. Evolutionary Ecology 6th edition. Addison Wesley Longman. 61 p. Print
Sadava et al. 2011. Life: The Science of Biology 9th edition. Freeman. 54 p. 1211p. Print.