SNH Invertebrate Site Condition Monitoring of Beetle Assemblage Features 2015: Minto Craigs SSSI

Quality Control

We have a very high level of confidence in this dataset. The recorder and/or determiner is a highly experienced ecologist. Where necessary, rare specimens were compared against reference collections, those held in the National Museums Scotland collection and identities confirmed with experts.

Method steps

1. Surveys targeted the beetle assemblage feature of Minto Craigs SSSI and involved a combination of active searches, pitfall traps and bark traps. Active searches were completed at a total of three locations with appropriate microhabitats on 17/06/2015 and 26/08/2015. This involved surveying a variety of niches within the arboreal habitat such as dead trunks, aerial deadwood, rot holes fruiting fungi and loose bark. Two transects of five pitfall traps (with traps set 2 m apart) were installed on 17/06/2015. Each pitfall trap consisted of a plastic cup dug into the ground so that the lip was flush with the substrate surface. Chicken-wire was attached to cover traps in order to exclude small vertebrates. A mixture of 70% propylene glycol antifreeze and 30% water was added to a depth of 2.5 cm in each trap, and a drop of washing-up liquid was added to break surface tension. Traps were left in situ until 29/06/2015 when they were collected and removed. Bark traps were installed on 29/06/2015 on deadwood in five locations. Each trap consisted of two layers of plastic bubble wrap (40 x 40 cm), with bubbles facing each other so as to provide artificial a^??barka^?? habitat. Dark plastic was used to cover the traps to keep out light, and they were wrapped around a tree with wire at 1.5 m height. Traps were then left in situ for several weeks to allow invertebrates to colonise this new habitat. The traps were collected on 26/08/2015; invertebrates between the traps and tree bark and between the bubble wrap layers were collected and the traps removed.

Minto Craigs SSSI