With the immense popularity of the internet and the much lower cost for online surveys compared to in-person interviews, many surveys are now conducted online. One approach to identify whether respondents are having difficulty answering a question is by analysing cursor trajectory data. There are many different input devices, for example computer mouses and touchpads. Respondents’ behaviour and...

Protected areas are key to preserving biodiversity and maintaining ecosystem services. However, their ability to ensure long-term survival of threatened andendangered species varies across countries, regions and landscapes. Distribution surveys can beparticularly important for assessing the value of protected areas, and gauging their efficacy incatering to species-specific requirements. We asse...

Fungi are an important and diverse component of soil communities, but these communities have proven difficult to study in conventional biotic surveys. We evaluated soil fungal diversity at two sites in a temperate forest using direct isolation of small-subunit and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rRNA genes by PCR and high-throughput sequencing of cloned fragments. We identified 412 sequence t...

We assessed four potential sources of error in estimating size of the population of Devils Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis); net, time of day, diver, and order of diver. Experimental dives (3/day) were conducted during 4 days in July 2009. Effects of the four sources of error on estimates from dive surveys were analyzed using a split-split plot ANOVA. Diver and order of diver had no significa...

Drought alert systems for forest fire prevention often rely on vegetation water content (VWC) monitoring which is a key parameter in forest fire hazard. In southern France, VWC is up to now monitored through regular field surveys. Thanks to the theoretical sensitivity of shortwave infrared reflectance to VWC, MODIS satellite data are potentially able to monitor VWC depending on plant species VW...

Surveys were carried out monthly from April-October 2002 to examine 68 sampling sites around "Toh Daeng" peat swamp forest in Narathiwat Province, Thailand, of which 38 were known Mansonia-positive habitats and 30 were Mansonia-negative sites. The present larval surveys were qualitative owing to features of the host plants (location, distribution, and abundance), difficulties in locating and se...

This short review presents the results obtained in several localities of Brazil on the composition of forest bird communities. Data were collected since the late 80's, after we introduced a new methodology of quantitative survey, based on acoustic identification and unlimited-radius point census. Although these data are still scattered, they show uniquely precise and coherently comparative patt...

We found that leaf pubescence in Sassafras albidum (Nuttall) Nees negatively inßuences the growth and survivorship of a lepidopteran herbivore, Papilio troilus (L.). S. albidum leaves varied greatly in pubescence among plants. In laboratory choice experiments, P. troilus larvae preferred to eat and adult females preferred to oviposit on nonpubescent S. albidum leaves. Larvae fed pubescent S. al...

Despite the alarming rates of deforestation and forest fragmentation, Madagascar still harbors extraordinary biodiversity. However, in many arthropod groups, such as spiders, this biodiversity remains mostly unexplored and undescribed. The first subsocial Madagascan species of the theridiid spider genus Anelosimus were described in 2005 when six new species were found to coexist in the Périnet ...

Biological control agents may have unintended effects on native biota, particularly species that are closely related to the target invader. Here, we explored how Chrysolina quadrigemina, a beetle introduced to control the invasive weed Hypericum perforatum, impacts native H. punctatum in Tompkins County, New York, USA. Using a suite of complementary field surveys and experimental manipulations,...