Community Assembly in a Leaf-Litter Invertebrate Community

 

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2011, Volume 32

Christopher W. Beck

Abstract

In this exercise, students design and carry out an experiment to test among competing hypotheses for community assembly, using a leaf-litter invertebrate community. By constructing mesh bags with leaf litter from which the invertebrates have been extracted, students can begin the experiment with an open community. By sampling a subset of leaf-litter bags at different time points over a 4-6 week time period, the degree to which community development is deterministic or random can be evaluated. This experiment could be used in introductory courses for majors or upper-level capstone courses, depending on the sophistication of statistical analysis.

Keywords:  succession, leaf litter, community development, microinvertebrate

Dalhousie University (2010)