Arthropods of La Selva (ALAS) Database

ALAS has undertaken a series of quantitative sampling programs, involving a variety of sampling methods. Material from these samples is being widely distributed, and taxonomists frequently have questions about the meanings of the collection codes. Also, some taxonomists are beginning to use the quantitative results of ALAS in publications.

Information at &viceroy.eeb.uconn.edu/ALAS/ALAS.html& provides a chronology of sampling programs, descriptions of the sampling methods, and the detailed collection data for each collection code. The collection code is an important identifier for ALAS material. It is the same as the entomologist's traditional lot number, and serves to unite a set of specimens that all have the same ecological data.

La Selva Biological Station is located in Costa Rica, Heredia Province, 10 degrees 26 minutes North, 84 degrees 01 minutes West, 50-150m elevation. Localities within La Selva Biological Station: La Selva is a rainforest reserve of approximately 1500ha (McDade et al. 1993). There is a well-developed system of trails.

Each trail has a name and standard abbreviation, and distances along trails in meters are marked on signposts along the trails. Localities at La Selva may be indicated by a trail name followed by the number of meters along the trail. For example, CES300 refers to 300m along the Camino Experimental Sur.

La Selva has a GIS system, marked in the field with a grid of poles delimiting 50x100m grid cells (Wentz & Bishop 1995). All quantitative samples from

Project

ALAS are referenced to this GIS system. GIS coordinates associated with collection codes are in meters. The x axis (first number in a coordinate pair) is the &long& axis of La Selva, going from the lab clearing side of the property upslope toward Volcan Barba (32 degrees from North).

The zero point is well to the north, so that all values are positive. The y axis (second number) has negative values to the west (right side facing south, upslope) and positive values to the east. Information was obtained from &viceroy.eeb.uconn.edu/ALAS/ALAS.html&.