Animals under logs and stones

Illustrations by

Miranda Gray

Subject: zoology ecology entomology Series: naturalists-handbooks

Tags:

entomology
identification
logs
soil
stones
taxonomy

Description

Logs and stones provide an interesting interface between the damp depths of the soil and the drier open ground surface. The communities of organisms that live beneath them are little noticed and even less studied, yet the potential for ecological work on them is great. Some of the animals are relatively large and are often not difficult to find. They exhibit a wide range of life styles, from relatively slow slugs or snails to very fast centipedes, from generalist to specialist feeders and from herbivores to carnivores.

Readership

Sixth-form, undergraduate, postgraduate, field centre, ecological consultant, wildlife trust, conservation volunteer

Introduction
The environment under logs and stones
Identifying the animals
Keys: I Invertebrate groups; II Earthworms; III Slugs and snails; IV Harvestmen; V Families of spiders; VI Pseudoscorpians; VIIWoodlice; VIII Millipedes; IX Centipedes; X Insects (Families of springtails; Families of grasshoppers and crickets; Ants; Families of beetles; Ground Beetles; Rove beetles); XI Insect larvae
Techniques.

About the Author

Philip Wheater is Dean of Faculty in the School of Science and the Environment, Manchester Metropolitan University. His interests include: ecology and management of human-influenced environments, especially urban systems; invertebrate conservation and management; access to, provision and assessment of environmental education; environmental monitoring, especially fieldwork and the use of statistics.