Invertebrate diversity and succession along a glacier chronosequence in Svalbard (Midtre Lovénbre)

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 834 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

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How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Graf P R, Danielson Damne S, Müller Y C J, Lundin N, Madslien Steinhaug O (2026). Invertebrate diversity and succession along a glacier chronosequence in Svalbard (Midtre Lovénbre). Version 1.3. The University Centre in Svalbard. Occurrence dataset. https://ipt.gbif.no/resource?r=glacier_invertebrates2026&v=1.3

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is The University Centre in Svalbard. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 8141b86d-05e3-4606-a731-a584ed29af01.  The University Centre in Svalbard publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Norway.

Keywords

Occurrence; Observation

Contacts

Geographic Coverage

Midtre Lovénbreen - Ny-Ålesund - Svalbard - Norway

Temporal Coverage

Project Data

No Description available

The personnel involved in the project:

Sampling Methods

A 20 by 30 meter area was marked in the terrain using the site coordinates as the south-west corner. Six points were randomly chosen. Especially at the sites closer to the glacier, the ground mostly consisted of rocks. To acquire soil samples of good quality a patch that seemed to contain organic soil was chosen. A 10x10 square of soil, approximately 5 cm deep, was dug out using a knife and a spade. The samples were transferred a labeled plastic bags. Invertebrate soil samples were stored in the fridge until further processing. The Berlese-Tullgren funnel method , was used to extract the invertebrates (D.A. Crossley Jr., John M. Blair 1991). Tubes with 96% ethanol were labeled and attached to the funnel. The samples were transferred into a metal container with a sieve in the bottom, with the vegetation facing downwards on the funnel. The container was then placed under a lightbulb. The 25 W light was turned on for 72 hours, causing the invertebrates to move away from light and heat from the lightbulb, fall through the sieve, into the funnel and then into the tube with ethanol. The extracted invertebrates were transferred to a petri dish. To ensure that all individuals had been transferred, the tube was rinsed with ethanol. The invertebrates were then sorted according to taxonomic group and counted. To ensure that no individuals were missed, each Petri dish was checked by a colleague before the process was completed. Due to the highly time-consuming process of taxonomic classification, not all individuals were identified down to family level. Nematoda were identified at phylum level. Insecta and insecta larvae were identified at class level. Collembola and Araneae were identified at order level. Acari of the orders Mesostigmata, Trombidiformes and Sarcoptiformes were identified at order level. Acari of the suborder Orbatida were identified at family level.

Method step description:

1. Field protocol : 1) Site selection using pre-existing coordinates from Hodkinson et al. for 8 sites at Midtre Lovénbren. Sites 2 and 4 were not sampled. The coordinates represent the S-W corner of site areas of 20 m (toward north) × 30 m (toward east). 2) Plot selection : 6 plots per transect with 6 m distance between each plot (west to east). 5 transects with 5 m distance from each other from south to north. 3) Soil sampling : at a radius of 1 m from each plot, patches containing soil/plants (when present) were selected. Blocks of 10 × 10 × 5 cm were dug out and put in plastic bags. 4) Storage of samples : in labelled plastic bags on site ; put in a refrigerator (2 to 4°C) until laboratory analyses. Invertebrate analysis: 1) Berlese-Tullgren funnel method was used to extract the invertebrates (BS000290 Tullgren-Funnel, 12 Bank from Burkard Scientific was used): - Tubes with 96% ethanol were labelled and attached to the funnel. - The samples were transferred into a metal container with a sieve in the bottom, with the vegetation facing downwards on the funnel. - The container was placed under a lightbulb. - The 25 W light was turned on for 72 hours. 2) The extracted invertebrates were transferred to a petri dish. 3) The tube was rinsed with ethanol. 4) The invertebrates were then sorted according to taxonomic group and counted 5) Each Petri dish was checked by a colleague before the process was completed.

Additional Metadata