Through the looking glass: Using plexiglass coverboards to survey recovering habitat types

To aid in the efforts of ecological restoration, it is important to monitor faunal diversity, especially when there are multiple habitat types within the landscape. By using nondisruptive methods of sampling, such as coverboards, animal diversity can be monitored without harm to recovering groups. Using coverboards made of plexiglass may improve the ease of coverboard sampling methods, as animals underneath the glass can be observed without lifting the cover and disturbing the animals. This leads to two questions: 1) How effective is plexiglass when compared to covers made of other materials, and 2) How does animal diversity differ in habitats undergoing restoration? To answer these questions, three coverboard types (carpet, plywood, and plexiglass) were placed within four habitat types (riparian, planted pine forest, early successional forest, and mixed deciduous forest) at the Hurricane Creek Research Site in Dahlonega, GA. Coverboards were monitored weekly from June-Dec 2024 to assess animal diversity as well as abiotic soil conditions. Alpha diversity will be calculated using several indices to compare habitat and coverboard type. Preliminary results indicate that plywood coverboards foster the greatest animal diversity, while lower soil moisture under the plexiglass may help to explain the lower diversity of this coverboard type. Additionally, it appears that the early successional forest has an overall lower diversity which seems to correspond to the low soil moisture and high open canopy of the habitat.