Abstract
It is necessary to use special sampling method for studying of each animal group. However each method has its specificity and describes the studied community a bit differently.
Three common methods for sampling of ants were compared: soil excavation, pitfall traps and baits. Ants were sampled in 25 patches in a large spruce forest in the Czech Republic during 2005 and 2006.
Each patch represented one of five age classes (0-2, 3-5, 8-12, 26-41 and 85-105 years old), and the patches were located in five sites such that the five patches in each site formed a chronosequence. The percentage of variability in ants as explained by other sampling techniques was as follows: 60.0% of the variability in bait data was explained by pitfall trap data, while only 19.7% of the variability in pitfall trap data was explained by excavation data.