Animals under logs and stones (Naturalists' Handbooks 22)

by C. Philip Wheater & Helen J. Read with plates by Miranda Gray 

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 studies, 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.

Contents

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. 

Readership level

sixth-form, undergraduate, postgraduate, field centre, wildlife trust, conservation volunteer

Keywords

entomology, logs, stones, taxonomy, identification, soil