DETAILED COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MACROINVERTEBRATES FOUND IN LEAF LITTER TAKEN FROM TWO HABITATNET SITES LOCATED IN RESERVA ECOLOGICA EL EDEN QUINTANA ROO, MEXICO JULY,1996

RESEARCHERS: Andy Chapman, Marie Doucet, Chandra Englebert

The El Eden forest and savanna served as the two sample sites in this study. Due to the percentage of canopy cover in the forest versus the savanna it was hypothesized that a greater diversity of organisms would be found in the leaf litter of the forest.

Leaf litter samples were taken from three areas in both the forest and savanna of El Eden. Canopy cover and depth of leaf litter were documented for each sample site. Data was collected through analysis of collected leaf litter samples.

Field Data

Although the data shows a relative evenness among numbers of taxonomic groups of organisms found in both sites, the calculations indicate that there is low dominance of any one group in the forest as compared to a higher degree of dominance in the savannah (specifically the gastropods), therefore, supporting the idea that a greater diversity of organisms occur in forest leaf litter samples than in samples taken from the savanna. We can also say that the forest samples feel like 3.33 different groups of organisms and the savanna samples feel like 1.59 different groups of organisms.

"This study led to many questions and considerations of the wide range of factors that must be taken into account with research being conducted over time.