Comparison of Extraction Efficiency between Winkler and Tullgren Extractors for Tropical Leaf Litter Macroarthropods

Abstract

Winkler and Tullgren extractors are commonly used to extract soil and litter arthropods for ecological surveys and community studies all over the world. These two devices differ in their extraction efficiency. In this study, we investigated the extraction efficiency of Winkler and Tullgren extraction devices. We collected paired samples and extracted them under the same conditions in both types of devices. Tullgren extraction was more effective for extracting soil and litter macroarthropods than Winkler extraction both qualitatively and quantitatively. The number of specimens collected by Tullgren extraction was consistently higher than Winkler extraction for all macroarthropod groups. Qualitatively, Tullgren extraction yielded more beetle families and pselaphine beetle species than Winkler extraction. Winkler extraction sampled only dominant groups of soil and litter macroarthropods collected. Thus for more complete species inventories in ecological and taxonomic studies, Tullgren extraction method is more effective than Winkler.