Arthropod Protocol
1.	Use pit traps to collect arthropods once a month. The pit traps consist of two 16-ounce Solo cups, one inside the other, buried in the ground so that the top of the cup is ever so slightly below the surface of the soil. (If the top of the cup is above the ground, the bugs will walk around your trap instead of into it.)
2.	Use a bulb planter to dig 10 holes in a line, 5 meters apart. If the area in your schoolyard is not long enough for this kind of arrangement, use a grid pattern drawing, but be sure to keep 5 meters between the traps. And be sure to indicate the arrangement on your data sheet. Don't worry if the line goes from lawn to shrubs or by trees. Assign a number to each trap. Lets say that you're collecting 10 samples from the northeast area and 10 others from the west end of the schoolyard at Jone’s Middle School. You could name the first 10 traps Jone’s NE1 - Jone’s NE10 and the second 10 Jone’s W1 - Jone’s W10.
3.	Complete a habitat description for each of your trap lines. Record your findings on the habitat description data sheet. You will need to do this before entering data into the CAP LTER database. YOU ONLY NEED TO DO THIS ONCE PER TRAP LINE.
4.	Place the pit traps (Solo cups) in the ground. Remember to use two cups, one inside the other.
5.	Leave the traps alone for 72 hours. Why so long? Imagine how long it takes a bug to crawl 5 meters. If you want to get a good picture of arthropod diversity, you need to give the critters time to fall in.
6.	After 72 hours, empty the traps into Ziploc bags. Use a different bag for each trap (all arthropods collected in one trap are called a "sample") and include a label indicating the collected sample' s corresponding trap site number. To empty the pit trap, take the inside cup out of the second cup, leaving the second cup in the ground (to preserve the hole you dug). Empty the contents of this cup into the Ziploc bag then replace it in the ground cup. Cover it with a plastic lid until you start the next collection cycle. Once the sample is bagged, place it in the freezer or ice chest. This will kill any bugs that may have survived the fall into the cup. Leave the samples in the freezer to preserve the arthropods until you have finished identifying them. (As you're identifying the samples, you may decide to pin and display a collection of some of the larger arthropods.)
7.	Take the collected arthropods to your indoor workspace for identification.
8.	Download the data sheet and identification key and use them to record your observations.