| Bruchid Beetles and Seedpods Protocol |
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1. |
Choose a site that has either blue palo verde (Cercidium floridum) or foothills palo verde (C.
microphyllum.) Palo verde trees are distinctive because they have green trunks.
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| 2. |
Identify your collecting site as either desert or urban. Complete a habitat description data sheet for each site where you are collecting pods. You will need to do this before entering data into the CAP LTER database. YOU ONLY NEED TO DO THIS ONCE PER COUNT SITE.
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| 3. |
Collect 30 pods from each site. Pods should be collected directly from the trees.
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| 4. |
 Collect 5 pods from 6 different trees. (If you cannot find 6 trees then collect an equal number of pods from each tree for a total of 30).
Be sure to collect the 5 pods from different locations and different heights on the tree.
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| 5. |
Assign a number to each tree.
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| 6. |
Put all the pods from one tree in one bag. If you collect 5 pods from 6 trees then you will need 6 bags
(one for each tree) and each bag will have five pods.
Put a label in the bag with the site and tree number on it.
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| 7. |
Once inside your lab, examine each pod, give it a number, and then:
- count the number of bruchid beetle emergence holes.
Bruchid beetle holes are round and 1-2 mm in diameter;
- count the number of seeds each pod contains.
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| 8. |
Enter all the information on the data sheet.
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