What sampling technique is commonly used to trap soil surface animals?

The use of a pitfall trap is particularly effective for collecting soil surface animals, such as insects and small invertebrates. These traps are designed to capture organisms that move along the ground. They consist of a container sunk into the ground so the rim is at soil level, allowing animals to fall in as they traverse the area. This type of sampling technique minimizes disturbance to the environment and can provide a representative sample of the biodiversity present in the soil layer.

Pitfall traps work well because they target those organisms specifically adapted to moving along the soil surface, capturing them without the need for active hunting or chasing. This method can be used to gather data on species abundance, diversity, and seasonal activity patterns over time.

Other methods such as netting are typically applied in more open areas or for aerial organisms, live traps are generally used for larger vertebrates, and mark-recapture is a method for studying population dynamics rather than direct sampling of surface soil fauna.