Arthropods of Canadian Grassland Volume 3: Biodiversity and Systematics - Part 1is the third volume in the series that provides an overview of Canada's grasslands and its associated insects, mites, spiders and their close relatives.
Volume 1, Ecology and Interactions in Grassland Habitats (Shorthouse and Floate 2010), reviews the ecological attributes and interactions of arthropods in natural grasslands. Volume 2, Inhabitants of a Changing Landscape (Floate 2011), focuses on the anthropogenic effects on grasslands and their arthropod fauna, with an emphasis on agroecosystems.
Volume 3, Biodiversity and Systematics - Part 1, opens with an overview of the biogeography of arthropods of Canadian grasslands and provides a taxonomic summary, including checklists of selected taxa of Myriapoda (eg. millipedes and centipedes), Arachnida (mites and spiders), Collembola and Insecta. Volume 4, Biodiversity and Systematics Part 2, will continue the taxonomic review of another 11 insect groups.
With the publication of Arthopods of Canadian Grasslands, the Biological Survey of Canada hopes to increase awareness of the plight of Canada's grasslands, to draw attention to its associated arthropods and tor provide a baseline reference to support future studies of arthropods in these environments.