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Assessing capture techniques for ground beetles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2012

Andrea Dávalos*
Affiliation:
Department of Natural Resources, Fernow Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States of America
Bernd Blossey
Affiliation:
Department of Natural Resources, Fernow Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States of America
*
1Corresponding author (e-mail: amd48@cornell.edu).

Abstract

We investigated the use of wooden boards to sample ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and compared their efficacy with that of single pitfall traps and two modified pitfall traps (barrier and grouped traps). Carabid captures and species richness were similar between wooden boards and single pitfall traps, but higher in barrier and grouped traps. Although captures were higher in the modified pitfall traps, no method was consistently superior or capable of capturing all carabid species recorded at our study site. A distinct advantage of wooden boards is their ease of installation and maintenance and the fact that they can be left in remote areas for extended periods of time, eliminating the need to visit areas to open traps (if livetrapping is the desired outcome). These time savings and reduced site disturbance may make wooden boards an alternative to single pitfall traps.

Résumé

Nous avons évalué l'utilisation de planchettes pour l'échantillonnage des carabes (Coleoptera: Carabidae) et comparé leur efficacité à celle des pièges à fosse simples et de deux modifications de pièges à fosse doubles (piège avec barrière et pièges regroupés). Les captures de carabes et la richesse en espèces sont semblables avec les planchettes et les pièges à fosse simples, mais plus faibles qu'avec les pièges regroupés ou les pièges avec barrière. Bien que les captures soient plus importantes dans les pièges à fosse modifiés, aucune méthode ne s'avère constamment supérieure, ni capable de recueillir toutes les espèces de carabes signalées à notre site d'étude. La facilité d'installation et d'entretien des planchettes constituent des avantages certains; on peut aussi laisser les planchettes dans des sites éloignés pendant de longues périodes, ce qui élimine la nécessité de visiter à répétition ces sites pour relever les pièges, si l'on cherche à capturer des animaux vivants. Le temps sauvé et la réduction des perturbation dans les sites peuvent faire des planchettes une méthode de remplacement des pièges à fosse simples.

[Traduit par la Rédaction]

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 2006

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