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EXAMPLES OF CANOPY ARTHOPOD COLLECTING TECHNIQUES

Aerial Malaise trap (composite flight-interception trap)

The most common passive, flight-intercept trap is the composite flight-interception trap which incorporates the basic capture principles of the Malaise trap, and aerial flight-interception traps where the use of vertical panels with collecting trays has been used in studies to sample arthropods in tree canopies.

The aerial Malasie trap is recommended for general sampling of arthropods that are positively phototactic and are moving in the 3-D space in the canopy (e.g. aerial dispersers, tourist guild).

 

Aerial beetle traps (Lindgren funnel traps)

Standard Lindgren funnel traps are designed to catch a wide spectrum of beetle taxa.

These traps can be baited with a pheromone/host volatile, although to maximize canopy species richness, alcohol lures should be used.

Traps are placed in the canopy by using single rope techniques and a between tree pulley system.

Luminoc Light Traps

Nocturnal insects, mainly Lepidoptera may be attracted to light, and a variety of light trapping techniques have been used in tree canopies.

The Luminoc traps maximize canopy forest Lepidoptera catches when using the blue light. These trap can also be programmed to sample over time intervals (e.g. 4, 12, 16 hours).

Light traps yield high quality specimens that can be used to identify species of Lepidoptera, unlike aerial Malasie traps where Lepidoptera specimens have been captured in liquid, thus they are more difficult to identify.

Traps are placed in the canopy by using single rope techniques and a between tree pulley system.

 

MICROHABITAT SAMPLING

Branch clipping

Branch clipping involves enclosing a branch in a large plastic bag and removing the branch from the tree.

 

 

 

 

 

Suspended soils sampling

Perhaps the most interesting and least explored habitat in temperate rainforest canopies are the epiphytes which support a well developed soil layer. For example, in Western redcedar trees of the Pacific Northwest, 10-50 cm deep suspended soils support a diverse community of microarthropods (Lindo & Winchester, 2006; 2008b).

Canopy biodiversity is most pronounced in the microarthropods that inhabit the epiphyte/suspended soil systems and therefore these microhabitats require special attention when sampling.

Quantitative samples can be taken by using a hand-held moss/soil corer. Arthropod richness and abundance is standardized across samples by conversion to # per gram dry weight of substrate collected.

 

Lichen/debris

A variety of techniques exist for sampling microarthropods in arboreal lichens. Quantitative samples (standardized by area) can be taken by using a paint scraper to remove the lichen mat and underlying debris.

 

Litterbag Sampling

The microarthropods which colonize litterbags can be collected quantitatively by standardizing the amount of subtrate included in the mesh litterbag.