Use of fruit bait traps for monitoring of butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)
There exists great interest in using fruit-feeding adult nymphalid butterflies to monitor changes in tropical forest ecosystems. We intensively sampled the butterfly fauna of mid-elevation tropical moist forest in southern Costa Rica with fruit bait traps to address a series of practical issues concerning the development of a robust, efficient sampling program. Variation in the number of captures and escapes of butterflies at the traps was better explained by the time of day than by the age of bait. Species escape rates varied widely, suggesting that short term, less intensive surveys aimed at determining presence or absence of species may be biased. Individuals did not appear to become "trap-happy" or to recognize the traps as food sources. Considering the tradeoff between numbers of traps and frequency of trap servicing, the most efficient sampling regime appears to be baiting and sampling the traps once every other day.
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Digital revista |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Universidad de Costa Rica
1998
|
| Online Access: | http://www.scielo.sa.cr/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-77441998000300025 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|