Protocols

Our different protocols for baseline survey and arthropod monitoring include:

•    light traps (moths, termites, and other assemblages)
•    Winkler extraction of litter (ants)
•    McPhail traps (fruit-flies)
•    trap nests and baits (bees)
•    transect sampling for termites and butterflies

Protocols used for the baseline survey on Barro colorado Island are detailed here (PDF).

Representative activities for the Arthropod Initiative in 2008, top to bottom and left to right: rearing trap nests; exploration of potential butterfly transects at Khao Chong; euglossine bees attracted by cineole baits; screenshot of the BCI database, species flipbook module; McPhail traps hanging at the Khao Chong laboratory, prior emplacement in the forest; the Gonzaga-Harrison light trap model in use; and Pierella luna luna, a common Satyrinae butterfly inside the BCI plot.