Grove, S.J. (2000) Trunk window trapping: an effective technique for sampling tropical saproxylic beetles. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 46 (1). pp. 149-160.

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Abstract

Three techniques for trapping saproxylic (dead wood associated) beetles are compared, based on a study in an old-growth Australian lowland tropical rainforest. Trunk window traps, which are small flight intercept traps mounted on the sides of dead trees, are the most efficient, and are highly recommended for studies where high between-trap variability is not a major concern. Ground-based flight intercept traps collect fewer species, and sample a different, perhaps less substrate-specific, set of species. They are, however, useful for between-site comparisons since they have lower between-trap variability. Both techniques are cheap and simple to operate. Log emergence traps are the least efficient and their cost in time, effort and expense is high. They do, however, sample a few cryptic species not readily sampled by other means. All three techniques would be desirable for a comprehensive survey, but given time/cost constraints, trunk window traps alone are recommended. Despite a combined sampling intensity in this study equivalent to18 trap-years, the yield of 329 species from 59 traps may represent little more than half of the species potentially sampleable by these means. Thus whichever method is chosen, and whatever the objective, it is advisable to operate multiple traps continuously over several months during the season of insect activity.

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