An inexpensive, floating, insect-emergence trap.

Abstract

The Environmental Sciences Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been investigating the usefulness of aquarium microcosms and ponds for the quantification and predictions of toxicant effects on freshwater systems. Ideally, concepts and methods applicable to both 150-L microcosms and 15,000-L ponds would bridge the gap between the two. The effort of processing the benthic samples, as well as the destructiveness of the sampling in small ponds, limited the number of samples that could be taken. Therefore, the author developed an inexpensive emergence trap appropriate for use in small outdoor ponds, as one method of increasing sampling efficiency and economy. To prevent the possibility of trapping adults from adjacent ponds, which would confound the results, the traps had to be designed such that they could only trap insects from the ponds upon which they were floating. The design of this trap is described.