Deer Lake Research Articles

A comparison was made of the effectiveness of malaise trapping and aerial netting for sampling a community of 50 species of Tabanidae collected near Deer Lake, Boonton, NJ during 1974. Five sites in the study area were sampled by malaise traps and by netting about the head with an insect net. Comparisons were made of 4 community and 4 population parameters. No significant difference existed between the species richness of the community of flies sampled by each method, but malaise traps sampled the tabanid community with greater diversity and evenness than did netting. The species composition of the community trapped by each method differed substantially. Hybomitra and Tabanus were sampled in significantly greater numbers by malaise traps while netting favored the dominant Chrysops species. Seasonal niche breadths, seasonal ranges and seasonal distributions were measured concordantly by each sampling method. Neither trapping method should be used alone in studies concerning the entire tabanid community, but can be used effectively together.