| Abstrakt: |
As insect biomass continues to decline globally, it becomes increasingly important to track the abundance and diversity of local insects, particularly pollinators. Colorful pan traps filled with soapy water are commonly used to survey pollinator abundance and diversity. However, different colors often attract different insect species depending on habitat. Here, we report the effects of habitat and pan trap color to attract anthophilous insects from the five most common flower-visiting Orders (Diptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, and Hemiptera) at a local nature park in Jackson, TN. Four collecting sites were established, two in meadow habitats and two under the forest canopy. At each site, six pan traps of various colors (white, yellow, blue, red, clear, and ultraviolet) were placed in a circle equidistant apart. Insects were collected every ???48 hrs from Aug--Oct, stored in 90% EtOH, and identified to Order, Family, and morphospecies. Abundance and diversity were measured for each habitat and each color at all three taxonomic levels. White, yellow, and blue pan traps attracted the greatest abundance of insects due to a few particularly numerous species attracted to each individual color. However, the diversity of morphospecies was almost even across all colors. Each color attracted unique morphospecies (e.g. the sap beetle Conotelus obscura was attracted to white, and the tachinid fly Zelia spp. was attracted to blue). While meadow habitats attracted a greater abundance of insects, there was not a significant difference in diversity between meadow and forest habitats, and some insect families were exclusively found in one or the other (e.g. Apidae in meadows and Tiphiidae in forests). This study highlights the importance of diverse habitat sampling and including diverse colors when using pan traps for pollinator surveys as some families and morphospecies were solely attracted to certain colors and habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
