Abstract
A variety of techniques are available to access forest canopies and to sample canopy insect diversity. Canopy access methods include ropes, towers, walkways, balloons, and cranes. Selection of canopy access method depends on forest type, cost and portability of equipment, access to lower or upper canopy, interior or periphery of tree crowns, and representation of single or multiple trees. Sampling techniques include branch beating, interception traps, branch bagging, canopy knockdown, and bait stations. Selection of sampling method depends on research objectives, e.g., representation of target or multiple taxa, flying or sedentary insects, and nocturnal or diurnal insects. All sampling techniques are biased toward particular groups, e.g., interception traps collect primarily flying insects, light traps collect nocturnal insects, branch bagging collects insects on the branch at the time of sampling, etc. Therefore, combinations of sampling techniques are recommended if the research objective is to represent total arthropod diversity.
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Acknowledgments
Use of canopy cranes was provided by the Wind River Canopy Crane Research Facility, operated by the US Forest Service and University of Washington, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. The malaise trap, window trap, and canopy knockdown equipment used for canopy study by JT Chao were kindly provided by the Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Secretariat of DIVERSITAS in the Western Pacific and Asia (DIWPA).
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Schowalter, T., Chao, JT. (2021). Canopy Insect Sampling. In: Santos, J.C., Fernandes, G.W. (eds) Measuring Arthropod Biodiversity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53226-0_18
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