Publication Details |
| Category | Text Publication |
| Reference Category | Journals |
| DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0092453 |
| Title (Primary) | Surveying moths using light traps: effects of weather and time of year |
| Author | Jonason, D.; Franzén, M.; Ranius, T. |
| Source Titel | PLOS ONE |
| Year | 2014 |
| Department | BZF |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Page From | e92453 |
| Language | englisch |
| UFZ wide themes | RU1; |
| Abstract | Light trapping is an ideal method for surveying nocturnal moths, but in the absence of standardised survey methods effects of confounding factors may impede interpretation of the acquired data. We explored the influence of weather, time of year, and light source on nightly catches of macro moths in light traps, and compared four strategies for sampling by estimating observed species richness using rarefaction. We operated two traps with different light sources for 225 consecutive nights from mid-March to the end of October in eastern Germany in 2011. In total, 49 472 individuals of 372 species were recorded. Species richness and abundance per night were mainly influenced by night temperature, humidity and lamp type. With a limited sample size (<10 nights) it was slightly better to concentrate sampling on the warmest summer nights, but with more sampling nights it was slightly better to sample during the warmest nights in each month (March to October). By exploiting the higher moth activity during warm nights and an understanding of the species' phenology, it is possible to increase the number of species caught and reduce effects of confounding abiotic factors. |
| Persistent UFZ Identifier | https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=14832 |
| Jonason, D., Franzén, M., Ranius, T. (2014): Surveying moths using light traps: effects of weather and time of year PLOS One 9 (3), e92453 10.1371/journal.pone.0092453 |
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