Sampling the Emerging Adult Population

Abstract

Emergence traps have been widely used for sampling aquatic insects, especially chironomids, in both deep and shallow waters, and these traps can be conveniently divided into two broad categories. First, those such as funnel traps, which are completely submerged in the water, and secondly those which either float on, or are positioned over, the water, such as floating conical box traps, cages erected over the water and sticky traps (Jónasson 1954; Kimerle and Anderson 1967; Morgan 1971; Morgan et al. 1963; Mundie 1956, 1971; and see Southwood 1978, and Merritt et al. 1984). Only those emergence traps that are positioned over the water surface are used to sample mosquitoes. Davies (1984) discusses several topics of relevance to emergence trapping of aquatic insects, including the effects of transparent or opaque traps, trap size, temperature, tests for sampling efficiency and methods for predicting emergence.