Effective trapping methods for assessing invertebrates in vineyards

Abstract

There is increasing interest in developing environmental management systems to ensure that agricultural industries are sustainable; invertebrate indicators provide one potential tool for monitoring sustainable production. As a first step in developing invertebrate indicators for viticulture, we compare the efficiency of 3 common trapping methods in assessing populations of relevant orders of invertebrates. Yellow sticky traps were more effective in trapping Hymenoptera, Thysanoptera, Hemiptera, Diptera, Araneae and Coleoptera; transparent sticky traps were best for Lepidoptera and Neuroptera; and pitfall traps for Collembola and the family Formicidae. Numbers collected differed among months ..