4 ms·
I'm extremely unqualified, but is it possible that the insects just learned to avoid the specific traps used to do the measurements over time?
by Roritharr 9y ago
I'm extremely unqualified, but is it possible that the insects just learned to avoid the specific traps used to do the measurements over time?
- frinxor 9y agoI was thinking the same, but its unlikely to lead to a 75% decline. The ratio of trapped insects (or insects that even get within a few meters of the traps) to total insects must be incredibly incredibly small.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- rleigh 9y agoNot really. For the traps I've seen, a powerful fan pulls air from an intake pipe at a certain height above ground level through a fine steel mesh filter. You remove the filter after a certain time period, and weigh the mass of the collected insects. You can then count them, and separate by species etc. It's difficult to avoid being sucked in so it's very unlikely that learned avoidance plays any role here; it's simply sampling flying insects in the local vicinity.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]