Canopy fogging, a method of collecting living insects for investigations of life history strategies

Abstract

Results of an intensive and diverse sampling programme of ground beetles (Carabidae), carried out in North Sulawesi (Indonesia), indicate that for some arboreal species of this group insecticide fogging is the most productive method of collecting. Specimens collected using this technique have provided important information on the life history strategies of arboreal carabids. The use of an insecticide with high knock-down and low kill components allowed some individuals collected to recover sufficiently to reproduce on subsequent provision of suitable climatic conditions. These results indicate that insecticides can be used to collect samples of species of arboreal arthropods not normally collected by other techniques for taxonomic, life history and other biological studies.