Overview:

Accurate assessment of trends in insect activity and abundance has become increasingly important in ecology as researchers on multiple continents have documented dramatic declines across insect taxa. Nocturnal groups such as moths are less visible to humans and more difficult to study; therefore less reliable estimates are available for nocturnal insect populations, pollination activity, and availability as prey. This project developed a minimally invasive and low-effort nocturnal insect monitoring device using readily accessible structural materials and ecological equipment. These results will be useful to future researchers interested in monitoring nocturnal insect abundance by providing temporally precise data while limiting environmental impact of sampling and reducing labor needed for sampling.

About our speaker:

Grant Witynski, PhD student, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will present findings from a 2024 Kendeigh Grant award funded by CCAS.