D3205: Use of sticky traps to compare patterns of flying insect biodiversity on farms: taxa diversity and ecological roles

Insect biodiversity is important due to the diverse ecological roles insects play that often contribute to ecosystem services. Services provided by insects often benefit agricultural fields, these include: pollination, decomposition, nutrient cycling, and biological control. This study uses sticky traps to capture insects from two farms in Maryland. Sticky traps were placed on four-foot poles allowing only the ability to catch flying insects, this ensures insects are adults and able to be identified to family. Ten traps were placed on each farm in five locations with two traps at each location. These locations included: pastures, alfalfa fields, corn fields and soybean fields. The traps were placed on each farm for one week facing south each month, from June-September in 2022 and May-September in 2023. Temperature, weather and humidity data were taken for both farms during this time period. Each sticky trap was taken to the lab where the family and ecological role of the insects collected were determined. The goal of this study is to test sticky traps as a method for collecting insect biodiversity data. It is predicted that months will show different patterns in flying insect taxa diversity and ecological roles. Additionally, the two farms will show different patterns in flying insect taxa diversity and ecological roles.