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Method of using kites to carry tow nets in the upper air for sampling migrating insects and its application to radar entomology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

R. A. Farrow  and
J. E. Dowse
R. A. Farrow
Affiliation:
Division of Entomology, CSIRO, G.P.O. Box 1700, Canberra, A. C. T. 2601, Australia
J. E. Dowse
Affiliation:
Division of Entomology, CSIRO, G.P.O. Box 1700, Canberra, A. C. T. 2601, Australia
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Abstract

Insects migrating above the surface boundary layer were efficiently and economically sampled over long periods using a large diameter tow net suspended beneath a kite. In a series of trials in Australia, sequential samples were obtained by day and night at predetermined altitudes, in the range 50–500 m. The net was raised and lowered independently of the kite, so that when conditions were calm in the lower atmosphere the kite could remain aloft in the geostrophic airflow. Potential contamination of insects flying below the sampling height was minimised during net ascent, by reducing the airflow through the net. A radio-operated net-closing and releasing mechanism prevented contamination during the free fall of the net. The catch was converted to absolute values of aerial density and migration rate or flux. Aerial sampling was originally developed to identify upper air migrants under observation by the CSIRO entomological radar and to provide quantitative measurements of those species too small to be individually detected by radar. The technique was subsequently operated independently of radar to quantify microinsect migrations, but not those of macroinsects because of their relatively low catch rate.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 74 , Issue 1 , March 1984 , pp. 87 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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