Yellow or transparent? Comparison of sticky traps for monitoring functional arthropod diversity in an olive agroecosystem

Abstract

Yellow or transparent? Comparison of sticky traps for monitoring functional arthropod diversity in an olive agroecosystem. A diverse and balanced arthropod community is known to play an important role in the olive canopy but monitoring methods are not always well defined. We monitored canopy arthropods in an olive orchard over two years, comparing the performance of yellow sticky traps and transparent sticky traps. Data used to compare the two types of traps were arthropod abundance, richness, diversity indices, species abundance distribution and aggregation of taxa in functional groups based on prioritized agroecosystem services. The total abundance of arthropods caught in the yellow traps was higher than that in the transparent traps but diversity in both traps was similar. Transparent traps may therefore be a valid option to assess biodiversity in an olive agrosystem as besides being less labor demanding than yellow traps, they are low cost and replicable, and do not damage the overall arthropod.