Monitoring insect population through light trap at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal.

Thapa, R. B. 2007. IAAS Research Advances Vol. 1. Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal. pp. 141-145.

Keywords: Light trap, insect population, monitoring

Black light trap was installed at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Rampur in 2002 to monitor the occurrence and population trends of some important insects in comparison to ordinary light trap and prevailing weather conditions. Black light trap was found very effective for monitoring greater diversity of insect species and their abundance than ordinary light trap. Placing blacklight trap at higher elevation further increased its efficiency to attract many species of night flying adult population (871 adults comprising of 31 species) as compared to the same trap placed above ground level (84 adults with 21 species), indicating occurrence of many species with greater abundance in spring reaching their peak population in summer as compared to few in winter season. Insects being Poikilothermic living entities are highly influenced by range of temperature and rainfall i.e. most of the insects showing preference to higher temperature and clear weather for their active movements. As the environment and cropping system is changing, continuous monitoring of insects is required to have their better estimates and information in advance for their timely management.