Abstract
Emergence of aquatic insects was sampled with sticky traps, an established method that has been used to measure emergence in a variety of ecosystems (Power et al. 2004). Polyvinyl chloride posts (n = 10, 2.5 m length) were driven into alternating sides of the bank of each stream at 10-m intervals. Acetate cylinders (100 cm2) were attached to the posts at a height of between 1.5 and 2 m and painted with a sticky substance made of castor oil, waxes, and resins (Tanglefoot, The Tanglefoot Company, Grand Rapids, MI, USA). Traps were deployed for ca. 2 weeks monthly from June through August 2011. At the end of each sample period, traps were collected and covered with plastic wrap. In the laboratory, insects from 5 traps per stream (every other sample) were identified under a dissection microscope (? 6.3 magnification). We identified most adult aquatic insects to order (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera), but identified Diptera to family, because that taxonomic resolution would allow us to distinguish between terrestrial and aquatic taxa. All terrestrial insects were identified to order. We measured each insect to the nearest 1.0 mm ( 0.5 mm) and calculated biomass of adult aquatic insects using published length-mass regressions (Sabo et al. 2002).