A method for rapidly mass laser-marking individually coded ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in the field.

Author Griffiths, G.J.K., Alexander, C.J., Birt, A., Holland, J.M., Kennedy, P.J., Perry, J.N., Preston, R., & Winder, L.
Citation Griffiths, G.J.K., Alexander, C.J., Birt, A., Holland, J.M., Kennedy, P.J., Perry, J.N., Preston, R., & Winder, L. (2005). A method for rapidly mass laser-marking individually coded ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in the field. Ecological Entomology, 30: 391-396.

Abstract

1. A laser-marking technique is described that may be used to rapidly mass-mark and individually code insects in the field. In this study, ground beetles were marked but the method is applicable to a wide range of organisms with a hard exoskeleton or shell.
2. In a field-scale capture-recapture study conducted in winter wheat, 8266 beetles were coded. Individuals marked in the first week of the trial and recaptured 2 months later retained their codes, which were therefore considered permanent.
3. Assemblages were dominated numerically by Pterostichus cupreus, which formed more than 98% of the total captures. Of the 8046 released P. cupreus, 2269 were recaptured. As an illustration of the use of these data, the POPAN parameterisation of the Jolly-Seber model was used to estimate a whole-field population of 17,237 individuals, equating to a density of 0.46 beetles m-2.