A simple trap to study small‐scale movement by walking arthropods

Movement is a key element of animal biology, and thus is of central importance to many studies of animal behavior and ecology. The study of insect movement at either small or large spatial scales remains technically challenging, although important progress has recently been made in quantifying movement, and especially aerial movement, using a variety of mark-release-recapture techniques (Hagler & Jackson, 2001). Here we describe a simple trapping technique that can be used to study small-scale movement by walking arthropods. The traps may be especially useful for studying patch leaving rules employed by arthropods foraging on plants.