Fuchsin jelly technique

Knowledge graph centered on Fuchsin jelly technique with 45 nodes and 155 connections. Top connected: Ligusticum porteri, Spruce, plant-pollinator mutualism, Potentilla, Lepidoptera.

Method synopsis

Moths were attracted using blacklight on white sheet, collected manually, and processed for pollen load analysis using fuchsin jelly swabs examined under microscopy. Network analysis characterized plant-pollinator interactions.

Synthesized from method descriptions across 2 papers using this protocol.

Procedure from a recent peer-reviewed implementation

Steps below were extracted from the most recent peer-reviewed implementation of this protocol in the corpus — Flying by night: Comparing nocturnal pollinator networks over time in the Colorado Rocky Mountains (2025), Ecological Entomology. Implementations in other papers (listed below) may differ.

1. Moth collection using light traps
   Used blacklight on white sheet to attract moths. Sampling occurred between 9 June 2021 and 9 August 2021 and was conducted manually between 21:30 and 24:00 MDT. Site 1 was sampled nine times total over course of study; Sites 2 and 3 were each sampled seven times; Site 4 was sampled once. Collected no more than 15 moths per night due to processing constraints. When more than 15 total moths arrived at blacklight, moths were randomly sampled at regular intervals over the course of the night to avoid biasing sampling towards species that arrived earliest.
   Quantities: 24 sampling nights total, maximum 15 moths per night, 276 moths total capturedDuration: 21:30-24:00 MDT per sampling night over 9 weeks from June to August 2021Conditions: No sampling on days with more than 0.5 mm mean rainfall over sampling period, evening temperatures 21:00-24:00 MDT ranging from weather station 600 m away
   Equipment: blacklight, white sheet
2. Moth processing and identification
   Moths were stored in individual containers to avoid cross-contamination and died on ice prior to being brought to laboratory for pollen swabbing and further processing. Measured proboscis length using electronic calipers. When encountered a new moth species or morphotype, collected and pinned two voucher specimens and released identifiable specimens on-site. Individual moths were identified to species where possible and to family when not possible. Morphospecies were treated as unique species in subsequent analyses.
   Quantities: 276 individual moths processed, proboscis length measured for eachDuration: Processing occurred after each sampling night

Typical Equipment

• blacklight
• white sheet
• individual containers
• electronic calipers
• fuchsin jelly cubes
• glass slides
• cover slips
• USB microscope

Output Measurements

• moth species identity
• proboscis length
• pollen grain counts
• pollen species identity
• pollen-transport networks

Papers Using This Protocol (2)

Species Studied With This Protocol