instar staging

Knowledge graph centered on instar staging with 71 nodes and 186 connections. Top connected: Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Gothic, Beetles, Crested Butte, Colorado East River Valley.

Method synopsis

Standardized measurements of wing length and dried body mass components under stereomicroscope to quantify adult fitness proxies and assess elevation effects on body size.

Synthesized from method descriptions across 11 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 — Nonlinear effects of consumer density on multiple ecosystem processes (2012), Journal of Animal Ecology. The protocol was originally introduced by Larval cannibalism, time constraints, and adult fitness in caddisflies that inhabit temporary wetlands (2004), Oecologia. Implementations in other papers (listed below) may differ.

1. Measure caddisfly growth and development
   Used head width and dry mass of caddisfly larvae to assign individuals to larval instars. Assigned numerical designation to developmental stage: 4th instar=4, 5th instar=5, 6th instar=6, pre-pupa (end of case closed with silk)=7, pupa (case closed with adult body parts such as wings)=8. Measured individual bodies and cases separately using AFDM technique. Calculated population change in biomass, relative growth rate (RGR), per-capita consumption, and case:body mass ratio.
   Quantities: Individual measurements of head width and dry mass, developmental stages 4-8, separate body and case measurementsDuration: End-of-experiment measurements after 31 daysConditions: Larvae preserved in 90% ethanol
   Equipment: measurement tools for head width, AFDM processing equipment

Typical Equipment

• stereomicroscope (6.5X)
• drying oven
• desiccation chamber
• Cahan microbalance

Output Measurements

• wing length
• body length
• thorax dry weight
• abdomen dry weight

Papers Using This Protocol (11)

Species Studied With This Protocol

Places Where Used