I want to find out the abundance and density of insects in my study area. I have 5 habitat types. This data will be used further for habitat selection studies. My study area is around 10km sq. I will be carrying oht quadrant sampling with eaxh quadrant 5x5 m size.i want to know how many samples to collect for each habitat type
For insect diversity studies, it would be better to have smaller sample sites. In my opinion 5 x 5 m2 is a big area to scan insects. Even if you make it 2 X 2 m2 it is good enough. It is better to have as many samples as possible from each of your habitat types. Of course, not less than 20 samples from each habitat, or if possible something like 50 samples from each habitat type would be better. But make sure that the sample size is the same from each habitat type. Also make sure that your data collection should extend for a long period to cover all seasons in your study area, and there should be repeated sampling for each of the seasons.
I agree that more, smaller quadrants is probably better. How are you planning to sample, what techniques; sweep nets pan traps, sticky traps, pitfalls...? How are you planning to analyze your results?
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