Daily variation in the number of slugs under refuge traps

Abstract

Summary Daily variation in the number of slugs under and around 25 cm × 25 cm pad‐traps was recorded in plots of crop cultures. Grey field slugs Deroceras reticulatum and garden slugs ( Arion distinctus and Arion hortensis ) left traps at dusk and came back at the end of the night. The time of day at which the number of trapped slugs was maximal did not occur in the middle of the day, when slugs were inactive, but in the early morning and in the evening, a few hours before dusk. This was due to a rise in temperature under the traps in the middle of the day. However, the grey field slugs stayed under traps throughout the morning, when temperatures under the traps reached values more favourable for rest.