[Odonata-l] Why report hindwing length and not forewing lengthalso?

[George L. Harp]

I was trained as a limnologist, and I specialized in aquatic macroinvertebrates.  Numbers give you one type of information, biomass ("weight") another.  In measuring production (no. or wt. produced per unit time per unit area, like lb. of cotton/acre/year, production of food for fishes is potentially of great value.  Since we may ultimately be really interested in energy flow between trophic levels, calories are at least hypothetically the best measure.  It's just difficult to do accurately.  When considering fish food, numbers are probably least valuable.  How do you compare the value of a crayfish with that of a chironomid larva???
 
George Harp
 
Please forgive the musings of an amateur but of what value is attempting to weigh insect specimens? Were it live weight, I can see many possibilities but the vagaries of time and preservation makes weighing specimens iffy at best to my mind as the variables are many. Field weights of live insects is certainly within the current technology.
John
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