Uncover the miniature ecosystem hidden in leaf litter by building a Berlese funnel and extracting the tiny insects and organisms living just beneath your feet.
Students construct the apparatus themselves, then use heat-gradient and chemical extraction methods to drive organisms out of samples collected from multiple habitats. As they compare catches from different locations, students calculate species richness and total abundance to measure biodiversity across sites.
Along the way, they explore how insects use olfactory sensing to navigate and locate food while discovering the critical role decomposers and detritivores play in nutrient cycling and healthy ecosystems.
Includes 9 hours of indoor and outdoor investigation designed for grades 6–8 and aligned to NGSS standards.
What Is the Insect Berlese Trap Kit?
The Insect Berlese Trap Kit gives students a hands-on introduction to soil ecology and biodiversity sampling using one of entomology’s most reliable extraction tools.
Named after Italian scientist Antonio Berlese, the Berlese funnel uses heat or chemical repellents to drive tiny organisms out of leaf litter and into a collection container, revealing a hidden community of insects, mites, and decomposers that most people never notice beneath their feet.
Students build the apparatus themselves, collect leaf litter from multiple locations, and monitor their samples before analyzing and comparing what they discover.
The Science Behind the Kit
Leaf litter is one of the most ecologically important—and most overlooked—habitats on Earth. The organisms living there, including beetles, mites, springtails, millipedes, and fly larvae, help break down dead plant material and return nutrients to the soil. Without them, nutrient cycling would slow dramatically.
This kit uses two key biological principles to extract those organisms from leaf litter samples. First, many leaf litter organisms move away from warm, dry conditions and crawl downward toward cooler areas, allowing students to use a heat gradient to drive organisms into a collection container. Second, insects use olfactory receptors on their antennae to detect chemical signals and naturally move away from irritants like naphthalene.
By collecting samples from multiple habitats—wet versus dry areas, sunny versus shaded locations, or oak leaves versus pine needles—students generate real comparative data showing how environmental conditions shape species communities and biodiversity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should students collect leaf litter? Any outdoor space with accumulated leaf litter works—a backyard, park, or wooded area. For the richest and most varied samples, look for moist, shaded areas where leaves have been accumulating undisturbed. Avoid freshly mowed lawns or very dry, compacted areas.
Are naphthalene flakes safe to use? Naphthalene flakes are used in small amounts on top of the leaf litter sample to drive organisms downward. The setup should always be used in a well-ventilated area or outdoors, and kept away from living spaces. Gloves are included and should be worn during setup and handling. Adult supervision is required.
What kinds of organisms will students find? Results vary by location and season, but common finds include beetles, mites, springtails, fly larvae, millipedes, centipedes, and ants. Not all of these are insects, which is itself a useful teaching point about the broader soil invertebrate community.
How is this different from the Insect Discovery Kit? The Insect Discovery Kit focuses on collecting and preserving visible insects in outdoor habitats using active and passive field methods. The Berlese Trap Kit focuses specifically on the microscopic, soil-dwelling community—organisms too small and hidden to collect any other way—and on quantitative biodiversity analysis through species richness and abundance calculations.
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