Insect Ecology @ Au Sable - spring 2024

A few years ago I was wandering down a path on a volcano in north-central Costa Rica when I noticed them… Hundreds of thousands of them…. Army Ants.  I spent the spring of 2018 experiencing the wonders of Costa Rica doing research in the Talamanca mountains located in the south-central part of the country. It was a wonderful time full of learning and amazing new experiences. In the latter part of my time there, all of the students at my research station participated in a trip around the country. This trip was called the biome tour. On our trip around the country, we started in the highest area of the country and worked our way down in elevation. Our first stop was the Volcan Arenal. This is the biggest volcano in Costa Rica. It actually has erupted multiple times in recent history, the largest eruption happening in 1968 . Arenal has lush forest surrounding its base on the walk up that is thriving with life. We were on the lookout for some very rare birds when we came upon the...

By: Abigail Chitwood and Randy Williams When I was about seven I was down my street when I saw a fairly big bug on the ground. I picked it up and realized its head was off. The mantis’s head was on the ground right next to the body. Until this class, that was the one and only time I was a praying mantis in real life. https://www.pests.org/praying-mantis/ Mantises are in the order Mantodea. There are over 2,400 species of mantids in 430 genera split among 15 different families. Those families are Acanthopidae, Acontistidae, Amorphoscelididae, Angelidae, Chaeteessidae, Coptopterygidae, Empusidae, Epaphroditidae, Eremiaphilidae, Galinthiadidae, Hymenopodidae, Iridopterygidae, Liturgusidae, Mantidae, Mantoididae, Metallyticidae, Photinaidae, Stenophyllidae, Tarachodidae, Thespidae, and Toxoderidae. According to the Smithsonian.org, the Ancient Greeks, Ancient Egyptians, and Assyrians viewed mantises as supernatural ...

By Patrick Kitzel and Grayson Brant Imagine the sound of hundreds of small feet running, kids screaming, and caution thrown to the wind. This was the site on a Tuesday night at Bethany Elementary School. They were having a STEM night to promote the sciences, and our Insect Ecology class came to join in on the fun. It was quite the task with so many hyper and energy-filled kids running around fragile and delicately pinned insects. To capture these small tornadoes’ attention, we placed dissecting microscopes out with insects to be examined by these children. It was a hit! They were fascinated by this new and bewildering miniature world. All of a sudden, they could see the locusts that they had only ever heard during the summer and never seen, the grasshoppers that had only hopped on them to scare them, and the beetles previously unknown to them. Yes, some were repulsed by the gross, spike ridden beings, but many more were captivated by them. To the side of the table wer...

There are a great number of things one can do on a sunny day in summer. Some go swimming at the local pool, some make a trip to a park for a hiking trip, and some prefer to just stay inside. Whatever you are doing, keep an eye out for people running around with a net. Seeing a grown adult chasing bugs may elicit concerns for that individual’s sanity. However, I assure you they are not crazy. They are simply trying to build an insect collection. This is a fascinating hobby that can quickly become addicting. However, the question of what to do after successfully catching an insect will inevitably come up. To answer this, let us look at several options available to those pursuing this hobby. Be sure to keep the side consistent throughout your collection! Source:  https://extension.entm.purdue.edu/401Book/default.php? page=pinning_large_insects The most commonly used method is called pinning. This is where one pierces the insect with a needle and positions it in the desired pose...

A group of students, backyard, a patio, a grill, a garden, and a hundred thousand bees… “Wait, what? That doesn’t sound right or safe” is what you may be thinking. A couple of weeks ago as a class we stopped by a local beekeepers house named Mindy. I was shocked to find that the hives were in the middle of the small town of Warr Acres, Oklahoma.The area is very familiar to me and I had never noticed bees there before.  We began our adventure by entering the backyard and getting a quick summary of what Mindy did year round to sustain her bee population. We were then given full body protection in the form of bee suits, making us feel safe ( suit ). What I didn’t realize is that there is much more that goes into it than just giving the bees a home. Beekeepers must be able to make constant adjustments based on how the bees are acting.  Mindy’s yard consisted of around 5 “hives” that looked like this image . At first, a few bees were seen hovering around the hives, coming and...