| Autor: |
Mullin, Darius, Armstrong, Allaina, Buck, Preston, Childress, Sarah, Juliussen, Hannah, Kuhl, Rachel, Ross, Samuel, Straley, Emma, Walker, Charisse, Woodring, Gavin, Zemke, Sydney, Blaschke, Jeremy |
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| Zdroj: |
Southeastern Biology; Jan-Dec2021, Vol. 68 Issue 1-4, p13-14, 2p |
| Abstrakt: |
Insects are crucial to the health of our ecosystems as decomposers, pollinators, and intricate connectors of food webs. Alarmingly, the diversity and abundance of these important creatures has been steeply declining over the last 50 years. A parallel crisis is unfolding in taxonomy as the rate of new workers in insect systematics continues to fall short of the rate at which specialists are retiring. As a small way to combat these difficulties, an invertebrate biology course at Union University has begun integrating an insect biodiversity and systematics research program into the undergraduate curriculum using a Gressitt-style Malaise trap at Cypress Grove Nature Park (Jackson, TN)--a previously-unsampled hardwood bottomland forest ecosystem. Here, we present results from the first year of collecting (Aug--Oct. 2020). Specimens were collected every ~48 hrs, stored in 90% ethanol, and sorted to Order and Family. Each student then chose a family of interest to study in greater detail, identified individuals to morphospecies, and calculated species accumulation curves to estimate how thoroughly the diversity at Cypress Grove had been sampled. More than 30,000 specimens were collected from 11 orders within class Insecta. Diptera were the most common, followed by Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera. Not including the fungus gnats, the most abundant families were Ichneumonidae, Formicidae, and Tabanidae. Several rare or unusual insects were also identified, including parasitoid rhopalosomatid wasps, mantisflies, and the enigmatic forceps-fly (Merope tuber). This study provides novel baseline insect biodiversity data for Cypress Grove Nature Park, laying the groundwork to track biodiversity changes over time through an intended long-term insect sampling project in the park. Appreciation for biodiversity and an interest in insect systematics was fostered among students and this class has inspired several students to pursue further research opportunities directly related to this project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Databáze: |
Complementary Index |
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