Life Sciences Commons^™

Water Lily Leaf Beetle Ecology On Hourglass Lake In Big Lake, Alaska, Haley Lloyd, Grace Beatty

Scholar Week 2016 - present

The Water-Lily Leaf beetle, Galerucella nymphaeae, is a beetle commonly found on Western Pond Lily pads, Nuphar lutea, in Hourglass Lake. Hourglass Lake is located in Big Lake, Alaska. This area is surrounded by boreal forest and bogs and is situated roughly twenty miles North of Anchorage. Within this ecosystem, the Water-Lily Leaf Beetle and the Western Pond Lily are intrinsically linked, as the lily pads serve as a site of feeding and reproduction for the beetles. Dr. Derek Rosenberger of Olivet Nazarene University noticed an abundance of these beetles as he was kayaking through Hourglass Lake, and a project …

Comparing Pollinator Communities: Onu’S Swanberg Sanctuary V. Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, Stephanie Clark

Scholar Week 2016 - present

Pollinators play a key role in both ecosystem diversity and agricultural productivity [1]. Declines for pollinators have been seen across the globe and have been linked to agriculture and urbanization [2]. Several species in Illinois have declined so severely, they are now endangered or of significant conservation concern [1]. Past ONU students have collected data on the bees in Northeast IL. However, there is no data for what species are at the Sanctuary. This study will provide baseline data for future studies and by comparing with Midewin, a mature restoration, we can gain an understanding of distinctiveness.

A Comparative Study Of Butterfly And Bumblebee Communities At The Onu Prairie And Perry Farm, Kathryn S. Bell

Scholar Week 2016 - present

The decline in many pollinator communities has been a topic of great concern for many years. The primary causes of these declines are habitat loss from urbanization and agriculture, pesticide usage, and climate change. Surveys of pollinator populations are important because they can help determine the health of the pollinator communities. No systematic surveys have assessed the pollinator populations at Olivet Nazarene University’s Prairie or at the LaGesse Prairie at Perry Farm Park in Bourbonnais Township, IL. Thus, little is known about the abundance or the species richness of bumble bees or butterflies in these areas. To address this lack …

Impacts On Malaria Transmission Of Altered Biogenic Amine Levels In {\It Anopheles} Mosquitoes: Insights From A Mathematical Model, Michael Robert

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Gaff-Msis-Ledder: Agent-Based Modeling Of Tick Population Genetics, Holly Gaff

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Geometry Of Competition And Stability For One-Host, Two-Parasitoid Systems With Application To Biocontrol, Michael Kerckhove

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Gaff-Msis-Robertson: Assessing Lyme Disease Dynamics With Lymesim 2.0, Holly Gaff

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Mathematics Of Population-Genetics Model For Assessing The Impacts Of Insecticide Resistance And Temperature On Population Abundance Of Malaria Mosquitoes, Jemal Mohammed-Awel

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Prescribed Fire On Ant Community Composition In A Temperate Deciduous Forest, Emma Jones

2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference

Prescribed fire is a tool commonly used in land management to decrease wildfire frequency and promote plant diversity. However, the effects of prescribed fire on invertebrate communities, especially those within temperate deciduous forest, are poorly understood. We measured the response of epigeic ant communities in mixed mesophytic forest in Berea, Kentucky following prescribed burning. We used pitfall traps to repeatedly sample epigeic ants in replicate burned and unburned plots for up to 21 months postburn following two separate (2021 and 2022) prescribed fires. Ant species richness was similar between treatments (burn vs. control) and by burn year. Ant community composition …

Evolution Of A Genus Of Gall Wasp Kleptoparasites, Guerin E. Brown

2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference

Kleptoparasites do not directly parasitize their hosts but instead steal food and resources, reducing host fitness. Like direct parasites, kleptoparasites can be highly dependent on their hosts such that their evolutionary histories may be linked. Here, we study the evolution of a kleptoparasitic wasp genus, Synergus (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Synergini), in relation to their hosts, oak gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini). Ovipositing oak gall wasps induce the formation of galls on oaks (Fagaceae) that provide food and shelter to one or more developing gall wasps. Galls induced by different gall wasp species are diverse in size, shape, color, and location …

Environmental Factors Shaping A Sawfly-Associated Community Of Parasitoids, Carson Kephart, Robin K. Bagely

2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference

A major goal of evolutionary biology is to understand the mechanisms that shape biodiversity, especially amongst highly speciose lineages such as parasitic wasps. However, most of these lineages are poorly described, with very little available natural history information. This lack of information limits our ability to uncover the environmental factors that contribute to their patterns of divergence, distribution, and abundance. To that end, here we take advantage of a community of hymenopteran parasites that has an unusually large amount of available information since they attack an economically important pine sawfly species, Neodiprion lecontei. We build upon a set of …

Efficacy Of Biocontrol Against Chrysomelid Pests In Lab Vs Field Studies: Potential Biases Of Setting And Phylogenetic Subgroups, Blake Hudson

2023 Midwest Ecology & Evolution Conference

The beetle family Chrysomelidae is a speciose group of voracious herbivores with a wide number of ecological implications. While some Chrysomelid species have been introduced or augmented as biological control agents of invasive plants, many other species have found success as economically important pests of field crops and stored grains, leading to severe yield losses in cucurbits, legumes, and other systems. Controlling such pests, especially in the field, is particularly difficult due to the timing of their complex life cycles, the fossorial nature of many species’ larvae, and ability to produce multiple generations in a single growing season. This study …

Minute Pirate Bug And Big-Eyed Bug Populations In Pyramided Bt Sweet Corn Bordered By Native Perennial And Pasture Border Rows, Hanna Waller, John D. Sedlacek, Karen L. Friley, Jenny Galvin, Anjana Duwal

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Sweet corn is an important vegetable crop grown in Kentucky. The major sweet corn ear pests are European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis, and corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea. Ecological control measures have been introduced to manage these pests, reducing use of broad spectrum insecticides. Conservation biological control (CBC) is a component of these approaches. CBC manages pests in agroecosystems using habitat management to enhance populations of natural enemies that are already present in the system. Another important advancement is the cultivation of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) sweet corn resistant to the Lepidopteran corn ear pests. This study used CBC of corn ear …

An Integral Projection Modeling Approach To Understanding Demographic Effects Of Multispecies Mutualisms, Alexandra Campbell

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Inside Insects - Climate Change And Metamorphosis, Cailyn R. Mckay

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Climate change is causing extreme environmental conditions including an increase in the frequency of heat waves which have the potential to seriously impact insect species, particularly during the sedentary pupal stage. The true armyworm is used here as a model species to evaluate the effects of simulated heat waves on reproductive activity and output later in life. Heat waves had a negative impact on moth reproduction and could be impacting the ecology of the species today and in the future.

Assessing Methods For Enhancing Monarch Habitat In Re-Enrolling Crp Sites, Eva Van De Mortel, Tristan Murphy, Laura L. Jackson Ph.D.

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Over the last 30 years, monarch butterflies and their habitats have been in dramatic decline. Land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is one of the greatest resources available to increase monarch population as it has the largest amount of space available for monarch habitat. However, some fields have lost the nectar plants and milkweeds necessary for monarch habitat. This study, asked how to best suppress vegetation in re-enrolling CRP land so that overseeded forbs have a better chance of survival? Vegetation surveys from 6 different sites in northeastern Iowa and results from 2021 to 2022 were compared. We …

Using Environmental Dna (Edna) To Assess Pollinator Communities In Cedar Valley, Mila Haynes, Brody Jack, Ai Wen Ph.D.

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Tracking biological activity in Iowa prairies can prove difficult with such high levels of biodiversity. However, using environmental DNA (eDNA) collected from prairie flowers can provide integral information about the insects that pollinate various plants.

When bees land on flowers, they shed cells and leave trace amounts of their DNA behind. After extracting the DNA from these flowers using the Qiagen DNeasy Extraction method, the samples are then mixed with B10 primer. This primer allows only the bee DNA to be targeted once the samples are put through a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).

The purpose of this study is to …

Evaluation Of Methods To Extract Genetic Material From Wild Bees, Brody Jack, Mila Haynes, Ai Wen Ph.D.

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Genetic studies on bees are essential to the understanding of the genetic and species diversity of bees, as well as general prairie health. Diversification of species and genetics are in decline, this means a decline in overall prairie health is inevitable. The University of Northern Iowa has ongoing studies looking into the health of prairies as well as the bee population, with a need for an understanding of how to properly store and extract genetic material from wild bees. We examined the concentration of DNA and fragment size shown in a gel from the bees that were killed using two …

Ant-Lanta: Ant Diversity As A Proxy For Ecosystem Health, Sofia Cuenca Rojas, John Paul Hellenbrand, Clint Penick

Symposium of Student Scholars

Ants are found across a wide range of habitat types and play a crucial role in supporting ecosystem health. Because of this ubiquity, ants are considered an indicator species – one whose diversity in an ecosystem can be used as a proxy for ecosystem health. Our study examines the presence of ants across an urban gradient in Atlanta to understand how urbanization may be affecting our local community inhabitants. A total of 48 Sites were organized into three groups: Urban Managed Land, Urban Park, and Urban Forest. Sites were grouped based on ground cover percentages. We used bait samples to …

New Ant In The Big City: Known Natural History Of Lasius Cf. Emarginatus In Its Native Range And Potential Impacts Of Recent Us Introduction, Samantha M. Kennett, Clint A. Penick

Symposium of Student Scholars

New York City has been the site of introduction for some of North America’s most damaging invasive pests, from chestnut blight to the Asian long-horned beetle. Despite these cautionary examples, there has been no formal tracking of a newly introduced ant species, Lasius cf. emarginatus, which has quickly become among the most common species in the city. Sometime between the first ant diversity survey of New York City in 2006 and the second in 2011,L. cf. emarginatus was introduced and quickly became established in the most urban habitats with the highest human contact. In contrast to other urban …

Urban Surveying Of Bees And Wasps And Conscious Management, Sofia Castro, Grace Cope, Francis Mullan, Jaden Keys

Symposium of Student Scholars

Pollinators are integral to the functioning of urban ecosystems and agriculture yet face decline from habitat loss and fragmentation associated with urbanization. Recently, a growing number of urban universities have taken steps to ensure their campuses support pollinators. Kennesaw State University (KSU) is a semi-urban school located in the unique ecological area between the biodiversity hotspot of the Southeastern Appalachians and the urban space of Atlanta, Georgia. Before the present study, no survey had been conducted to determine what pollinators and associated floral resources exist on the school’s grounds. Thus, we present the first inventory of pollinators and the floral …

Assessing The Influence Of Urban Greening On Urban Arthropods, Brendon Lawrence

Scholars Week

Green Heart is an urban greening experiment in Louisville, KY seeking to create new urban green spaces to ultimately increase air quality and improve human health. Changes in biodiversity in response to urban greening may influence human health via multiple hypothesized pathways including reducing harm (e.g. medicine provisioning), restoring capacities (e.g. reductions in stress), building capacities (e.g. increasing activity outdoors), and causing harm (e.g. zoonotic diseases). Arthropods are one component of diversity that may influence human health via each of these pathways. However, few studies have assessed the influence of Arthropod diversity on human health. Thus, the objective of our …

Biocontrol Of The Emerald Ash Borer: An Adapted Nicholson-Bailey Model, Michael Kerckhove, Shuheng Chen

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Stable Hydrogen Isotopes Of Aquatic-Emergent Versus Terrestrial Insects In Southern Ontario, Celina Y. Tang

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Aquatic-emergent insects are vectors of both contaminants and nutrients, linking the aquatic system to the terrestrial system. Aquatic-emergent insects are high in omega-3 fatty acids that benefit terrestrial aerial insectivores, such as bats and birds. With aerial insectivores on a decline, a contributing factor could be a decrease in the quality of insects. We collected insects from lakeshore and inland locations in Southern Ontario. Insects sampled included bees, wasps, ants, beetles, caddisflies, craneflies, dragonflies, marchflies, mayflies, midges, other flies, and true bugs. Insects’ wings and powdered bodies were then analyzed for stable hydrogen isotopes (d²H) in order …

Comparison Of Expiring Cp-25 And 3-Year Old Cp-42 Plantings For Monarch Habitat Quality, Schuyler Hop, Laura L. Jackson Ph.D.

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Monarch butterflies have experienced a population decline of more than 80% in the past two decades, driven by the emergence of Roundup Ready beans and corn varieties. This development resulted in landowners spraying herbicides and killing all other plants in their field, including milkweeds, which is the genus of plants (Asclepias) that monarch caterpillars can only feed upon. Along with this development, an initiative to reintroduce native prairie ecosystems as part of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). In Iowa, over 80% of the land once was home to this prairie, now less than 0.1% of this rare ecosystem …

Design, Simulation And Testing Of Biomimetic Directional Acoustic Sensors, Brendan Francis

Thinking Matters Symposium

The Ormia ochracea, a species of parasitic fly, has become the focal point in sound localization research because of its finely tuned hearing abilities. The female of this species uses its super highly directional hearing to pinpoint the call of a host cricket, with hypersensitivity of frequency and phase difference, to reach and dispose of its eggs on the host. The goal of this study was to further the research of a previous Project in Professor Guvench’s group which implemented MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical System) technology on a chip to replicate these abilities. In this iteration, however, some commercially available …

Mems Directional Acoustic Sensors, Colby Damren

Thinking Matters Symposium

The purpose of my project is to test and verify two Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) microphones. The two MEMS devices are biomimetic microphones that imitate the eardrums of the Ormia Ochracea, a parasitic fly that listens for host crickets to lay their eggs. The MEMS microphones mimic the eardrum spacing of the Ormia Ochracea with a spacing of 1000um. This is roughly twice the opening of the Ormia Ochracea. The microphones will be tested for directionality inside a wooden box. This box will be lined with beveled foam to prevent any echo or outside noise from interfering with the results. These results …

208— Describing Genetic Diversity In A Non-Native Ant-Mimicking Spider, Cassidy Mills, Jennifer L. Apple

GREAT Day Posters

The ant-mimicking spider Myrmarachne formicaria (Salticidae) is a species native to Eurasia and was first identified in North America in 2001. It has since been found in many locations in the Northeast including western New York, western Pennsylvania, northeastern Ohio, and southern Ontario. Little is known about its introduction to North America and how it has dispersed since. By characterizing the mitochondrial genetic diversity of this species, we can learn about its introduction history and dispersal patterns in North America. Sequencing of a 600-bp mitochondrial DNA gene region spanning the 16s rRNA, leucine tRNA, and part of the ND1 gene …

Surveys Of Bees At Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie With Special Focus On The Possible Presence Of A Rusty Patched Bumble Bee Populations, Nicole Dede

Scholar Week 2016 - present

Native bees are one of the most diverse and important groups of pollinators in many ecosystems. However, pollinators are declining around the world and bumble bees (Bombus sp.) have been significantly affected. Prairie grasslands like those at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie (Wilmington, IL) are likely prime locations for many species of bees due to rich and consistent floral resources. An important example is the rusty patched bumble bee, B. affinis, which was found at Midewin in 2018. B. affinis is federally listed as a critically endangered species that has experienced a 90% range reduction since 2000. This study is meant …

Correlation Between Abundance Of Fossils In Harvester Ant Nest And Proximity Of Fossil Sites, Hayeong Woo

Campus Research Day

Harvester ants have an interesting behavior of bone collecting. Therefore, harvester ant nests that are positioned around the fossil sites contain various fossil fragments. If there is a statistically significant correlation between the abundance of fossil fragments and the distance of the ant nests from the main fossil sites, ant nests can potentially be used to predict the proximity of the main fossil sites.