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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Suitability Of Native Milkweed (Asclepias) Species Versus Cultivars For Supporting Monarch Butterflies And Bees In Urban Gardens [Research Data], Daniel A. Potter Oct 2020

Suitability Of Native Milkweed (Asclepias) Species Versus Cultivars For Supporting Monarch Butterflies And Bees In Urban Gardens [Research Data], Daniel A. Potter

Entomology Research Data

Public interest in ecological landscaping and gardening is fueling a robust market for native plants. Most plants available to consumers through the horticulture trade are cultivated forms that have been selected for modified flowers or foliage, compactness, or other ornamental characteristics. Depending on their traits, some native plant cultivars seem to support pollinators, specialist insect folivores, and insect-based vertebrate food webs as effectively as native plant species, whereas others do not. There is particular need for information on whether native cultivars can be as effective as true or “wild-type” native species for supporting specialist native insects of conservation concern. Herein …


Suitability Of Native Milkweed (Asclepias) Species Versus Cultivars For Supporting Monarch Butterflies And Bees In Urban Gardens, Adam M. Baker, Carl T. Redmond, Stephen B. Malcolm, Daniel A. Potter Sep 2020

Suitability Of Native Milkweed (Asclepias) Species Versus Cultivars For Supporting Monarch Butterflies And Bees In Urban Gardens, Adam M. Baker, Carl T. Redmond, Stephen B. Malcolm, Daniel A. Potter

Entomology Faculty Publications

Public interest in ecological landscaping and gardening is fueling a robust market for native plants. Most plants available to consumers through the horticulture trade are cultivated forms that have been selected for modified flowers or foliage, compactness, or other ornamental characteristics. Depending on their traits, some native plant cultivars seem to support pollinators, specialist insect folivores, and insect-based vertebrate food webs as effectively as native plant species, whereas others do not. There is particular need for information on whether native cultivars can be as effective as true or “wild-type” native species for supporting specialist native insects of conservation concern. Herein …


Data For Rosenberger & Conforti. Native And Agricultural Grassland Use By Stable And Declining Bumble Bees In Midwestern North America. Insect Cons. & Div., Derek W. Rosenberger, Mckenna Conforti Sep 2020

Data For Rosenberger & Conforti. Native And Agricultural Grassland Use By Stable And Declining Bumble Bees In Midwestern North America. Insect Cons. & Div., Derek W. Rosenberger, Mckenna Conforti

Faculty Scholarship – Biology

Little is known about how agricultural and native grasslands impact bumble bee populations in the Midwestern United States. We surveyed bumble bee populations over 3 years (2017-2019) at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in restored prairie, cattle and bison pastures. Raw data from that work is included in this file. These data were used in the manuscript "Native and agricultural grassland use by stable and declining bumble bees in Midwestern North America" by Derek Rosenberger and McKenna Conforti, and published in the journal Insect Conservation and Diversity in 2020.


Wireworms, Ryan Davis, Jay B. Karren, Alan H. Roe Aug 2020

Wireworms, Ryan Davis, Jay B. Karren, Alan H. Roe

All Current Publications

Wireworms are the larvae (immatures) of click beetles. Adults are elongate, slender, hardshelled beetles that take their name from their habit of flipping into the air (sometimes with an audible clicking sound) when they are placed on their backs. This fact sheet reviews the management of wireworms.


The Impacts Of Prescribed Burning And Mechanical Thinning On Insect Communities In The Arkansas Ozarks, Aaron P. Tormanen Aug 2020

The Impacts Of Prescribed Burning And Mechanical Thinning On Insect Communities In The Arkansas Ozarks, Aaron P. Tormanen

Theses and Dissertations from 2020

Insects are important in woodland ecosystems due to their role as pollinators and as prey for bats. My research investigated the relationships between forest management, vegetation, and insects in the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas. I selected 30 stands burned at varying frequencies in the last 12 years. Twelve of these stands were burned and mechanically thinned, 12 were only burned, and 6 were untreated. I deployed blacklight traps and malaise traps in each stand monthly from mid-March to mid- November 2019. Over 42,391 insects were collected, and Lepidoptera was the most abundant order. Insects were dried, weighed, and identified …


Current Applications And Limitations Of Forensic Entomology, Helena Volckaert May 2020

Current Applications And Limitations Of Forensic Entomology, Helena Volckaert

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

Forensic entomology is the study of arthropods concerning their application in crime scene investigation as a method of predicting postmortem interval (PMI) in deceased or missing individuals. PMI is determined by the life stage of insects present on-scene. Insects used in criminal investigations are primarily beetles, flies, or moths; this may also include various scavenging insects and hitchhiking mites. These creatures help colonize decayed tissue, providing crime scene personnel with live specimens collected and examined for biological evidence. Forensic entomology is currently a niche application in most investigations—as qualified entomologists are often needed—and proper analysis of collected evidence can be …


Historical And Contemporary Variables Affecting The Range And Distribution Of Aedes Aegypti, The Yellow Fever Mosquito, In The United States, Nicole Mackey May 2020

Historical And Contemporary Variables Affecting The Range And Distribution Of Aedes Aegypti, The Yellow Fever Mosquito, In The United States, Nicole Mackey

Master's Theses

Aedes aegypti, the primary mosquito vector of the yellow fever virus, threatens global health by passing on this virus, as well as chikungunya, dengue, and Zika viruses. Through its natural tendency to live in highly urban areas and bite human hosts; understanding the factors that affect the historical and current range of the pest is invaluable (Gubler, 1998). Although these viruses are not normally found in the United States, lack of vaccinations and wide-spread presence of the mosquito could lead to these diseases being reintroduced with potentially devastating effects (Monath, 2001). To determine a partial historical range of A. aegypti …


An Overview Of Hypotheses And Supporting Evidence Regarding Drivers Of Insect Gigantism In The Permo-Carboniferous, Ryssa Parks Apr 2020

An Overview Of Hypotheses And Supporting Evidence Regarding Drivers Of Insect Gigantism In The Permo-Carboniferous, Ryssa Parks

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Insects provide powerful examples of the responses of organisms to environmental change. For example, insect body size gives us insight into the consequences of climate change due to shifts in atmospheric composition, both in the present and in the past. Indeed, one common hypothesis behind the enormous sizes of insects during the late Carboniferous to early Permian (323.2 to 265.0 million years ago) is that such sizes were enabled by elevated oxygen levels (hyperoxia) during the Permo-Carboniferous, when atmospheric oxygen was as high as 60% greater than its present-day concentration. To examine whether the giant body sizes of insects were …