Life Sciences Commons^™

Effectiveness Of Different Agricultural Management Styles As Insect Biological Corridors: A Comparison Of Insect Populations In Fragmented Chocó Cloud Forest, Ecuador, Tara M. Krantz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Insects are part of the most diverse class of animals on the planet and are essential to various ecological functions such as pollination, nutrient cycling, providing a food source for other taxa, and more. The diversity and ecological services of insects are necessary to the operation of agriculture because of pest control and pollination of crops. However, the diversity of insects is severely reduced due to fragmentation. It is currently not well understood if certain types of agriculture can lessen the impact of fragmentation on natural and crop-based insect communities. In this study, insect populations in four different agricultural management …

Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of The Forensically Significant Blow Flies Of Los Angeles County, California, United States (Diptera: Calliphoridae), Royce T. Cumming

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Forensic entomology although not a commonly used discipline in the forensic sciences, does have its niche and when used by investigators is respected in crinimolegal investigations (Greenberg and Kunich, 2005). With many species of forensically significant insects being regionally specific, it is often difficult for forensic entomologists to as confidently translate regionally specific studies across drastically differing geographic regions (Brundage, et al., 2011).

The purpose of this study is to help create a better temporal and geographic distributional understanding of the blow fly species present in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Twenty-five locations from four ecoregions (coastal mountains, urban, …

Seasonal Patterns Of Nitrogen Fixation In Termites, A. D. Curtis, D. A. Waller

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Summary

1. Termite nitrogenase activity was highest in autumn and spring (≈ 3 µg N₂ fixed termite fresh mass (g)^–1 day^–1) and lowest in winter and summer (≈ 0·8 µg N₂ fixed termite fresh mass (g)^–1 day^–1).

2. The nitrogenase activity of worker termites was significantly higher than all other castes (1·58 ± 0·27 µg N₂ fixed termite fresh mass (g)^–1 day^–1).

3. Worker termites constituted the largest proportion of all the castes throughout the study period (≈ 90%).

4. The localized input of fixed nitrogen by termites …