Week 4: Finding Insects as the Weather Turns Cool
In many parts of the country, the weather has cooled, and you may have a difficult time finding additional insects to add to your collection. If you have not yet found and photographed your 20 insect specimens (each a unique species/life stage combo) . . . 25 if you're going for extra credit . . . here are some places you may want to look:
***indoor houseplants of friends or at a local nursery/greenhouse. Ask, before collecting from someone else's plant. But, as plants move indoors, scales, whiteflies, thrips, aphids, may become more apparent in the protected confines of a house or greenhouse. Outdoors, natural enemies may have kept these herbivorous insects at bay.
**rotting logs are a great place to find Bess Beetle adults and larvae. You may also find termites, ants, or other types of beetles. You can either tear the log apart . . . or, if you have an understanding family or roommates, you can take small branches/logs that are rotting or that have lots of holes in them, and submerge them in the bathtub. Insects that are inside will emerge.
**You may still find some honey bees, virescent green bees, and bumblebees at flower heads, on a sunnier day.
**Gently look beneath leaf mulch, to find a variety of insects that have started to enter diapause (insect hibernation).
**If you know someone who maintains a hot compost pile, you can gently search the pile to find earwigs, black soldier flies, fruit flies, carabid beetles, staphalynid beetles, and more.
**Don't give up! Every new insect that you find and photograph represents an up to 6% bump in your final project grade!
Comentarios
Agregar un comentario