martes, 20 de diciembre de 2022

End-of-Year-4 summary

We gained 4 new members and 8 new taxa to the project this year!

Since 2019, the most abundant scientific genera found associated with alfalfa are:
Apis
Pieris
Hippodamia
Hypera
Harmonia

For new visual summaries of four years of this project, visit https://www.usu.edu/biology/research/science-garden/index

Happy holidays!
Lauren

Publicado el martes, 20 de diciembre de 2022 a las 04:03 PM por lklucas lklucas | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

lunes, 13 de junio de 2022

Year 4 of Bugs on Alfalfa

Hi all!

We are in Year 4 of this project. At the beginning of Year 3, we had collectively discovered 83 taxa that associate with alfalfa. At the beginning of Year 4, we sit at 103 taxa and counting! Join me for another season of observing the abundant or rare critters on alfalfa.

Best wishes,
Lauren

Publicado el lunes, 13 de junio de 2022 a las 03:06 PM por lklucas lklucas | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

viernes, 29 de octubre de 2021

Year 3 of this project is winding down in northern Utah

Hi all,
In the northern Utah neck of the woods, bugs-on-alfalfa viewing is winding down for the season. The "bugs" are entering diapause (hibernation), if they haven't already.

Since April, we've added 11 new unique taxa that are associated with alfalfa, mainly across the western U.S. That's awesome! And, it's becoming clearer and clearer how abundant western honey bees, seven-spotted lady beetles, melissa blue butterflies, cabbage white butterflies, and convergent lady beetles are on and around alfalfa.

I look forward to continuing our discoveries in the fourth year of this project. Last year we had a warm, dry winter, and I saw new alfalfa growth in February! We'll see what happens this time.

Last, 40 scientists have now contributed to the project. Thanks for all your contributions!
Lauren

Publicado el viernes, 29 de octubre de 2021 a las 03:16 PM por lklucas lklucas | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

lunes, 26 de abril de 2021

Entering Year 3 of Bugs on Alfalfa

Hello citizen scientists, happy spring!
We are entering our third year of this project. To kick off the third year, I just added an observation of an alfalfa "bug" that has not yet been recorded to the project -- a red bug in the family Pyrrhocoridae. Cool!

My apologies for not yet summarizing how Year 2 went. In Year 2, more members and observers joined the project! The high number of aphids, lady beetles, butterfly pollinators, ants, and spiders observed were great to see. The more years of observations we have, the richer the comparisons across years will be. And, as of today, we are up to 83 taxa found associated with alfalfa. Did we find them all? Let's see in Year 3.

To steal a line from my child's favorite TV show: we'll see you on the alfalfa creature trail; keep on alfalfa creature adventuring.
Lauren

Publicado el lunes, 26 de abril de 2021 a las 05:26 PM por lklucas lklucas | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

miércoles, 06 de mayo de 2020

Join us for year 2 of observing bugs on alfalfa

Hello Bugs on Alfalfa community! The alfalfa is back and so are the bugs.

We would love to compare the bugs on alfalfa we saw last year to this year's bugs.

Skip smelling the roses -- stop and photograph an alfalfa critter this spring, summer and fall.

Looking forward to the new photos.
Lauren

Publicado el miércoles, 06 de mayo de 2020 a las 05:45 PM por lklucas lklucas | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

viernes, 06 de septiembre de 2019

Bugs on Alfalfa at a local event Sept 20

Wow, we've made it to 156 observations and 56 species! It's been fun to see the bug communities on alfalfa change heading into fall -- there are more grasshoppers and skippers showing up on our site these days.

Zach Gompert, Adair Schruhl, and I plan to summarize what we've found so far at the "Science Unwrapped" event on Sept 20 at the Eccles Science Learning Center, room 130, at Utah State University in Logan, UT. From 7-8pm there will be a presentation by other researchers about "Food for Thought," and afterwards, we will be a part of the after-seminar activities. If you can, come visit our table!

Cheers, Lauren

Publicado el viernes, 06 de septiembre de 2019 a las 02:30 PM por lklucas lklucas | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

domingo, 21 de julio de 2019

Our map is looking great!

Bugs on Alfalfa naturalists:

Over the last couple weeks, we have added alfalfa sites from Idaho, Wyoming and North Dakota to the map! That's awesome!

If you have joined the project but haven't uploaded an observation yet, please do! :)

Cheers, Lauren

Publicado el domingo, 21 de julio de 2019 a las 01:48 AM por lklucas lklucas | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

jueves, 04 de julio de 2019

We are getting close to 100 observations!

Nice work, Bugs on Alfalfa naturalists! I love all the photos of moths and butterflies that have come in recently. I bet we can reach 100 observations by the end of this week!

I just rediscovered this great insects-on-alfalfa guide made by USU Extension: https://utahpests.usu.edu/files/pubs/alfalfa-beneficials-pests.pdf. I have learned that alfalfa weevil, hover fly, and lycaenid butterfly larvae all look quite similar!

Keep 'em coming! :)

Publicado el jueves, 04 de julio de 2019 a las 04:17 PM por lklucas lklucas | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

viernes, 21 de junio de 2019

Our record of species richness has doubled in two weeks!

The Bugs on Alfalfa naturalists have now recorded 32 taxa! Let's keep the observations coming. You might even become addicted to contributing, like me...

Lately I've been wondering what would happen to all these invertebrates if someone were to eradicate this naturalized weed. And this thought reminded me of this paper:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=15&ved=2ahUKEwjsqPWAnvviAhXKqp4KHdx_Av8QFjAOegQICBAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.naba.org%2Fchapters%2Fnabambc%2Fdownloads%2Fgraves%2C_shapiro_exotics.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2MaVDxeSMHlKDLXvJaVIpl

Cheers, Lauren

Publicado el viernes, 21 de junio de 2019 a las 06:48 PM por lklucas lklucas | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

jueves, 06 de junio de 2019

Join me!

Over the last couple weeks I've really enjoyed discovering and photographing critters on alfalfa. Zach and I have already found quite the diversity of bugs: 17 taxa and counting. This project is open to anyone and everyone, and is not limited to the alfalfa at Utah State University, so please join us! -Lauren

Publicado el jueves, 06 de junio de 2019 a las 02:41 AM por lklucas lklucas | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario