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ESA 2011 – Day 2 – Citizen Science & Outreach

Entomology, Meeting, Trip Report 6 Responses »

Nov 142011

Normally when I go to these large, multi-room conferences I stand at the back of the room so I can sneak out between talks to see plenty of different presentations, usually at the other end of the building. Today was a little different however, as I sat in one seat for the entire morning, and then did the exact same thing for the entire afternoon! And they weren’t even Diptera symposia!

This morning was the Citizen Science symposium, and featured talks by a number of different programs that are reaching out to the public to help with data collection. Projects ranged in scope from an amateur Orthopterist studying katydid biology and taxonomy in her free time, to multi-site sampling projects trying to understand the complicated interactions of caterpillar/plant/parasite communities in North America, Costa Rica and Ecuador! The number of people willing to help out with these projects, including travel to exotic locations, all on their own dime is pretty amazing. Lee Dyer of the University of Nevada, Reno even told stories of participants who became so entranced by the research they helped with, they went back to school and ended up earning advanced degrees in entomology! Also, one of them got the caterpillar she was tasked with studying permanently tattooed on her return home! That’s dedication! Overall it was a really great group of talks, and there was quite a bit of interest in my talk about how the Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification can contribute to their projects (my talk went pretty well I think, only one major coughing fit on my behalf from this stupid cold I keep dragging around). Here are the different projects, with links when available:

EarthWatch Caterpillar/Parasitoid Life History and Tritrophic foodweb

Monarch Larva Monitoring Project

Lost Ladybug Project

BeeSpotter

BugGuide.net

John C. Carlson – Passive surveillance in medical entomology using BugGuide

Mark Fox, Tulane University – Using internet images to track a new species of Caloptilia (Lepidoptera: Gracillaridae) specializing on Chinese tallow

After a quick lunch with the Citizen Science crew, I headed back to the conference centre and took in the Myths, Misconceptions and Mental Modifications symposium. Designed to help dispel some of the myths surrounding insects by encouraging greater public outreach, this symposium was full of entertaining speakers who taught me all sorts of new things to put to use here on the blog! Marianne Shockley Robinette (@DrBugAppetit on Twitter) started it off with a great talk highlighting some common insect myths people should be forgetting, and included a whole range of cool insects in pop culture. Next, Martha Lutz held a really interesting little seminar complete with handouts and group discussion on how to help change people’s preconceptions about insects, using a technique she called the “criticism sandwich” – tell the person something good about what they think, correct the part they were incorrect about, and then finish with more encouragement for something they were right about. She also suggested using metaphors for explaining complex insect biology, like the effect temperature has on insect growth and development, by comparing to humans. For the temperature example, she would explain that if humans reacted to temperature like insects, you could heat up a 2 year old to get through those terrible twos more quickly, cool them down when they reach the fun stage where they listen to you and are interested in what you do so it lasts longer, then throw that temperature way up when they hit their teens and think they know more than their parents to get them out of the house in a hurry! Pretty brilliant way to relate a complex phenomenon in terms any parent could understand!

Richard Hellmich was next and discussed how media-induced hoopla can hamper research programs, specifically with regards to genetically modified plants. It’s really unfortunate that a few uninformed media instigators can have such a detrimental effect on public perception, but that is the reality we live in and something that all entomologists should be on the lookout for, no matter what their research may be on! My talk on using social media to perform and promote entomology research seemed to go over well, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a large number of people in the audience already using social media!

The final 3 speakers provided some really fantastic information on dealing with the media, and how to be an effective outreach researcher. Michael Raupp, who’s appeared countless times on national TV and radio segments, shared a bunch of tips on dealing with the media, and how to get your message across in an entertaining fashion. He was followed by Holly Menninger (@DrHolly on Twitter) who shared even more great tips on how to prepare for a media engagement and getting your message out there without getting lost in the dazzle of pseudo-celebrity! One of the more important points I took away from her talk were her 5Ps for dealing with the media: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance! That pretty well goes for any aspect of academia I suppose, but most of the time your poor performance because of poor planning isn’t immediately showcased to the public the moment it happens! Finally, Richard Levine got up and talked about dealing with difficult situations in the media and with the public. With his experience as media consultant for the ESA, he had plenty of examples on how to deal with rogue journalists (see Tucker “Douche Bag” Carlson hijack Anthony Cognato of the Michigan State Entomological Collection and read his response) or misinformed citizens. Overall it was a great conference, and if I hear of the talks being collated and posted anywhere, I’ll be sure to pass along that info!

This evening I took in the Opening Mixer for the free food and an uninterrupted perusal of the vendors was pretty good. Check out some of the photos below, including a rather embarrassing taxonomy fail considering where I am… Overall, it was great start to the conference, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the week has in store for me!

: Taxonomy Fail at ESA? Really? Come on!

: So cool, love these!

: Free Food = Good Food!

ESO 2010 Recap

Entomology, Meeting, Trip Report 3 Responses »

Jan 192011

As they say, better late than never, but man, this one is really late. The annual general meeting of the Entomological Society of Ontario was held October 15-17 2010 and as usual, it was a great meeting!

I look forward to the ESO meeting every fall, as it gives me a chance to catch up with other grad students from around the province, learn something new, and become inspired going into the dark winter months! The diversity of entomological graduate research being done throughout Ontario never ceases to amaze me, with students presenting on topics ranging from agricultural pest control to freeze-tolerance biology, and from taxonomy to forest ecology, representing 6 Ontario universities. I’ll come back to the student talks a little later, but they were certainly one of the highlights.

Before the official start of the meeting, I attended my first board meeting for the Society as the new webmaster. This was quite the experience, and provided my first look into the inner workings of how things get done in academia. Plenty of lively debate and many great ideas for the future of the society made the 5 hour meeting a breeze!

Following the board meeting was the obligatory ESO Mixer, a chance for students and researchers to meet, greet, and enjoy a beverage or two before the meeting gets underway!

The next morning started with the plenary session, featuring talks by Dr. Sherah VanLaerhoven of the University of Windsor and Dr. Amanda Moehring from the University of Western Ontario. Dr. VanLaerhoven is a forensic entomologist, making this the second time this year I’ve been faced with graphic imagery from depressing stories less than an hour after breakfast. Sherah related her work on the Steven Truscott case, and this being a scientific conference, held nothing back about the case, displaying actual crime scene and autopsy photos while explaining the significance of the entomological evidence gathered by the coroner. It’s hard to remain objective and detached when shown photos of an abused and murdered young girl, and I commend all those in law enforcement who deal with these sights in person; it’s certainly not a job that I could do. The mood was considerably lightened by Dr. Moehring’s talk on sex and genetics in Drosophila, and everyone was well prepared for the beginning of the student talks following her energetic presentation.

As I mentioned earlier, the student talks are the real highlight of ESO, and this year didn’t disappoint. A wide diversity of topics kept the audience mentally on edge as they heard all about the breakthroughs made by Ontario students. Although all of the talks were well presented and full of excellent research, I personally found blog-reader Miles Zhang’s talk on host shifts in gall wasps (Cynipidae) and their associated parasitoids from a native rose to a recently introduced rose to be one of the most exciting discoveries. A textbook example of the evolutionary pressures imposed by parasitism and the way hosts are constantly looking for an edge! I hope that he’ll agree to share this fantastic story here once he’s published his findings (hint, hint)! Check out the ESO Meeting program for a full list of student presentations, and the President’s Prize winners are listed on the ESO Website.

As part of the meeting package, all the food was provided, and that included the excellent banquet on Saturday night. With plenty of food, wine and fellowship, everyone appeared to be having a great time. Dr. Nusha Keyghobadi shared her research in the field of Lepidopteran landscape genetics during dessert, and after a couple of trips to the pie cart, the grad students organized an impromptu student mixer! It was a great chance to unwind after presentations and discuss some of the shared issues of grad work and life, and carried on well into the night.

Sunday saw the final student talks, and a few regular member talks before the awarding of ESO Fellowships and the passing of the “Roach & Gavel” to the incoming president.

Overall, ESO 2010 was a great success, and more than enough to get me through until the spring and fresh insects! If you’re in the area next year, ESO 2011 will be hosted by Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario; mark your calendar and start getting that data analyzed!

El Copal Reserve, Costa Rica Review

Review, Travel, Trip Report 4 Responses »

Oct 042010

What started as an unproductive sugar cane and cattle farm has been transformed into a leading ecolodge and biological reserve. The El Copal Biological Reserve is the result of a decade’s hard work and determination by Beto and Patricia Chavez; owners, operators, and advocates for sustainable sources of income in rural Costa Rica.

Costa Rican Bug of the Day Wrap-Up

Bug of the Day, Entomology, Travel, Trip Report 2 Responses »

Sep 102010

I’m back from Costa Rica, and largely caught up on research, photos, and everyday life, so it’s time to post answers to all of the bug of the day quizzes and award BioPoints to those correct answers!

Costa Rican Adventure – Day 17 & 18 – The way home

Entomology, Travel, Trip Report No Responses »

Aug 272010

After last night’s escapade, I took the opportunity to sleep in, and ended up missing breakfast. I’ve had enough rice, beans and eggs to last me awhile so I wasn’t too upset. My feet were in no shape to be shoved back into rubber boots, so I took what was left of the morning off from collecting and worked inside. I wish I could have explored one last area, a meadow that was over-filled with mantisflies (Mantispidae), but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it this time. After lunch everyone prepared to leave, and before we knew it, we were pulling away from the ACG and headed back to San Jose. Our luxury bus was a nice ride, and it wasn’t long until we pulled into Puntarenas for dinner, meeting up with another group of dipterists who traveled to Monteverde while we were at ACG. Our dinner wasn’t too bad, but the stray cat wandering around the restaurant created a strange ambiance. Another hour and a half and we were back at the Adventure Inn in San Jose. A quick repacking of gear for our flight home, and it was time for bed one last time in Costa Rica.

Our travel day started bright and early at 5:30 in order to grab our complementary breakfast before heading off to the airport. We were pleasantly surprised to find no lines throughout the airport, and we breezed through exit taxes, check-in, and security without any significant waiting. A quick stop in the airport gift shop, and soon we were ready to board our flight back to Dallas. For whatever reason our flight was chosen for a secondary security check, including bag searches for everyone and pat downs for an unlucky few. An uneventful flight gave me the chance to start and finish a new book (Generation A by Douglas Coupland, watch for a review in the near future) and before I knew it we were descending into Dallas. Due to some complications with our export permits, Gil (who is traveling on a student visa to start with) was tasked with carrying all of our specimens into the country, and since our final flight destination was Detroit, we were all a little unsure how customs and agriculture would react to our insects. Our fretting was compounded slightly by a short lay-over (<2hr) and the long line out of the baggage area had us all slightly concerned. Luckily none of us ran into any prolonged issues, including Gil, and everyone made it to the gate in time for our next flight (which was ultimately delayed 30 minutes anyways). Dinner was a Big Mac that tasted like filet mignon (a guilty pleasure of mine after every trip to the tropics) and our flight into Detroit was fast and comfortable. A late night drive back to Guelph and after 2.5 weeks I was back home.

Although no longer than any of my previous Neotropical trips, this trip felt like I was away for months. My theory is the multiple locations we traveled to combined with a heavily intellectual load at the congress created this illusion, but the trip still stands as one of my more memorable adventures. The number of kind, generous people we met, both locals around Costa Rica and dipterists from around the globe, was fantastic and was definitely the leading factor in the success of the trip. Costa Rica lived up to all that I had heard of it, with beautiful habitats, fantastic infrastructure, and friendly smiling people. The photos and memories I brought home with me all add to the experience, and I know that this won’t be my last trip to Costa Rica!

Costa Rican Adventure – Day 16 – The Journey Part 2

Entomology, Tongue in Cheek, Trip Report 2 Responses »

Aug 262010

With a full day’s collecting (as unproductive as it was) already under my belt, I’m ready for some dinner, and the cook staff at ACG provides the best meal of our visit; fried fish and purple salad, plus the ubiquitous rice and beans I take out of pure hunger. I finish my dinner in a hurry, as our next adventure will be beginning shortly; a trip to the beach searching for nesting sea turtles. Although the chances are low that we’ll actually witness an arribada, the opportunity to explore another region of this conservation area was all I needed to sign up. We’ve been warned that the rainy season is not the best time of year to even get to the beach, and it was pointed out that most surfers don’t bother trying to get there this time of year. I see this as an added bonus, the opportunity to get to an area almost devoid of human presence, a stark contrast to today’s “tourist trail”.

Costa Rican Adventure – Day 16 – The Journey Part 1

Entomology, Travel, Trip Report 1 Response »

Aug 222010

“Life’s a journey, not a destination” Aerosmith

I awake in time for a hurried breakfast before the bus departs for Rincon de la Veija, our destination for the day. Rice, beans and scrambled eggs again, so I choose some toast and cereal and sit off on my own to gain a moment of solitude before another long day. We soon load onto the school bus that’s delivered many a generation of child and which will hopefully last one more trip with us aboard. Settling into my seat, or what’s left of it, and enjoying the scenery of jungles, pastures, and forested volcanoes rising up to the clouds, I ignore the growing discomfort settling in my back from the aged seat. It seems the seats are not the only components lacking functionality, with each rock and bump being translated directly from the road to my body with little dampening as we turn onto the winding road up the mountain. The grasses introduced from Africa for cattle pasture roll on and on along the sides of the volcanoes, with vultures, iguanas, and flycatchers each choosing a fence post to admire the morning sun from. As I readjust in my seat to find a scrap of padding for the umpteenth time, the bus pulls to a halt and the driver jumps out without a word. As I watch from my seat while he looks under the bus and then down the road with a puzzled look, I decide that perhaps today marks the end for this decrepit vehicle. Apparently the transport boss and our local coordinator feel the same way and it isn’t long before they’ve joined the driver looking back down the road with concerned faces. Information trickles in now that the battery has fallen out of the bus somewhere along the road, but not to worry because we’ll keep on driving. A few turns more and the bus decides that in fact we won’t keep driving, coming to a silent stop and then rolling back down the mountain before the driver applies the brakes. I can’t help but laugh at the situation, but also wonder what happens next. It seems we’re within a short walk to the outer edges of the conservation property and that a new bus will be brought in shortly to take us up to our true destination. In the meantime, they say, we can collect and explore the stream meandering its way down the volcano, a welcome and unexpected break from the mechanical chiropractor misaligning my back.

Costa Rican Adventure – Day 15 – ACG Hilltoppin’

Entomology, Travel, Trip Report No Responses »

Aug 172010

I think the long days are starting to catch up with me, I couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed to go birdwatching this morning! The extra hour of sleep was well worth it though, and I enjoyed a simpler breakfast today of PB on toast and some cereal. We had the day to explore around the main ACG station, so myself, Joel G, Joel K, Andrew and Jeff journeyed to a picturesque overlook that also happens to be a nice, open hilltop. Of course it’s taped off for safety’s sake (the ladder up the side of the building seems to be falling out of the wall) but we didn’t attempt the full climb and just stuck around the base. The sun was fighting for some space today, but we had some pretty good luck when it did break through. Something that I hadn’t seen before was huge congregations of dragonflies floating up above where the flies and other insects were looking for a mate, seemingly feasting on the buffet of bugs. Easily 100 dragonflies were visible at any given time! Really the only exciting Diptera finds were some large robber flies (Asilidae), which were gladly claimed by the group of asilidologists back at camp, and a few rather large grasshoppers. Of course, by rather large I actually mean the length of my pointer finger…

Click to Enlarge

It wasn’t just insects at the top of the hill though, as we saw some soaring raptors, and had a visit from a large troop of white-headed capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus)…

The rain chased us off the hill shortly after, and we had a long, rainy afternoon to pin insects and rest up. After dinner a small group of us decided to go on a “short” night walk with the hopes of finding a snake or two. We didn’t find any snakes, but we did see a possum, a few nightjars, and a spectacled owl! It was pretty fun calling in the owl and patiently scanning the trees in the dark for signs of movement. Ultimately it sat right out in the open for us and I was even able to get a few record shots of it. A pair of Pacific screech owls back at the station, and we called it a night!

MTC…

Costa Rican Adventure – Day 14 – ACG & the day of Micropezid

Entomology, Travel, Trip Report 1 Response »

Aug 162010

Our day started early again at 5:45 to catch some birds prior to breakfast. I really wasn’t feeling the breakfast this morning, so a small meal and then we loaded the school bus to get to our day trip location. Today we went partially up a local volcano to the San Cristobal Research Station, one of the outposts for the every caterpillar project I mentioned yesterday. The road was rough and the bus shocks poor, so it was a bit of a bouncy ride, but almost as soon as we got out of the bus and into the station the sun came out and there were quite a few flies out and about. Perhaps I should correct myself, there were a lot of micropezids flying! Within minutes of entering the jungle we found a tree fall where some Scipopus-like flies were freshly emerging and pumping hemolymph into their wings. I can’t positively identify the species to genus, but it was great to get a glimpse into the possible larval habitat. As we walked through the forest, it seemed as if everytime we looked up there was another species and a different genus flying nearby. I believe I ended up with 9 or 10 species in 6 or 7 genera and a total of almost 30 specimens. A very productive day for me, with specimens contributed by several people from the group. The rains set in right as we came back for lunch, and unfortunately stayed in for the remainder of our time at the station. We left a little early and made our way back to the main ACG station where we’re staying and the sun was shining, so some of us ended up jumping off the bus and walking the final few kilometres back to the station looking for more flies. Unfortunately they seemed to have gone into hiding early tonight, so instead we did some birding and saw a number of interesting species including Crested Curacao, a large chicken like bird with a bright yellow beak and ornate head feathers. A cold shower to get rid of a day’s grime, a brief dinner, and I was pinning away with all my new material.

The bus was a little slow this morning, taking 2 hours to do what normally would take 45 minutes in a 4×4 truck apparently. It certainly gave us plenty of opportunities to enjoy the lack of legroom and shocks…

I had my first Coke since leaving for Costa Rica 2 weeks ago, and man was it good. So much for going cold turkey…

I’ve now seen 3 monkey species (howler, Geoffrey’s spider, and white faced capuchin), white-tailed deer (weird, I know), agouti, bats, a strange ground-hog like creature, and something rustling through the undergrowth like bugs bunny. Pretty good mammal list for a day’s work!

The unidentified genus:

MTC…

Costa Rican Adventure – Day 13 – Guanacaste Conservation Area

Entomology, Travel, Trip Report No Responses »

Aug 152010

Today started good and early while we got our gear repacked to head to the northwestern region of the country to spend a few days in the Guanacaste Conservation Area. The tour bus picked the people from our hotel up shortly before 8, and after a minor detour back to pick up the forgotten, we were on our way north! Unfortunately I slept most of the way up, and when I wasn’t sleeping I was writing blog posts, but there were some rather remarkable landscapes and sections of habitat that we drove through. The most impressive was probably Rincon de la Vieja, an active volcano that reached high into the clouds and had some fantastic secondary outcroppings in the foreground. We stopped for lunch in Liberia, and fended off the honey bees (Africanized perhaps?) throughout the course of our buffet meal. We arrived at the Guanacaste Conservation Area around 2:30 and quickly got ourselves set up in our rooms and ready to jump into the jungle. Within minutes of leaving the main station we had seen 2 troops of white-faced spider monkeys, and a lone howler monkey hanging out in the tree tops. Although the clouds had rolled in and the tropical sun was starting to go down, we still had a number of interesting insect finds, if not flies. Dinner was pretty good, better than predicted at least, and we then sat down and introduced ourselves and pointed out which families we work on and which we’d like material, it was pinning any insects we may have found and some cards before bed. The station and habitat around here looks great, so it should be a really exciting week of collecting.

On the way back to the lodge we ran into Dan Janzen and Winnie Hallwachs, two big-time ecologists who are currently trying to identify every moth, skipper and butterfly within the conservation area using DNA barcoding. They had just run across a boa, which we couldn’t refind unfortunately, but hopefully we’ll see more in the next few days!

It wouldn’t be ACG without a heavily parasitized caterpillar:

And everybody likes monkeys!

Click to Enlarge

MTC…

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