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Buckeye Lady Beetle Blitz
The lady beetle, with its shiny, round red body and black spots, is one of the most recognizable in the insect world – celebrated as a beneficial predator. But native lady beetle populations are rapidly declining throughout the Midwest, and an Ohio State University entomologist wants to know where the insect stands in Ohio.
Through a citizen-science program, known as the Buckeye Lady Beetle Blitz, Mary Gardiner is collecting data about native and introduced lady beetles. With the help of 180 volunteers throughout Ohio, Gardiner hopes to identify lady beetle species, track lady beetle populations, determine whether native species are in decline and, if so, why.
“I’d like to know how abundant the exotic and native lady beetle species are in Ohio. Studies have shown that native populations are in decline throughout the Midwest and Northeast. Is it due to competition from or predation by exotic lady beetle species? Is it related to landscape changes or changes in pesticide use?” said Gardiner, an assistant professor in agricultural landscape ecology with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. “If we can get a handle on the current state of lady beetle populations, it would open the doors for conservation programs to attempt to maintain and enhance their abundance in agricultural landscapes.”
Ohio is home to several exotic and native lady beetle species. Of the introduced species, the best known is the multi-colored Asian lady beetle, which is notorious for congregating in large numbers in homes during winter and can be a nuisance. Other exotic lady beetles include the variegated, seven-spotted and fourteen-spotted, all of which are common throughout Ohio.
Ohio’s native lady beetle populations are more numerous, varying widely in body shape, color and number of spots. The study is focusing on 10 species. The most common are convergent (an oval-shaped, red beetle with up to 12 spots), and polished (a round, red or orange beetle absent of spots).
Two other common species include pink and parenthesis, but most of Ohio’s native lady beetles are hard to spot. Some of the more rare species include thirteen-spotted, two-spotted, three-banded (a round red beetle with black bars), twice-stabbed (a round, black beetle with two central red spots), orange-spotted (an oval, black beetle with 10 orange spots) and the exceedingly rare nine-spotted.
Gardiner said that so much effort is being put into conserving lady beetles because they are beneficial insects that will feast on soft-bodied crop and garden pests, such as aphids, and other pests in the landscape. For example, the lady beetle has been credited with reducing soybean aphid populations, allowing growers to reduce pesticide applications.
The Buckeye Lady Beetle Blitz Volunteer Network program began this year with the help of an OARDC SEEDS grant. Volunteers have set out sticky traps at their church or school, within their community park, or in their home garden or in a landscaped area of their yard. The volunteers will collect lady beetles for one week in June and another week in August, and identify the number and type of lady beetle using a lady beetle identification card that has been provided to them. The samples are then sent back to Gardiner who will verify the identifications, analyze the data and make an assessment of lady beetle populations based on the results.
Gardiner will conduct the study again next year. Anyone interested in participating in the study for next year can contact Mary Gardiner for more information at (330) 263-3643 or e-mail ladybeetles@osu.edu. Volunteers will be required to attend training sessions, which will begin in February 2010. These training sessions will be posted in advance on the project's Web site: http://www.ladybeetles.osu.edu.
Whiz Bang Science Show
Go geocaching with “Dr. Dave” Lohnes at his next “Whiz Bang Science Show,” Thursday, July 9, 7 p.m., at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster.
It’s free and open to the public, is for kids of all ages and their families, and takes place in the John Streeter Garden Amphitheater in OARDC’s Secrest Arboretum.
Geocaching (“jee-o-cash-ing”) uses GPS receivers to search for containers, or “geocaches,” hidden outdoors.
“It’s an innovative merging of technology, nature and treasure hunting,” Lohnes said. “Geocaches have been hidden all around the world, and the coordinates are uploaded to geocaching.com. You enter the coordinates into your GPS and follow the arrow to get to the hidden treasure.”
He’ll talk about the satellite-based Global Positioning System that makes geocaching possible, will show how to get started, and will lead an actual search — for a geocache stashed in the 115-acre arboretum. You can try a GPS receiver yourself. Or bring your own if you have one.
Lohnes, who holds a doctorate in plant genetics and works as OARDC’s Web developer, specializes in taking complex scientific concepts and explaining them in simple, fun ways. He’s done his “Whiz Bang Science Show” for more than 10,000 people since 2003.
It touches on a range of Ohio Teaching Standards, is strong in the Physical Science Indicators of the Ohio Academic Content Standards, and weaves in math, history and geography too.
Call (330) 263-3761 for more information. The show will be canceled in case of bad weather. The next show — same time, same place, new topic — is set for Aug. 13.
OARDC (http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/) is the research arm of Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and is the largest university agbioscience research center in the nation.
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