More urban insects on campus - August 2017

Our pollinator group did two more pollinator observations (plus an single-audience pollinator talk) on campus this month since my girlfriend and I returned back from Portland.

And here are some of the photos.

A Bombus griseocollis queen missing her left antenna on anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum).

Critters behind DNA building

Just some photos I took behind the DNA building this afternoon when I came outside to eat my lunch.

First woolly bear I saw this season crossing the parking lot.  I saw a (squished) one while I was biking home later in the day.

Arctic/alpine pollination workshop in Kluane National Park, Yukon - Part 2

During the workshop we had various presentations from researchers currently working in the Canadian Pollinator Initiative (CANPOLIN) and members from the Yukon government and local First Nations group.  We also discussed tasks that need to be done as the NSERC funded initiative is coming to an end, and also brainstormed topics/projects that will be of relevance to people living in northern communities and scientists in the future.

Thank you to the AINA for hosting us.

Arctic/alpine pollination workshop in Kluane National Park, Yukon - Part 1

Hello all, my lengthy summer travels concluded on Friday when we drove about 2,000 km from New Orleans to Peterborough, Ontario in 36 hours.  I am slowly sorting through all of my photos from my trips, starting with the workshop titled "Pollination, Climate Change and Invasive Species in Arctic and Alpine Ecosystems" in Kluane Research Station in Yukon.  There will be at least one official document reporting on the outcomes of the workshop, so I will not comment on the specifics. The general conclusion is that researchers (from both Canada and US), the Yukon government, local First Nations groups, and independent scientists all agree about the importance of climate change and pollination and the limited information currently present about Arctic and alpine regions.  Therefore, we will try to incorporate scientific communities and citizens in northern communities to start documenting zoological and botanical changes in various spatiotemporal scales.

Below are photos from the first two days of my Yukon trip (21st to 22nd).

Arriving in Whitehorse on July 21st.  The weather was miserable and rainy.

The story behind goldenrod galls

This school semester, I am one of the teaching assistants responsible for the labs of the course "Advanced Ecology".  The lab for the next month is natural selection of gall fly (Eurosta solidaginis) larvae from predators based on gall size and height as selection traits.  This lab is actually quite popular among universities and colleges (try Googling "goldenroad gall lab"), even though I did not do this when I was an undergraduate in UBC.

If we think about it, natural selection is an interactive link between the studies of ecology and evolution - how organisms grow and survive in its habitat (through biotic and abiotic selective forces and traits) and how this leads to phenotypic variations among species and populations.

In early spring, E. solidaginis fly adult females lay eggs on goldenrods shoots.  The developed fly larvae borrows into the plant and secretes chemicals that cause the plant to grow abnormally in the region occupied by the larvae.  The gall fly larvae can be parasitized by the wasp Eurytoma gigantea in the summer and predated by avian predators in the summer.  Fly larvae in smaller galls are more likely to be attacked by parasitoid wasps since a female wasp needs to insert its ovipositor into the gall to lay its eggs; therefore, there is a selection force towards larger galls from parasitoid wasps.  There is also a beetle predator named Mordellistena convicta that bores into galls to lay its eggs next to the vulnerable fly larvae.  On the other hand, since birds are visual predators, galls that are large and high above the ground are more likely to be predated by birds; hence, a selection force towards smaller galls from the avian predators.  The importance of gall size and height above ground have significant selective influences on the fitness of the fly larvae, and by measuring the galls and determining the fate of fly larvae inside the gall, we can graph predictor and response variables to determine the selection gradient, which is basically the regression coefficients (which can either be linear or non-linear).

Here are some photos of goldenrod galls, which are quite variable in nature.

I found this heart-shaped rock covered by snow while walking around and supervising the students.  Neat!  This reminds me of the heart-shaped cloud I saw almost three years ago.

Goldenrod Sunset

For one of my classes tomorrow, I have to present my thesis project to other graduate students. I went to the field behind the DNA building to practice my presentation out loud. While there, I also took these photos.