David Cool, a biology student at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus (IUPUC) spent his summer months in the Central American country of Belize to participate in an insect diversity expedition. There he joined students, faculty, and other researchers from Sonoma State University and the University of California--Davis in fieldwork designed to collect and discover a wide variety of insects and other arthropods from various locations in Belize.
An excerpt from David’s journal provides a first-hand account of the expedition.
This past summer I was lucky enough to participate in a project that took me to Central America to the country of Belize. I was part of a group that was going down to do a research survey of the dominant insect species of the Stan Creek District. The vast majority of the specimens taken were from the areas around the Toucan Ridge Ecological Education and Research Society off of the Hummingbird Highway. The following is a brief summary of the most amazing experience of my life.
The area of Belize that we worked was quite mountainous. Large rock faces covered in massive palm trees taller than 50 foot high dotted the landscape and rivers cut through, meandering every which way. The nights were always a sweet relief from the heat of the day, although the humidity would remain it would accentuate the pungently sweet aroma of the night-blooming jasmine that was around the facility. During the days, the group members would separate into their different areas of expertise to search for their specimens. Sometimes I would join them and assist in searching for butterflies or beetles. However most of the time I would work on my research in the streams and creeks around the facility.
My specialization, and why I was given the opportunity to go on the trip, is mayflies. There are many different types of mayflies here in Indiana, but they can be highly varied. For this reason, I was excited to collect specimens in Belize with its significantly different ecosystems. I was disappointed to find however that the flying adults that I was looking for were very scarce, and the larvae in the streams were minuscule.
In Belize, there is a rainy season and a dry season, and I was there toward the middle of the rainy season. I concluded that because the rivers all get washed out and flooding occurs, most mayflies must emerge from the water to fly and mate at the end of the dry season before the floods occur. This would leave very few left to emerge and only very small larvae left in the streams.
The real fun was at night, however. We had multiple white sheets set up with black lights and other types of lights to draw in insects from the forests and fields. Each night there appeared a plethora of insects to choose from. I did not have the proper equipment to collect the beautiful and intricate moths that would come in, so I resorted to taking many pictures.
Working together with IUPUC Assistant Professor of Biology, Luke Jacobus, David has specialized in mayflies, a group of insects that live in fresh water. To prepare for the trip, David not only learned how to collect and identify mayflies, but he also conducted research compiling a list of species already known from the area and based on what has been found in surrounding areas, another list of species to expect. He used this information to help pinpoint Belize habitats that had been understudied compared to neighboring areas.
David also did a preliminary analysis of the geographic affinities of mayflies already known from Belize and presented these results as a well-received presentation in March of 2016 at the Annual Meeting of the Indiana Academy of Science. David received funding for his experience through a competitive grant from the IUPUC Office of Student Research.
The Bohart Entomological Museum (Davis, California) and the Toucan Ridge Ecology and Education Society (Stann Creek District, Belize) provided significant logistical support during David’s stay in Belize. A manuscript currently is being prepared that will share David’s new Belize discoveries with the scientific community.