New Meta-Analysis Examines How Landscape Fire Smoke Affects Insects
Research has found a variety of impacts on insects, both positive and negative, caused by smoke from wildfires and prescribed burns, but a new review of past studies shows we have much to learn.
Why a Little Bit of This Tree Pest is a Good Thing in Urban Landscapes
Tiny, dome-shaped scale insects can damage or kill trees in heavy infestations, but their presence in moderate numbers actually supports a variety of other beneficial insects that protect trees and surrounding vegetation from other pests, a new study shows.
Chrysalis Conundrum: Why One Butterfly Species’ Pupae Fare Better in Winter Than Summer
The drivers that affect survival rates of butterfly and moth pupae are understudied compared to their larval and adult stages. A new study examines silverspotted skippers (Epargyreus clarus) in their most vulnerable stage—and why their overwintering generations survive pupation at much higher rates than summer generations.
Sky Islands: Isolated Mountaintops Teem With Unique Insect Communities
With cooler, wetter climates than lowlands nearby, mountains in the Interior Highlands of Arkansas each feature their own communities of parasitic wasps—and likely other insects—that differ from the insect fauna found on other mountains and in the surrounding valleys.