Derek Sikes shared this blog and newsletter with me. I encourage you to look at these.
blog:
https://tundraarthropods.wordpress.com/
Network for Arthropods of the Tundra, Newsletter 2, October 2015
https://tundraarthropods.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/neat-news-october-2015-2nd-ed.pdf
Bill Davidson, a U. S. Forest Service Student Trainee for Forest Health Protection this summer managed to capture a few great videos of one of our native horntails. While in Cooper Landing this summer Bill found Urocerus flavicornis in action on spruce logs that were cut as part of a fire wise program. Also known as a wood wasp, U. flavicornis is a wood borer that can typically be found on stressed, dying and dead spruce trees in Alaska. It is also commonly found in association with cut wood and saw logs. Although this insect looks menacing, it is completely harmless to humans.
Emergence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=078tCtrfQiU
Oviposition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYfjFOAQcyo
More information on Urocerus flavicornis and other wood wasps and horn tails can be found in these places:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5315942.pdf
http://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/technology/pdfs/GuideSiricidWoodwasps.pdf
Global climate models from Germany (green), Canada (red) and USA (black) scaled to the Kenai predict that post-2030 mean summer temperatures will always be above the threshold for spruce bark beetle outbreaks. Observed temperatures are from the Homer airport since 1932. Lower bar graph shows annual beetle-kill for southern Kenai since aerial surveys began in 1971 (US Forest Service). Ed Berg graphic.
The article (URI below) appeared in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge’s Refuge Notebook series.
The article appeared May 5 in Biodiversity Data Journal.
Pampell R, Sikes D, Pantoja A, Holloway P, Knight C, Ranft R (2015) Bumble Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus spp.) of Interior Alaska: Species Composition, Distribution, Seasonal Biology, and Parasites. Biodiversity Data Journal 3: e5085. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.3.e5085
Topics included new exotic species, mosquitoes, pollinators, carpenter ants, etc.
This is a nicely written and very informative article on the importance of collecting.
https://theconversation.com/why-we-still-collect-butterflies-41485
Aphids from spruce at the Homer Bench, 12.June.2015. Photo courtesy of Karin Sonnen (USDA NRCS, Homer).
Mitch Michaud (USDA NRCS, Kenai), phoned me regarding substantial defoliation of spruce at Halibut Cove and the Homer bench. At Halibut Cove, spruces had been dropping many needles.
Aphids were the culprit, but the identity of the aphids has not yet been established.
Browning spruce needles due to aphid infestation, 9.June.2015.
Browning of spruce needles.
Spruce trees damaged by aphids, 9.June.2015.
Distribution of alder dieback mapped during 2011 Aerial Detection Survey.
The report including this chapter was published in May 2015.
Citation:
Kruse J.J., L. Winton, N. Lisuzzo, G. Adams, K. Zogas, and S. Swenson. 2015. Alder (Alnus incana tenuifolia) mortality agent complex effects on riparian zone habitat. pp. 187-195 in Potter, K. M. and B.L. Conkling, eds. Forest health monitoring: national status, trends, and analysis 2013. General Technical Report SRS-207. U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Asheville North Carolina. http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/48361
UAM:Ento:164292, lateral view. Media details: http://arctos.database.museum/media/10430146
The article appeared in this month’s issue of Entomological News, available at the URI below.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3157/021.124.0511
Citation:
Charles R. Bartlett, Stephen W. Wilson, Derek S. Sikes. 2015. First New World Record of Paradelphacodes paludosus (Flor 1861) (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea : Delphacidae) in Alaska. Entomological News 124(5):370-372.
Specimen record:
http://arctos.database.museum/guid/UAM:Ento:164292