Notable in this Anchorage Daily News article is the mention of unusually high numbers of grasshoppers in the Anchorage area.
http://www.adn.com/2013/07/24/2989735/omalley-surprising-answers-to.html
Category Archives: News
Defoliation event on Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge
Bill Pyle, Supervisory Wildlife Biologist at Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, sent photos and specimens from a large defoliation event on deciduous trees and shrubs on western Kodiak Island.
Defoliated hillside, Uyak Bay, Harvester Island vicinity, Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, Kodiak Island, Alaska. Photo taken on 6.July.2013 by Stacy Studebaker (USFWS).
Geometrid caterpillar, Uyak Bay, Harvester Island vicinity, Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, Kodiak Island, Alaska. Photo taken on July 9, 2013 by Stacy Studebaker (USFWS).
Defoliated hill side, Uyak Bay, Harvester Island vicinity, Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, Kodiak Island, Alaska. Photo taken on July 8, 2013 by Stacy Studebaker (USFWS).
He wrote, “this event apparently encompasses tens of thousands of acres of mixed deciduous forest and woodland of north and east aspect mountain slopes between sea level and treeline limit (~1,800′ elevation span) of western Kodiak Island. Primary tree species affected include Sitka alder, Kenai birch, and black cottonwood.
[The photos] generally characterize the visual aspect of the infestation adjacent to south shore of mid Zachar Bay. Similarly extensive infestations have been observed on north and east slopes of other bays and headlands of western Kodiak Island.”
A few records for specimens collected are available at the URI below.
KCAW: Invasive alert! Alder-eating sawfly discovered in Sitka
Robert Woolsey of Sitka’s KCAW reported on green alder sawfly in the area. The report is available at the URI below.
http://www.kcaw.org/2013/07/12/invasive-alert-alder-eating-sawfly-discovered-in-sitka/
New Alaskan Mecopteran species
Derek Sikes and Jill Stockbridge (UAM) described a new species of Mecopteran in the journal ZooKeys.
Three more news stories on mosquitoes
KTNA: Mosquitos Are Out For Blood
http://ktna.org/2013/06/18/mosquitos-are-out-for-blood/
Redoubt Reporter: Bugging out — Soggy spring brings swarms of mosquitoes
http://redoubtreporter.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/bugging-out-soggy-spring-brings-swarms-of-mosquitoes/
Redoubt Reporter: Science of the Seasons: Summer mosquitoes excel at surviving winter
http://redoubtreporter.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/science-of-the-seasons-summer-mosquitoes-excel-at-surviving-winter/
Three articles on high mosquito numbers in Alaska this season
Anchorage Daily News: Mosquito invasion in Southcentral Alaska leads to run on supplies
http://www.adn.com/2013/06/17/2943159/mosquito-invasion-in-southcentral.html
Alaska Dispatch: Alaska mosquitoes: Are they really that bad this year?
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130617/alaska-mosquitoes-are-they-really-bad-year
Peninsula Clarion: Buzz off!
http://peninsulaclarion.com/news/2013-06-17/buzz-off
KDLG: Dillingham Volunteer Monitors For Invasive Beetles
KDLG (Dillingham) reported that Paul Liedberg will be running beetle traps in Dillingham this season to monitor for exotic insects.
Article:
http://kdlg.org/post/dillingham-volunteer-monitors-invasive-beetles
Audio:
http://cpa.ds.npr.org/kdlg/audio/2013/05/051313%20web%20Beetle%20Traps%20package.mp3
New Publication: Characterizing spatial distributions of insect pests across Alaskan forested landscape: a case study using aspen leaf miner (Phyllocnistis populiella Chambers)
In this article appearing online in the Journal of Sustainable Forestry, long-term temperature and precipitation data were shown to be important ecological drivers in determining the distribution of aspen leaf minor (Phyllocnistis populiella Chambers) and the aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) host in the state of Alaska.
The abstract is available via the URI below.
Presentations from the 2013 annual meeting of the Alaska Society of American Foresters
A few entomology-related presentations were given at the 2013 annual meeting of the Alaska Society of American Foresters held in Anchorage on April 24-27. The presenters kindly supplied pdf versions of their talks available from the links below.
Exotic insects of concern. Liz Graham, USDA Forest Service.
Alaska Firewood Survey. Mia Kirk, Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
The Emerald Ash Borer: Lessons learned from managing an exotic forest insect. Liz Graham, USDA Forest Service.
2013 Science Fair Awards
The recipients of the 2013 Science Fair Awards are listed below. I believe there were multiple entomology-related projects at each of the three regional science fairs.
Southeast Alaska Regional Science Fair – Gabriel Cohen, “How Sediment Slug Size Porosity Affects Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities.”
Alaska Science & Engineering Fair – Crystal McNeilly, “A Survey of Biodiversity of Aegialites beetles in Sitka Sound.”
Interior Alaska Science Fair – Aspen and Riley French, “House Cricket Habitat Selection.”
More on the award is available on our Science Fair Award page.