Category Archives: News

Entomology presentations from the 2012 Alaska Invasive Species Conference

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Proceedings from the 13th annual Alaska Invasive Species Conference (October 30 – November 3, 2012) are now available at the proceedings’ web page.  Five presentations (links provided below) cover entomological topics.

Defoliation at Peter's Creek exit on Glenn Highway

Band of shrub defoliation above treeline from Michael Rasy’s 2012 CNIPM conference presentation. Photo by John Lundquist (USFS) a the Peter’s Creek exit on the Glenn Highway, 2012.

Katie Spellman (UAF, Fairbanks) presented her investigation of how exotic white sweet clover affects pollination and fruit production of native berry-producing shrubs. Michael Rasy (UAF Cooperative Extension Service, Anchorage) and Nathan Lojewski (Chugachmiut) focused on recent severe defoliation of deciduous shrubs in southcentral Alaska, mostly by Geometrid moths.  Elizabeth Graham (USFS, Juneau) covered a range of forest health topics, including aerial detection surveys and exotic insect forest pests.  Mia Kirk provided an update on the 2011-2012 Alaska Firewood Survey.

White Sweetclover, Pollination and Berry Production: What’s the Buzz??

Katie Villano Spellman, Univeristy of Alaska Fairbanks, Department of Biology and Wildlife, Laura Schneller, University of Alaska Anchorage, Department of Biological Sciences

Geometrid Moth Impact to Berry Production and Subsistence Crops

Nathan Lojewski, Chugachmiut

Geometrid Moth Activity in Southcentral Alaska

Michael Rasy, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Cooperative Extension Service

US Forest Service Forest Health Protection: Insects, Diseases, and Aerial Detection

Lori Winton, Tom Heutte, and Elizabeth Graham US Forest Service, Forest Health Protection

Alaska Firewood Survey

Mia Kirk, Department of Natural Resources, Division of Agriculture

Insects to be surveyed on all Alaska Refuges starting in 2013

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The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Alaska Region Inventory & Monitoring team released an update on its planned biotic inventories to begin in 2013.  Over the next four years, the team plans to document the biodiversity of terrestrial plant and invertebrate communities on all 16 Alaska National Wildlife Refuges.

Details of the sampling design are to be resolved over the winter of 2012-2013, but the group has selected the relevé method for vegetation sampling, with invertebrate sampling to complement this work.

The Inventory & Monitoring program has begun a collaborative effort with Dr. Derek Sikes at the University of Alaska Museum to develop a DNA barcode library from UAM terrestrial arthropod specimens.  This work will set the stage for future inventory and monitoring efforts in Alaska using environmental DNA barcoding methods (a.k.a next-generation DNA barcoding).

 

New AKES web site

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Welcome to the new web site of the Alaska Entomological Society, powered by WordPress.  This will improve our ability to provide up-to-date news and information on Alaskan Entomology.

With the exception of the home page, all of the old content is still available at the previous URL’s.  These will forward to new URL’s as content is moved over to the new site.