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from the issue of April 8, 2004
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Insect conference is April 16-17 in Lincoln
For 79 years, professional and amateur insect enthusiasts from the Great Plains have gathered for an annual conference. Chartered as the Kansas Entomological Society, the group now known as the Central States Entomological Society will convene its 80th annual conference April 16 and 17 in Lincoln.
Conference director Mary Liz Jameson, research associate professor and curator in the division of entomology at the University of Nebraska State Museum, said this year’s conference topic is “Insect Biodiversity on the Prairies.” Session topics include conservation of insects on the prairies, insect-plant interactions, effects of introduced species on biodiversity, endangered species and effects of pesticides on insect biodiversity.
“This conference attracts a wide variety of people interested in insects,” Jameson said. General entomologists, amateur entomologists, conservationists, agriculturalists and evolutionary biologists will find topics of interest at the conference, she said.
The keynote lecture is free and open to the public. Steve Buchmann, of The Bee Works in Tucson, Ariz., will speak from 7-10 p.m. April 16 in the Center for Great Plains Studies Art Gallery, 1155 Q St. His topic is “Pollinators in Peril: Protecting the Birds and the Bees.” Buchmann is the author of The Forgotten Pollinators, a best-selling work on the importance of bees and other “buzz pollinators” to the ecosystem.
Other invited speakers include: Rod Hanley, University of North Dakota, “Ecological Niche Modeling for the West Nile Virus”; Roy J. Beckemeyer, Emporia State University, Kansas, “Dragonfly and Damselfly Biogeography, Diversity, and Conservation”; Svata Louda, UNL, “Effects of Introduced/Exotic Species on Native Species of Insects”; Jan Weaver, University of Missouri, “Diversity Patterns in Space and Time across a Forested Landscape”; Kevin Floate, Lethbridge Research Centre, Alberta, Canada, “On the Diversity of Dung-Dwelling Denizens”; and Leon Higley and William Allgeier, UNL, “Tiger, Tiger Burning Dim: Extinction and the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle.”
Louda’s research has focused on a weevil introduced to control a specific weed, Jameson said. However, it appears the weevil is feeding not on the weed but on other native species, and it’s causing some species decline, Jameson said.
“The important lesson is to don’t mess with nature,” she said.
Weaver is trying to document every single arthropod (generally insects and spiders) in Ozark forests. Jameson said the project is enormous in scope.
Floate has studied how the use of insecticides in cattle to control flies is killing dung beetles. These insects help biodegrade dung and their loss disturbs how pastures and grasses grow.
Higley and Allgeier will report on their latest research on the Salt Creek tiger beetle, an endangered species unique to Lancaster County.
For information, contact Mary Liz Jameson at mjameson1@unl.edu or 472-2664 or visit www-museum.unl.edu/research/entomology/CSE/CSE2004.html.
GO TO: ISSUE OF APRIL 8
NEWS HEADLINES FOR APRIL 8
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731679S33144X
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