Sampling insect diversity leads to big questions

We sampled insect diversity in the Fort Worth Nature Center, Fort Worth, Texas and on the Weatherford College South Farm, Weatherford, Texas using several methods in a total of six prairie, six wooded, and three aquatic habitats. We compared alpha diversity among these samples. This data provides a baseline for a more in-depth study of insect diversity in these areas which can be used for investigation of ecosystem health and changes. We are using the survey results as an entry point for public interest by providing educational materials for the Fort Worth Nature Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
 
We specifically baited for beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) to compare their presence in different woodland and border habitats and completed a nest survey of the digger wasp, Cerceris fumipennis (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae), which preys on beetles in the Family Buprestidae. We have evidence that C. fumipennis supplies each of its nest chambers with only one species of buprestid – so each chamber may have a different species. Thus, it appears that the wasp finds a local aggregation of a buprestid species, which she collects, flying back and forth from her nest to the aggregation several times until the aggregation vanishes. Further, we found emerald ash borers (Agrilus planipennis) in some of the C. fumipennis nests. We plan to follow this initial nest survey with a more detailed study concerned with monitoring this invasive beetle.