Arthropod diversity in the state of Sonora is endless. Our task is to sample the diversity of arthropods found in patches of decaying fruit. Using bowls of rotting banana and tuna (no, not the fish; tuna is the local name for cactus fruit), we set about to collect as many specimen as possible.
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| Our multitude of traps. Notice how the moths tend to prefer banana over tuna. |
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| Look at all those moths! |
Over the course of two days, we have been able to compare banana vs. tuna diversity, night vs. daytime diversity, and diversity in human-disturbed areas vs. non-human disturbed areas. So far, we have been able to report 38 different species (mostly beetles and moths)!
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| Emmanuel & Shannon counting and identifying their catches. What could be better than hands-on learning like this in such a beautiful place as Alamos during a rainstorm?!? |
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| Vanessa is having a blast collecting those arthropods. |
Soon we will run analysis on our collected data, which will hopefully reveal trends in diversity based on the different variables we tested. Yay for biodiversity! Hasta luego - Emmanuel, Shannon, & Vanessa
Where many Drosophila coming to the fruit? The moths appear to be very happy gorging on banana.
ReplyDeleteYay biodiversity group, you guys are doing such a great job! Good luck on your presentation, I am sure it will be great and totally legit!
ReplyDeleteHow hard is it to ID the beetles and moths? Can you key all of them out to species pretty easily?
ReplyDeleteYup, lots of Drosophila. We managed to catch a few using only forceps and our quick ninja moves, but most were caught with the aspirators.
ReplyDeleteMaxi, you're awesome, and our presentation was totally legit.
The moths are really difficult to ID, but the beetles aren't too bad. Plus, Emmanuel is a total beetle whisperer and can ID them in the blink of an eye.