July 1st, 2006
they’re baaaack!!!
Just like a certain brand of chocolate easter egg….. they’re baaaackk!!
Yes, indeed! As you may recall, on June 22nd, I reported having found a lone Brown Mantidfly (Climaciella brunnea) on a blade of grass the previous day. In that post I wrote:
If you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you’ll know that I’m interested in phenology — the study of cyclic or seasonal natural phenomena. I keep photographic records of the arrival and development of many creatures – particularly insects. This year, the Common Milkweed seems to be a little ahead in its development compared to 2005. Many plants have flowers, and some of those are racing towards being full blown — the stage that seemed to attract last year’s aggregation of Mantidflies. It will be interesting to see if they are a little early this year. My guess is that I may find a few more over the next few days.
Well, I’ve been checking milkweed leaves all week and tonight I was most happy to find 3 Brown Mantidflies on a stand in exactly the same area of the farm where I found last year’s aggregation of Mantiflies. However, this year, the insects are about one week early. I checked my notes from last year and the Mantidflies were actually first sighted on July 6th, and seen again for the next 2 days. This year, they seem to have made their first appearance on the milkweed on June 30th — so they are about a week ahead of last year. I believe their arrival is very much tied to the maturity of the milkweed flowers, and they seem advanced for this date compared to last year.
I find it quite exciting to see insects appearing in the same places and on almost the same date from year to year. What better way to track climate and weather trends than to take note of the flowering dates of plants, or the appearance of a particular insect around a certain date? When we keep records of our natural history observations from year to year, it helps to give us a feel for subtle changes that aren’t just measured in temperature or amount of rainfall.
July 1st, 2006 at 9:05 am
I’ve been logging the flowering dates of redbuds, dogwoods, and other plants for about five years, perhaps not long enough to notice a difference. I suspect insects may be a more sensitive indicator of climate shift.
(One problem with that – we’ve now planted the several acres around the house with so many populations of native plants that we’ve apparently really tweaked the insect populations too!)
I also suspect that you in the north will see more climate shift toward warmer temperatures earlier and later than we will, at least for awhile. Your descriptions of the asian tiger mosquito and finding a tick for the first time sound like harbingers that we’ve experienced only in the movement of armadillos into the area. But I imagine that with time we’re going to get some really nasty stuff moving in – stuff that carries diseases like dengue fever and other more tropical insect-borne diseases.
July 1st, 2006 at 11:50 am
Wayne – I also suspect that insects may be a more sensitive indicator of climate shift. For one thing, if an area is just a little too cold for over-wintering insects, they simply can’t survive from one year to the next except for the very odd and unusal case. As we see shifts in insect populations, surely that has some significance.
As for our location in the north – It does seem likely that any change might seem more noticeable here. This area is just south of a sort of division between forest types — just a little further north, many of the deciduous species drop off and there’s a shift to mainly conifers and the more winter-hardy deciduous. Also, for many insects, this is the most northern range for quite a number of species. Awhile back, I heard of a couple of lectures or conferences being held locally, pertaining to the impact of climate change on forestry, mainly related to how it is having an effect tree species, pests and diseases. Apparently, the tree species mix may be changing as the more northern trees become stressed from the heat and then susceptible to the influx of new insect pests and diseases. As you’ve mentioned, there’s no reason to believe we won’t see such things occurring similarly when it comes to insects that could carry infectious diseases of humans and other creatures. Time will tell.
July 1st, 2006 at 3:00 pm
Blogging has started us on the path of noticing and recording what we see here. We just celebrated our second anniversary on the peninsula, so we don’t have a lot of information gathered yet. When we arrived two years ago, the lush fields of lupine and foxglove were in their prime. Today, those flowers have already bloomed and gone to seed. This morning I noticed that one of our sunflowers is about to open. For the past two summers, we didn’t see that happen until later in July and early August. We’ve had two weeks of hot sunny weather, which is quite unusual. We’re not up to speed yet on the insects that follow these flower trends, but plan to make that a part of our routine. Thanks for being such an inspiration, Bev.
July 1st, 2006 at 11:57 pm
Robin – I think blogging works well with nature observation. It puts our observations out there where they can be shared with others, and that helps to create a greater awareness of the natural world.
Very interesting to hear that you’ve already noticed some differences in a couple of years of observing flowers and how they respond to the weather patterns. We’ve had some years where the flowers seemed to race like mad to bloom and the gardens had few flowers left to bloom by mid-July. This year, the garden flowers seem slow… I think because so many of our shade trees are now large and flower beds don’t get as much sun as they once did. The wild flowers are certainly going full tilt out in the fields. I should shoot a few photos of them to post. Perhaps I’ll do that tomorrow.
I’m so glad that you’re now watching the insects. They really are such fascinating creatures and also central to the ecology of almost every type of habitat.