lightsinthedistance-modernlife

I've now been back in the United States for three days now, and each day I have made time to go out looking for insects. I've missed the familiar plants and temperate weather, and on top of that, I've had a lot of success, especially today. So far I've confined myself to my backyard, but that hasn't limited what I've found. I pulled off some dead bark from some staghorn sumac, and found some ants which had set up residence inside the plant. They quickly grabbed the ant larvae and ferried them away from view, and ran around feverishly trying to figure out what had happened. I was hoping for some beetle grubs, but this was fine too. I also found a firefly crawling around in the grass. It's still a bit chilly for most of the fireflies to be out, but I've seen a few. Hopefully it will only be a few weeks until they're out in abundance and flashing. Speaking of fireflies, if you haven't yet, check out Firefly Watch , a project to look at firefly abund...

I recently had the amazing opportunity to visit La Selva Biological Station , operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies, on a class trip. The station was established in 1971, and is one of the most important biological stations for tropical rain forest research in the world: every year 250 scientific papers are published from research done at the station. Pretty impressive for a station only 15 square kilometers in area. It's operated by a consortium of 63 universities, and they do a great job of managing it. Unfortunately, due to the massive amount of pictures I took while there, I can only select a few to elaborate on, so I'll make those count. Let it be said, however, that there are a massive amount of interactions, plants, animals, and so many other organisms at the station, and in the rain forest as a whole. It's no wonder that so much research comes out of the place.   Bridge over Río Puerto Viejo, containing crocodiles and fruit-eating piranha. I had a lot o...