Are Insects Declining in Maine? by Frank Drummond
Are Insects Declining in Maine? webinar by Frank Drummond which was hosted on Thursday, December 7th, 2023.
Insect decline is of great concern as they are fundamental in ecosystem function and health. As an introduction this webinar reviews some of the important studies conducted to provide evidence of insect decline across the globe. Insect decline is not an easy phenomenon to prove, it is fraught with difficulties. Some of these difficulties will be described before describing what appears to be the case with insect decline in Maine. Between 2021 and 2022 the speaker received several historical datasets (17) of insects sampled across Maine. A subset of these datasets were assessed for evidence of insect decline. The statistical methods used to investigate the trend of insect community species richness, total abundance, and individual species occurrences over time are discussed. Overall, evidence of arthropod decline was found in Maine across several taxa ranging from moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera) and dragonflies (Odonata) to flower flies (Syrphidae in the order Diptera) and bees and ants in the order Hymenoptera. The taxa showing the least decline were cursorial spiders (class Arachnida) and aquatic benthic macro-invertebrates (several classes of arthropods and annelids). However, the decline in Maine does not appear to be as massive as that recorded by other researchers in Europe, Latin America, and other parts of the U.S.
Frank Drummond
is professor emeritus of entomology and wild blueberry extension at the University of Maine. His training is in botany (B.S.), entomology (M.S.), and biology (PhD). At the age of 8 he began collecting insects and learning their taxonomy at a nearby nature preserve in Rhode Island. At age 12 he began keeping honey bees. As a graduate student and later as an entomolgy technician, he ran a part-time commercial beekeeping business with his partner, Ellie Groden. He has many interests and for the last 30 years he and his graduate students have worked in wild blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) researching least toxic approaches to insect pest management, including biological control; but he has also studied pollination ecology, and the biology, behavior, and conservation of native bees; biotic and abiotic stressors of honey bees; lowbush blueberry plant genetics; reproductive biology and cold tolerance of lowbush blueberry; and food safety microbiology in lowbush blueberry. Most of the time, he would just as soon spend a spring and summer day in a wild blueberry field watching bees than go to the beach...although camping and fishing have no equal. He is the 2018 University of Maine Distinguished Professor, having taught 29 different classes while at the University of Maine (including bee biology, honeybee management, mathematical and computer modeling, and statistics and quantitative ecology), secured $26,759,611 in research funding over his career (with several other colleagues), and has published 341 scientific articles.
