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By Denise Ellsworth
Special to the Beacon Journal
Published on Saturday, Jun 27, 2009
For the last week, I've had a sticky card set up in my garden, just in between the asparagus patch and my heirloom tomatoes. This yellow card attracts an assortment of insects — some good for the garden, others considered pest species — then traps them on the card thanks to a sticky glue. The purpose of this trap? Like 250 other volunteers across Ohio, I took part in the Buckeye Lady Beetle Blitz.
Developed by Ohio State University professor Mary Gardiner, the blitz was enacted to learn what species of lady beetles, both native and introduced, populate Ohio gardens. With the help of more than 250 volunteers, Dr. Gardiner and her lab staff will collect data on the number and distribution of lady beetles in Ohio.
Last week, each volunteer pushed a white plastic stake into the ground, attached a yellow sticky card, and waited. Home gardeners, 4-H groups and OSU Master Gardener volunteers all took part in the study, as well as Ohio first lady Frances Strickland in Columbus. For seven days, these sticky cards gathered passing insects. At the end of the week, each volunteer sat down with the card and a lady beetle identification guide to determine which species of lady beetles had visited the garden. A new card will go into the garden later this summer to collect a second sample.
''In recent years, we have witnessed an alarming decline in native lady beetle species in the north central U.S.,'' Gardiner said. ''The loss of these species is a threat to our insect biodiversity and the pest management that lady beetles provide. Currently,
the state of native and exotic lady beetle populations in Ohio is not known.''
The blitz will generate critical data to learn which species are numerous and which are in trouble.
I knew I had lady beetles in my own garden — I've been watching both the larval and adult states of the multicolored Asian lady beetle clean aphids off ''Little Princess'' spirea shrubs just off my front porch. My neighbors probably wondered more than usual about me as I lay on my stomach on the porch over the last few weeks, observing and photographing the beetles at work. On just one spirea, I counted more than two dozen beetle larvae, beginning as small black larvae, eventually growing larger and developing orange markings on their black bodies.
Much of the concern about native lady beetle species comes from the spike in population of the multicolored Asian lady beetle. This beetle was introduced decades ago as a biocontrol agent to reduce aphid populations in the Southern states. Gradually the beetle's range has increased, and it is now widely established across Ohio. This is the nuisance insect that congregates in great numbers in early autumn, working its way into houses through cracks and crevices and becoming troublesome indoors on warmer winter days.
For most of the year, the Asian species is considered beneficial, because it consumes great numbers of pest species in its immature and adult stages. It is aggressive, however, and will also eat the larvae of its own and other lady beetle species. This is what I witnessed on my spirea; gradually only a few large larvae survived, having presumably eaten both the aphids and their own smaller siblings. Because it eats other lady beetle larvae, the increase in numbers of this species is one of the factors blamed for the decline in native lady beetle species.
By collecting samples from a variety of gardens across Ohio, Gardiner hopes to begin to paint the picture of the status of native species — a first step in the goal of protecting these important insects.
''The irony is that Ohio's state insect is a lady beetle,'' Gardener said at a volunteer training session in Wooster this spring, ''yet the numbers of this species are in decline.''
A secondary (but important) outcome of the blitz is to raise awareness about lady beetles, including teaching people to identify both native and introduced species.
So what was stuck to my yellow sticky trap? My card had only one lady beetle — a multicolored Asian lady beetle — as well as several dozen striped cucumber beetles and an assortment of flies and leaf hoppers. I folded the card and mailed it back to Gardiner's lab, where her lab staff will examine each card to count the numbers of different species. The lady beetles will then be used for a genetic study being conducted by a fellow entomologist at OSU. The collected insects will also be used to learn more about the kinds of pests and other beneficial insects populating Ohio gardens.
As for my ''Little Princess'' spirea, both the aphids and the lady beetle larvae are gone. I noticed that the new growth on my ''Ogon'' spirea shrub is twisted and distorted — damage often associated with aphid feeding. On closer observation, I saw the aphids, as well as a new population of lady beetle larvae, on the scene to once again keep aphid populations in balance.
To learn more about the Buckeye Lady Beetle Blitz, visit the project's Web site at: http://www.ladybeetles.osu.edu. The site gives more details on the project and its goals, including a video featuring Gardiner. It also contains numerous images to help with native and introduced lady beetle identification.
Denise Ellsworth is a horticultural educator with Ohio State University Extension. If you have questions about caring for your garden, call the Master Gardener hot line from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesdays and Fridays at 330-928-GROW or write Horticulture Educator, Summit County, 2525 State Road, Suite 250, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223. Include your phone number. E-mail questions to mgsummit@ag.ohio-state.edu.
For the last week, I've had a sticky card set up in my garden, just in between the asparagus patch and my heirloom tomatoes. This yellow card attracts an assortment of insects — some good for the garden, others considered pest species — then traps them on the card thanks to a sticky glue. The purpose of this trap? Like 250 other volunteers across Ohio, I took part in the Buckeye Lady Beetle Blitz.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Willoughby Hills, OH
Posted 10:56 AM, 06/27/2009
Sticky might be good,but I want my neighbor to set up the kind that attract the beetles then trap them.That way they stay away from my garden!!
