|
Scarabaeoidea of
Maryland
My current research is
focused on conducting a bioinventory of Maryland Scarabaeoidea in all 23 counties with an emphasis on
the Eastern Shore. Collections began in Wicomico and
Worcester Counties in 2009 and have since covered all eastern shore
counties. Current collection materials will be further
supplemented with museum collections (National Museum of Natural History
and Nebraska Museum of Insects), USDA holdings, and personal
collections from Maryland and surrounding states. Ultimately the data
accumulated from this project will be used to create a Taxonomic Guide
to the Scarabaeoidea of Maryland. The guide will include keys to
the Families and genera. We will use current collections, and
historical data to map all species distributions. Species
description, and Natural history data will be provided when possible.
There are many projects that are contributing to this work - please
see my students projects for further interest.
For more information about this project click on the
following link:
Scarabaeoidea of Maryland
Dung Beetles in Pasture Ecosystems - Mallory
Hagadorn (Masters student) is the lead scientist on this project
I am working with students in my lab to examine dung beetle richness
and diversity on organic and conventionally managed dairy cow pastures
across Maryland. Our aim is to try and create an efficient
scaling system that farm managers can use to determine the abundace
and species of dung beetles on their farms.
A second aim of this research deals with the examination of dung
beetle gut endosymbionts. This work is in collaboration with Dr.
Anne Estes of the Institute of Genomics in Baltimire, MD. The
main overall goal is to determine if dung beetles possess a core gut
microbiome that allow them to digest cellulose.
|
