BioBlitz, 2009
Project founders organized BioBlitz as a way for communities to learn about the biological diversity of local parks and to better understand how to protect them. BioBlitz events give adults, kids, and teens the opportunity to join biologists in the field, participate in bona fide research expeditions, and learn from the experts about biodiversity—both around the planet and in our own backyards.

We participated in 2 BioBlitz events in 2009: the first was the official BioBlitz at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and the other was unofficial, located at Brown County State Park. You can read about the experiences on National Geographic's BlogWild pages here and here.

Camping Trip, May 2005
Entomology graduate students and two faculty members met at the Feldun-Purdue Agriculture Center for a weekend of camping and insect collecting in May of 2005. Despite the variable weather we came away with some interesting specimens from forest, creek, pond and limestone quarry habitats. Several new and experienced entomologists showed their enthusiasm, using headlamps to collect in the forest well past midnight. [View Photos]

Insect movement
The movement of animals between different habitat patches in part determines the ability of populations to remain extant. We are interested in techniques and technologies that allow the study of movement of insects within landscapes that are a mosaic of different land uses. We have used UV and flight intercept traps to capture insects in non-habitat areas to find which species are likely to move through these areas. [View Photos]

Insect rearing
Because wood-living beetles spend much of their lives well hidden, there is very little known about them. We are using various rearing techniques to get further information on host wood species and condition, generation times, and possibly parasitoid species.
[View Photos]