Beginning in Summer 2007, I have been surveying the moth populations and plant community at certain locations at the back of Furman's lake. As the lakeshore is being gradually altered to bring it to a more natural condition, it is likely that the plant diversity will increase. My goal over the next several years is to determine whether the moth diversity and abundance change as the plant community changes. During the first summer's collecting period of seveal months, I found over 450 species of moths and 65 plant species in the study area.
During Summer 2005, Heath Garris was my student colleague for research. He studied the attraction of moths to ultraviolet light traps, focusing particularly on the male-female ratio of trapped individuals of several dozen species. He also raised a number of caterpillars in order to learn more about their host plant preferences and other life-cycle facts. He also worked on adapting a software program for obtaining "three-dimensional" photomicrographs of moths in which all portions are in perfect focus.
I and a student, Laura Garrett, spent the summer of 2001 examining the moth and beetle populations of fields within the Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve northeast of Travelers Rest, SC. These fields had been planted with three different vegetation types, then, half of the fields of each type had been burned in the Spring. We were interested in whether the abundance and diversity of these insects were affected by the vegetation type or by the treatment type. Preliminary results indicate that neither variable affected either abundance or diversity. Our findings were presented as a poster at the 2002 meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists. Of course, this work also fed into my ongoing survey of the Lepidoptera of Greenville County and the Upstate portion of South Carolina (see below).
I have built a huge database that provides information on where one can find images of the North American moth species (in books and on the Web). You can see it by clicking HERE. I am also constantly adding links to another very large resource, named Web Images of North American Moth Species, a resource to help one find images that have been posted on the Web. Click HERE for that one.
Here are the names of undergraduate students who have worked on my laboratory project concerning heterocyclic molecules that fluoresce or absorb ultraviolet and are found in the tissues of the moth Malacosoma americanum.
Another interest is the continuing survey of Lepidoptera in the Upstate region of South Carolina. I am regularly running ultraviolet light traps to sample the moth population. Furman's insect collection continues to grow and I struggle to get specimens identified and their data placed into our databank. I have placed those data into a database program. Eventually, all of my data will be plugged into a national network, aiding in the survey of organisms in the U.S.