The Lost Ladybug Project Needs Your Help
Tuesday October 28, 2008
The introduction of the 7-spotted ladybug from Europe may have caused the decline of our native 9-spotted ladybug.
Photo: böhringer friedrich, Wikimedia Commons (cc-by-sa)
Researchers at Cornell University have a mystery to solve, and they need your help. In the past twenty years, scientists have noticed a marked decline in the numbers of certain native ladybugs in North America. During this same time period, nonnative ladybugs have expanded their ranges.
Are the exotic ladybugs out-competing our own beetles? Will the new bugs in town be as effective at keeping pests like aphids under control? Are there ways to keep our native species from disappearing?
To answer these questions, researchers need data, and lots of it. That's where you come in. Through the Lost Ladybug Project, anyone can report ladybug sightings that will help scientists solve the mystery. The process is simple:
- Collect some ladybugs.
- Take photos of the ladybugs you've found.
- Submit your photos online, with information on the time, date, location, and habitat.
Comments
Oh no! Now I’ve not only got to stay up worrying about bees, I now have to add ladybugs to the list.
I’m really happy to know about this project. My kids will really love it and I’m going going to forward this to their science teacher.
Sheesh!I have multitudes in my house! They must be coming here to stay. I’ll send a bunch of photos.
I too will be able to take photos of ladybugs without taking a walk! They’re in my house all the time. By the way, Cornell also has a great project for bird watchers called Project Feeder Watch. I participate in it every winter.
To find a large number of current Ladybug pictures, use Flickr. There are 80,000 pictures tagged “Ladybug” Flickr. When people post on Flickr, you are able to find out who took the picture, when it was taken from the camera EXIF data and where the person is located, this is in the photographer’s profile. This might be a quick way to get information you might be looking for. People often tag the image with location data. The tags are visible on the photo’s page, just right of the picture.
My wife and I often use Flickr this way to search for flowers and butterflies.
Richard, thanks for the idea. Cornell needs information on where the ladybug is, though, and not the photographer, so it would be a bit tough to extrapolate accurate data from Flickr. Also, if you help with the project you have to supply some information about habitat, etc. where you found the ladybug.
I use Flickr a lot myself, and I agree that it has a wealth of great insect images.