Interview with the coordinator of the Ohio Dragonfly Survey

MaLisa SpringMaLisa Spring, State Coordinator for the Ohio Dragonfly Survey, sat down with us to talk about the Ohio Dragonfly Survey and its focus – dragonflies and damselflies!

Hilary: “Tell us about yourself!”

MaLisa: “I completed a Bachelor’s in Biology with a minor in Spanish at Marietta College, Ohio. While I was there I did a couple of research projects related to insects and completed my senior thesis on bee diversity. It was then that I decided that I wanted to go to grad school, and I ended up attending OSU, where I received my Master’s degree in Entomology.

I worked with native pollinators for my undergraduate, but I also did a small project on lady beetle diversity and completed an internship on insect diversity. Overall, I’m just broadly interested in entomology and so when there was a mention of a dragonfly survey coming up and that they were interested in hiring someone for the survey, I was all for it – it sounded great! I then landed the job as the state coordinator for the Ohio Dragonfly Survey in May of 2017.

Hilary: “What is the Ohio Dragonfly Survey and what is its goal?”

MaLisa: “The Ohio Dragonfly Survey is a citizen science project with the goal of getting people outside, to notice dragonflies and damselflies, and to submit their observations to the survey via iNaturalist.org. Our goal right now is to figure out where species are throughout the state and to document the status of the threatened and endangered species. Ohio has 167 species of dragonflies and damselflies and we have 23 species that are state-listed as either endangered, threatened, or a species of concern, but there could be several more species added to that list. Additionally, the Hines Emerald (Somatochlora hineana) is the only federally endangered species in our state and it hasn’t been seen since at least 1989, so it might be extirpated (locally extinct, but surviving elsewhere).”

Double-striped bluet (pond damselfly)

Double-striped bluet

Hilary: “What are some of the greatest threats to dragonflies?”

MaLisa: “There are many threats to dragonflies and damselflies. Habitat loss and degradation are two of the biggest ones. Compared to the species richness between now and say the 1950s, there’s a huge difference. For example, Ohio used to have the Great Black Swamp, a several county-large swamp up in northwestern Ohio, but it was drained and turned into agricultural fields. Reducing hectares of wetlands into ditches created a vastly different habitat for the dragonflies and damselflies of this region, resulting in a significant change in the number of species that used to live here.

Other challenges are pesticides and especially herbicide run off.  Herbicides affect plants and certain species of dragonflies and damselflies lay their eggs inside of specific plants. If those plants aren’t there for them to lay eggs in, then the species cannot survive. They also need plants at the edge of water, so if people are mowing down plants at the edge of ponds or other ideal aquatic habitats, then the dragonflies and damselflies don’t have anywhere to emerge after their larvae stage to spread their wings to dry, and so they die.”

Hilary: “What is the life cycle of a dragonfly or damselfly?”

MaLisa: “Immature dragonflies and damselflies, also referred to as water nymphs (naiads) or larvae, reside in the water or aquatic systems, where they can live anywhere between 3 weeks to several years (it depends on the species). Some species are migratory, so they migrate to and from Ohio, but others overwinter in Ohio as larvae in the water systems and then emerge in either the spring or summer (again, it depends on the species) as adults, where their lifespans can range from two weeks to up to a couple of months.

Hilary: “How can you tell a dragonfly and a damselfly apart?”

MaLisa: “Dragonflies and damselflies are in the order odonata and are divided into two separate groups, Anisoptera and Zygotpera. You can differentiate the two based on the wing positioning for the most part, but not always. Dragonflies tend to hold their wings out like a biplane, whereas damselflies tend to hold their wings behind their back like a sailboat.

Another way to differentiate them is based on their size. Most dragonflies are larger than damselflies. But again, there’s an exception to the rule with the body of some damselflies being longer than that of some dragonflies. If you want to get into the nitty gritty to tell them apart, you can look at their eyes to see how separated they are from each other. All damselflies have their eyes well separated on their head, whereas most dragonflies (excluding the Clubtails) have their eyes at least touching.”

Hilary: “For the public to get involved in the survey, do they need to collect specimens?”

MaLisa: “For the most part, we’ve learned that the public doesn’t want to collect specimens, which is okay as photographing them instead is perfectly acceptable. However, if they are interested in collecting specimens we ask that they look on our webpage and follow our collection protocols.”

Hilary: “Will you be at the Open House for the Museum of Biological Diversity on April 7th?”

MBD Open House April 7th, 2018

MaLisa: “I will definitely be here for the Open House event, if anyone wants to ask me any dragonfly questions!”

To learn more about the Ohio Dragonfly Survey, access this link: http://u.osu.edu/ohioodonatasurvey/

Contributing to the survey is as easy as taking photos of dragonflies and damselflies and submitting them to iNaturalist.org! Learn more here.

Want to learn more about dragonflies and damselflies? Check out this page for upcoming talks, presentations, and community events. Or download a guide to dragonflies and damselflies of Ohio from the Ohio Division Wildlife.

Hilary HirtleAbout the Author: Hilary Hirtle is the Faculty Affairs Coordinator at the OSU Department of Family Medicine; her interest in natural history brings her to the museum to interview faculty and staff and use her creative writing skills to report about her experiences.

Dragonflies and Damselflies of Ohio


Dragonfly at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area.

Dragonfly at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area.

The Triplehorn Insect Collection is beginning a collaborative project to survey the dragonflies and damselflies of Ohio.

These spectacular aerial predators are surprisingly diverse: currently 164 species have been recorded in the state. Brilliant colors and striking markings make them the songbirds of the insect world. The immature stages of all species are aquatic, and these animals are found in lakes, rivers, ponds, and streams from Lake Erie to the Ohio River.  Although many dragonflies and damselflies are common, a number are listed as threatened or endangered.

This new Ohio Odonata Survey is scheduled to last 3 years. The work will be done together with the ODNR Division of Wildlife, the Ohio Odonata Society, and a network of avid volunteers and citizen scientists across the state.

MaLisa Spring, an Entomologist and recent OSU graduate, just joined us as coordinator for all of these efforts.  She will be working out of the Triplehorn Insect Collection in Columbus, and will be actively interacting with participants around the state.

Information on the project can be found in the newly created Ohio Odonata Survey website.  Project activities will also be widely advertised on social media.

Ohio naturalists are invited to contribute to the project. If you have images that can help document the distribution and seasonality of the various species of dragonflies and damselflies in our state, please check out the guidelines.

Finally, the Ohio Odonata Society will be holding its 2017 annual meeting, ODO-CON-17 on 23-25 June at the Grand River Conservation Campus in Rock Creek, OH.

Resources:

Photos by L. Musetti (dragonflies) & Huayan Chen (damselfly).

About the Author: Dr. Norman F. Johnson is an Entomologist, Professor at Ohio State University, and Director of the Triplehorn Insect Collection.

Old collections, new tricks

 

Research collections are built through two primary avenues. Many specimens belonging to a single genus or family may be collected from a broad geographic area as part of a research project into the diversity, distribution, or biology of that lineage. Alternatively, specimens belonging to multiple lineages may be collected from a single place as part of studies into the diversity of a geographic region or drainage.

Field team leader Brian Zimmerman in his natural habitat: a boat!  His expertise with the diversity and distribution of fish is invaluable as we survey new habitats. Photo by Paul Larson

Field team leader Brian Zimmerman in his natural habitat: a boat! His expertise with the diversity and distribution of fish is invaluable as we survey new habitats. Photo by Paul Larson

Our collaboration with the Ohio Division of Wildlife (https://obcp.osu.edu/) to assess the diversity of fishes in Ohio has followed both of these paths, exploring the distribution and genetic diversity of species of particular conservation concern across Ohio and capturing the diversity of particular rivers or drainages.

One of the “tricks of the trade” for our surveys has been to use diverse techniques. To make sure we have sampled all of the microhabitats within a waterway, we use everything from electrofishing to seines to trawls to snorkels.

This week we demo’ed a new net system in the Muskingum River and were pleased with the biomass and diversity of fish and other animals that we caught, including some HUGE flathead catfish as well as bycatch of softshell and snapping turtles. This is a new sampling method to us but has long been used by commercial fisherman and fisheries professionals alike. These nets will be part of our arsenal of methods as we establish baselines for the species diversity of the Muskingum River.

Collections manager Marc Kibbey mans the nets. The snapping turtle (left) and spiny softshell turtle (top) are released back into the river.  The Northern Pike (middle) and Bowfin (bottom) are measured and recorded. Photo on left by Paul Larson; photos on right by Brian Zimmerman.

Collections manager Marc Kibbey mans the nets. The snapping turtle (left) and spiny softshell turtle (top) are released back into the river. The Northern Pike (middle) and Bowfin (bottom) are measured and recorded. Photo on left by Paul Larson; photos on right by Brian Zimmerman.

Our electronic database and tissue voucher collection means that we can record occurrence, size and abundance, and sample animals with the safest, most effective methods.

Most of the fish we catch are identified, measured, photographed, and released. Specimens belonging to species whose distribution, diversity, or identity are questioned and species not well represented in museum collections are brought back to the museum for further study.

A global database called “Fishnet” (http://www.fishnet2.net/aboutFishNet.html) integrates our database with those of other museums, making these collections visible, searchable, and accessible to scientists around the world.

 

About the AuthorDr. Marymegan Daly is an Associate Professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology and Director of the OSU Fish Division.