Projects

Invertebrate Ecology (IE) continues to provide pro bono assistance to non-profit organizations working to conserve rare or endangered ecosystems on the Palouse. To this end, IE prepared for the Palouse Prairie Foundation a 19 page bibliography of insect-related studies in prairie ecosystems including Palouse Prairie. The bibliography is posted on the Palouse Prairie Foundation’s website at the following link: http://palouseprairie.org/literature/

Study of Benthic Invertebrate Communities of the Twisp River

Invertebrate Ecology is working with Yakama tribal biologists to inventory and characterize the benthic invertebrate community in the Twisp River of E. Washington. Historically, salmon carcasses left after the spawn contributed to marine derived nutrient loads in streams with anadromous salmon runs such as the Twisp. The decline of these runs has resulted in nutrient deprivation in many streams, affecting benthic invertebrates and salmonid species that feed on them. Invertebrates are being collected, identified (primarily to the genus and species level), and assigned to functional feeding guilds for metric calculation and food web/bioenergetics modeling.

Operational Loss Assessment for the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho

Invertebrate Ecology (IE) is working with the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho on a multiyear Operational Loss Assessment (OLA) within the 500 year floodplain of the Kootenai River. The project area covers over 100 miles extending from Libby Dam near Libby Montana, down through Bonner’s Ferry in Idaho, and out to Kootenai Lake in British Columbia, Canada. Many terrestrial invertebrates are found in specific habitats and are responsive to changes in their environment. They have often been used, therefore, as indictors of disturbance and habitat quality. Invertebrate Ecology has been working with the Kootenai Tribe to develop an invertebrate-related multimetric Index of Biological Integrity (IBI). Indices of Biological Integrity incorporate multiple biological attributes including abundance, number of species, diversity but also functional guild, trophic level metrics, population statistics, and landscape level metrics. To this end IE has assisted tribal biologists with sampling, invertebrate identifications, data analysis, metric calculation, IBI calibration and report writing. More than 125,000 invertebrates have thus far been identified and categorized by trophic level and functional guild, and various metrics for use in an IBI have been calculated. Emphasis to date has been on the development of a terrestrial IBI, but attention is also being focused on the development of an aquatic IBI in the watershed.

Fragmentation of Palouse Prairie

Invertebrate Ecology (IE) is involved in a multiyear study with the University of Idaho, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, and local conservation groups concerning habitat fragmentation effects on pollinators and pollinator-plant interactions in Palouse Prairie. The Palouse Prairie is an endangered ecosystem with less than 1.0% of the original prairie remaining (http://palouseprairie.org/). However, remnant patches of Palouse Prairie are remarkably diverse providing habitat for rare plant species (e.g. spalding’s catchfly, Jessica’s aster, Palouse thistle, Palouse milkvetch, Palouse goldenweed, etc.), amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and many invertebrate species (http://palouseprairie.org/ppfdb.html). In Phase I of this project, IE is working with its partners to survey the bee fauna of five prairie remants. Thus far approximately 10,000 bees comprised of 18 genera, five families and 61 species have been identified. Of the Apidae species captured, approximately 500 are bumble bees comprised of 12 species. More information from this important study will be forthcoming. In Phase II, IE will work with partners to elucidate specific plant-pollinator interactions.