Publications - Faculty - Recently Submitted Faculty Publications 2010

Ebert - Environmental Entomology

Diversity, Abundance, and Phenology of Macrolepidoptera in Wooster Ohio from 2001 through 2009

Roger A. Downer and Timothy A Ebert

Abstract: To document the diversity and abundance of moths in Wooster Ohio, a single black light trap was used in a residential backyard to capture moths in the families Thyatiridae, Drepanidae, Geometridae, Mimallonidae, Apatelodidae, Lasiocampidae, Saturniidae, Sphingidae, Notodontidae, Arctiidae, Lymantriidae, and Noctuidae. Moths were released after identification. 1290 sampling dates yielded 77,564 moths from 502 species. The overall most abundant species, Pseudaletia unipuncta, accounted for between 3.6 and 28% of yearly captures. This site in Wooster provided a remarkably diverse assemblage of species. A phenological model was used to study seasonal flight activity for the more abundant species. The model showed that moth abundance had three distinct peaks, one in late June, another in early August, and a final peak in late September. The dominance of a few species was greatest early and late season. August and September had the most even distribution of any month. Species diversity was greatest in early August. We report for the first time a possible switch of the native Hyphantria cunea from a bivoltine to a trivoltine life history strategy. However, it is not clear if this will be a permanent change or an occasional event. Such a change was documented in Japan where this species is an introduced pest. These data provide a baseline for moth diversity in this area and could be used as part of longer term studies documenting the effects of climate change. Several species were of special note because of their abundance and high fidelity to environmental changes. These species may be useful for future environmental monitoring efforts. The complete list as a summary and as raw data is available for download.