Category Archives: entoLIVE Blog

Underexplored Freshwater Habitats in Ireland: Case Studies Using Riverflies

Ireland’s freshwater landscape encompasses over 12,000 lakes and extensive river networks, primarily shaped by Pleistocene glaciation. Standard aquatic surveys consistently target riffle zones, boulder substrates, and macrophyte beds, systematically overlooking specialised microhabitats such as seeps, temporary streams, turloughs, and those with groundwater sources including springs and the hyporheic zone of rivers that may harbour unique invertebrate communities.

Using Ephemeroptera (mayflies), Plecoptera (stoneflies), and Trichoptera (caddisflies) as focal taxa, this talk examines distributional gaps and discusses species found in some of Ireland’s specialised aquatic habitats, based on recent surveys carried out at various locations across Ireland.

Pan-Species Listing: How to Become a Super-Naturalist

Pan-Species Listing (PSL) is an exciting initiative encouraging naturalists to record ALL the species they have seen in the UK in a friendly and competitive way that promotes general wildlife recording and biodiversity in the process. In this talk, Graeme Lyons will introduce the PSL approach, describe the benefits of the framework, and then take us on a whistle-stop tour of the relevant ‘groups’ of wildlife in the UK (how to get into them, where to start, etc.). The talk will be sprinkled with lots of nice photos and anecdotes from Graeme’s storied career as an entomologist and pan-species lister.

Backyard Bees: Private Green Spaces and Pollinator Diversity in Cities

Private green spaces, such as gardens and allotments, have an important role in supporting pollinator diversity within cities. This webinar explores the environmental factors that shape pollinator communities in these spaces, including the influence of both native and non-native plants. We will also examine whether gardens and allotments differ in their ability to provide resources for pollinators and identify which plant species are most frequently visited. This research aims to highlight the importance of private green spaces for sustaining pollinators in urban environments and inform strategies to make cities more biodiversity-friendly.

Revealing Insect Pest Pathways

All plants and animals carry a natural chemical signature shaped by the environment in which they grow and feed. This signature comes from stable isotopes – naturally occurring forms of elements that differ slightly in mass but do not decay over time. The relative abundance of these isotopes varies predictably with factors such as climate, geography, and diet. Stable Isotope Ratio Analysis (SIRA) is a powerful analytical technique based on this principle. It measures these subtle differences in isotope ratios, allowing samples to be “fingerprinted” according to their origin. Over the past several decades, SIRA has been widely used to trace the production and movement of biological materials. This presentation introduces the principles behind stable isotopes and SIRA, and explores how the technique can be applied to identify insect pest pathways. Case studies include house flies and wood-boring beetles, such as the invasive Asian longhorn beetle and Ips typographus.

Changes in the UK Stag Beetle Population

The Stag Beetle – Lucanus cervus – is the UK’s largest beetle. Males can be up to 75 mm long, including their impressive antler-like mandibles which they use to battle each other for access to females during breeding season. It is a truly beautiful species, inspiring amazement in all who are lucky enough to see one. Sadly, evidence from Europe suggests that stag beetle populations are declining across much of their range. But how are they faring in the UK? The south of England was historically recognised as a hotspot for the species. Is it still? A team of researchers from the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), the Natural History Museum (NHM) and the University of Cambridge set out to find an answer. Distribution records of stag beetles from 1998 to 2022 were analysed and compared with historic museum records going back over a century. The core range was found to have changed little overall, but has declined in the south west of England. Counts of adult beetles recorded together, although not systematic, indicate a worrying decline in abundance across the range. Phenology was also investigated. This webinar will share the findings from this research project, and discuss what can be done to ensure the long-term survival of this charismatic species.

Antarctic Invertebrates: Diversity and Threats

Antarctica’s terrestrial biodiversity is restricted to tiny islands of ice-free habitat surrounded by vast expanses of inhospitable ice or ocean. Today it is dominated by microarthropods and other microinvertebrates, although that has not always been the case. Antarctica’s largest invertebrates are two chironomid midges and a small number of freshwater crustaceans Evolution in isolation, long-term persistence and regionalisation typify this fauna. This has important implications for understanding the geological and glaciological history of the Antarctic region, and of the climatic and oceanographic processes influencing it. Antarctica’s terrestrial biodiversity now faces considerable challenges from growing human activity and impacts, including considerable regional climate change.

Shades of Grey: Industrial Melanism in Spiders

Industrial melanism refers to the phenomenon whereby some invertebrates evolved dark (melanic) forms in response to the darkening by soot of their resting surfaces during the Industrial Revolution. This response provided a clear example of Darwin’s ‘evolution by natural selection’ and was particularly well studies in moths. In this webinar Geoff will reappraise three claimed examples of industrial melanism in spiders and draw conclusions as to whether they constitute genuine exemplars of the phenomenon.

Mapping the Beetle Tree of Life

With over 400,000 described species, Coleoptera represent one of the most diverse groups of organisms on Earth, necessitating a global, integrative approach to understanding their evolutionary history. This effort begins with standardized field collection, specimen imaging, and identification, followed by high-quality DNA extraction. By combining genomic, mitochondrial, and barcode data, we are building the most comprehensive Coleoptera phylogeny to date – spanning over 100,000 species, including many that remain undescribed. This large-scale phylogenetic framework enables us to move beyond species counts, revealing global patterns of biodiversity through time and space and providing essential insights into species loss and the broader consequences of global change.

An ‘Alien’ in Antarctica

A tiny flightless midge, Eretmoptera murphyi, accidentally introduced to Antarctica in the 1960s, has spread across Signy Island and now dominates the soil ecosystem. Its larvae feed on dead plant material, enriching the soil with nitrogen and changing conditions in ways that could help other species invade. Octavia’s research reveals these midge-altered soils also release more greenhouse gases, meaning this small insect could be quietly accelerating climate change in one of the planet’s most fragile environments.

Understanding a Bee’s Buzz: Biology to Robotics

Ever wondered how and why bees buzz? Or what determines the different properties of a bee buzz? In this webinar, Charlie reveals the answer. Join us to understand bee buzzes through his work from the lab and field to understand how bees produce their buzzes and how this understanding is being used to inform the design of micro-robots for pollination.