Category Archives: Prairie Insects

What I Don’t Know About Prairies – A Partial List

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I’m a professional prairie ecologist.  I write a blog and have published a book on prairie ecology and management, along with lots of magazine articles.  Because of that, I’m often called a prairie expert.

Being called a prairie expert makes me somewhat uncomfortable.  I know a little bit about a lot of things, and a lot about a few things.  However, every time I learn something new, I realize how much I DON’T know about prairies.

I have no idea what kind of stink bug this is.

I have no idea what kind of stink bug this is.

Here are a few examples.

I don’t know…

…why goldenrod seems to be aggressive in some places, but not others.

…what factors determine how easily snakes, shrews, and other small animals can move from one prairie to another through road ditches or other habitats.

…how to get a diverse prairie plant community to establish on a former feedlot with very high nutrient levels in the soil.

…how to identify the vast majority of insect species in prairies.

…how sandhill cranes know when the weather is nice enough on Nebraska’s Platte River to start migrating this direction each spring.

…hardly anything about soil invertebrates.

…what kind of vegetation structure grassland birds use during migration.

…whether regal fritillaries lay eggs near violets or just randomly (they don’t, apparently, lay eggs ON violets, even though that’s all their larvae feed on.)

…why some prairies become grass-dominated (and lose wildflower abundance) over time more easily than others.

…much about the relationships between soil fungi/bacteria and plant roots.

…the home range size of snakes, turtles, small mammals, or most other prairie vertebrates.

…the best way to improve the plant diversity of a degraded prairie.

…enough about how the bud banks of prairie plant species and communities respond to drought, grazing, and other disturbances.

…how deer and other wildlife species respond to patch-burn grazing or other similar fire/grazing management.

…nearly enough about parasitoids and their role in prairie ecology.

…how wind turbines affect prairie invertebrates.

…how to identify very many stream fish or freshwater mussel species.

Unfortunately, I could go on and on.  Fortunately (hopefully?) I’m not even halfway through my career, so I’ve still got time to learn.  I’ve got research projects underway to help address a few of my “unknowns”, and trust that others are being answered by researchers and naturalists elsewhere.  The species identification skills I’m lacking can be somewhat improved over time, but I’ll have to decide which species are most important to focus on because my brain won’t handle too many.

Here I am, thinking about all things I don't know about prairies.

Here I am, thinking about all things I don’t know about prairies.  The Nature Conservancy’s Niobrara Valley Preserve, Nebraska.

What’s most frustrating is the knowledge that I won’t ever learn everything I want to.  Some of what I don’t know isn’t known by anyone – we need more researchers and observant naturalists to help figure things out.  In other cases, the knowledge is out there, but I don’t have the time to go find it.  I love collecting and synthesizing knowledge, but even if I did nothing else for my whole life, I’d still come up short.

One of my greatest aspirations is to some day become an “old man of the prairie” like most of my favorite mentors.  (“Old man of the prairie”, by the way, is a term of the utmost respect.)  Much of what I’ve learned has come from following OMOTPs around and soaking up whatever information I can squeeze out of them.  Many of you have probably met an OMOTP (or OWOTP, as the case may be).  If you have, you know exactly what I’m talking about, and why I want to become one.

In the meantime, I’ve got a lot to learn…

Thank Goodness For Boxelder Bugs

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Note:  When I wrote this post back in 2013, I had no idea so many people would find it while looking for information on these harmless little critters who often like to share our living space.  The many comments added to this post since then have been tremendous, heartwarming, and are worth reading.  I’ve also written a separate post with more information on boxelder bugs if you are someone looking for that.  Most importantly, please don’t let boxelder bugs frighten you.  They’re fascinating creatures and present no danger to you.  

I finally broke down and bought a close-up flash system for my camera.  Until now, I’ve just relied on natural light to illuminate the flowers, insects, and prairies I photograph.  However, during the last couple years, I’ve been weakening, and looking at recent images from people like Clay Bolt and Piotr Naskrecki finally pushed me over the edge.  After considerable wandering about in the world of internet photography websites and equipment reviews, I am now the owner of a Nikon R1 Wireless Close-up Speedlight Kit. (Say THAT five times fast!)

Here’s my next problem:  Now that I’ve got a flash system to help me get better close-up insect photos, where am I supposed to find an insect to photograph during the middle of February in Nebraska??

Enter the friendly neighborhood boxelder bug…

Boxelder bug - photographed in my kitchen.

A boxelder bug captured on my front porch and photographed in my kitchen.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been seeing boxelder bugs around their house this winter.  It seems there are always a couple of them nearby – soaking up some sun by the window or reading over my shoulder at my desk.  Sure enough, as soon as I got the new flash assembly hooked up and ready to test, I was able to find one boxelder bug in the kitchen and another out on the front porch.  (You can tell which is which in the photos because the bug from outside is covered in dust.)

The other boxelder bug - less dusty - that I found in my kitchen.

The other boxelder bug – less dusty – that I found in my kitchen.

Boxelder bugs are considered by many people to be pests, but that’s not a completely fair characterization.  Sure, they suck the juices out of leaves and the developing seeds of boxelder and maple trees, but they don’t siphon enough out to actually hurt the trees.  Yes, they can congregate in large numbers on the sunny sides of houses, but they’re not doing any actual damage there.  Also, while they are happy to spend the winter in cozy crevices around your house, they don’t eat anything during that time, and can make themselves available on short notice should you have the urge to try some wintertime insect photography in your kitchen.

As the photo shoot went on, the boxelder bugs and I got more creative in our portrait compositions.

As the photo shoot went on, the boxelder bugs and I got more creative in our portrait compositions.  (Also, this one didn’t want to hold still.)

The species of boxelder bug in my neighborhood is the Eastern Boxelder Bug (Boisea trivittata), which is found throughout most of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, as well as in some western states, parts of southern Canada, and even Central America.  Boxelder bugs are “true bugs”, meaning they are members of the taxonomic order Hemiptera, along with other bugs such as stink bugs, plant bugs, cicadas, and many other insects that have piercing/sucking mouth parts.  Like many other true bugs, boxelder bugs also have a characteristic triangle between the tops of their wings (as opposed to beetles, in the order Coloeptera, which have hardened forewings that form a hard shell on their back when they’re not flying.)

They're even cuter from the front, aren't they?

They’re even cuter from the front, aren’t they?

One of the endearing qualities of boxelder bugs is that they can release bad-smelling/tasting chemicals to discourage predators.  Like many other insects with similar capabilities (monarch butterflies and long-horned milkweed beetles, for example), they have bright orange or red markings to warn predators off.  That defense mechanism may be why boxelder bugs feel comfortable hanging around – often in large crowds – in plain sight, while most other insects work hard to stay hidden.

Last shot.

Last shot.  Note the small eyes behind each of the main eyes.  Those smaller eyes are ocelli, or simple eyes, that (we think) can discriminate only between light and dark.  Their function is still a topic of debate among entomologists.

I understand that many of you won’t ever become fans of boxelder bugs.  I guess I can live with that, and – with the exception of those you squish – so can the boxelder bugs.  Personally, I like them.  As with every other insect species I know of, they have an fascinating life story, and they’re just trying to make their way through life like the rest of us.

Plus, they make very accomodating photo subjects in the dead of winter.

Photography notes for those of you who care…  These photos were all taken with the “standard” set-up of the R1 system, with two speedlight flashes, mounted at “9 and 3” at the front of my Nikon 105mm macro lens.  I had an 8mm extension tube on for all but the second photo shown here.  The bugs were photographed walking around on the white plastic (acrylic?) diffuser that came with the flash system.  All these shots were hand-held at 1/250 sec exposures.  I’m looking forward to using this flash system outside, so I can capture images of insects, flowers, and other small things when the available natural light isn’t quite as good as I might want.  We’ll see how that goes.