Insects of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve: a photo album

Photographs by Glenda Denniston

Insects are the most diverse and abundant of all terrestrial animals. A full listing of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve's inhabitants has never been tabulated, but it is safe to say that the number of insect species is larger than all other groups combined.

Insects play crucial roles in ecosystem functioning. As pollinators, they contribute to the reproduction of most flowering plants. Insects are often the first decomposers of dead plants and animals, and introduce microorganisms that continue this process and release nutrients for new plant growth. Insects serve as food for other animals, such as fish, birds, and amphibians.

None of the ecosystems represented at the Lakeshore Nature Preserve could exist in their current form without insects. Insects often have very specialized requirements, so each species is typically found within a particular microsite, such as in the soil, under bark, or along the underside leaf veins of a particular tree species. Each also has a specific rhythm as to time of year and day when they are most active.

-- excerpt from full article

Photo numbers in this album correspond to the figure numbering in the full article: "Biodiversity and the Ecological Roles of Insects" which contains the following sections: Types of Insects You Can Find at the Lakeshore Nature Preserve Insect Signs How Insects Spend the Winter in the Lakeshore Nature Preserve Unwanted Invaders		2.1 white-faced meadowhawk
2.2 twelve-spotted skimmer dragonfly	2.3 damsel fly	2.4 damsel fly
3.1 differential grasshopper	3.2 bush katydid and flattid planthopper	4.1 aphids
4.2 leafhopper	4.3 spittlebug nymphs	4.4 cicada
4.5 stink bug nymph	4.6 stink bug egg shells_nymphs	4.7 milkweed bugs
5.1 Asian multispotted ladybird beetle	5.2 hermit flower beetle	5.3 long-horned beetle
5.4 locust borer	6.1 robber fly	6.2 anthomyiid fly_ long-horned beetle
7.1 female tiger swallowtail-black form	7.2 buckeye butterfly	7.3 eight spotted forester
7.4 hornworm-Sphinx kalmiae	7.5 dagger moth caterpillar	8.1 wasp nest
8.2 bumble bee	8.3 Ichneumon wasp	8.4 cicada skin
8.5 Japanese beetle	9.1 white oak gall	9.2 cynpid gall
9.3 ernineum gall-mite	10.1 monarch butterfly	10.2 monarch butterfly
10.3 viceroy butterlfy	11.1 spider	11.2 spider
11.3 spider	12.1 emerald ash borer-warning sign Picnic Point	12.2 gypsy moth and egg mass