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Science
Friday > Archives
> 1998
> March
> March 20, 1998:
Hour Two: Insect Extravaganza:
Insect news - from El Nino to Africanized honeybees.
| That's right - it's the first day of spring... and that means they're coming. By the hundreds and the thousands... into your yard, your house, and your picnic lunch. And this year there may be more than usual, because of (you guessed it) the ubiquitous El Nino.
More insects may be around this spring because the mild winter allowed more insects to survive hibernation. In addition, the milder, moister winter means more vegetation in some areas. That means more food. And heavier than normal spring rains would leave plenty of standing water for mosquitoes, love bugs, eye gnats and black flies. | 
A mosquito chows down on
a lunch of human arm.
(photo courtesy CDC) | Increasing populations of mosquitos and ticks has public health officials concerned about outbreaks of insect-borne diseases like malaria and lyme disease. Others are concerned about insects this spring as well - termite populations are up in Arizona, California and Florida, again, attributed to El Nino. Some entomologists are saying that the moister weather and additional desert flowering may even allow Africanized honeybees (also known as killer bees) to finally migrate across the desert to Los Angeles.
This hour - what the spring has in store for the insects of the world - and for us... plus your insect questions, and a look at why dragonflies are disappearing...
Guests:
Kirk Visscher
Associate Professor of Entomology
University of California
Riverside, CA
John Alcock
Author, "In a Desert Garden: Love and Death Among the Insects" (Norton)
Professor of Biology
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ
Nancy Hinkle
Veterinary Entomologist for the State of California
University of California
Riverside, CA
David Olson
Senior Conservation Scientist
World Wildlife Fund
Washington, DC
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
Want the biggest?
The fastest? Check the Insect Record Book from University of Florida.
Insect image gallery
from Iowa State
Whyfiles
Mosquito Alert
Ticks and El Nino
- Environmental News Network
Young Entomologists Society
Some excellent
scanning electron microscope pictures of insects (takes a while
to load)
Entomological Society of America
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