Not much to see here today – except some pictures of the new field experiment. I went out to water the plants this afternoon, and the fields were – quite literally – buzzing with activity. This is the first year that I actively work on this plant species, Tansy, as a model system. (I have worked in field experiments where it occurred, but it was not one of the focal species.) So, with this plant species being relatively new to me, I have started paying closer attention. As I wrote yesterday, I planted out this field experiment over the past weekend. Many of the plants were flowering as I planted them, so today I took some time to observe some of the insects that visited – just for fun, I’m not squeezing in a sampling session before my leave.
There were lots of insects around. I spent 15 minutes or so, but already noticed about five or six solitary bee species, soldier beetles, three or four bug species, several ladybugs, and an entire swarm of flower-galling midges which were clearly making use of the fresh laying grounds. (I am considering sampling these… I think it is a pretty interesting interaction going on.) Anyways. I hope someone enjoys these pictures :).
Robin Heinen 