We are conducting insect research projects. Details on each topic are listed below.
Crayfish
VINS in collaboration with the White River Partnership has created an index on iNaturalist to inventory crayfish throughout Vermont. The focus is on tracking the spread of the invasive Rusty Crayfish throughout Vermont waterways.
VINS in collaboration with Mass Audubon, NJ Audubon, PA Firefly Festival, NC Museum of Science will be monitoring firefly populations at our respective centers. Trainings will be conducted for interested volunteers.
VINS participates in several citizen science projects focusing on monarch butterflies. Each summer we count milkweed plants and survey for caterpillars. We sample butterflies for Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) spores and send collected samples to University of Georgia for analysis. Each fall we tag butterflies as part of Monarch Watch’s long term migration study. Learn more about our monarch tagging project.
