资深研究知了对当地食物网的影响

The emergence of millions of cicadas across North Carolina caused a buzz this spring as Brood XIX surfaced locally for the first time in 13 years.

献给亚历山大·史密斯, the arrival of the periodical cicadas around Carolina’s campus also presented an opportunity for re太阳城娱乐城.

史密斯, 大四生物专业, was curious how the addition of millions of bugs would impact the food web dynamics of insects and their predators, 包括鸟类, 爬行动物, 蛛形纲动物和小型哺乳动物.

“When periodical cicadas are introduced into an ecosystem and into a food web, 它将改变食物网,史密斯说.

热爱户外活动

史密斯教授在生物学实验室工作 艾伦Hurlbert is supported by a Summer Undergraduate 研究 Fellowship grant from the 本科生研究办公室. The laboratory experience and community have been central to 史密斯’s past year at Carolina.

28岁的史密斯称自己是一个非传统的学生. 高中毕业后, he served in the Army and later enrolled in Cleveland Community College. He transferred to Carolina to pursue a career related to his love for animals and the outdoors.

“我在北卡罗来纳州的卡萨尔长大，”史密斯说. “它在南山的后面. My grandfather owns a ranch out there, and he passed it down to me, so my weeks are pretty full. 在工作日，我在做研究. 在周末，我照顾牛.”

通过生物学导论课程的课堂专题, he volunteered for the lab’s local bird population project then took a more permanent position with the re太阳城娱乐城 team.

学生和研究人员Grace Layman说, Ivara留有, Isabella Nieri and Alexander 史密斯 check for insects found on Carolina’s campus. The collaborative nature of the lab is one of 史密斯’s favorite aspects of re太阳城娱乐城. （杰斯·阿贝尔/文理学院）

计算毛虫

The Hurlbert laboratory studies birds and their food sources and leads Caterpillars Count, a citizen science project that encourages community members to count and report the insects and spiders they find in their backyards.

Caterpillars, 史密斯 said, are excellent sources of nutrition for birds and their fledglings. Clay versions of the bugs make great decoys and allow re太阳城娱乐城ers to identify the animals in the area by the bite and strike marks they leave behind on the soft green clay.

“A bird strike will normally be a completely clean ‘V’ shape, like a cut,” said 史密斯. 节肢动物通常会留下两个小凹痕. Very small mammals, when they’ve been chewing on it, you’ll see the teeth marks.”

到目前为止这个夏天, 史密斯 has deployed 600 clay caterpillars at five sites across the Triangle area, 包括卡罗莱纳的校园, 达勒姆的伊诺河州立公园和罗利的草原岭. When he returns to a site a week after attaching clay caterpillars to bushes and trees, he notes the types of marks and how many caterpillars have them.

史密斯 thinks the caterpillars deployed during the height of Brood XIX’s emergence will have fewer marks compared to those deployed at other times, since birds were choosing readily available cicadas over caterpillars.

他已经在实地观察到了这一点. But he won’t be able to present his findings until he analyzes his data from the summer deployments back in the Hurlbert laboratory. Along with writing a re太阳城娱乐城 paper, 史密斯 will share his work at the annual 本科研究庆祝活动 2025年春天.

His experience in the Hurlbert lab has been one of the most memorable parts of his time as a Tar Heel, 他说, thanks to the support and collaboration of SURF adviser Hurlbert, doctoral student and re太阳城娱乐城er Ivara留有 and his lab mates.

“老实说，这是一个很棒的实验室环境. We all have different projects that we’re working on, but we help each other out. 这会让工作环境变得更好.”