Fun with Science Club®


			What kind of insects use floating wood as their home? Carrie Straight 05.14.01 Branches, twigs, and dead trees that pile up in the water create a great habitat for many species of animals. Scientists have known the benefits of these areas for vertebrates, but what about invertebrates that use those areas? Two scientists, Amy Braccia and Darold Batzer, wanted to know what types of invertebrates used the woody debris piles. To answer this question, they went into a floodplain wetland and collected some piles of woody debris that were either under or floating on the water. They placed the wood into plastic bags and put ethyl alcohol into the bags to preserve the insects. Back at the laboratory, they categorized what type of woody debris they collected in each bag. They also identified all of the insects in each bag. Recording what types of insects they found in each bag helped tell the researchers what type of insects were associated with the different categories of woody debris. Varieties of insects were on the pieces of wood. The floating debris had more types of insects on them then the pieces of wood found under the water, but the number of insects on each piece of wood was similar between floating and submerged (under water) wood. The researchers discovered that unlike wood found in rivers or in dry upland areas, many aquatic (water dwelling) and terrestrial (land dwelling) insects used the pieces of woody debris in the floodplain wetland.


			Braccia, Amy and Darold P. Batzer. 2001. Invertebrates associated with woody debris in a southeastern U. S. forested floodplain wetland. Wetlands 21(1): 18-31.