Insects

Project Investigator
Keith Summerville, Drake University, (515) 271-2265, keith.summerville@drake.edu

Dr. Keith Summerville’s goal for his contributions to the Hardwood Ecosystem Experiment is to develop a deeper understanding of how both anthropogenic and stochastic disturbances create structure in moth species assemblages. In particular, Keith is testing hypotheses related to the relative contributions of timber harvest, prescribed fire, variation in weather, and impact of timber pests on forest Lepidoptera. Based on the last 15 years research, Keith has determined that moth species assemblages are relatively resilient to timber harvests when some overstory hardwoods are left uncut and when unharvested stands are adjacent to managed sites.  Late frosts (after mid-May),summer droughts, and high volume timber harvests appear to interact to create novel species assemblages dominated by generalist species. Low intensity burning of the understory has very limited impact of communities of forest Lepidoptera.   Keith’s sampling methodology utilizes battery-powered light traps that draw the moths in and traps them in a funnel capped bucket. Twenty of these traps were set for five different nights in the summer of 2007-2022.

Key Papers:

• Summerville, K.S., D.Courard-Hauri and M.M.Dupont. 2009. The legacy of timber harvest: Do patterns of species dominance suggest recovery of Lepidopteran communities in managed hardwood stands? Forest Ecology and Management, 259(1): 8-13.
• Summerville, K.S., M.M.Dupont, A.V.Johnson and R.L.Krehbiel. 2008. Spatial structure of forest Lepidopteran communities in oak hickory forests of Indiana. Environmental Entomology, 37(5): 1224-1230.
• Summerville, K.S. 2013. Forest lepidopteran communities are more resilient to shelterwood harvest compared to more intensive logging regimes. Ecological Applications, 23(5): 1101-1112.
• Summerville, K.S., J.L. Lane and D. Courard-Hauri. 2013. Stability in forest lepidopteran communities: how sensitive are pest species to experimental forest management. Insect Conservation and Diversity, 6:(3)265-275.
• Summerville, K.S. and R.J. Marquis. 2017. Comparing the responses of larval and adult lepidopteran communities to timber harvest using long-term, landscape-scale studies in oak-hickory forests. Forest Ecology and Management http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2016.08.050