Comment on relative abundance

I just made a post that I want to use to emphasize the point that in making observations for this project I don't pay attention to relative abundance. I'm most often by far looking for new taxa. Take a look here where I show 6 larvae of the lichen carrying green lacewing Leucochrysa pavida trapped in one field of view: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/68458137 Up to this point I had only posted one other individual. It breaks my bug-loving heart to witness the mortality that these tree bands inflict on this species. It seems to be part of the natural history of L. pavida larvae to climb the trunks of (oak) trees under cover with their lichen camouflage where they get trapped and die by the hundreds each tree banding season. If I were documenting relative abundance I'd be photographing this species very very often along with countless flies and spiders that I ignore.

Posted on 22 de janeiro de 2021, 07:48 PM by kenkneidel