Martin Stimac looking for surrogate arthropods in some tree bark

We will investigate the effect of supplemental winter bird feeding on arthropod populations that are in a dormant state in tree bark. Winter bird feeding creates local concentrations of bark foraging species such as Black capped Chickadees, White and Red breasted Nuthatches, Hairy and Downey Woodpeckers. Such concentrations may have local effects on overwintering arthropods in trees near bird feeders. Thus, winter feeding of birds may suppress populations of herbivorous arthropods that are considered tree pests or it may affect the predators of herbivorous species(e.g., spiders). We will monitor an experiment designed to compare arthropod numbers in forest plots with and without bird feeders. We will do some simple sampling of diapausing arthropods, and of some "surrogate arthropods' placed in tree bark.

Videos:
Bug Finding Excersize
Winter Birds Lecture
Requires Apple's Quicktime software.

David Flaspohler (left) and Joan Chadde (right)

David J. Flaspohler received his Ph.D. in 1998 from the Department of Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin Madison, and is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Forestry at Michigan Technological University. His dissertation dealt with the impacts of forest management on the reproductive ecology of eight species of songbirds in northern Wisconsin and upper Michigan. Dr. Flaspohler has published numerous articles in peer reviewed and popular journals and has taught seven classes at the undergraduate and graduate level while a graduate student and as an assistant professor. He has been a principal investigator on two previous MI DNR grants, has worked for the WI DNR, and has maintained a keen interest in the application of ecological research to natural resource management. He has conducted ecological and environmental policy research in Mexico and Costa Rica, and has also worked in a variety of habitats in the Midwest. He has worked on projects ranging from studies of riparian breeding birds to sampling of forest amphibians.