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- [Moderator] So we do
have Julia with us today.

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Her talk is prerecorded.

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I will just introduce her as Julia Pupko.

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She has done some great
work with us here at FEMC,

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and is now serving as
an ECO AmeriCorps member

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as a community science outreach naturalist

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at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies.

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She will be sharing her talk today

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about lady beetles of Vermont.

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- Hello, my name is Julia Pupko

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and I'm one of the ECO AmeriCorps members

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serving at the Vermont Center
of Ecostudies this year.

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Specifically, I've been working

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with the Vermont Atlas of Life

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which is a group within the
Vermont Center for Ecostudies.

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And one of my focuses has been

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on the Vermont Lady Beetle Atlas

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which I will be presenting on today.

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I will start by giving
a little bit of history

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as to why we began the
Vermont Lady Beetle Atlas.

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And then we'll end by discussing

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the importance of lady beetles,

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specifically the importance

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of a couple of lady beetle
species to Vermont's forests.

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To start, in 2018,

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Vermont Atlas of Life, or
VAL researchers, digitized

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a 43-year old document
listing lady beetle species

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found during and prior to
a survey on lady beetles

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which was completed in 1976.

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While digitizing this, it became apparent

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that some lady beetle,
native lady beetle species,

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had not been recorded
from what we could tell

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since this document was released.

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This made us question

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what Vermont's current lady
beetle fauna looked like.

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And part of the reason why
we wanted to find out more

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was because there have
been widespread declines

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in native lady beetle populations
across the U.S. and Canada

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which have been documented in research.

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These declines are thought
to be a combination,

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caused by a combination of factors

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including nonnative lady
beetle species introductions,

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land use change and pesticide use.

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To focus on one of these factors
in a little greater depth,

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nonnative lady beetle introductions

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are thought to be an issue

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because some research
has pointed to the fact

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that many nonnative lady beetle species,

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including the Asian lady beetle

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and seven-spotted lady beetle,

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which I will bring up again later,

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can outcompete native lady
beetles for food and habitat,

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typically grow faster
than native lady beetles,

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and will actually consume
native lady beetle larvae,

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which is not good for
overall population stability

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of native lady beetles

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when they have an introduced predator.

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So after digitizing this document,

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we began compiling other historic records

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and lady beetle collections,
and digitizing them

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to determine what data exists

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on lady beetles in Vermont.

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We collected and digitized records

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from the Cornell University's
Lost Ladybug Project,

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from the UVM Lady Beetle Collection,

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Collection at Middlebury,

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Vermont Forest Parks and Recreation,

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and then compiled
research-grade observations

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that had been uploaded

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to the iNaturalist Vermont
Atlas of Life project.

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In total, we assembled over 1,600 records,

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and at that point came to the end of data

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that was in existence that we could find

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on lady beetles in Vermont.

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From all of this data, we determined

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that there are 36 native

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and 7 introduced lady beetle species

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that have been recorded in Vermont.

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And as of 2019, 13 of these
native species were missing.

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Other species as I previously mentioned

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seemed to be in decline,

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and we want to learn more.

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And we want to know if the missing species

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still exist in Vermont
in small populations,

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or if they've been entirely extirpated.

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From collecting this historic data,

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and now starting an
Atlas to try and survey

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what current lady
beetles exist in Vermont,

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we hope to inform conservation efforts

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which may include reintroduction

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of native lady beetle species,

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and also hope to gain
a better understanding

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of nonnative lady beetle
species in Vermont

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so we can combat them as necessary.

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We have decided to base

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the Vermont Lady Beetle Atlas

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on a citizen science framework

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which has been utilized successfully

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by both the Vermont Atlas of Life

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and other projects.

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So the reason why using a
citizen science framework

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can be valuable is because you can train

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enthusiastic naturalists within
the community to help you

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look for a group of species in question.

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And it just increases the number of people

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that are able to get out and survey

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and hopefully will increase
the area that's covered.

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So the Vermont Atlas of
Life has seen great success

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using citizen science in many projects,

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including the Vermont Wild Bee Survey.

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For example, this year alone, we recorded

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33 new species of bees in Vermont

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using a citizen science framework.

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And the Cornell Lost Lady Bug Project

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rediscovered two lady beetle species,

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the nine-spotted and the
two-spotted lady beetle in New York

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which were previously thought
to be extirpated in the state.

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So as a result of all of this,

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we decided to utilize citizen scientists

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within the Vermont Lady Beetle Atlas

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and ask them to go out
and look for lady beetles

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and upload their
observations to iNaturalist

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so others can help to identify,

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and then we can utilize all of that data.

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This graphic represents a little bit

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of what I've been talking about thus far.

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This shows native lady
beetle species over time.

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And as you can see,
following the mid 1970s,

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there is a very sharp
decrease in the number

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of native lady beetle species
that have been recorded.

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And as you can see looking towards 2020,

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there has been an increase
in native lady beetle species

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that have been recorded.

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And a lot of the ones that
you can see recorded in 2020,

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as represented by that red dot,

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were uploaded to iNaturalist.

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And this just kind of goes to show

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how successful utilizing
citizen scientists can be.

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And one thing to note is

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that in the late 1950s,

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and then in the 1990s,

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two nonnative lady beetle species,

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the seven-spotted lady beetle

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and the Asian lady beetle respectively

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were introduced to Vermont.

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And both of these species
have been shown in research

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to really outcompete

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and negatively impact native
lady beetle populations.

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So that is, you know,
we can't say for certain

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that the introduction of those species

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have caused declines
in native lady beetles,

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but you know, through
this and other research,

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we may be able to kind of figure that

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out a little bit better,

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and determine how these species

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may be impacting our native species.

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To go over some of our findings thus far,

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citizen scientists have
rediscovered four species

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in Vermont which were
lost for over 40 years

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including one species this year,

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which you can see on the screen.

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There's the four-spotted
spurleg lady beetle,

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convergent lady beetle,
undulate sigil lady beetle

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and the hieroglyphic lady beetle.

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Additionally, citizen scientists

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have found three new species
of lady beetle in Vermont,

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which are native.

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You have the undoubtable lady beetle

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the mountain lady beetle,

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and the Octavia lady beetle
which was found this year.

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You can see that one on the screen.

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So the next slide I'm going to
flip to is going to show you

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a graphic on the right
side which is going to move

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through a series of red dots.

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And these red dots represent
research-grade observations

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which were uploaded to
iNaturalist over time

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over the existence

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of the Vermont Atlas of
Life iNaturalist project.

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And you'll see from start to end

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the large increase in the
number of observations.

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To kind of summarize this,

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in 2020 alone we saw an increase

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of 234 iNaturalist users

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uploading research-grade
lady beetle observations

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which is really an incredible increase.

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And we doubled the number

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of research grade lady beetle observations

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that were uploaded to iNaturalist

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in Vermont this year alone.

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So of the 1,700

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research-grade lady beetle observations

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that have been uploaded
to iNaturalist in Vermont

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over all of iNaturalist's
years of operations,

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914 of those or 54%
were uploaded this year.

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Excuse me.

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And now we found one of the
missing species this year.

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So we only have 12 left to go.

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Moving forward, we seek to increase

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our citizen scientist participation
by conducting outreach

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and raising awareness about this project

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to try and activate the
citizen scientist network

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that's already really
involved in VCE's research

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to get people out and
looking for lady beetles.

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And we are also going to be
systematically surveying Vermont

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using priority blocks,

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which we have established by breaking up

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the U.S. Geological
Survey topographic maps

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that cover the state of Vermont.

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And basically after systematically
dividing these blocks

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up into roughly
three-by-three mile blocks,

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we randomly selected a number of those

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which cover a representative sample

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of Vermont's ecosystem types,

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and we'll have citizen
scientists survey those

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until they're considered to be completed.

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And what completed means at
this point is still unknown.

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We have to start doing more surveys

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to figure out

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how many surveys need to be done

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in a priority block to get

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hopefully all of the lady
beetle species that exist

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in that block to be found.

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But since there is so little research

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on lady beetles in general,

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and specifically lady beetles in Vermont,

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it will take some work to determine

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what a survey block being completed

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actually entails in terms of groundwork.

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To end, I'm going to explain
why lady beetles matter

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and go over a couple forest
lady beetle species in Vermont.

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So lady beetles are a really
important pest controller,

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and the collapse of
native lady beetle species

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may lead to really bad pest outbreaks,

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specifically of pests that are
native in the United States

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that native lady beetles have
evolved with and have become

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very effective biological
control measures of.

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Lady beetles exist across
all of our ecosystems

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from forests to grasslands to wetlands,

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and also really help

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with pest control in agricultural fields.

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The first native lady beetle species

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that I'm going to go over that
exists in Vermont's forests

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is the eye-spotted lady beetle.

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They are very closely
associated with conifer trees

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and are a very important
predator of the balsam twig aphid

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and also of young spruce budworm larvae.

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They have been found to
synchronize their lifestyle

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with balsam twig aphid populations

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and also very actively
hunt balsam twig aphids.

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They were compared

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to the nonnative Asian lady beetle species

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and were found to be a
much more effective control

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of these aphids than
Asian lady beetles are.

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For example, in one study,

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eye-spotted lady beetles were found

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to completely destroy balsam
twig aphid populations

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or colonies once they were located,

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and reduced overall egg mass by 30%.

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The other species I'm going to speak on is

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the twice-stabbed lady beetle.

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These are also found in forests

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and specifically target scale insects.

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Since the introduction
of beech bark disease,

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they have been found to
be very closely associated

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with infected beech trees,

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and they also attack and
consume other scale pests

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such as pine needle scale.

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One study found that the
twice-stabbed lady beetle

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reduced pine needle scale
in an infected plantation

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to extremely low levels.

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And they also have been found

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to synchronize their lifecycle

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to fit the population booms

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of the scale insects.

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And since they do consume

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beech bark disease scale,

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it goes to show that these
native lady beetle species

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can also be important control measures

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for introduced scales and aphid pests.

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Thank you for listening
to my presentation today.

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I look forward to your questions.

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And if you would like to
either get involved, hopefully,

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or learn more, feel free to
visit that link on the screen.

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That'll take you to our Lady Beetle Atlas

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on the Vermont Center for
Ecostudies website, thank you.

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- They're really beautiful little guys,

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some neat pictures in there.

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- Well, that is definitely
one of the benefits

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of using iNaturalist,

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research-grade iNaturalist observations,

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is getting permission from
people to use their lovely photos

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that they upload as part
of their observation.

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- All right, question from Judy Risoski,

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"Great talk, do you know
if the native lady beetle

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"is the one used for bio-control
in Vermont nurseries?"

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- That is a really good question.

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And I actually do not know.

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That would be, I can put
my email in the chat,

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and then Judy, if you want to, email you.

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I can definitely research
and follow up on that.

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There are some native lady beetle species

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that have been used on a
widescale basis for pest control.

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That includes the convergent lady beetle.

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However, a lot of the
nonnative lady beetles

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were actually introduced to
the United States originally

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for pest control measures.

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And ironically enough, many of them,

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including the Asian lady beetle,

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did not actually become established

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through pest control initiatives,

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but then, you know, had come
over on different shipments

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of agricultural products and other things

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and then ended up becoming
established that way.

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But that is a really good question.

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00:18:12,378 --> 00:18:15,238
- All right, another
question, Tony McCullough,

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"Do you suspect that the missing natives

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"are truly extirpated or
just haven't been detected?

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"If extirpated, any theories why?"

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- So since there are a
number of missing species,

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I think that some of them

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may very well have been extirpated

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and others do still exist in low levels,

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like, you know, this
year rediscovering the

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00:18:44,070 --> 00:18:47,890
four-spotted spurleg lady beetle,

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that one hadn't been seen
since that survey in 1976.

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So there definitely are hopefully more

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of those missing species

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that still exist in low populations.

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However, as I kind of briefly mentioned

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in that presentation, there's
been a lot of research

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that has shown that nonnative lady beetles

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typically grow faster,

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outcompete native lady beetle populations

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and will eat native lady beetle larvae

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as they're developing.

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And there was one study that
interestingly enough, found

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that both native lady beetles
and nonnative lady beetles

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would preferentially eat
native lady beetle larvae

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over nonnative lady beetle larvae.

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So it's just kind of that
additional competitive

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and predation pressure

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which I believe could be a cause

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of declines and entire
extirpations of some species.

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And then in addition to that,
there's been land use changes.

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So losing farm land, for example,

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and kind of those edge
habitats can have an effect.

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00:19:59,690 --> 00:20:00,630
- Great, thank you, Julia.

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00:20:00,630 --> 00:20:02,920
And I encourage everyone
to reach out to Julia

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and the Vermont Center for Ecostudies

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for any other questions.

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And that wraps up our
contributed talks for day two.