A summer exploring insects and spiders in Hudson
We were excited this spring to welcome Savannah Burroughs, an undergraduate student at McGill University, to Creek 53. Her Honours project is focused on surveying insects and spiders, identifying them, and learning about their natural history. This data will help us better understand Creek 53 and help our entire community learn about biodiversity.
The Creek 53 Conservancy Trust is focused on its key goal which is the preservation of important ecosystems in the western part of Hudson. However, we are also deeply committed to learning about the lands, and sharing the information.
One way we can learn is to do selective research projects in the Creek 53 watershed - research that can form the basis of our conservation plan, and research that helps us directly understand the diversity of species occurring in the protected lands. Insects and spiders and their relatives contributed in essential ways to ecosystems, and themselves represent the majority of species that are found in most ecosystems.
Below are a few words from Savannah about her collecting experience this summer and early fall. As her project continues, we look forward to sharing more about her research in 2024.
From Savannah
In February 2023, I received an email from my supervisor with the idea of conducting a survey to explore and catalogue the insects and spiders on protected properties that he was connected to: the Creek 53 Conservancy Trust. An offer to discover, document, and share knowledge about the diversity insects and spiders (known collectively as arthropods) in a region for which this information is unknown.
My excitement that morning was palpable. I grew up nearby in Vaudreuil-Dorion and I already spend my time sharing all the incredible creatures that live in our backyards with my friends and family, so the prospect of discovering and sharing them on a much larger scale was more than tempting to me.
At McGill University, undergraduate students in their third year can enroll in the Honours program with a supervising professor and a project idea to be executed over the fall and winter semesters. Students share their results with other students and professors in the form of presentations as well as a written document by the end of the second term. The Creek 53 insect and spider biodiversity survey will serve as my undergraduate Honours thesis over the next year, ending in April 2024.
Nearing the end of May 2023, the ostrich ferns towered overhead as I entered the forests of Creek 53 for the first time. I emerged on the other side into the understory of beech, birch, maple and the odd fir tree. The landscape always seemed to morph as I walked, soon I found myself under towering white pines, with the light filtering through the needles as through a stained-glass window; the Creek felt like a different world. And as I returned, week after week to conduct my study, I had the privilege of watching the fields change from creeping low vines, with what seemed to be hardly any life, to milkweed and goldenrod stands that hosted swaths of diversity.
I am biased in what I notice; I like the little critters that fly or crawl, so when I talk about diversity, I’m usually talking about the largest group of animal species: insects, spiders, and their relatives. As I stood in front of the first patch of blooming goldenrod, I watched as an incredible number of bees buzzed from flower to flower, the bumblebees falling over themselves with clumsy landings, tiny orange and black beetles present on nearly every petal, and ambush bugs on the slow prowl for prey.
Jumping Spider: subtribe Dendryphantina
Image by Savannah Burroughs
With the aim to document as much of this life as I can, I spent my time this summer collecting weekly traps meant for ground-dwelling arthropods (e.g., spiders, beetles, ants) and traps targeting pollinators (e.g., bees and flies). Though these were essential and efficient 一 collecting over 3000 specimens in the first two weeks! 一 some of the best tools for documenting insect and spider diversity are a good eye, a butterfly net, and many, many vials. Working alongside a rotation of field assistants (each incredible and to all I am very grateful) we caught beetles under flipped rocks and logs, captured spiders under peeling bark, and swiped up pollinating flies while standing shoulder-deep in grasslands.
I’ve been overjoyed getting to know the ecosystems within the Creek 53 territory, from hours of walking through the dense grasses that make up the old-growth fields finding oh so many little critters to admiring the unique forest habitats all connected by the water that gives this Trust its name. The world of insects and spiders fascinates me to no end, and I hope to share my experiences observing these critters in Creek 53 over the next year. By April 2024, I will have a comprehensive list of all the species of insect and spider I found.