Current Projects

Bug News
A public outreach tool to talk about local insects people may come across as well as other biological related topics. Intended to be fun and get people interested in the natural world around them.

Terrestrial Parasite Tracker (TPT)
NSF-Thematic Collection Network. Collaborative Research: Digitization TCN: Digitizing collections to trace parasite-host associations and predict the spread of vector-borne disease.
Award number 1902113 & 1901932.

TPT data repositories:

• Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI)

• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

• Symbiota Collection of Arthropods Network (SCAN)

• U-M Library Digital Collections

BugFlow
A community resource for entomological collection digitization workflows and discussion.

Big-Bee
NSF-Thematic Collection Network. Collaborative Research: Digitization TCN: Extending Anthophila research through image and trait digitization (Big-Bee).
Award number 2101345.

BON resource pages
The Biodiversity Outreach Network (BON) is working to connect science, scientists, and the community with projects and partners who want to utilize biodiversity data.

Michigan’s Hidden Triple Threat: Hymenoptera Pollinators, Parasitoids, & Predators
Award number UMOR 28938

Past Projects

MI-Bug Zooniverse: Notes from Nature.
Documenting historical insect diversity with the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.

University of Michigan Musuem of Zoology Insect Collection (UMMZI)
Specimen Digitization & Databasing Initiative. Data repositories:

• Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI)

• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

• Symbiota Collection of Arthropods Network (SCAN)

• U-M Library Digital Collections

Role call! Developing Museum Species Checklists. Undergraduate Research Oppertunity Program (UROP):

• Sara Hezi, 2020. Developing an online database of Ichneumonidae wasps. Student Poster.

• Eric Ma, 2020. Developing Species Checklists and Exploring Distribution of Museum-catalogued Hymenopteran Wasps. Student Poster.

• Lydia Sandefur, 2020. The Digitization of Hymenoptera Within the Museum of Zoology. Student Poster.

• Matthew Tenglin, 2020. Exploring the distribution of museum-catalogued Hymenopteran wasps. Student Poster.

Collection Detective: Deciphering the Forster Dragonfly collection. Undergraduate Research Oppertunity Program (UROP):

• Sumaia Al-Suraimi, 2020. The Frederich Forster’s Dragonfly Collection. Student Poster.

• Hadley Samarco, 2020. Collection Detective: Deciphering the Förster Dragonfly Collection. Student Poster.

• Anna Southon, 2020. Deciphering the Forster Dragonfly Collection. Student Poster.

Wonderful Wasp Diversity of Michigan. Dorris Duke Conservtion Scholar (DDSC) summer project:

• Dominique Brown, 2019. A Closer Look at Familial Diversities and Abundances in Michigan and the Great Lakes Regions. Student Poster.

New Hampshire Wild Bee Biodiversity. Postdoctoral work in the Rehan Lab. Results:

• Tucker & Rehan, 2019. Wild bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of the Ossipee Pine Barrens.

• Tucker & Rehan, 2018. Farming for bees: annual variation in pollinator populations across agricultural landscapes.

• Tucker & Rehan, 2017. Wild bee community assemblages across agricultural landscapes.

• Tucker & Rehan, 2017. High elevation refugia for Bombus terricola conservation and wild bees of the White Mountain National Forest.

• Tucker & Rehan, 2016. Wild bee pollination networks in northern New England.

Cremnops Taxonomy & Systematics. Doctoral work in the Sharkey Lab. Results:

• Tucker & Sharkey, 2016. Deserters of Cremnops desertor (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Agathidinae): Delimiting species boundaries.

• Tucker & Sharkey, 2015. Spring-cleaning of the African agathidines: new combinations for five species previously placed in Cremnops Förster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae).

• Tucker et al., 2015. A Revision of the New World species of Cremnops Förster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Agathidinae).