Insect Collection

*** DO NOT use Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, Tucson  Botanical Garden, or any other protected park for these collections --  pay attention to restrictions against collecting***

Students will learn about various biological aspects of life, while examining desert insect species. 

An insect collection is a great way to teach several different biology concepts as well as introduce students to desert wildlife.

DIVERSITY
This project can be used to help students to see the diverse range of species that live in the desert, despite the apparent lack of life in the desert.  Insects are chosen because they are smaller, easier to catch, and there is less ethical question in killing these species than other larger animals.  Insects can be used as a jumping board to help students to understand the diversity of life in the desert.  While doing this project, a class trip to an unprotected wilderness area is helpful in expressing the diversity of life. (See Field Trips page for ideas of places to take classes within the Tucson area.)  The teacher can point out potential habitats to students, such as under rocks, in rotting plants (fallen trees, rotted cacti) in bushes and in tall grasses.  While pointing out these habitats, be sure to express the dangers of turning rocks and finding poisonous creatures, such as spiders, snakes, or gila monsters.  Remind students to return rocks to their place, they are homes to animals. 
**Be conscientious of endangered insects, do not collect them! **
(Such as praying mantis). See Endangered Species

ADAPTATIONS
This project can also be used to demonstrate the adaptations that animals have made to survive in the desert.  These adaptations may be difficult to note in terms of difference in body features, because of the size of insects, as opposed to adaptations of larger animals.  Students instead can note how the insects adapt their life style and way of living in order to avoid heat or water loss.  Perhaps the insect lives under a rock to escape the heat or only comes out at night.

CLASSIFICATION
This project can be used to reinforce what students are learning about taxonomy and the classification system of living organisms.  They should already have learned about the levels of classification: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. 
As students collect their insects, not only should they identify the insect using its common and scientific name, but they should also determine the order to which the species belongs. 
There are 13 common orders of insects (and 14 less common orders).  Students should be provided with a list of these common orders and should collect representatives from at least 5 orders (this number can be determined by the teacher). Each insect should be different (no two insects of the same species), but they may have two or more insects from the same order.

Here is a list of the 13 common orders, as well as examples of insects belonging to the order:
(Fisher, James and Sir Julian Huxley, eds. The Doubleday Pictorial Library of Nature. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1960.)

Coleoptera: beetles, weevils
Heteroptera: true bugs
Odonata: dragonflies, damselflies
Dermaptera: earwigs
Blattodea: cockroaches
Lepidoptera: butterflies, moths
Hemiptera: true bugs
Hymenoptera: ants, bees, wasps
Diptera: flies
Orthoptera: grasshoppers, crickets, katydids
Isoptera: termites
Homoptera: aphids, cicadas
Neuroptera: lacewings

Students should look at the similarities and differences between the characteristics of the different insects in the different orders.  Comparing these characteristics, students should be able to see how scientists place species into specific groups. 

Dichotomous keys can also be used to help students to classify the insects that they find. 

STRUCTURING THE COLLECTION / ASSIGNMENT
--The reason behind assigning this project should be well understood before beginning the collection, so that students know what they should be looking for and learning while completing the project. Necessary background, such as the previously listed lesson objectives should be taught before students are to begin collecting.
--Assign a specific number of insects to collect, varying based on how much time you want to devote to this project.  Ten to twenty insects is a reasonable number, and will most likely take two to three months to complete at the least.  Keep in mind the season during which you assign the project, insects will be difficult to find in the winter, but will be more plentiful in the spring. 
-- Explain the collecting techniques to students.

• A field notebook is a helpful way for students to keep track of the insects they collect and the data about the insects.

• Each insect receives a number when collected, it keeps this number through the entire project. 

• When collected, describe the insect, size, color, body shape, in case the color fades or something else happens, making it difficult to identify later.

• Record date collected as well as area, ie: park or neighborhood, county, state.

• Record where the insect was found and what it was doing, ie: flying, eating a leaf, or sitting on a rock.

• Leave space to add the common and scientific names of the insect as well as the order (if you want the students to learn about classification).

--Offer ideas for students to use to catch insects:

• Nets (can be bought at pet store)

• Build an insect cage.
  Use 2 jar lids of the same size
  Plastic or wire mesh, with small enough weave that insects will not escape
  (Cut mesh so that width is just slightly larger than the circumference of the jar lids)
  Use hot glue to glue the mesh into a circular/tube shape so that the jar lids fit on either end (glue the seam of the mesh) 
  Glue one end of the mesh to the jar lid, leave the other lid unglued so that it can be removed  

-- Give students ideas where they can collect insects

• In their back yard
• In the school yard
• In nearby fields
• On class trips to desert areas

National Science Education Standards met by this lesson:
National Science Education Standards online: http://books.nap.edu/html/nses/html/index.html

Life Science (Content Standard C) grades 5-8
    Structure and Function in Living Systems:         
* Living systems at all levels of organization demonstrate the complementary nature of structure and function.  Important levels of organization for structure and function include cells, organs, tissues, organ systems, whole organisms and ecosystems. 

     Diversity and Adaptations of Organisms:
*Millions of species of animals, plants, and microorganisms are alive today.  Although differetn species might look dissimilar, the unity among organisms becomes apparent from an analysis of internal structures, the similarity of their chemical processes, and the evidence of common ancestry. 

Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy met by this lesson:

The Living Environment, 
      5A Diversity of Life:  grades 6-8
*Animals and plants have a great variety of body plans and internal structures that contribute to their being able to make or find food and reproduce.
*Similarities among organisms are found in internal anatomical features, which can be used to infer the degree of relatedness among organisms.  In classifying organisms, biologists consider details of internal and external structures to be more important than behavior or general appearance. 

     5A Diversity of Life:  grades 9-12
*The degree of kinship between organisms or species can be estimated from the similarity of their DNA sequences, which often closely matches their classification based on anatomical similarities. 

Source:
Fisher, James and Sir Julian Huxley, eds. The Doubleday Pictorial Library of Nature. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1960.

National Resource Council. (1996). National Science Education Standards. Washinton DC: National Academy Press.

Project 2061: American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1993) Benchmarks for Science Literacy. New York: Oxford University Press.

Arnett, Dr. Ross H. Jr., Dr. Richard L. Jacques. Simon and Schuster's Guide to Insects. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc., 1981.

Brown, Vinson.  How to Make a Home Nature Museum. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1954.

Milne, Lorus and Margery. National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders. New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 1980.

Entomology (insects) Collection -- University of Arizona 
        Contact: Carl Olson   Phone: (520)621-5925