Bug Banter with the Xerces Society

• For the Love of Flies: The Unsung Heroes of the Insect World

  Flies are amazing insects that play critical roles in our environment including pollination, waste disposal, pest control, and as a link in the food web. Flies are greatly diverse in colors, shape, size, and where they live. Butterflies and bees probably generate more enthusiasm, but it’s time to change that. To talk about flies with us, we are joined by Dr. Erica McAlister, who works at the Natural History Museum in London, where she is the principal curator for Diptera and Siphonaptera, i.e., flies and fleas. Erica takes a particular interest in three groups of flies, fungus gnats, assassin flies, and mosquitoes. The latter means that inevitably she is involved with many projects related to identification of mosquitoes and which ones are associated with spread of malaria and other diseases and viruses, but her experience is much broader, including teaching entomology in Dominica and studying the invertebrates — more specifically, the flies — of that island. Finally, Erica is also the award-winning author of four books, including The Secret Life of Flies and The Inside Out of Flies.---Cover Photo: Whitney Cranshaw - Bugwood CC - Tachinid fly (Trichopoda pennipes) Thank you for listening! For more information go to xerces.org/bugbanter.

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• Plastic Bands, Pesticides, and Deadly Drift: A Study on Mosquito Spray

  Who doesn’t know the high-pitched whine of a nearby mosquito? We know they can be a nuisance, and in many regions, a health risk because of their ability to spread diseases. Some communities do public control campaigns, and increasingly, companies are offering home spraying of yards. But, the insecticides used in these sprays are broadly toxic to insects, and the risk they pose to pollinators isn't fully understood. In the summer of 2023, Xerces did a study looking at how these insecticides spread across the landscape. Joining us to talk about the study is Aaron Anderson, who has been a member of Xerces’ pesticide reduction team for a couple of years. Aaron’s work focuses on reducing pesticide use in residential landscapes, including promoting alternative pest-control measures and pollinator-friendly gardening practices. Prior to joining Xerces, he researched pollinator conservation in urban landscapes, restored habitat for several endangered butterfly species, and worked in insect biocontrol. If that wasn’t cool enough, Aaron has been on Bug Banter before, also talking about mosquitoes.- Photo: Woodland Mosquito-Katja Schulz-Flickr CCThank you for listening! For more information go to xerces.org/bugbanter.

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• The Underground Heroes: Earthworms

  Earthworms. They may elicit memories of digging through the dirt, probably as a child, and picking them up to discover what they are. But what do they do other than slink around and bury themselves in the soil?To help us explore this fascinating invertebrate are Jennifer Hopwood and Stephanie Frischie. Regular listeners will remember Jennifer — she’s been on Bug Banter before to talk about beetles and wasps. She is a Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist with Xerces, providing resources and training for pollinator and beneficial insect habitat management and restoration in a variety of landscapes. Stephanie is Xerces’s Agronomist and Native Plant Materials Specialist. Stephanie works to improve the supply and growth of important plant species for the restoration of insect habitat. Additionally, and most pertinent to today’s conversation, she leads the Xerces Soil Life project that focuses on soil invertebrate ecology and soil health.---Photo credit: S Shepherd Schizoform, CC 2.0Thank you for listening! For more information go to xerces.org/bugbanter.

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• Social and Emotional Learning: Making Science Accessible

  More than ever, communicating scientific information effectively is critical to conservation efforts. But how exactly do we do that? To explore this topic is award-winning science communicator and entomologist, Gwen Pearson. In addition to her work writing for WIRED Magazine, Highlights For Kids, and other science news outlets, she's run an insect zoo and worked as an Extension Entomologist in various roles. She's now retired and is an Outreach Ambassador for the Xerces Society.Thank you for listening! For more information go to xerces.org/bugbanter.

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• Protecting Bees from Pesticides: Why EPA Regulations Need to Change

  The United States Environmental Protection Agency, also known as the EPA, is tasked with regulating pesticides to protect people and the environment from their impacts. To test these impacts, the EPA uses honey bees. This might seem reasonable, but the honey bee is not native to North America and its social colony structure is unique and not representative of the thousands of native species of bees in the United States. The reliance on the honey bee for testing has profound implications for the safety of our native bees and other pollinators, given their vastly different life histories.Joining us to cover this topic are Aimee Code from the Xerces Society and Sharmeen Morrison from Earthjustice. Aimee is Xerces’s pesticide program director. She and her staff evaluate the risks of pesticides, develop technical guidance, and advocate for actions that reduce reliance on and risks of pesticide use in both urban and agricultural settings. Sharmeen is a senior associate attorney with Earthjustice’s Biodiversity Defense Program, which engages in national litigation to confront the major drivers of biodiversity loss. In this role, she has worked to protect manatees in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon, golden-cheeked warblers in Texas Hill Country, and insect pollinators nationwide. Together, Aimee and Sharmeen are working to change how the EPA regulates pesticides.Thank you for listening! For more information go to xerces.org/bugbanter.

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