FALL 2020 FVERMONiT CEeNTER FOlR ECdOSTUDIE S | NUniting Peopole and Scitence feor Consersvation Racing Extinction Documenting Vermont’s Bee Species in the Anthropocene | BY KENT MCFARLAND arked by the world’s sixth mass extinction, we’ve en- Mtered a new era that many are calling the Anthropo- cene. At approximately 100 extinctions per million species annually, the current extinction rate is 1,000 times higher than the natural rate–and many species are disappearing before we even know them. A recent United Nations report revealed that human activity now puts one million species of plants and animals at risk of extinction. Among insects alone, we have named about one million species worldwide, with an estimated five million remain- ing to be discovered and classified. And, we don’t need to IN THIS ISSUE travel to exotic locales to find them. Surprising as it may be, we are still discovering species page 3 new to science–insects and other taxa–right here in Ver- Vermont Moth Atlas | mont. The ground beetle Bembidion rothfelsi was discovered A Community Pulls Together in 2008 by Dr. David Maddison in Bridgewater, birthplace for Grassland Birds | page 4 of Zadock Thompson, Vermont’s first official naturalist. In page 6 D 2020 Loon Update | N A 2011, three new springtail species were discovered by Dr. L R Species Spotlight | page 12 A Felipe N. Soto-Adames, who collected two on a sandy beach F C M along Lake Champlain and one in a newly constructed . P . K wetland. In 2010, the Green Mountain (continued on page 10) Pruinose Squash Bee © VTECOSTUDIES.ORG FIELD NOTES VCE VIEW Fall 2020 • Volume 13, No. 2 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Chris Rimmer ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR Susan Hindinger DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS Karen Bourque CONSERVATION BIOLOGISTS Steve Faccio Eric Hanson Jason Hill Kent McFarland T N E G OUTREACH NATURALIST R A S Sara Zahendra L E A BUSINESS MANAGER H C I Mistie Boule M © DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR Sarah Carline iven the profound turbulence and and Whip-poor-wills has taken on new SOFTWARE DEVELOPER uncertainty that have pervaded urgency, as the climate crisis looms large Jason Loomis G every aspect of life in recent months, it for all of us. DATA TECHNICIAN is heartening to report—in no uncertain Nathaniel Sharp We may not know whether we’ll fully terms—that VCE maintains a steady, reoccupy our Norwich office in 2021, VERNAL POOL & GRASSLAND strong course. Despite staff having had BIRD COORDINATOR but we do know the year ahead will Kevin Tolan to shelter-in-place since mid-March, feature key additions to our core team. In communicating weekly (or more often) January, a new Director of Conservation via Zoom, we’ve adapted remarkably ECO AMERICORPS MEMBERS Science and our first-ever senior Data well, and in many respects gained Pete Kerby-Miller, Julia Pupko Scientist will bolster the VCE ranks. cohesion and purpose from the challenges BOARD OF DIRECTORS By mid-year, we’ll bring on a PhD-level Peter Brooke, Chair COVID-19 has thrown our way. We fully Celia Chen, Nan Cochran, Bill acknowledge, and are deeply grateful Conservation Biologist, enabling us Hayes, Bob Holley, Jared Keyes, for, VCE’s relative insulation from the to pursue new lines of cutting-edge Stephanie McCaull, Chris research. And by year’s end, we’ll add a Rimmer, William Schmidt pandemic’s harshest impacts, and we sincerely believe that we have leveraged science writer to the communications DESIGN this good fortune to further advance our team to ensure that our findings translate Wendy McMillan conservation science agenda. to effective messaging beyond the peer- The Vermont Center for Needless to say, most of us at VCE reviewed journals—reaching policy- Ecostudies (VCE) is a nonprofit have, like so many others, found personal makers, natural resource managers, and organization whose mission is to advance the conservation of solace and rejuvenation via deeper, you, our constituents. wildlife across the Americas more frequent forays into the natural As we collectively navigate this period through research, monitoring, world. Simultaneously, “business” and community engagement. of struggle, facing so many unknowns, With a reach extending from has proceeded apace. Our wildlife VCE’s ambitious mission compels us Canada and northern New conservation work has taken on new to grow, and diversify. Our attention is England through the Caribbean dimensions, and gained added meaning and South America, our work appropriately drawn to emergent public for us. Our commitment to become a unites people and science for health issues and the needs of others, conservation. more diverse, equitable and inclusive but the clarion call for science-based organization (see vtecostudies.org/about- Field Notes is VCE’s conservation rings louder than ever. We biannual newsletter and is us/dei-statement) represents a small, free to our constituents. but significant step. Several developing will answer that call with energy, resolve, and profound gratitude for the support partnerships hold great promise. On the scientific front, our Vermont Atlas of Life of so many who find a way to participate VERMONT CENTER in and support VCE’s work, even in the FOR ECOSTUDIES continues to push boundaries, from wild FN PO Box 420 bees, to lady beetles, to a hemispheric midst of a global pandemic. Norwich, VT 05055 expansion of eButterfly. Monitoring Chris Rimmer (802) 649-1431 of vernal pools, mountain birds, loons, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR vtecostudies.org Printed on recycled paper Black-Bordered Lemon Moth mont Moth Blitz for National Moth Week, where moth-lovers across the state turned on special lights to find hundreds of moths and other insects gathering on sheets, hunted fields and forests for day-flying moths, and placed rotten fruit bait out to attract other moths. Currently, the most up-to-date moth checklist for Vermont stands at 1,955 species. Few have been more critical to the Vermont Moth Atlas than this year’s recipient of the Julie Nicholson Com- munity Science Award, JoAnne Rus- so. One of the region’s foremost moth experts, JoAnne has helped keep the taxonomy of the Moth Atlas up to O S S date, and never fails to alert us when U R E a new moth for the state is reported N N A and confirmed. Such new discover- O J ies, like the Black-bordered Lemon © Vermont Moth Atlas Moth found during Moth Week, or the Moths represent an astounding array of diversity in Vermont impressively large, ominously-named Black Witch, contribute to the more | BY NATHANIEL SHARP than 400 new species of moths that have been discovered in Vermont rom miniscule “micro-moths” that are only a few millimeters long, to impres- since publication of the 1995 faunal Fsive giant silk moths like the famous Cecropia Moth that stretches a full six checklist. inches from wingtip to wingtip, moths represent an astounding array of diversity While some of these new discov- in Vermont. These beautiful, mostly nocturnal insects have inspired a statewide eries have been made by moth experts network of moth-watchers who have amassed a monumental amount of data over with years of experience, plenty have the years. been made by curious naturalists with We at the Vermont Atlas of Life wanted to gather all of Vermont’s moth data a porch light and cell phone camera. in one place and update the Faunal Checklist of Moths and Butterflies of Vermont, Thanks to the availability of field published in 1995. By pooling entomologists’ and moth-watchers’ personal re- guides like the Peterson Field Guide to cords and collections with records from the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNatural- Moths of Northeastern North America, ist, we’ve compiled the most comprehensive collection of Vermont moth data to and the robust artificial intelligence date. Whether you’re a dedicated moth-er who stays up late to diligently watch and crowd-sourced identifications on your black light and moth sheet, or a casual naturalist who noticed a Luna Moth iNaturalist, determining what species that visited your porch light, if you took a photo of a moth and uploaded it to the of moths are visiting your backyard Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist, you are a valued contributor to the Vermont has never been easier. Currently, the Moth Atlas. most up-to-date moth checklist for In 2019, one in five species reported to the Vermont Atlas of Life on iNaturalist Vermont stands at 1,955 species, and were moths–a whopping 1,090 moth species in total! In 2020, more than half that with your help, we’re sure that num- number of species were reported during a single week during the annual Ver- ber will keep going up! FN vtecostudies.org FALL 2020 | 3 G N I VCE's new Grassland N Ambassadors sign posted N A M on The Mile-Around Y Woods property in North K C E Bennington. B © A Community Pulls Together For Grassland Birds ollege campuses aren’t generally with field age, in some cases doubling Cknown to provide prime habitat for within ten years. rare wildlife species. Bennington College Less than a mile from Bennington in southern Vermont offers an exception College’s campus is The Mile-Around to that rule. For more than a decade, Me- Woods, a private preserve managed by lissa West and the groundskeeping team The Fund for North Bennington and Conservation partnerships at Bennington have stewarded campus neighboring landowners. The preserve help steward grassland bird greens to provide valuable habitat for features a network of walking trails the continental U.S.’s fastest declining and a 50-acre hayfield. Last year, Becky management. avian group: ground-nesting grassland Manning, who lives adjacent to the | BY KEVIN TOLAN birds.