Contact Jonathan (Jackie) Brown, professor of biology, for more information on invertebrate collections available for student research.
Volunteer and Research Opportunities
Identify and organize preserved specimens.
Design and implement a field study to identify species diversity in a variety of habitats at CERA.
Butterfly Collection
Tor Janson '01 started a butterfly collection as part of his study "A restoration benchmark: assessment of CERA's Lepidoptera and comparison to other prairies," completed in the summer of 1999.
Iowa Invertebrate Resources
Insect of Iowa is a website developed and maintained by James Durbin of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area. Mr. Durbin created the site to share the information he has acquired and accumulated over the years on moths and beetles. The site includes extensive photographs of mayflies, dragonflies, stoneflies, true bugs, cicadas and aphids, beetles, wasps, butterflies, moths, spikes, and insect life cycles. The site also includes descriptions and photographs of collecting and pinning methods.
BugGuide.net is a website hosted by Iowa State University Entomology. It is an exceptional clearinghouse of information and photographs of bugs from across the United States and Canada. Experts in different taxa are alerted when new images of bugs are posted and help identify the unknowns. The site can be used as a searchable database of collections. Using the advanced search option, and entering CERA and/or Jasper County, you can find specimens from CERA that have been photographed and submitted to the site.
