ILR Friends or Foes: Can We Learn to Love Bugs?

Insects, from the tiny to the huge, from the beautiful to the re-

pulsive, are a vital part of the Earth’s biosphere. Yet we slap

them, spray them with poisons and even run screaming from a

room they have innocently invaded. Can we acknowledge that

insects are each and all essential to a functioning ecosystem

and thus helpful or even critical to human survival?

Facilitator: Phyllis Saarinen

January 8 - Insect Evolution and Their Role in Earth’s Biosphere

Speaker: Keith Willmott, Ph.D., FLMNJ, Curator of Lepidoptera

January 15 - Lepidoptera Reproduction and the Mystery of Metamorphosis

Speaker: Jaret Daniels, Ph.D., FLMNH, Curator of Lepidoptera

January 22 - Pollinators: Critically Essential and Terribly Vulnerable

Speaker: Tyler Carney, Ph.D., IFAS School of Forest, Fisheries and

Geomatics Sciences

January 29 - All About Ants: Their Lives and Behavior in Our Human

Environments

Speaker: Rachel Atchison, MS, USDA

February 5 - Insect Vectors of Disease and Public Health

Speaker: Estelle Martin, Ph.D., Entomology Dept

February 12 - Insects as a Source of Protein for Man and Beast

Speaker: Norman Leppla, Ph.D., Entomology Dept