By Ronica Stromberg
Three freshmen with double majors in the School of Natural Resources are doing insect research through the First-Year Research Experience program at Nebraska. Bryan Anguiano-Rivera is studying monarch butterflies with Kristi Montooth, a School of Biological Sciences professor. Oliver Gray and Kayley Kubela are studying mosquitoes with Leslie Rault, an entomology professor.
Bryan Anguiano-Rivera
Growing up in Omaha, Anguiano-Rivera knew about dwindling populations of monarch butterflies and about the use of salt on Nebraska roads in the winter. In the project led by Montooth, he is looking at the possibility that salt could be affecting butterflies that feed on milkweed plants in ditches.
To investigate the effect of increased sodium on the butterflies, the two researchers have continued an experiment started by other researchers with two groups of lab-reared monarchs. One group was fed milkweed in normal conditions as caterpillars. The other group was fed milkweed grown with higher concentrations of salt. After the caterpillars metamorphosed into butterflies, researchers measured their development, wing size, weight and metabolic rate.
Now, Anguiano-Rivera and Montooth are measuring how the salt may affect energy stores like sugars and fats that can affect butterfly success during migration. They are still gathering data, and Anguiano-Rivera has until May to either wrap up the project or possibly continue it as a UCARE researcher.
Read the complete story with more about Bryan and Oliver Gray and Kayley Kubela at https://snr.unl.edu/aboutus/what/newstory.aspx?fid=1199