Insect Ecology at JMU: Insect Collecting at Smith Creek

Smith Creek, located northeast of Harrisonburg, is a familiar field site for many biology students at JMU. The majority of the stream flows through forested and agricultural lands along the western slope of Massanutten Mountain, before its confluence with the North Fork of the Shenandoah River.

Several professors, graduate and undergraduate students have conducted research or participated in class activities along the stream and its tributaries. Our Insect Ecology class has made several lucrative collecting expeditions to Smith Creek this fall. It’s likely that a visit to the same site just over 10 years ago would have yielded very different results.

In 2004, water quality monitoring revealed bacterial contamination, nutrient, and sedimentation levels above the maximum amounts allowed by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Since then, stream has been undergoing restoration. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service established the project as a Showcase Watershed in 2010, which provided funding for farmers and residential landowners to implement conservation practices to improve the quality of the stream. Although more improvements are needed, the program has been considered quite successful.

One aspect of the project has been to restore riparian areas along the banks of the stream. These buffers between the land and water are essential for healthy ecosystems, as they provide habitats and food for wildlife, filter nutrient and pollution runoff, slow the pace of erosion, and reduce flooding. Much of Smith Creek has now had livestock fencing installed, which prevents animals from destroying the riparian zone.

Trees and other vegetation are now growing in abundance in many areas, creating an ideal habitat for a diverse array of both terrestrial and aquatic insects. The class has collected multiple species from several insect orders, including Odonata (dragonflies, damselflies), Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants), Diptera (flies), Megaloptera (Dobsonflies), Trichoptera (caddisflies), Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths), Hemiptera (true bugs), Mantodea (mantids), and Coleoptera (beetles).