On Thursday 20 June over 20 participants gathered for an evening all about insects. Three experts, Yannick Peters, Arjan Wolsink, and Rudolf van Hengel, joined us to talk about their respective expertise. Yancik started the evening off by presenting about the leafcutter ant. He talked about the ecology of the species and included some extraordinary facts. For instance, did you know leafcutter ants communicate through pheromones and vibration? Or that the queen has no say in where the leafcutter ants move to? Yannick also showed some fascinating videos regarding the behaviour which truly showed how incredibly social this species is.

Then Arjan took the stage to talk about his expertise, moths. Together we explored the different species living in the Netherlands, both rare and common, and learned that there are about 2400 different species in the Netherlands! He went over the current status of many of the species. Lastly, Arjan explained the difference between moths and butterflies, and how to catch them for research purposes.

Rudolf took the stage last to tell us why we need ant surveys. He explained this with examples from his own research. One such example was about a giant wood ant nest in the shade of a tree in the forest. The foresters wanted to provide more sunlight for the ants, and thus felled some trees so the ant hill less shaded. However, the ants moved their entire nest back into the shade! This shows the importance of knowing the species you’re working with. Rudolf also taught us about the current situation of wood ant in the Netherlands, the threats they face, and how we can help this species thrive again. Ants are an important indicator of a healthy forest ecosystem.

After these three fascinating lectures we took a small break, and then invited all three speakers back to the stage for a Q&A and discussion. There were many questions from the participants leading to great interaction between the speakers and with the audience. The questions and discussion only ended when it did because the building was closing! We look back on a great event, and it was a great start to have more insect-related events in the future!

By Samantha Mager