2-minutes read
They are Spiky, Hairy, and Shiny. Meet insects of Los Angeles with this series of large-scale portraits.
Here is a look at” Spiky, Hairy, Shiny: Insects of L.A.”
The Museum’s BioSCAN project
National History Museum (NHM) Biodiversity Science: City and Nature (NHM BioSCAN) is a project started in 2012. Scientists are collecting data from more than 80 urban areas to analyze Los Angeles’s biodiversity. Focusing on the insect family, they examine diversity, urbanization impact, and climate changes, and have discovered new species along the way!
Did you know?
NHM BioSCAN has recorded 800 insect species, including 47 never discovered before.
Say Cheese!
Since the beginning of the project, thousands of bugs have been photographed with a Keyence microscope. The large-format images provide colorful, and amazing details. Next to it, find information along with the life-size insects.
Research results
There have been multiple publications related to NHM BioSCAN.
In 2020, Adams, Benjamin J., E. Li, C.A. Bahlai. E.K. Meineke, T.P. McGlynn, and B.V. Brown published Local‐ and landscape‐scale variables shape insect diversity in an urban biodiversity hot spot.
They « examine the interactions among local environmental variables (such as temperature and relative humidity), local habitat characteristics (such as plant community composition), and broad-scale patterns of urbanization (including biophysical, human-built, and socio-economic variables) on local insect abundance, species richness, and species composition in Los Angeles, a hot, dry, near-desert city. ”
They concluded that diversity is driven by three factors: seasonality, urban density, and local landscaping.
Angelinos are actors of this biodiversity by planting native or drought-tolerant plants. Indeed, they found that” insect species richness and abundance were >30% higher and insect composition was similar across sites that hosted either native or drought-tolerant plants, regardless of the degree of urbanization.”
Sources:
– https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eap.2089
– https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.7d7wm37rd
Article is based on my visit in March 2023.
Ready to meet your tiny flying neighbors?
Plan your visit:
- Permanent Exhibit
- Location: National History Museum (NHM), 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90007
- Hours: 9:30 am-5:00 pm. Closed on Tuesday, July 4th, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and January 1st.
- Admission: $15 per adult (NHM general admission), free after 3 pm Monday-Friday for L.A County resident. Advance timed-entry reservations are recommended.
- Duration: I spent 30 minutes discovering it.
- Parking: paid on-site lot and limited street parking
- More information is available at https://nhm.org/spiky-hairy-shiny-insects-la
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DayDream Under the Stars 