Moths of the Alaka`i Swamp

From September 1998-October 2000, thousands of caterpillars were collected and reared from the Alaka`i Swamp, island of Kaua`i, Hawai` i. These pages present photos and natural history information gathered from this project.

Using the rearing data, we constructed quantitative food webs of plants, moths, and wasps found on each of two 25x200m plots over two years. The webs and species lists can be viewed on the Science website. The species on the Science site, however, represent only those collected systematically on our research plots. The insect species lists at this site include plot species, plus some other species we collected in the Swamp, but not as part of our quantitative sampling. The plant species list at this site contains only species from which at least one caterpillar was collected.

To view our first paper resulting from this work:
Henneman, M.L. and Memmott, J. 2001. Infiltration of a Hawaiian community by introduced biological control agents. Science 293:1314-1316.
-- go to Jane Memmott's page.

A ScienceNews of the Week article on the project by Erik Stokstad

For a RealPlayer sound clip from National Public Radio on the project, click here .

We had invaluable help from many scientists with specimen identification and curation:

Frank Howarth and David Preston (Bishop Museum, Honolulu, O`ahu, Hawai`i)

David Wahl (University of Illinois)

Mandy Heddle (University of California at Berkeley)

Tim Flynn, Ken Wood, and Steve Perlman (National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawa`i, Kaua`i, Hawai`i)

Jim Whitfield (University of Illinois)

Klaus Sattler (British Museum of Natural History, London, England)

Bernarr Kumishiro and Laura Ishii (State of Hawai`i Department of Agriculture)

the late Jack Beardsley (Professor Emeritus, University of Hawai`i Department of Entomology)

In addition, Russell Messing, University of Hawai`i Plant and Environmental Protection Services, and the University of Hawai`i Kaua`i Agricultural Research Center generously provided laboratory and rearing facilities and equipment. Dean Jamieson (retired, Hawai` i State Department of Agriculture) assisted often with collection and rearing. Permits were provided by Ed Petteys and Wayne Souza, Division of Forestry and Wildlife and Division of State Parks, respectively, at the State of Hawai`i Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Funding was provided by the Leverhulme Trust.

For further information about the project contact Laurie Henneman:
l_henneman@umwestern.edu
or Jane Memmott:
Jane.Memmott@bris.ac.uk

Maintained by: M.L. Henneman (l_henneman@umwestern.edu),
School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol

Moths of the Alakai Swamp, Kauai, Hawaii