Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 24, 1994 TAG: 9406290045
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KEN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
To the officials, they are integral components in environmental education.
To the researchers, they are important specimens in entomological study.
To most of us, they're bugs.
"Insects are very often used as organisms to measure the diversity and health of an ecosystem," said Bill Ravlin, a self-proclaimed "bug fan" and Tech entomology professor. "The insects here play a major role in the park's environment."
Whether they're for entomology or environmental education, the insects of Virginia's Explore Park represent the latest effort between Explore officials and scientific researchers to promote the park as a place for study as well as tourism.
Ravlin, wearing an enthusiastic grin along with his "Virginia Tech Entomology" cap, ventured into the park on a spring day, leading a group of five graduate students and one lab technician in the first stage of a yearlong project to collect insects indigenous to the area.
Once they are collected, the insects will be set in display cases and donated back to the park as a learning tool for visitors.
"It will be an excellent learning experience for anyone who comes to the park," said Mary Rhoades, the lab technician who organized the project.
This particular day was not an excellent one for insect collecting, however.
With overcast skies, drizzling rain and temperatures in the low 60s, the researchers carried waterproof ponchos and hiking boots into the woods along with their insect traps and collection containers.
They walked in pairs along the hiking trails, scanning the ground in front of them and the perimeter of the woodland at their sides. Periodically, they would dart into the woods at the sight of a dead tree or rotted log, enthusiastically digging under the wet bark in search of insects, like children digging under the sofa cushions in search of change.
It's not an altogether pleasant job, the researchers admit, but one that's necessary to help dispel the myths about insects and improve their less-than-popular reputation.
"Only about 1 percent of all insects are considered pests," Ravlin said. "And pests are defined by humans. They are the ones that adversely affect the quality of [life for] man."
The rest, he said, are imperative to the lives of human beings, plants and animals, performing such functions as pollinating flowers and helping fruits and vegetables grow.
"You don't get apples if you don't have insects," he said.
Although the researchers are doing their preliminary work this summer for Ravlin's fall Insect systematics class, they hope to have the entire project completed and ready for display at the park by next spring. Ravlin hopes it will encourage visitors to think first before swatting or stepping on an insect.
"It might be one of the good guys," he said, refraining from typical entomology esoterica. "If we don't squash them, we'll probably be doing ourselves a favor."
The entomology project is not the first time the park has been used for scientific study.
Explore officials have been courting the scientific community since the park's inception, an effort they hope will add to the park's developing reputation as an environmental education center.
"It's accessible enough for research, large enough for research, and interesting and diverse enough for research," said Jim Baldwin, the park naturalist who acted as the researchers' guide over the park's eight miles of hiking trails. "We welcome that from any source."
Baldwin, who sounds like a father talking about his child's accomplishments when he talks about the park, said scientists have used the park to study everything from plants and animals to rocks and insects.
"It gives us a more complete picture of what this system is and what's going on in the total ecosystem of the park," he said. "The more information we can get ... the more we can give to tourists, researchers or whoever."
He stops along one of the trails and offers a slight, proud smile, reflecting on a group of schoolchildren who recently visited the park and wrote letters about their experience.
"One young girl wrote, 'I'll never look at the Earth the same way again,' " he said. "If we can be a catalyst for that kind of understanding among those who come to this park, maybe they can apply it on a global scale."
by CNB