Graduate students Amy Morice and James Harwood (above); professor James Carey (left)

It's a question that bugs many beginners: "How can I make an insect collection?"

Scores of high school and college students, along with 4-H and other youth groups, face "this entomological rite of passage," says James R. Carey, professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis. "They don't know where to start." The project involves collecting, preserving and displaying insects.

Now short, informative and fast-paced video clips on "How to Make an Insect Collection," produced by UC Davis students enrolled in Carey's specially offered course last spring, are available free on the UC Davis entomology website (see background and the clips).

The entire series, totaling 11 clips ranging in length from 32 seconds to 77 seconds, can be viewed in just less than 10 minutes.

"So in less than 10 minutes, someone can learn how to make an insect collection," Carey said. The clips are tightly scripted, with an emphasis on brevity, simplicity and low cost.

The project is drawing widespread interest.

"I have looked for a couple of years for some quick instructional clips for my zoology students to use as reference for their insect collections, but there was never anything on the internet that seemed to be useful, said Davis High School biology teacher Tim Peevyhouse. "I will be testing these videos out with my students this fall to see if they find them helpful. I think they will like being able to see the techniques multiple times rather than just when I present them in class; especially those with YouTube attention spans. I think there is tremendous long-term payback on the time spent developing learning tools like these online videos."

Carey's two-credit UC Davis seminar course on "How to Make an Insect Collection" drew four graduate and three undergraduate students.

"It was an engaging, enjoyable fulfilling and productive experience," Carey said. The project will also serve as model for other entomology students who wish to create their own module of "how to" videos.

Making the insect-collection module was a low tech/low cost operation partly by design. "I wanted production to be ‘low tech' so that anyone who could use a point-and-shoot camera and basic movie-editing software could produce a video clip," Carey said."It needed to be low cost not only because of no funding for the project, but because the basic challenge was to produce a set of high-content-high quality video clips at virtually zero cost.

 

Make an insect collection Background (PDF) Clips: Hand Collecting Using an Aspirator Ground Collecting Aquatic Using Nets Killing Pinning Point Mounting Labeling Specimens Spreading Storage and Display

The videographers were undergraduate students Joseline Saldivar, Tylan Selby and Ralph Washington Jr.; and graduate students Emily Bzdyk, James Harwood, Brittany Nelms and Amy Morice.

They were divided into two teams, with one team using MovieMaker software (included in the MS Office package) and the other team using Sony Vegas Movie Studio. Both teams used Photoshop to sharpen the images in imported photos.

Each video clip consisted of four sections: lead-in, equipment/supplies, demonstration and closing. They opted for Georgia font because of its readability and because it resembles the font used in the UC Davis logo. UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey provided introductory narration.

Paul ver Wey, media production manager of the UC Davis Information Educational Technology's Academic Technology Services, taught them the basics of videography and editing; Wes Nelms gave a tutorial on the use of Vegas Movie Studio software.

In addition, Tabatha Yang of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, home of some 7 million specimens, and Kathy Keatley Garvey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology assisted in the classroom.

Yang described the videos as "a great reference tool."

"How do I start an insect collection?" is a question we hear a lot at the Bohart and from all ages," Yang said. "The other day a father walked in and was asking about making a collection because his daughters' high school biology class required it. I referenced the videos on the Department of Entomology home page. Together as a family they made pitfall traps and they shook bushes to collect insects."

Senior museum scientist Steve Heydon said that since they were doing pretty much everything they could do, his one piece of advice was to keep an insect net on hand at all times and to simply spend more time outside during warm, hot days. "Keep looking and practice catching," he said.

"That is the great thing about insect collecting," Yang said. "The collector needs to spend a lot of time exploring nature. When you are outside looking for insects you can't help but hear the birds, notice seeds, flowers and animal tracks."

Said Valerie Williams, Solano County 4-H program representative whose daughter earlier made an insect collection as part of her Westwind (Fairfield, Calif.) 4-H Club entomology project: "I think the information would be very helpful to 4-H members who are learning to prepare an insect collection. The video clips are short and easy to understand. UC Master Gardeners could benefit from this information, too."