Sara Zahendra and Kent McFarland helped discover something that entomologists had long suspected: Green darners, a species of dragonfly, are nomads at heart.
Working with colleagues, the pair, both biologists at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, found that some green darners zoom hundreds of miles north in the spring, seeking breeding grounds with fewer rivals and predators. Others, hatched in the north, zip south in the fall to escape the cold.
The key to unlocking the insects’ birthplace was a chemical signature lifted from their wings. But before the researchers could decode this critical clue, they had to catch some dragonflies. Zahendra and McFarland led that effort and, relying heavily on volunteers, ultimately rounded up 852 dragonflies. Here, Zahendra describes their first collecting trip in 2012, at Newnans Lake in Florida.
The bet was loser pays for dinner. We knew a great barbeque place down the road. I was sure ...
