June 4, 2024
Honoring Prof. Len Ferrington
A special session to honor Len Ferrington was held at the Society for Freshwater Science (SFS) meeting in Philadelphia, PA on June 4, 2024. Len was very involved in SFS and served as president, organized a meeting, and was elected as an SFS fellow in 2021. Over 46 years he never missed a meeting. Len was born and educated in Pennsylvania so holding a special session in this state was especially fitting. The session was organized by some of Len’s students including three UMN Department of Entomology alumni - Will Bouchard, Alyssa Anderson, and Corrie Nyquist. UMN alumni Tessa Durnin, Jessica Miller, and Hannah Bodmer presented or attended the session. Len’s widow, Deborah Ferrington was also in attendance. The session filled one day of the SFS meeting and consisted of 17 talks on the ecology and taxonomy of Chironomidae. Len’s research encompassed many areas of freshwater biology including biological monitoring and assessment, biodiversity and biotic surveys, fish diet analyses, gut fungi/chironomid interactions, phenology and life history studies, stream ecology and aquatic resource sustainability, systematics and taxonomy, and winter hardiness. Fittingly, the talks presented in the session covered most of these topics and in all cases had Chironomidae as a common thread. The research presented included work that Len had a direct hand in, that he inspired, or at least paralleled his work. The special session served to honor and carry on an important part of Len's legacy and hopefully, further inspire current and future Chironomidae researchers.
1 June 2024
New chironomid research from Will, Alex, Bruce, and Barbara:
1 July 2018
NEW RESEARCH PROJECT INITIATED!
With funding from the Minnesota LCCMR program, we have initiated a new three-year research project. The goal of the project is to better understand the dynamics of winter-developing aquatic insects that serve as the winter diets for trout.
The title of the project is: Variable Winter Thermal Regimes and Managing Trout Streams
July 28, 2015
New chironomid research from Alex and Len:
July 27, 2015
Check out our JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments) video-article:
April 1, 2015
Hot off the press! Check out Alex Egan‘s paper about chironomid community stratification from freshwater coastal rock pools.
March 30, 2015
Learn about the distribution and ecology of 102 chironomid species from freshwater coastal rock pools.
February 10, 2015
We have been busy publishing new chironomid research this year! Check out our most recent publications.
January 30, 2015
Check out Petra Kranzfelder‘s post about testing DNA extraction methods on chironomid skins on NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet‘s Evolution! blog: http://blogg.vm.ntnu.no/evolusjon/en/2015/01/30/is-there-dna-in-insect-skins/.
July 21, 2014
Check out Petra Kranzfelder‘s interview about a mid-summer mass emergence of mayflies from the Mississippi River: http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/07/21/large-mayfly-hatch-possible-cause-of-pierce-co-car-crash/.
May 13, 2014
Come hear about our research at JASM 2014:
Alex Egan, successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis on chironomid communities in freshwater coastal rock pools. Congratulations Alex!
Back in January, Jessica Miller, successfully defended her Master’s thesis on the response of chironomid assemblages to land use in a urban stream. Check out her research here: http://hdl.handle.net/11299/163061.
March 26, 2014
Our latest publication describing chironomid species found on San Salvador Island, Bahamas:
Anderson, A.M., P. Kranzfelder, A. Egan, and L.C. Ferrington, Jr. 2014. A Survey of Neotropical Chironomidae (Diptera) on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Florida Entomologist 97(1): 304-308.
Available open access: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1896/054.097.0147
April 23, 2013
Our new paper on the longevity and survivorship of a winter-emerging species of chironomid:
April 18, 2013
Jane Mazack successfully defended her Master’s thesis on winter emergence, survival, and longevity of Diamesia mendotae in groundwater-fed streams. Congratulations!
December 27, 2012
Here is the latest addition to great chironomid research:
Anderson, A.M. & L.C. Ferrington. 2012. Resistance and Resilience of Winter-Emerging Chironomidae (Diptera) to a Flood Event: Implications for Minnesota Trout Streams. Hydrobiologia. DOI 10.1007/s10750-012-1406-4 (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10750-012-1406-4).
October 18, 2012
Proceedings of the Chironomidae symposium held in Trondheim last year now is published and available open access through the Fauna norvegica website: http://www.ntnu.no/ojs/index.php/fauna_norvegica.
Note the publication “Time-Efficiency of Sorting Chironomidae Surface-Floating Pupal Exuviae Samples from Urban Trout Streams in Northeast Minnesota, USA” by Alyssa M. Anderson and Leonard C. Ferrington.
October 12, 2012
We are discovering global solutions in Canada and Costa Rica with chironomids!
September 26, 2012
Alyssa Anderson, successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis on winter-emerging chironomid dynamics. Congratulations Alyssa!