{"id":7434,"date":"2019-08-12T16:21:11","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T16:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/?p=7434"},"modified":"2021-06-08T21:32:16","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T21:32:16","slug":"elenas-seigele-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/2019\/08\/12\/elenas-seigele-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"Elena&#8217;s Seigele Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By: Elena Gratton <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n(CNHP Siegele Conservation Science Intern)\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My name is Elena Gratton and I am one\nof this summer\u2019s Siegele interns. I am a Senior studying Conservation\nBiology and Entomology. Fun Fact: While I\u2019ve done fieldwork in other places,\nthis is my first field season in Colorado! Everything I knew about Colorado\nflora and fauna came from classes. This summer is exciting because I am\nlearning plants and animals while I\u2019m working with them! At the end of the\nday I love insects, so a lot of my work focuses on arthropods (insects and\nrelated creepy crawlies). This summer I\u2019ve worked on a few projects: The Rifle\nRanch restoration, the Hallam Lake Bioblitz, and the borrowing mammal project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_1-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"7436\" data-link=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/?attachment_id=7436\" class=\"wp-image-7436\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_1-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Making friends with invertebrates like this leech at Rifle Ranch. (Photo Credit: Sarah Marshall)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1008\" height=\"567\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"7437\" data-link=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/?attachment_id=7437\" class=\"wp-image-7437\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_2.jpg 1008w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_2-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1008px) 100vw, 1008px\" \/><figcaption>Bumble bee at Rifle Ranch. (Photo Credit: Renee)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>At Rifle ranch we were working on\nstream restoration, which was interesting. I learned new wetland plants that\nhadn\u2019t been covered in any classes I\u2019ve\ntaken. We didn\u2019t do any formal insect work, but the last morning the\nintern group went out and I took an insect net with me. We found several\nbumblebees as well as butterflies and beetles. The best part was showing the\ninsects to my fellow interns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hallam Lake was a bioblitz we\nconducted with the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES). A bioblitz is\nwhere scientists come in and work with community members to catalog as many\nliving things in a given area in a given amount of time. Our bioblitz area was\nthe Hallam lake nature preserve, we had 3 and a half days, and our community\nmembers were the city of Aspen and the patrons of the ACES. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hallam lake was interesting because\nthere are different habitats that can support a wide variety of insects. In the\nRoaring Fork River, we found stoneflies, mayflies, and caddisflies. In Hallam\nLake itself, we found Diving beetles. There were several small pools and\ndrainages where we found Whirly-gig beetles, water striders, and dragonfly\nnymphs. On the shore, we found bees, bugs, and butterflies! It took me a while,\nbut I chased down a Pale-Swallowtail that took several tries for me to catch.\nAt one point I literally ran into Hallam Lake chasing a butterfly and nearly\nfell face first in the lake. The perils of an insect obsession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After I catch an insect I usually have\nto kill it. We got a lot of questions from the kids we worked with about why we\nhave to kill insects. I call it the curse of the entomologist, you have to kill\nwhat you love. To identify most insects to species you need to get them under a\nmicroscope. Living insects are very difficult to get under a microscope.\nInsects can take a while to identify, so I am still going through the Hallam\nlake specimens. As of right now, we have 54 families of insects!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"459\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_5-1024x459.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"7454\" data-link=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/2019\/08\/12\/elenas-seigele-summer\/1elena_5\/\" class=\"wp-image-7454\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_5-1024x459.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_5-300x135.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_5-768x344.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_5.jpg 1409w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Sorting and pinning set up at Hallam Lake. (Photo Credit: Elena Gratton)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As I mentioned before, a lot of insect\nidentification happens under a microscope which means in entomology there is a\nfair amount of lab work. Lab work for the is how I\u2019ve\nspent most of this internship! The lab work is for the burrowing mammal\nproject. This project is looking at the differences in soil health and\narthropod communities in areas with and without borrowing mammals. I\u2019ve\nbeen sorting and identifying ants, beetles, and spiders from pitfall traps from\nthe Central Plains Experimental Range in Pawnee National Grasslands. I have\nalso learned about Isotope sampling, soil enzyme analysis, and litter (grass)\ndecomposition. While I love identifying insects, it\u2019s\nexciting to look at insects in the larger picture as part of an ecosystem<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-4 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"749\" height=\"661\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_3.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"7452\" data-link=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/2019\/08\/12\/elenas-seigele-summer\/1elena_3\/\" class=\"wp-image-7452\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_3.jpg 749w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_3-300x265.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 749px) 100vw, 749px\" \/><figcaption>Pinned Hallam Lake insects. (Photo Credit: Elena Gratton)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1008\" height=\"756\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_4-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"7453\" data-link=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/2019\/08\/12\/elenas-seigele-summer\/1elena_4-2\/\" class=\"wp-image-7453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_4-1.jpg 1008w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_4-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/08\/1Elena_4-1-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1008px) 100vw, 1008px\" \/><figcaption>A bug under the scope. (Photo Credit: Elena Gratton)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Elena Gratton (CNHP Siegele Conservation Science Intern) My name is Elena Gratton and I am one of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,81,72,9,59,73,52,3,18,96,34,6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-about-cnhp","8":"category-bioblitz","9":"category-cnhp","10":"category-cnhp-in-the-news","11":"category-cnhp-interns","12":"category-colorado-natural-heritage-program","13":"category-csu-students","14":"category-ecology","15":"category-internships","16":"category-siegele-conservation-science-internship","17":"category-students","18":"category-zoology","19":"entry","20":"override"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}