Annual cicada (Tibicen sp.) emergence patterns on a college campus: Research REAPing rewards

Emergence of so-called annual cicadas was surveyed over a three-week period in July, 2012 on the Le Moyne College campus.  Exuviae were collected from a total of 151 trees in eleven species.  Height and directional orientation were recorded for each exuvium.  Locust appeared to be the preferred tree species, followed by Norway maple; the latter was by far the most abundant tree in the survey area.  Height above ground and directional orientation varied.  This project was co-designed and carried out by a high school student in the Research and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (REAP) who had never worked with insects before.   Over the course of the project, he became a model for the goals of the program, becoming engaged and developing research skills in a STEM discipline while having fun with insects!  The data will become part of a long-term project to track emergence of overlapping cohorts of Tibicen sp. on the campus.