The Importance of the Alexander Collection
The effects of global climate change on the flora and fauna of our planet are beginning to be measured and assessed. In the northern hemisphere, for example, researchers have found that a variety of plant species are blooming earlier, that birds are migrating sooner, and that the elevational and latitudinal distributions of species are changing. Natural history museums and herbaria have been vital to these studies because the specimens they store provide a picture of when and where certain species were previously found. With collections data from the past, it is then possible to determine whether modern species distributions and phenologies (life history characteristics) have changed. Historical collections are not only allowing us to measure the effects of climate change, they may also help us to understand why some species are more severely impacted than others.
A novel aspect of Alexander's 1958-1960 survey is that we have access to the voucher specimens from the study, as well as to field notebooks that provide information for over 65,000 grasshoppers that were processed during the survey. These survey notebooks provide detailed information about the collecting locations, as well as information on the person hours devoted to each collecting bout. These notebooks also provide information about the general abundance and diversity of grasshopper species at each site during any given collecting event. As a result, we have both the voucher collection as well as information about the structure of the grasshopper populations from which these specimens came.
Dr. Gordon Alexander's 1958-1960 survey project has acquired a new importance because it provides us with a rare and detailed glimpse of the biology of Colorado grasshoppers nearly a half century ago. With Alexander's survey information and field notes in hand, next year the Entomology Section will begin a multi-year resurvey study to examine which species of grasshoppers might be most impacted by the climate change that has already been measured for the region. By studying grasshoppers we hope to understand what characteristics of insects, from beetles to butterflies, might make them most vulnerable to a changing climate.
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