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David Rider
I
was born and raised in central Indiana near the town of Kokomo. My passion
for insects developed at a very early age: There are pictures of me when
I was three years old wearing a sweat shirt which said "National Insect
Week - Go Bug Somebody." I loved to be outside in natural areas and to
observe and collect insects and other animals as a small child. I still
have a butterfly, a tiger swallowtail, in my collection which I collected
in 1967, when I was ten years old. I was also blessed with very understanding
parents who let me experiment, and bring many wild things (caterpillars,
snakes, etc.) into my room. I used to hatch large Cecropia moths out in
my room and let them fly around at night. They would attract other moths
through a chemical scent. I would be awakened in the middle of the night
by Cecropia moths flying at my window.
I maintained my love for insects and nature through high school and college. I majored in Biology at Purdue University where my main interest was animal behavior. Next I obtained my Master's degree at Auburn University, Alabama, where I worked on those same chemical scents as mentioned above that attract mates. It was while I was at Auburn that I really developed my love for collecting and identifying insects. I was then able to work on my PhD degree at Lousiana State University where I specialized on studying the systematics of a group of insects called stink bugs. They are called stink bugs because they do, in fact, spray a nasty smelling odor when they are disturbed. This is a defensive mechanism which also tastes bad to birds or reptiles who try to eat them. Systematics is basically the naming and describing of new insects. I have described many new species and genera of stink bugs.
Most of my work here at North Dakota State University still involves the systematics of stink bugs, but I have also developed a second project in the area of insect ecology. Typically, our native tallgrass prairies are managed by burning every four to five years. This has seemed to be a good thing to do, especially for the plants and the vertebrate animals. But recently, there have been some studies which seem to indicate that burning might not be very good for the insect fauna. We are studying the effects of burning, grazing, and haying on selected tallgrass prairie arthropods. During this work, we have collected a tremendous amount of insects, and have discovered a number of species that we did not think occurred here, and we are studying some of the more rare or endangered species.
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