Jason Locklin, an aquatic entomologist and TC biology department faculty member, said the $1,500 grant from the Texas Academy of Sciences will help support his multi-year doctoral study on a specific parasite found in dragonflies. He hopes to involve TC students to assist in that research.
The students’ work, he said, will give them valuable experience if they decide to compete for a spot in a master’s program.
The research project, which he is doing through Baylor University in Waco, is centered on the effect the parasite might have on dragonflies.
“We’re trying to identify species of dragonflies in Central Texas that serve as hosts for a parasite that has not been very well studied,” he said. “And we’re finding that the dragonflies in this area are heavily infected and we’re also finding that there is site specificity.”
He cited two reservoirs in McLennan County that are only about 1½ miles apart but show very different infection rates.
“So the ultimate question is ‘why?’ and how does it hurt the dragonflies?” Locklin said.
Why is it important to be concerned about the health of dragonflies? Anyone who has ever swatted at a pesky mosquito probably knows the answer to that one.
“Dragonflies are very good to have around because these are very good predators and they keep mosquitoes out,” Locklin said. “So if it (the parasite) is negatively affecting the dragonflies, are we as humans, in an indirect way, somehow supporting the parasite graduation and therefore knocking down this natural pest control?”
The gregarine parasite, Locklin said, is single cell and shows up in the intestinal tract of the dragonfly. They ingest it when they drink water.
Although the parasite is closely related to cryptospiridium parasite that causes digestive symptoms in humans, Locklin said the gregarine parasite is not harmful to people.
The danger to insects, particularly dragonflies, is not as certain, he said.
“In other insect hosts, like the cockroach and grasshoppers, they (parasites) do negatively affect their behavior and their reproductive success,” Locklin said. “With respect to dragonflies, I don’t know. That is still the big question.”
He said studies have shown the parasite affects the behavior and reproductive ability of damselflies, insects closely related to dragonflies.
“Our goal is to find out how it affects their ability to fly, their ability to reproduce, their ability to defend their territories and more so to identify why we have populations that are more heavily infected in certain sites than others,” Locklin said.
“Whether it is human-induced - something the humans are doing to the environment that is causing the parasites to do very well in those environments - those are the big-picture questions,” he said.
His initial work in the two reservoirs, Battle Lake and Tradinghouse Creek reservoirs east of Waco, has shown that 11 dragonfly species out of 26 (42 percent) so far studied have been infected.
Locklin said his study now involves capturing dragonflies and creating a baseline of what species are hosts to the parasite. Later, the study will involve assessing the effect the parasite has on the dragonflies.
He said TC students interested in helping out with the study can contact him at any time via e-mail at jason.locklin@templejc.edu.
“TC students would be doing things like observational experiments - taking a dragonfly that is not infected and infecting it, and making observations on what did it do to its biology,” he said.
He said “collection season” begins in about two weeks and runs through November. He anticipates collecting about 200 dragonflies a week in warm weather.
Dr. Ed Morgan, a TC biology instructor, said the work will greatly benefit students at the college, adding they have to be more prepared when launching into a higher degree.
“Before students can get accepted to their master’s thesis program they must already have shown an ability to do research,” he said.
“If we can get a program going that fosters an interest and a proficiency in research at the community college level, we can greatly help propel these students who are going to go on to advanced degrees,” he said. “Jason is doing research at the cutting edge of biology.
“Current research in biology is moving at such a pace that we are going to have to get students involved earlier and earlier in their college careers for them to be able to compete for the few places available in modern graduate programs.”
