Proudly Presents: Meet the Backyard Bark Beetles Research Team: o Do you know groups who are looking to learn more about insects or forest health? Meet the Backyard Bark Beetles Research Team: Proudly Presents: Paige Carlson is a student at the University of Florida. She manages the day-to-day operations for the project and identifies all specimens that we receive. o Are you interested in participating in real- world scientific research? Dr. Jiri Hulcr is a researcher at the University of Florida who specializes in bark and ambrosia beetles. He is the principal investigator for this project o Do you need kid friendly projects? If you answered yes, then we might have the perfect project for you! Look inside to learn more and be sure to visit our website! www.backyardbarkbeetles.org Citizen Science for the Protection of Our Forests!

Backyard Bark Beetles How Does it Work? The University of Florida presents to you the Citizen Science Project Backyard Bark Beetles Real World Science for the Protection of Our Forests www.backyardbarkbeetles.org Have you ever heard of a Bark or Ambrosia Beetle? They’re really tiny… like this one here How Does it Work? Join the project on our website www.backyardbarkbeetles.org Make your very own Beetle Bottle Trap So what’s the Big Deal about these tiny bugs? Glad you asked! No? We’re not surprised! That’s what these signs are all about Because they’re small and live in wood, they’re easy to move around on accident. 3 Hang it from a tree and add alcohol based hand sanitizer Leave it overnight & then collect your beetles Send them to the experts at the University of Florida Check the Beetle Map to see what you caught! They might be small, but take a look up close… AND their mushroom gardens can kill trees when they get moved to new places. So… they’re really important forest pests. And they do cool stuff too… Here you can see pictures of the species that you caught and learn more about them They were the First Farmers on Earth! Growing little gardens of mushrooms in their woody homes for 60,000,000 years. How do we stay ahead and Protect Our Forests? The white stuff is ambrosia fungus. People power! That’s what they eat! Backyard Bark Beetles is a Citizen Science Project that needs your help to monitor the spread of these tiny, but important forest pests Who can participate? Anyone interested in doing real-world science that helps to protect our forests! Get started right away at www.backyardbarkbeetles.org