Elizabeth asked me to replace Fred Andrews (another entomologist who could not make it on this trip). This is my third trip to Chile, and my first as part of a large expedition team. As an aquatic entomologist, I'll be collecting insects from streams, rivers, waterfalls and springs.
The insect population of a stream can show how clean or polluted a stream is-- that is, bugs can indicate stream "health." So, part of my work is to write beetle identification keys that can be used to find out whether a stream or river is healthy and clean or polluted and sick.
On this trip, I'm looking for riffle beetles and their relatives (Elmidae, Dryopidae, and Psephenidae) for DNA studies. I'm also collecting aquatic lacewings and scorpionflies (Neuroptera and Mecoptera) for a chapter in an aquatic insect book that I'm working on.