Comparisons of Life Before and After a Rainstorm

        

        Nature is dependent on many factors, one of the most notable being the climate. A strong example of this is how the landscape and organisms react after a rainstorm. My landscape has a pond, which means it's already affected by water, but is nonetheless affected when a large amount of rain arrives. Above are some pictures I took before the rainstorm and below are pictures I took after it. As you can see in the pictures above the space I chose has a large amount of biodiversity that helps to show what kind of environment it is. For example, the Orchard Orbweaver (the spider) prefers moist, short vegetation, wooded areas, which describes the area it was seen in perfectly. Where the web was photographed is just above a short shrub a few yards from the pond. Another example from above is the frog I took a picture of. This is photographed right next to the pond, which is where I saw other frogs as well, which makes sense as frogs prefer aquatic areas such as ponds. Continuing with this, there is mud seen around the frog which makes sense once more context is given. Something I did not capture with that picture is that the pond is surrounded by tall trees blocking out the sunlight, which explains the amount of mud around the pond, as the trees create a barrier, making the dirt stay consistently muddy. However, as you go away from the pond, the trees become less dense, allowing the sunlight to pour in, resulting in the soil being dry. Next, below are pictures of how the environment changed after the rainstorm. 

    I would like to acknowledge with these pictures that as you can see there appears to be stream spilling into the pond. While there are several ditches leading up to the pond, there is no water in them under normal circumstances, which thus makes the soil in that area even more moist than usual, which can influence wildlife in numerous ways, which is why I believe I captured many more insects than I originally did when I first came to the pond. When I first ventured to the pond I saw larger animals such as frogs, turtles, squirrels, and deer, but barely any insects or spiders, something I expected to find lots of. This time though, I saw three harvestmen (daddy long legs) spiders, numerous Asian lady beetles (the orange bugs in the fourth picture), a caterpillar (second picture), a ladybug larva (third picture), and much more. This led me to a few questions, why were there so many more insects/arachnids observed after the rain and less large animals such as deer and turtles? And why was the majority of insects I saw the Asian Lady Beetle? 

        To answer my questions, I conducted some research. Turns out my initial skepticism was accurate, as the rain played a huge part in insect and arachnid activity. Most notable is survival instinct in these species. They can detect rising water, prompting them to move to higher elevation. These species were seen on the side of a bridge at the top of the railing, which is the highest elevation right off the ground with the exception of trees. Next most notable, rain dramatically increases humidity, which many insects are sensitive to. This heightened moisture acts as an attractant for some which makes some species more active. These answer my first question, but why did I see the Asian Lady Beetles the most? The answer actually lies within the reasons I listed, along with another reason. They detected that there was a possibility of rising water, thus going to higher ground. Adding onto the rain, it exposed food and other resources for the beetle as well, and also helped them to thrive, as it increased humidity, something that they prefer. This species is also highly invasive in Ohio, which explains why their appearance here is not uncommon and why I saw them the most out of any other species.