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Title: Tracks and Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates
Scheduling Details: August 16–22, 2026
Description: This course addresses the full spectrum of topics covered in my book by the same name, with an emphasis on signs found on plants. We will explore a variety of habitats in search of leaf mines and other feeding sign, galls, eggs and egg cases, cocoons, nests, webs, burrows, and other objects and patterns created by insects, arachnids, snails, worms, etc. In the process of identifying these features we will discuss the life histories and ecology of numerous species. In the lab we will examine items collected in the field, both to observe details that require magnification and to investigate mysteries. Slideshow presentations will give overviews of the categories of invertebrate signs as well as introduce students to the often little-known creatures responsible for them.
Charley Eiseman (ceis...@gmail.com) is a freelance naturalist based in western Massachusetts. He has been conducting plant and wildlife surveys and natural resource inventories throughout New England for over 25 years. He holds an MS in Botany (Field Naturalist) from the University of Vermont and a BS in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation and Management from the University of Massachusetts. Charley is the lead author of Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates and has published 90+ scientific papers on insect natural history, including the description of over 110 new species. He also writes an insect-themed blog, “BugTracks,” and is currently self-publishing the third edition of Leafminers of North America, a serial e-book of which the second edition was completed in 2022.
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