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The Iowa Odonata Survey is patterned after a similar
"organization" in New Jersey; i.e., little structure, no
meetings, no dues. Our purpose is to maintain good data on the
occurrence of odonates in our state, educate folks on the
critters that inhabit many of their favorite nooks and crannies,
and provide consultation to the state's conservation
organizations on the critical habitats and environmental
indicators as they relate to the odonata. Water quality is such
a major issue in Iowa environmental concerns and odonates
provide us with some great information on the quality of our
watersheds.
Meet the Members
Bob Cruden - Bob is a botanist by trade and a
professor at the University of Iowa. He is a former
director of the Lakeside Lab at Lake Okoboji. His
project of collecting and cataloging the odes of Iowa, a
project that extended over several years, has made Iowa
one of the best known states in the nation.
| Cruden & Gode's work, "The Odonata
of Iowa", was published in The Bulletin of
American Odonatology, Vol. 6, No. 2. Much of the
data you will find here was derived from their
manuscript. |
O.J. "Bud" Gode - Bud was the other half of
the Cruden & Gode team and responsible for the many dot
maps of county records for our state. These records
have given us a baseline for future work. After
retiring
in Arizona, he passed away on 1 May 2005. His impact on our current knowledge is
immeasurable.
 Steve Hummel - Steve is our "data coordinator" and has
been studying and collecting odonates since his college days at
the University of Northern Iowa (longer than he probably wants
to admit!). He maintains an extensive personal database of
records as well as a significant collection of voucher
specimens. Steve is our northern Iowa expert since most of his
time is spent north of Interstate 80. He has served for the
last two years as a board member of the Dragonfly Society of the
Americas and recently organized their annual meeting in Decorah.
Ann Johnson - AJ is a birder gone bad as she now
spends summers chasing bugs. She is our "web geek" who built
the first Iowa Dragonflies and Damselflies web site back in 1999
after becoming frustrated with trying to learn about these
critters through random web searches. Her personal records are
primarily from locations near her home in south central Iowa.
Aaron Brees - Aaron is a
former bird bum turned law school student who
recently became interested in odes. His home in southern Iowa
is ripe for new discoveries as he proved by adding two new state
records before his net and books had arrived. For the fun
story click here.
Jim Bangma - Jim,
New Jersey's "web geek", not only gives us
an out-of-state perspective but his sense of humor helps keep
other things in perspective as well. Many of the photos on this
site, some taken in Iowa and others from New Jersey, are
courtesy of Jim. He made a major discovery in the odonatology
of Iowa while sitting at the computer reviewing my photos of
baskettails, thereby instigating the addition of Epitheca
costalis to the state list.
Friends of IOS
A special thanks to Jim Durbin for the entry of Cruden
& Gode's records into our database and for supplying a number of
his photos.
While our intent is to complete an Iowa photographic
collection, we have relied on a number of people to temporarily
fill in the blanks. We are grateful to the following people for
their willingness to share their work:
- Allen Barlow
- Sheryl Chacon
- Doug Danforth
- Robert Geerts
- Karl Legler
- Pete Moulton
- Dennis Paulson
- Keith Turrill
Much remains to be known about the distribution of a number
of species and to some extent which species live here. If you
can add to this knowledge, you may use the form on this web.
IOS Administration
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