Research Entomologist, Powdermill Nature Reserve
Biography
Andrea Kautz is a research entomologist working at Powdermill Nature Reserve, the environmental research center of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Her main work involves collecting and imaging aquatic macroinvertebrates for a National Science Foundation-funded project aimed at building the macroinvertebrates website to aid in the identification of aquatic insects and other arthropods used in water quality monitoring.
She received her MS in entomology (2015) and her BS in zoology (2012) from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. During her time at Ohio State, Kautz interned with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Division of Surface Water, surveying the aquatic macroinvertebrates found in rivers and streams around the state for biomonitoring purposes. Her master’s thesis focused on the community composition and diet of a particular group of predatory flies, the long-legged flies (Dolichopodidae), in Ohio agroecosystems.
Her other projects include building the insect teaching collection at Powdermill, surveying and promoting pollinators at the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and assisting in a salamander population genetics study.
Box Turtle Time Capsule
The year is 1974. Powdermill founder and Carnegie Museum of Natural History Director Dr. Graham Netting measures and marks a female box …
Another Reason to Love Ladybugs
The Marsh Machine at Powdermill is great for recycling the nature center’s wastewater. It’s also great for building up huge populations of …
Bugs on Bugs on Bugs…on Birds
Big fleas have little fleas Upon their backs to bite ‘em; And little fleas have lesser fleas And so, ad infinitum. -Ogden …
It’s my flower, and I’ll fruit when I want to
by Andrea Kautz At this point in the year, there aren’t many blooms to be seen on a crisp hike through the …
Black Bears at Powdermill
By Andrea Kautz Recently, the PA Game Commission brought a black bear to Powdermill to release in the nearby state forest. It was a …
Publications
2016 Kleinke, B., S.P. Prajzner, C.A. Gordon, N.C. Hoekstra, A.R. Kautz, A.M. Vossbrinck, and M.M. Gardiner. Submitted. Pollination Investigators: A citizen science approach to measuring pollination services. Insect Conservation and Diversity.
2015 Kautz, A.R. 2015. Local Management and Landscape Effects on the Predator Guild in Vegetable Crops, with a Focus on Long-legged Flies (Diptera: Dolichopodidae). Master’s Thesis. The Ohio State University. (Accession No. OSU1437474798)
