Last spring, entomology professor Richard Zack brought to Washington State University hundreds of thousands of insect specimens collected before removal of the 100-year-old Elwha dam in the Olympic National Park. He is leading a project to sort, identify and curate the insects and create a database to provide insight into how the Elwha Valley ecosystem might change in the next several decades. Changes in insects will play a key role in how the new ecosystem develops.

But where do you start when you have hundreds of thousands of bugs to organize? With the beetles, said WSU biology student Laura Hamada, who plans to pursue insect taxonomy. She and fellow student Noah Austin, a WSU double major in physics and music, work in a lab in the entomology department where they sort, prepare and identify the aquatic bugs, caddisflies, mayflies, stoneflies, true flies and beetles. Eventually, most of these specimens will be sent to specialists for specific identification.

Read the full story and watch a video about understanding the Elwha ecosystem