grigsby.phd ʕ⌐▣ᴥ▣ʔ

A casual survey of filth flies around campus

Background

This is just a bit of a report for a small project I took on to get a better understanding of the local Dipteran fauna I might find in later studies that necessitate their collection.

some_flies

I was curious to see how much success could be found by using commercial scented bait and disposable cartons + net traps, and I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout we saw in just 2 days.

The diversity we've seen so far hasn't been anything spectacular, but there's a lot of strength in knowing what will or won't show up during the summer months here around Colorado State University's Fort Collins campus.

Breakdown

FOCO-Flies-Combined-Plot

Script

# ===================================================
# Load necessary libraries + custom theme ʕ⌐⧆ᴥ⧆ʔ
# ===================================================
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)
library(tidyr)
library(lubridate)
library(patchwork)

theme_pub <- ...

# ===================================================
# Data importing and check ʕ⌐⧇ᴥ⧇ʔ
# ===================================================
bf_meta <- read.csv('FOCO-BF-META.tsv', sep = "\t")
head(bf_meta)

# Define color palette
fly_colors <- c("#ef4444", "#f97316", "#f59e0b", "#eab308", "#84cc16", 
                "#22c55e", "#14b8a6", "#06b6d4", "#0ea5e9")

# Rename trap types
bf_meta$Trap.Type <- gsub("Lidded bait trap", "Carton trap", bf_meta$Trap.Type)
bf_meta$Trap.Type <- gsub("Baited net trap", "Net trap", bf_meta$Trap.Type)

# ===================================================
# Data visualization ʕ⌐⧮ᴥ⧮ʔ
# ===================================================
# Species distribution
species_plot <- ggplot(bf_meta, aes(x = reorder(Species, Species, function(x) length(x)), fill = reorder(Species, Species, function(x) length(x)))) +
  geom_bar() +
  coord_flip() +
  labs(y = "Count", x = "") +
  theme_pub() +
  theme(axis.text.y = element_text(size = 10),
        axis.text.x = element_text(),
        axis.title.y = element_blank(),
        legend.position = "none") +
  scale_y_continuous(expand = c(0, 0)) +
  scale_fill_manual(values = rev(fly_colors))

# Trap type effectiveness
trap_plot <- ggplot(bf_meta, aes(x = Trap.Type, fill = reorder(Species, Species, function(x) length(x)))) +
  geom_bar(position = "stack") +
  coord_flip() +
  labs(y = "Count", x = "") +
  theme_pub() +
  theme(
    legend.position = "none",
    axis.text.x.top = element_text(hjust = 0.5, margin = margin(b = 5), angle = 45),
    axis.text.y = element_text(face = "bold"),
    axis.title.x.top = element_blank(),
    axis.title.y = element_blank(),
    plot.margin = margin(r = 40)
  ) +
  scale_y_reverse(expand = c(0, 0)) +
  scale_x_discrete(position = "top") +
  scale_fill_manual(values = rev(fly_colors))

# Combine plots
combined_plot <- species_plot + trap_plot + 
  plot_layout(ncol = 2, widths = c(2, 1))

# Display combined plot
combined_plot

# Save the plot to a file
ggsave("FOCO-Flies-Combined-Plot.png", combined_plot, width = 10, height = 6, units = "in", dpi = 300)

Metadata

Location Trap.Type Species
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Fannia sp.
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Protophormia terraenovae
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Hydrotaea sp.
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Pollenia sp.
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Calliphora vicina
Near dumpsters Net trap Phormia regina
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Calliphora vicina
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Calliphora vicina
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Calliphora vicina
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Calliphora vicina
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Calliphora vicina
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Calliphora vicina
Near dumpsters Net trap Phormia regina
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Calliphora vicina
Near dumpsters Net trap Calliphora vicina
Near dumpsters Net trap Phormia regina
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Phormia regina
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Calliphora vicina
Near dumpsters Net trap Lucilia sericata
Near dumpsters Net trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Cynomya cadaverina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Lucilia sericata
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Phormia regina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Calliphora vicina
Near carrion (bird) Carton trap Muscae domestica

#ecology #entomology #forensics #home-science