Stay Curious: Jessica Rykken

Duration:

6 minutes, 12 seconds

Watch as entomologist, Jessica Rykken, shows us her collection of bees, tells us why the information from these collections is important for researchers in national parks, and how she first got interested in bugs.

Meet Jessica Rykken

Jessica Rykken is an entomologist with the Biological Resource Division. She collects insects from national parks, like Denali National Park and Preserve, for ongoing surveys as well as an archive for NPS researchers to use for future studies.

Creating these collections is no easy task. In order to have well-preserved insects to study for future use, she has to go through a tedious process of preparing, pinning,and labelling each specimen. There is even a special process she uses in order to prepare bumblebees.

She wasn't always interested in bugs but once she started looking at them under the microscope, she was hooked. To learn more about Jessica's work you can read her #sciencedeskdigs, an Instagram series that highlights the stories and work of NRSS scientists

"Bugs are just so cool looking!"