A team of Cornell scientists is asking children for their help. They need them anywhere and everywhere in the country to start looking for ladybugs: "Find 'em, photograph 'em and send 'em."

The Lost Ladybug Project, funded with $2 million from the National Science Foundation to Cornell, is a nationwide hunt for ladybugs. The project is intended to help scientists better understand why some species of ladybugs have become extremely rare -- including the official New York state insect, the nine-spotted ladybug, which hasn't been seen in the state for 16 years -- while other species have greatly increased both their numbers and range.

"This has happened very quickly, and we don't know why, what impact it will have on controlling pests or how we can prevent more native species from becoming so rare," said Cornell entomologist and lead investigator John Losey, who noted that ladybugs are very important in the control of many pests. Other entomologists leading the project are Leslie Allee, a Cornell research associate, and Louis Hesler and Mike Catangui at South Dakota State University.

At the same time, the project is designed to excite children about science and "foster an appreciation for the natural world and the scientific process," Allee said. Particular efforts, she said, are focusing on underserved 5- to 11-year-olds from Native American, rural, farming, migrant or low-income communities. "We know that a single positive experience at this age can greatly enhance the potential that a child will maintain a lifelong interest in science and the diversity of life," Allee said.

Discovering the nine-spotted ladybug

If these 10- and 11-year-olds can discover lost species, so can you.

The nine-spotted ladybug was so common in New York state (and the Northeast) in the 1970s and appreciated for eating such crop pests as aphids and mealybugs that it was adopted as the state's official insect in 1989. But then it virtually disappeared a few years later -- for 14 years, no one had reported seeing one in the eastern United States. That is, until October 2006, when Jilene and Jonathan Penhale, ages 11 and 10 respectively, along with their parents and neighbors Leslie and Jeff Perlman (parents of Cornell entomology major Jordan Perlman '10), collected a nine-spotted ladybug near their home in Arlington, Va. They had attended a presentation at Cornell on the plight of native ladybugs.

"That discovery proved that the species still exists in eastern North America, which is extremely valuable information," said Cornell entomologist John Losey, noting how habitat loss, pollution and climate changes are affecting populations of many creatures around the world. "We hope that this project will find the small populations of ladybugs that we think are dispersed around the country but are just flying below the radar," Losey said. "We should rally around this species like we did around the bald eagle."

The ladybug (also known as the ladybird beetle, lady beetle or ladybird) was chosen for the project, Losey said, not only because it is "charismatic, gentle, ubiquitous and easily recognizable," but also because its 5,000 species (about 450 species in the United States alone) are very sensitive to environmental conditions. Better understanding of ladybug populations could lead to better crop management and conservation of other native species as well.

The project aims to develop one of the largest, most accurate, accessible biological databases ever developed by a citizen science project. The goal is to involve some 10,000 children, who will learn to work independently with the help of youth leaders and parents and may generate some 250,000 sightings.

When fully implemented, the project's Web site will include instructions for finding collection sites, making sweep nets, photographing ladybugs, submitting data and uploading photos as well as an automatic ladybug image identifier and numerous activities. Educational materials will focus on broad concepts of biodiversity and conservation and more specifically on ladybug identification, basic biology and lifecycle.

The Web site also will feature an automated ID feature to provide people with real-time feedback on which species they have collected. Other activities will use ladybug lore, myths, songs and other culturally based stories to explain the relationships between ladybugs, pests and food plants.

The project's scientific role should not be underestimated, Losey stressed. "Every ladybug observed, whether common or rare, provides us with vital information, allowing us to make important inferences about species that are never found, as well as to accurately adjust our estimate of species' density," he said.

The project at http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/icb344/Lost_Ladybugs.htm will continue to evolve.