Scientific research, contributes to the generation of local knowledge and helps the scientific community to fill in several gaps and areas of knowledge that still need to be investigated.

This week we have the visit of two researchers, Ederson and Beatriz, from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), who are looking for Amalactus carbonarius species larvae. This beetle belongs to the Curculionidae family, known as Weevils. It was found recently that this species finds shelter on the Southern Cattail (Typha domingensis), which is found at REGUA’s wetlands.

Typha domingensis is a very invasive plant spreading freely when in a suitable site. This is fine when growing on its native habitat, but the plant can become a serious weed in managed aquatic systems worldwide.

For that reason, it is important to keep the right balance between the area these plants occupy, in order to guarantee a minimum number of individuals that can shelter different insects.