PJ Liesch

Wisconsinites encountering spiders they might find threatening often wonder if they've found either a brown recluse or black widow spider.

When it comes to these blood-sucking pests and other creepy-crawlies, each year can be a different experience, with weather patterns and other factors playing important roles in the behaviors of insects and other arthropods like spiders and millipedes, as well as other invertebrates.

I've had a morbid fascination with watching the progression of the emerald ash borer in the Midwest for over a decade.

The Midwest is home to over a dozen tick species. While only a few types are encountered regularly by people and pets, the medical concerns posed by some species can be quite significant.