This article, by Talia O’Shea, is part of a series highlighting members of the Office of Sustainability’s Experts Database. In a collaboration with instructor Hannah Monroe’s course, LSC 561: Writing Science for the Public, students interviewed campus sustainability experts and produced short feature stories.
Insects often get a bad reputation, triggering feelings of annoyance at best and fear of disease at worst. But, according to Claudio Gratton, insect aficionado and Professor of Entomology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, they are in fact critical to human existence as “recyclers of nutrients, as pollinators of our crops, [and] as organisms that [control] bad insects.” 
Gratton investigates the many ways in which so-called beneficial insects, such as bees and lady beetles, interact with their habitats. Humans become intertwined with this system when we alter the landscape, such as by cultivating regions of monoculture farmland where only one crop is planted and grown. Understanding these intersections is key to designing landscapes that will help insects thrive — and support humanity.
With so many open research avenues — an array of insects to explore, numerous habitats to untangle — it’s probably for the best that Gratton describes himself as a generalist: “I like all kinds of systems and all kinds of questions.” A newer field of study for him, though, is bees. “Save the bee” campaigns have been in the news recently because of the tremendous impact that bees have as pollinators. But it turns out that bees are not monolithic.
By Gratton’s estimate, there are nearly 500 species of wild bees in Wisconsin, most of which are pollinators. Furthermore, the ubiquitous honeybee is imported from Europe. Honeybees are managed bees, meaning that they are kept in man-made hives and can be bred, as opposed to wild bees. While their colony loss rates are cause for economic concern — many honeybees die every winter— wild bees are even more threatened. If they die, we cannot simply import more.
Humans benefit, too, when wild bees thrive and pollinate. And although honeybees are not in danger of extinction, over-reliance on just one type of bee is another incentive to protect wild bees. But what will it take to protect them?
The welfare of wild bees depends on access to non-agricultural lands that wild bees use for nesting and food when human crops are not available. As Gratton points out, if “we can maintain these [non-agricultural] landscapes, then we can do something about maintaining bees… and then having them carry out those things that we care about, too.”
To study bees, Gratton’s lab takes a variety of approaches. Some days, researchers might do lab experiments to see what kinds of pollen different bees feed on. Other days, he says, his group is out in the field waving nets, collecting samples of insects from various habitats to see how, for example, their fat reserves vary from monoculture areas to biodiverse landscapes. The group recently showed that lady beetles in agricultural areas (e.g., growing corn and soy) were more emaciated than in biodiverse habitats. Such broad methods are necessary to piece together the “linkages,” as Gratton puts it, between the health of habitats and insects — and the humans who utilize both.
As his career has progressed, Gratton’s work and perspective on sustainability have broadened beyond insects. Moving into policy and becoming involved in efforts such as Grassland 2.0 — a collaboration of researchers, farmers, and others working to develop more sustainable agricultural practices — has shown how critical it is for research to be responsive to people’s needs. As an example, Gratton highlighted the Driftless region in southwest Wisconsin, where increased flooding in hilly areas harms communities and washes away precious nutrients in the soil. Grassland 2.0 is now working with farmers to develop grass-based strategies that will help strengthen the soil against flooding, keeping it healthy for agriculture.
Everything Gratton does returns to the Wisconsin Idea, the principle that research and education at the university must impact people outside of the classroom, throughout the entire state and even the entire world. He emphasized that the idea is what drew him to UW–Madison at first, and it is no exaggeration to say that he embodies this ethos. From protecting insects to our soil, the big picture is never far from his mind. The fascination with the strange world of insects, though? That definitely hasn’t gone away.