Insect science is the new frontier

While bees and butterflies often feel the public’s love, less conventionally attractive creepy-crawlies like cicadas and Joro spiders are left out in the cold—or, worse, squished. “I think insect conservation is one of the most overlooked areas of conservation biology,” says William Snyder, a professor of entomology in UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “They’re not huggable; not many species of insects are charismatic. But insects support so many ecosystems.” Why should you care? Well, for starters, bugs are everywhere. Insects alone make up more than half of all the animals on Earth.

Over a Zoom call from Switzerland, University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences alum Consuelo De Moraes shows a video of a bumblebee nibbling on a leaf in a semicircular motion, a behavior that accelerates the flowering process when pollen is scarce. As she explains the movements of the bumblebee, she is wide-eyed and fascinated. This insect behavior is one of the latest discoveries for De Moraes, a chemical ecologist and professor who directs the Laboratory of Biocommunication and Entomology at ETH Zürich.