It’s a Bug’s Life
By Ricky Hayes- public relations intern
Fascination began to sink its roots within the mind of a young boy, gazing with curious eyes at a world much smaller than his own. He was a giant among the sundry species that filled his backyard.
Insects have always appealed to Don Miller. He said that he believes all children go through a time in their life where bugs provide a variety of curiosities by “looking in your backyard.”
Such curiosities remained with Miller from the time of his youth clear through adulthood. He has carried an interest for butterflies mostly, but has moved around to studying other insects as well. He has studied bees and more recently aphids.
But what does the study of insects have to do with human welfare? Though studying insects may be intriguing, why should people care that insects are being observed?
One example is Miller’s recent study of aphids. Aphids are a major nuisance to crops and have one natural enemy, the ladybug. Miller said that it is important to achieve a natural way to deal with aphids because using chemicals or other unnatural means to rid crops of aphids has a high risk of placing toxins into the environment.
Using chemicals to rid aphids from crops is mostly ineffective, Miller said. Aphids have the ability to reproduce like a Matryoshka doll, which is a Russian doll that has several dolls inside another.
“Insects are the lion’s share of biodiversity,” Miller said while providing another reason for entomology (study of insects). “Insects reflect the health of the environment.”
As a professor and entomologist at Chico State in the Department of Biological Sciences, Miller said this is why we need to understand insects so a solution to problems such as using pesticides in agriculture can be found. One purpose of the Center for Ecosystem Research is to “promote ideas” and find a means of “biological control,” meaning to recruit one species to control another.
Pesticides have to be bought and shipped to farms to use. Miller wonders why farmers should have to do such things if they have biological control to keep their crops from destruction. It would save them money and be sufficiently effective.
Another vision Miller has for CER is to have a place for peer-review, which would allow students to write up research findings and be critiqued, improving theories and data. He said having peer-reviews can change the negative stereotype of scientists as people who cannot make mistakes. But this of course is not true; “scientists are not white lab coats handing down information to the public.”
Miller has been able to have several articles published after peer-review, and has had the opportunity to discover a new species of aphid in his studies. He is excited to be part of CER because the new Center is about guiding students to self-discovery and encouraging students to explore their ideas.