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 WCU Stories      December 5, 2024

While insects have gotten a bad rap as “creepy crawlies” to be squished or stepped on, humanity is highly dependent on them. Many insects are integral to pollination, which is crucial to the survival of plant ecosystems and crops that keep people fed.

More than 70 species of pollinators are currently listed as endangered or threatened, which is cause for great concern.

This is where �����Ƶapp’s Department of Geosciences and Natural Resources assistant professor Sarah Parson’s research comes into play. 

Last year, students in Parsons’ environmental science senior capstone course helped set the stage for WCU to become a Bee Campus USA affiliate.

The university officially became a Bee Campus in the spring of 2024.  

Building upon that, Parsons just recently received a University of North Carolina Major Research Initiative grant from the UNC System Office to purchase equipment for long-term insect monitoring.

“This grant will purchase malaise traps, a device which looks like a cross between a pop-up tent and a mosquito net that captures flying insects,” Parsons said.

The grant will also help establish learning-living labs on campus in WCU’s new Bee Campus Garden locations.  These sites will be monitored both before and after installation of pollinator gardens and help collect long-term data on pollinator populations on campus.

“My passion for research largely stems from being fed by the natural world and fulfilled by my curiosity of it.” Parsons said. “Urban ecology is especially fascinating to me because it highlights how changes in the plants present in developed areas can affect insect communities.”

In her proposal, Parsons demonstrated a need for more longitudinal research on insects. Although they may seem small and insignificant to most, there is still so much that is unknown about these tiny creatures.

According to the American Museum of Natural History, only 1.2 million insect species have been named, but there could be as many as 3.5 million species crawling and flying around the world. 

The funding from this grant allows Parsons and WCU to conduct more longitudinal research as the malaise traps will allow for monitoring insects on campus for a decade or more.

“Long-term monitoring of insects is often challenging because of the changes in resources and research support over time,” Parsons said. “This grant will help to establish sites on campus and purchase equipment that will help ensure that we can continue to collect data for years to come.”

Long-term data collection of insects will help the team assess how land use changes communities on campus of important insect groups, especially pollinators.

These results will help inform local policy makers on how to best develop the areas on and around campus to ensure that insects in the area are able to thrive.