Check out this story by Krista Eastman about bioenergy fieldwork in the Gratton lab!

Fieldwork Season Nets Insects, Explores Bioenergy Crop Impacts-By Krista Eastman

On a lightly overcast morning in early June, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) and UW–Madison entomologist Claudio Gratton’s team of researchers and technicians file into a passenger van and head out for another day of gathering insects from the twenty native grassland sites that make up the team’s outdoor summer laboratory. Funded by the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Gratton Lab is conducting two studies designed to understand how perennial native grasslands – and the predatory insects or pollinators thriving within them – respond to large-scale harvests that mimic biomass harvesting….[for more click here]

Photos by Matthew Wisniewski / Wisconsin Energy Institute

Field preparation (spring): Ian prepares artificial nests for bees and wasps.

 

Field work (spring/summer): Katie sweeps vegetation for predatory and parasitic arthropods at Brooklyn Wildlife Area, near Belleville, WI.

Lab work (fall/winter): Alex identifies arthropods under a microscope in the lab.

Outreach: Claudio shows bees that have emerged from nest boxes during tea time at WEI.