College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
Melding Agriculture and Ecology - Claudio Gratton
For entomologist Claudio Gratton, agriculture does not exist in a vacuum.
“I don’t think of agriculture as separate from anything else. It’s a complex entity that goes across disciplinary lines,” says Gratton. He came to campus in 2003 as one of several faculty hired to build a program in agroecology.
Gratton and the others in the agroecology group — Michael Bell, an environmental sociologist, and Randall Jackson, a grassland ecologist — are charged with investigating the biological and social issues that affect agriculture. One of their joint efforts is a comprehensive study of rotational grazing, using a College research farm and working with growers.
“We have a different model for on-farm research,” says Gratton. “We’re getting growers involved in the scientific process from the start, getting their advice and input. We’re engaging in conversations rather than taking a top-down approach. We think this will make our scientific studies more relevant and will help growers understand the applications of the work.”
As an entomologist, Gratton wants to understand the role of insects in larger ecological systems. “It’s not just ‘How do they impact crops? How do they serve as prey? How are they affected by predators?’ It’s also how agricultural and non-agricultural habitats across the landscape are linked, and whether that makes a difference in understanding pests. Changes that we make in one habitat can affect others.”
Gratton, whose background is in plant-insect interactions and food webs, is particularly interested in the way indirect effects of interactions ripple throughout a system. He’s currently focusing on two insects that Wisconsin farmers know all too well: soybean aphids and bean leaf beetles.
In 2003, farmers sprayed more than 7 million acres of farmland in the upper midwest for aphids. Losses from the pest were estimated at $1.3 billion. “There’s not much margin for losses,” Gratton says. “I’m trying to understand the system so we can better manage these pests.”