{"id":34682,"date":"2022-03-24T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=34682"},"modified":"2022-03-28T09:50:41","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T14:50:41","slug":"long-embattled-rare-beetle-offers-hope-of-new-discoveries-to-osu-researchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2022\/03\/24\/long-embattled-rare-beetle-offers-hope-of-new-discoveries-to-osu-researchers\/","title":{"rendered":"Long-embattled, rare beetle offers hope of new discoveries to OSU researchers"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px; margin-bottom: 20px; border-radius: 6px; overflow: hidden;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.captivate.fm\/episode\/d6f24d53-a376-43fb-9c10-38d74e1bf002\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inside the basement of Oklahoma State University\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/insectadventure.okstate.edu\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Insect Adventure<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the room is stacked floor-to-ceiling with buzzing, flitting, scuttling life.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inside these individual habitats live <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/insectadventure.okstate.edu\/meet-our-bugs\/insects\/jungle-nymph-walkingstick\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jungle Nymph Walking Sticks<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> bigger than the hands that hold them, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/insectadventure.okstate.edu\/meet-our-bugs\/arachnids\/african-emperor-scorpion\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">African Emperor Scorpions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with powerful pinchers and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/insectadventure.okstate.edu\/meet-our-bugs\/other-arthropods\/striped-desert-millipede\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Striped Desert Millipedes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with hypnotic yellow and brown rings. There are tarantulas, cockroaches and centipedes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_34685\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-34685 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9224-672x448.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9224-672x448.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9224-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9224-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9224-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9224-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9224-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9224-620x413.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9224-1620x1080.jpg 1620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9224.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Beth Wallis\/StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The basement of the Insect Adventure facility contains many different species of insects, including a captive-bred colony of American Burying Beetles.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But one insect in particular is getting special attention by OSU researchers: the American Burying Beetle (ABB).<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This rare beetle, colored in black with rich orange spots, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/agresearch.okstate.edu\/news\/articles\/2022\/beetle-saliva-shows-potential-to-create-natural-antibiotic.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">could hold the key to new medical treatments and novel meat preservation methods<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. But these beetles are facing threats that could wipe them out of Oklahoma \u2014 and perhaps most of the country. And some conservationists say the government hasn\u2019t done enough to protect the dwindling population of ABBs.<\/span><\/p><p><b>The research<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At OSU, three faculty members have begun to study the potential discoveries the ABB could hold: associate professor of entomology and plant pathology Wyatt Hoback, department head and professor John Gustafson of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and assistant professor of animal genomics Darren Hagen.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What makes the ABB unique is its ability to preserve food for its young. Male and female ABBs bury carcasses of small, dead animals, then remove the fur or feathers and coat it with anal and oral secretions. The female lays its eggs in a chamber next to the carcass, and once the eggs hatch, the young ABBs can feast on the preserved meat.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAnd so our equivalent \u2014 if we have leftover Thanksgiving dinner and we dig a hole in the backyard, put it underground and come back in six weeks, it\u2019s probably not going to pass the sniff test,\u201d Hoback said. \u201cMicrobes are going to degrade the proteins in that carcass; the beetles need those proteins intact to feed their offspring.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The beetles already provide a natural benefit for humans and other animals by contributing to fly reduction. When ABBs bury dead animals, they remove a breeding ground for flies, which can transmit pathogens. Hoback said the beetle is also good for the soil.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThey also increase soil fertility. It turns out that when a burying beetle buries a carcass, when it raises its offspring, it contributes nitrogen and phosphorus to the soil,\u201d Hoback said. \u201cAnd rangelands typically don\u2019t get applications of fertilizer, so grazing by cattle eat vegetative material and strip nutrients from the land. These beetles actually add back nutrients to those soils.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The researchers are studying the microbiome of the beetle \u2014 that is, the collection of microbes that live within or on an organism. They think organisms living in this microbiome could be responsible for reducing the rotting of meat from buried carcasses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through gene sequencing, the researchers have also been able to identify several genes that seem to be turned on in the saliva secretions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For Hoback, the work is a continuation of more than 20 years of study and conservation efforts of the ABB. The beetle is recognized as a federally protected threatened species, which means the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) believes that while the beetle is not in imminent threat of extinction, it could be soon.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe, as humans, are intelligent enough to see the value that organisms contribute and understand how we impact them, and therefore we\u2019re ethically responsible for doing the best that we can do,\u201d Hoback said.<\/span><\/p><p><b>The storied history of the American Burying Beetle<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ABB once lived in at least 35 states, but has since experienced about a 90% loss of its historical range. In 1989, the species was listed as endangered.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the beetle was listed, it was believed they only inhabited parts of Oklahoma and Block Island \u2014 a small island in New Shoreham, Rhode Island. Over the next 20 years, additional surveys revealed beetle populations also living in Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Texas, though no beetles have been documented in Texas since 2008.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_34686\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-34686\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-map3-672x378.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"378\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-map3-672x378.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-map3-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-map3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-map3-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-map3-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-map3-620x349.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-map3.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A map showing beetle populations found between 2001-2015.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 1991, the FWS <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ecos.fws.gov\/docs\/recovery_plan\/910927.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">released a recovery plan<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for the ABB specifying that to be considered recovered, the beetle would need to have 3 self-sustaining populations of 150 individuals in four regions. Though the ABB never met this benchmark, the FWS downlisted the beetle from endangered to threatened in 2020.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the time between its initial listing and subsequent downlisting, the beetle became a center of controversy. In 2015, the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ipaa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ASL-IPAA-TPPF-Carothers-Beetle-Delist-Petition-2015.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">petitioned FWS to delist<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the beetle, which would remove it from all Endangered Species Act protections. In the petition, the association writes about the costly and time-consuming hindrances to the oil and gas industry that the beetle has caused, such as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/environment\/article\/endangered-beetle-lies-in-keystone-xl-path\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">delaying development of the Keystone XL Pipeline<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. One company <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kgou.org\/business-and-economy\/2019-05-09\/oil-and-gas-industry-supports-proposal-to-downlist-beetles-status\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> spending $100,000 per beetle to relocate 119 of them.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the petitioned interests of the oil and gas industry, as well as the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2019\/08\/12\/750479370\/trump-administration-makes-major-changes-to-protections-for-endangered-species\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trump Administration\u2019s efforts<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to weaken the Endangered Species Act, conservationists like Noah Greenwald, the endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the decision to downlist the beetle was a politically motivated \u201cgift to the oil and gas industry from the Trump administration.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe beetle didn\u2019t stop oil drilling,\u201d Greenwald said. \u201cWhat it did is it required the oil and gas industry to mitigate the habitat destruction they were causing by putting money into a fund, which was then used to purchase conservation lands for the beetle. So this isn\u2019t even about whether we\u2019re about stopping economic development, it\u2019s about the oil and gas industry not wanting to put money into a conservation fund for the beetle.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Center for Biological Diversity <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/biologicaldiversity.org\/w\/news\/press-releases\/lawsuit-filed-to-restore-endangered-species-protection-to-american-burying-beetles-2021-03-25\/email_view\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">filed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/biologicaldiversity.org\/species\/invertebrates\/American_burying_beetle\/pdfs\/American-burying-beetle-complaint-2021-03-25.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lawsuit<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in March 2021 against FWS and the Department of the Interior, claiming the downlisting from endangered to threatened was unwarranted and calls for the reinstatement of the ABB\u2019s endangered status. Greenwald argues because the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fisheries.noaa.gov\/national\/endangered-species-conservation\/endangered-species-act#:~:text=(6)%20The%20term%20%22endangered,would%20present%20an%20overwhelming%20and\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Endangered Species Act defines endangered species<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as one at risk of extinction in \u201call or a significant portion of its range,\u201d and because 90 percent of its historic range is gone, the beetle should still qualify. Greenwald also points out FWS has estimated beetle populations in the Southern Plains region will be wiped out in the next 20-50 years.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other instances also contributed to the controversy of the downlisting. In 2013, two managers at FWS were <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/peer.org\/senior-officials-skewed-science-to-benefit-xl-pipeline\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">found guilty of scientific misconduct<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by Scientific Integrity Review Panels after overriding experts to adopt an inaccurate map that shrank the range of the ABB, rushing the article to publication despite concerns and retaliating against scientists who spoke out against the publication.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2017, Hoback and another scientist, Douglas Leasure, were offered the opportunity to work with FWS to study how farming affects the ABB. Within about a month, the pair left the project, saying <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/energy-environment\/2018\/09\/03\/shocked-disappointed-pair-researchers-say-they-felt-pressed-by-federal-wildlife-officials-bury-risk-endangered-beetle\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">officials pressured them<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to combine maps showing the beetle population was wider-spread and safer than it actually was, and insisted the research be completed on a rushed timeline. Upon leaving, Hoback and Leasure had their names removed from the flawed analysis.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt felt like the Fish and Wildlife Service wanted to conclude that agriculture is not a risk to the beetle and were going to use the data in a way that made that conclusion, no matter what,\u201d Hoback told the Washington Post, which broke the story.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite the history of controversy, officials at FWS say the decision to downlist the beetle was not politically motivated, but instead was due to an entirely separate issue: climate change.<\/span><\/p><p><b>Climate change and conservation<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kevin Stubbs, a FWS biologist based in Tulsa, was working with the agency at the time of the downlisting. He said FWS had already started the assessment process for the beetle before the IPAA sent its petition, and the reason for the downlisting was mainly due to the predicted impact of climate change on the ABB.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stubbs said instead of the original recovery plan, FWS used a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/ecos.fws.gov\/ServCat\/DownloadFile\/165011\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Species Status Assessment<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The agency looked at how resilient the beetle was under several threat scenarios and made its decision based on predicted resiliency, rather than a quota. The agency tested multiple climate scenarios and concluded that between 2040-2069, the Southern Plains populations will likely be wiped out. In the High Emissions scenario, all but the New England populations would die out by about 2070.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_34687\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-34687 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-table-672x378.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"378\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-table-672x378.png 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-table-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-table-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-table-150x84.png 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-table-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-table-620x349.png 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/beetle-table.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A table showing predictions for how climate change could affect different ABB populations.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalregister.gov\/documents\/2020\/10\/15\/2020-19810\/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-reclassification-of-the-american-burying-beetle-from\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">decision<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, FWS used what\u2019s called a 4(d) rule. In this application of the rule, all intentional take \u2014 displacing, injuring or killing \u2014of the beetle is prohibited. Incidental take is also prohibited, except in the Southern Plains region. There, outside of designated conservation areas, entities are exempted from incidental take prohibitions during activities not anticipated to injure or kill the beetles. The Southern Plains exception, Stubbs said, is due to the predicted reality of climate change.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t matter if we protected all the habitat that was available down here if climate change was going to make that habitat unsuitable in the near future,\u201d Stubbs said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stubbs said to be considered endangered, the beetle must be at a more imminent risk of extinction. The beetle\u2019s \u201cthreatened\u201d status acknowledges the risk of extinction, but only in the foreseeable future, instead of imminently. Stubbs said the FWS is not just waiting until the Southern Plains population dies out to reconsider the listing, and the agency conducts an evaluation of all species every five years.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One tool in the conservationist kit is the use of conservation banks. With a conservation bank, high quality habitat land is set aside, managed and protected with the goal of offsetting impacts of things like development from oil and gas companies or landowners. Entities wanting to use land inhabited by protected species purchase credits that pay for the land and its management.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amy Smith, now the division manager for Apex Companies, worked with Common Ground Capital to set up and monitor conservation bank efforts. She said the numbers from their 2020 survey showed promise.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI had a record number of American Burying Beetles at the American Burying Beetle Conservation Bank in the McAlister Conservation Area,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI handled over three hundred and fifty beetles in a five-day period.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the results of these conservation efforts offer a bit brighter outlook for the beetle, climate change is the issue many ABB conservationists are still trying to work around. Southern Plains conservation areas may not be usable for much longer if the beetles begin to succumb to climate change. Previous efforts to relocate Southern Plains beetles to Ohio were unsuccessful, and reintroduced populations have struggled with becoming self-sustaining, instead relying on managers to provide food for them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One reintroduced population at the Wah\u2019Kon-Tah Prairie in Missouri has shown signs of promise, but it\u2019s too early to tell if it will sustain itself in the future. The team of ecologists from the St. Louis Zoo are now shifting their efforts to a nearby Taberville Prairie Conservation Area, with the hope of creating a \u201cmetapopulation\u201d of beetles. Bob Merz, the assistant director of the WildCare Institute at the zoo, said time will tell if the beetles will be able to thrive on their own someday.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think once we pull away and we stop putting beetles out, we\u2019ll be able to assess if [these reintroduction efforts] work,\u201d Merz said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s one of the hard things about conservation. \u2026 [It\u2019s a] twenty, twenty-five year commitment sometimes before you even start to see results.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Rhode Island, Director of Conservation Programs Lou Perrotti has collaborated with several state agencies and other organizations to release thousands of beetles on Nantucket Island in the hopes of reestablishing a self-sustaining population. Perrotti has led the beetle\u2019s captive breeding program at the Roger Williams Park Zoo since 1994, starting with beetles captured from one of its few remaining native areas, Block Island.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perrotti said in addition to climate change, the ABB has been affected by habitat fragmentation and the loss or decline of major food sources, like the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.audubon.org\/magazine\/may-june-2014\/why-passenger-pigeon-went-extinct\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">passenger pigeon<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/animals\/article\/carolina-parakeets-extinction-birds-united-states\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Carolina parakeet<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. He said he doesn\u2019t agree with the FWS that the beetle\u2019s downlisting was warranted.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAnybody who\u2019s a true conservationist and species biologist knows that the species is no better off today than it was,\u201d Perrotti said. \u201cWe don\u2019t even have one self-sustaining population in 28 years of efforts. \u2026 So that, to me, is truly still an endangered species.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_34691\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-34691\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9202-672x448.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9202-672x448.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9202-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9202-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9202-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9202-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9202-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9202-620x413.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9202-1620x1080.jpg 1620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9202.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Beth Wallis\/StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The American Burying Beetle rests in a habitat box at the Insect Adventure facility in Stillwater.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Perrotti\u2019s experience, the easiest animals to galvanize conservation support around have generally been the \u201ccute\u201d ones.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe cuter it is, the easier it is,\u201d Perrotti said. \u201cWe can\u2019t conserve species based on people\u2019s fears and speculations about that species, because we\u2019ll have a very fragmented ecosystem. So if we just save the bunnies and the butterflies, that\u2019s not good either.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That fragmented ecosystem could cause a catastrophic cascade of ecological effects, Perrotti said. He likes to look at nature through the metaphor of a bicycle.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYou\u2019ve got a nice new bike. Every spoke in that wheel represents species on the planet. You might be able to poke a few spokes out and still ride the bike,\u201d Perrotti said. \u201cYou poke one more out, it might wobble on you. You do more, it\u2019s going to collapse. Every species plays an ecological role\u2026 And I think we owe it to those species to do the best we can to keep them on this planet and hopefully maintain the ecological role they play.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perrotti has worked with Hoback before on conservation efforts and said he sees promise in the researchers\u2019 work studying beetle secretions. Though, he said it\u2019s a sad reality that putting a human value on an animal makes people more likely to want to save it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf we could prove that these secretions have a use for humans, whether it be battlefield necrotic wounds and keeping those from getting any worse, to coming up with a spray that\u2019s against bacterial and fungal [growth] that could be used in meatpacking plants\u2026 I think it\u2019s exciting, and I think it should be explored,\u201d Perrotti said.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_34688\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 448px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-34688 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9207-resized-448x672.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"448\" height=\"672\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9207-resized-448x672.jpg 448w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9207-resized-1280x1920.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9207-resized-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9207-resized-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9207-resized-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9207-resized-100x150.jpg 100w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9207-resized-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9207-resized-620x930.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9207-resized-720x1080.jpg 720w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/03\/IMG_9207-resized-scaled.jpg 1706w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 448px) 100vw, 448px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Beth Wallis\/StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">OSU professor and researcher Wyatt Hoback presents an American Burying Beetle on his palm. Hoback has been working with the beetle for over 20 years.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hoback and the team of researchers see not only medicinal benefits from studying beetle secretions, but perhaps the work could spawn a renewed interest in conservation efforts for a storied beetle with a controversial protection status.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSo this beetle could hold the cure for cancer or the cure for food poisoning or the cure for whatever, right?\u201d Hoback said. \u201cAnd if we lose the beetle, then we also lose everything else that we could possibly discover. And that\u2019s just irreplaceable.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the Center for Biological Diversity\u2019s lawsuit and the potential benefits with new research, advocates and scientists hope the story of the American Burying Beetle is far from over. But the beetle, like so many other insects, will continue to battle the impending threat of climate change, and whether this brightly-colored bug will survive in Oklahoma much longer remains to be seen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><em>Editor&#8217;s Note: This story has been corrected to change the spelling of Bob Merz&#8217;s name.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Inside the basement of Oklahoma State University\u2019s Insect Adventure, the room is stacked floor-to-ceiling with buzzing, flitting, scuttling life.Inside these individual habitats live Jungle Nymph Walking Sticks bigger than the hands that hold them, African Emperor Scorpions with powerful pinchers and Striped Desert Millipedes with hypnotic yellow and brown rings. There are tarantulas, cockroaches and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":34690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[490,491,16],"tags":[1388,1387,549,1381,602,1389,1390],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34682"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34712,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34682\/revisions\/34712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}