Beetles and biosecurity: A curator’s mission to protect and preserve

Hunched over a small, newly arrived delivery in his lab, Dr. Patrice Bouchard could barely contain his excitement. Inside was a small beetle, about the size of his fingertip, found on some recently imported agricultural goods. Would it co-exist peacefully with agricultural crops in Canada, or wreak havoc on the nation’s agriculture? For Dr. Bouchard, a world-renowned beetle expert and researcher at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)’s Ottawa Research and Development Centre, the stakes couldn’t be higher. And he couldn’t wait to dive in.

Border patrol

As the curator of AAFC’s beetle unit in the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, Dr. Bouchard is often on the front lines in keeping out invasive pests. He compares beetle samples and fragments with specimens in the collections, working with the AAFC National Identification Service and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) when potentially harmful beetles try to hitch a ride into the country on agricultural goods.

Dr. Bouchard curates the beetle collection housed in Agriculture and Agri-food Canada’s Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes at the Ottawa Research and Development Centre in Ontario.

“We’re seeing new species arriving from different countries – species that are not native to Canada,” he says. Largely driven by global trade and a changing climate, foreign pests can attack crops that closely resemble plants from their home countries. Without the same natural predators to keep them in check, these invading pests – and any internal parasites that they carry – could have major ramifications for Canadian ecosystems.

With over 400,000 species worldwide and over 8,000 in Canada alone, beetles are truly one of the most diverse insects on the planet. In agriculture, beetles like the ground beetle, act as nature’s pest control by eating harmful pests and lowering the need for chemical pesticides. However, other beetles are harmful, like wireworms and pepper weevils that attack and damage crops.

Appearing in all sorts of shapes and colours, this wide diversity can make beetles difficult to identify. That’s why Dr. Bouchard collaborates with researchers, staff and other experts to determine the identity of these beetles, all while tracking the movement of different species in Canada. “We can see where the species are now and predict where they might be in the future using climate modelling. People in those regions may be affected and can prepare for it.”

In 2013, Dr. Bouchard and fellow AAFC researchers co-authored the second edition of the Checklist of beetles of Canada and Alaska, documenting over 8,000 species of beetles. He is also working on their next book, one on non-native weevils in Canada, a specific kind of beetle often recognized by an elongated snout. “We have about 150 non-native species of weevils in Canada. We want to find out where they are, what they do, how and when they got here, and what their impact is on agriculture and forestry.”

Modernizing beetle identification

Whether it’s an open house at the Central Experimental Farm or a guest appearance on an educational TV series, Dr. Patrice Bouchard inspires the public to explore the fascinating world of beetles.

In the world of beetles, names are more than just labels – they’re the key to understanding species and their roles in ecosystems. When he’s not in the lab, Dr. Bouchard represents Canada in an international effort working to modernize and standardize the scientific naming system for beetles. “There are often conflicts, and they are discovered more and more as older literature is put online and data sets are shared,” says Dr. Bouchard.

Their work ensures that scientists are communicating about the same species, and not different species with the same name, as misidentification could have ripple effects for conservation efforts.

“A lot of these species were described more than 100 years ago,” says Dr. Bouchard. People only had access to handheld lenses or simple microscopes that magnified easily visible features. “Now we can extract DNA from the cells,” he says, and even examine the texture of the cuticle (shell). “Each scale even has characteristics that they couldn’t see before.”

Gone are the hand-painted plates, where the details largely depended on the author’s artistic skills. “Now you can scan the whole beetle, reconstruct it digitally in 3D, and really look at all the different structures, like digestive, nervous, and respiratory organs. There is so much more we can do now.”

By taking an in-depth look at the anatomy and DNA of beetles, Dr. Bouchard and the CFIA can more quickly and accurately identify foreign beetles.

Outside of the lab, Dr. Bouchard has become a passionate ambassador for beetles, inspiring the public to take a closer look at these diverse critters. In 2014, he authored the widely popular Book of Beetles, filled with pages of vivid photographs of diverse beetle specimens from around the world. The book has since been translated into four different languages: simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean and French. In 2023, he followed up with Beetles of the World: A Natural History, co-authored with a colleague from the Natural History Museum of London.

“By working on more outreach, I hope people will pay more attention to the diversity around them,” he says. “The beetle world is unlike any other.”