Protecting our world through conservation action – an interview with Dave Goulson

Climate change and biodiversity are deeply connected. As we continue to experience the impact of a growing ecological crisis, Professor Dave Goulson is determined to explore how conservation action can help us shape a better world.

Introducing...

As Professor of Biology, Dave Goulson is particularly interested in bee ecology and insect conservation. His work with the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (SSRP) considers how we can work across disciplinary boundaries to help achieve global sustainability goals for humanity and the environment.

In this ten-minute interview, Dave discusses the importance of saving the bees and how applied research can inspire significant behavioural change.

What inspired your interest in the world of insects?

Some kids are into dinosaurs, or dream about being astronauts. I remember being at primary school and spotting little yellow and black striped caterpillars on the edge of the playground. I was only about six, and decided to pop them into my lunchbox and bring them home. A few of the caterpillars survived to become what I now know are cinnabar moths, and I’ve been running around after insects ever since.

You’re widely known for your research on bee conservation – how did your interest develop?

After completing my first degree at Oxford, I decided to cycle across the Sahara with a mate. After six months in the desert, I arrived home in the dead of winter and started thinking about my next steps. I wanted to work in a nature reserve or conservation organisation, but quickly discovered that jobs in those areas are very competitive and very rare.

One day, I spotted a PhD opportunity on the butterflies of Bernwood Forest, which is where I’d conducted my undergrad project. It seemed like fate! After my PhD, I worked on a couple of postdocs, including one on the mating behaviours of deathwatch beetles, which are weird, noisy things found in old buildings and dead trees.

Eventually, I moved to the University of Southampton. I was still mad about butterflies, but there are lots of well-established figures in the butterfly world, and I couldn’t really break through. One day, I was sitting in a country farm filled with lots of comfrey, a pretty little flower that bees happen to love. I noticed that bees would often fly up to a flower, but at the last second, fly away, as if there was something wrong with it – but why?

I spent the next five years trying to get to the bottom of that question. Eventually, I figured out that when bees approach a flower, they use their antennae to ‘sniff’ it. If they can smell the footprints of a previous bee, they leave, because they know the flower doesn’t contain any nectar – it’s a way to forage more efficiently. And I began to realise that bumblebees are the intellectual giants of the insect world.

Bees have a complicated social life, and they do all sorts of really clever things, like navigating and memorising landscapes. They have plenty of interesting characteristics to keep exploring until I retire.

You can do all of the research you like, but it won’t make the world a better place unless people change their behaviour, politicians change their policies, or farmers stop spraying pesticides.” Dave Goulson
Professor of Biology

Why are bees important to our people and our planet?

Bees are incredibly vital – both ecologically and economically – because they pollinate many of our foods, for one thing. Sadly, bumblebees are also in decline, and some species have even gone extinct, so my work has focused on exploring how we can halt this decline across environments ranging from farms to urban areas.

Back in the 90s, there wasn’t really any public interest in bees, but there’s a definite wave of enthusiasm these days. This is great for me as a bee specialist, and also for initiating broader conversations about insects and conserving biodiversity – bees aren’t the only pollinators, after all.

Why is it important for you to connect with audiences beyond academia?

You can do all of the research you like, but it won’t make the world a better place unless you can persuade people to change their behaviour, or politicians to change their policies, or farmers to stop spraying pesticides.

I engage with the public because I feel like a bottom-up approach can work. I’ve been involved in political campaigns and given evidence to parliamentary committees, yes, but if we can persuade enough people to care about something, they can put pressure on political parties through their votes, or on employers to undertake more sustainable practices.

In 2006, I started the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, which is now thriving and bigger than ever. Recently, my attention has turned to the Buzz Club, a citizen science club that supports people to make their gardens more wildlife-friendly through projects that involve things like analysing the effectiveness of bug hotels, and exploring whether campaigns like No Mow May make a lasting difference. There are 22 million private gardens in the UK, which is about 400,000 hectares of land – a bigger area than all of our nature reserves combined, so changing the behaviours of gardeners like you or I can make a big difference.

More recently, I’ve also started writing books, including an upcoming children’s encyclopaedia of weird and wonderful insects from around the world. I’m hoping it’ll encourage young readers to get outside and experience the wonder I had as a kid.

Professor Dave Goulson in conversation with a member of staff at the University of Sussex

What has popularised wildlife conservation?

The whole biodiversity conservation movement is relatively recent, and I think you could probably trace its growth to a number of things.

Amazing documentaries from people like Sir David Attenborough have brought wildlife into people’s homes, while social media has, for all its ills, helped people who are interested in nature to find likeminded folks and form communities.

We also have a lot of scary evidence that’s galvanising people to take action. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that we need to make enormous changes to save our planet. Perhaps that’s why younger generations seem increasingly engaged with the environment, which shows promise for the future.

Progress can feel so slow, and we can despair sometimes, but we’ve got to keep going. Every little change we make will improve things more than if we’d refused to do anything at all.

Why were you drawn to Sussex and why have you stayed?

I really like the South Downs, and the climate is better for insects, who tend to prefer warmer weather. Our campus is amazing – it’s built on what would’ve been a fantastically rich wildflower meadow 100 years ago, and I like that Sussex has stated its ambition to be the most biodiverse campus in Britain.

Sussex is also just a great place to be. My department is friendly and welcoming, and my work with the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme has been super interdisciplinary. Our members come from different backgrounds, but are united by their interest in the environment and sustainability.

From lawyers and geologists to geographers and sociologists, there’s a real mix of people who are using their expertise to make the world a better place. It gives Sussex a distinct flavour that I haven’t found anywhere else.

What advice would you give to those interested in a research career?

I remember telling my school’s careers adviser that I was interested in working with wildlife, and he suggested I could only become a vet or a zookeeper, or maybe an accountant because I happened to be good at maths. Ultimately, I studied biology in the hope I’d figure out a way to make a living from it, and I did! I can’t imagine having any other career as satisfying as this one.

So, always remember that you can shape your career in different ways. There are lots of opportunities out there that you won’t even know exist until they present themselves – follow your interests and go for it.