Waldbauer, Gilbert 1928–

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Waldbauer, Gilbert 1928–

(Gilbert P. Waldbauer)

PERSONAL:

Born April 18, 1928, in Bridgeport, CT; son of George Henry and Hedwig Martha Waldbauer; married Stephanie Stiefel, January 2, 1955 (deceased, 1998); children: Gwen Ruth, Susan Martha. Ethnicity: "German." Education: University of Massachusetts at Amherst, B.S., 1953; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, M.S., 1956, Ph.D., 1960. Politics: Democrat. Hobbies and other interests: Birding.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Savoy, IL. Office—Department of Entomology, 320 Morrill Hall, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 505 S. Goodwin, Urbana, IL 61801; fax: 217-244-3499.

CAREER:

Educator, writer. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, began as instructor, became professor of entomology, 1953-95, professor emeritus, beginning 1995. Military service: Served with the U.S. Army, 1946-47.

MEMBER:

American Birding Association.

WRITINGS:

(With A.P. Marciano) Rice Leaf Folder: Mass Rearing and a Proposal for Screening for Varietal Resistance in the Greenhouse, International Rice Research Institute (Manila), 1979.

Insects through the Seasons, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1996.

The Birder's Bug Book, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1998.

The Handy Bug Answer Book, Visible Ink Press (Detroit, MI), 1998.

Millions of Monarchs, Bunches of Beetles: How Bugs Find Strength in Numbers, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 2000.

What Good Are Bugs? Insects in the Web of Life, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

Insights from Insects: What Bad Bugs Can Teach Us, Prometheus Books (Amherst, NY), 2005.

A Walk around the Pond: Insects in and over the Water, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Gilbert Waldbauer is an entomologist who completed his education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and never left. He spent his entire career teaching there and retired in 1995. Waldbauer's books have proven popular for general readers who wish to broaden their knowledge of insects.

In the twelve chapters of Insects through the Seasons, Waldbauer writes of insect mating and fertilization, feedings, parasites, and illnesses, and how insects survive against predators and the elements. He uses the cecropia moth throughout the book in making comparisons to other insects as he describes the various stages of life, including egg, larva, pupa, and adult insect. He includes a flip book type of animation of the moth in flight on the lower right-hand pages. A New Scientist reviewer called the book "a joyous romp through amazing-but-true natural history stories of what makes insects tick." Waldbauer notes that the silkworm is no longer able to survive in nature. He points out that insect species number more than nine hundred thousand, comprising seventy-five percent of all species of animals, and that they have inhabited earth for more than four hundred million years. "I found the chapter on parasites and parasitoids especially fascinating," wrote Mary Crowe in Ecology. "Waldbauer does a great job of explaining how scientists are interested in science because they love it, and that science doesn't have to be applied to be useful." "A real natural history treasury, this is an elegant volume, too, thanks to the many excellent line drawings," noted Booklist contributor Ray Olson.

Drawing upon a lifetime of research into the adaptive significance of individual and group behavior in insects, Waldbauer introduces readers to little-known aspects of entomology. In The Birder's Bug Book, for instance, he explores the interaction between birds and bugs, not merely in terms of the predator-prey relationship, but also in instances of cooperation and cohabitation. In Booklist, George Cohen praised the author for "striving to be scientifically accurate yet using a variety of delightful anecdotes to make his points." Cohen concluded that The Birder's Bug Book is "a must-read for anyone interested in natural history." A Publishers Weekly correspondent noted that Waldbauer "gives a lucid, engaging account of mutual exploitation in a complex ecosystem while evincing a sneaking admiration for bugs," adding that The Birder's Bug Book "is not just for birders; any student of natural history will find it illuminating."

Many students are familiar with the cooperative behavior of bees, ants, and termites. Waldbauer extends the knowledge of cooperative insects with his Millionsof Monarchs, Bunches of Beetles: How Bugs Find Strength in Numbers. The book examines lesser-known group activities in insects such as ladybugs, locusts, tent caterpillars, and monarch butterflies, explaining how these species and others benefit from congregating in large numbers. In his Booklist review of the title, Olson stated: "Every chapter is … so full of fascination, so well conveyed in clear, congenial, and precise prose, that many readers may want to audit professor Waldbauer's next course." In the New York Times Book Review, Derek Bickerton maintained that the most important feature of this "delightful" book is "the enthusiasm with which it is written…. Indeed, you'll probably never think of insects in quite the same way again."

In What Good Are Bugs? Insects in the Web of Life, Waldbauer emphasizes the importance of insects, including for the pollination of flowers, many of which produce food, and in the decomposition process of decaying plant and animal life and the dung of animals that is disposed of by such insects as the dung or scarab beetle. Some insects help to propagate new plants by ingesting and then eliminating seeds, while others kill and eat insects that destroy vegetation. Mantises, ladybugs, and dragonflies are among the insects that provide this service. Waldbauer writes of insects who till the soil, including one species of Great Plains ant that brought nearly two tons of subsoil to the surface of an acre of land, and of others, like the honeybee that collects large quantities of pollen and nectar. Waldbauer provides anecdotal commentary based on his years of research and draws from the scientific literature in what Booklist contributor Nancy Bent called an "elegant survey of insect ecology."

In Insights from Insects: What Bad Bugs Can Teach Us, Waldbauer writes of insects that have become agricultural nightmares and others that are particularly bothersome and dangerous to humans, including the mosquito and the fly. Many of these have resisted all forms of eradication and continue to survive. He writes of flesh-eating screwworm maggots and of the disgusting sight of a gypsy moth caterpillar infestation. He notes various methods used to eliminate insect pests, including insecticides, the introduction of sterilized males, and torching. A Publishers Weekly reviewer felt Insights from Insects to be an "engrossing—and quite gross—collection of essays on insect pests."

A Walk around the Pond: Insects in and over the Water is Waldbauer's study of aquatic insects, from parasitic wasps to giant water bugs. He notes that insects predated dinosaurs by two hundred million years and that in North America aquatic and semiaquatic insects far outnumber other freshwater organisms since their species number more than ten thousand. Waldbauer explains how these water insects have evolved so that they can breathe, find food, reproduce, and regulate their temperatures. He comments on the bad aquatic insects, such as the mosquito and black flies, both of which sometimes are carriers of disease, as well as good insects, including those that are collected for food. Library Journal contributor Annette Aiello wrote: "This book is sure to fascinate not only interested lay readers but also entomologists." Bent wrote: "Readers will be inspired to take a closer look at their favorite pond or stream."

Waldbauer once told CA: "Almost as long as I can remember, I have had a consuming interest in natural history. Life has been kind to me, allowing me to indulge that interest as I pursued an academic career as an entomologist in an outstanding department in one of the country's great universities. Since my retirement from teaching and research in 1995, I have been writing full-time, inspired by the awesome beauty of nature and by the work of the many entomologists and other biologists I have known and by the work of those who came before me.

"I write because I love doing it, and because I want to open the eyes of others to the wonder of nature and communicate to them my own enthusiasm for the study of biology. I try to be scientifically accurate and to explain significant biological concepts while using language that can be understood by non-biologists. At first it wasn't easy to write without using the jargon of the field, but I think that I have now mastered that art."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 15, 1996, Ray Olson, review of Insects through the Seasons, p. 1229; August, 1998, George Cohen, review of The Birder's Bug Book, p. 1943; March 1, 2000, Ray Olson, review of Millions of Monarchs, Bunches of Beetles: How Bugs Find Strength in Numbers, p. 1182; April 15, 2003, Nancy Bent, review of What Good Are Bugs? Insects in the Web of Life, p. 1437; March 15, 2005, Nancy Bent, review of Insights from Insects:What Bad Bugs Can Teach Us, p. 1253; April 15, 2006, Nancy Bent, review of A Walk around the Pond: Insects in and over the Water, p. 14.

Ecology, March, 1997, Mary Crowe, review of Insects through the Seasons, p. 646.

Economist, May 31, 2003, review of What Good Are Bugs?, p. 82.

Kliatt, May, 2002, Katherine E. Gillen, review of Millions of Monarchs, Bunches of Beetles, p. 44.

Library Journal, August, 1998, Henry T. Armistead, review of The Birder's Bug Book, p. 127; June 1, 2006, Annette Aiello, review of A Walk around the Pond, p. 150.

M2 Best Books, December 24, 2003, review of What Good Are Bugs?

New Scientist, April 6, 1996, review of Insects through the Seasons, p. 44.

New York Times Book Review, June 4, 2000, Derek Bickerton, review of Millions of Monarchs, Bunches of Beetles.

Publishers Weekly, August 10, 1998, review of The Birder's Bug Book, p. 377; January 15, 1996, review of Insects through the Seasons, p. 453; January 24, 2005, review of Insights from Insects, p. 230.

Science News, June 21, 2003, review of What Good Are Bugs?, p. 399; May 7, 2005, review of Insights from Insects, p. 303; June 24, 2006, review of A Walk around the Pond, p. 399.

Science Teacher, December, 2005, Richard Smith, review of Insights from Insects, p. 62.

SciTech Book News, June, 2005, review of Insights from Insects, p. 126.