Simplemente agotado … how tired!! Sunburned, running low on water and my trousers caked with mud—that’s how my first day of field research in the Yeguare River valley, Honduras, ended back in 2002. From that day on, for two years, I imagined myself aboard Darwin’s Beagle or the Victoria, the carrack on which Magellan had circumnavigated the globe. On my daily journey of ecological discovery and exploration, I was alone yet more connected than ever. Magnifying glass in hand and aspirator bottle at the ready, my days were spent scanning maize plants’ foliage for the six-legged creatures that devoured farmers’ crop pests. Those bugs kept me going: I was hooked on the mystery, surprise, and beauty of a seemingly simple, yet utterly complex farmland ecosystem. To cite the late E.O. Wilson, I could have spent “a lifetime in a Magellanic voyage” around those maize stalks! Filled with a sense of wonder, every day brought a revelation, a new interaction logged, and a piece of the food system sustainability puzzle uncovered. Most of my days ended tired … yet truly inspired.

Pirate bugs, rove beetles, and big-eyed bugs all gracefully paraded in front of my looking glass. In their glistening chitin armor, metallic long-legged flies strode along leaf blades while robber flies or narrow-wasted vespids patrolled the skies. On the lookout for a juicy meal 24-7, these insects all contribute notably to biological control—one of nature’s prime ecosystem services, which secures at least 25% of crop yields, lowers the carbon footprint of farming, and even keeps the world green. Collectively, these carnivorous bugs reduce pest populations by an average 73% across crops and geographies, and their action is further complemented by a myriad of minute parasitic flies or wasps, insectivorous vertebrates, and microorganisms. Since 2002, some of the creatures I studied (along with many other scientists) have attracted attention far beyond Honduran homesteads and are now seen as potential long-term solutions for devastating invasive pests such as the fall armyworm. The pest control services that they provide free of cost are worth $50 billion–$196 billion per year worldwide—about 50% higher than the global value of insect pollination. If predatory bugs were a country, its GDP would surpass that of Tunisia, Paraguay, or Bahrain.