Skip to main content

Accessibility menu

Skip to main content Skip to footer

Profile for Barrett Klein

Barrett Klein profile photo

Contact me

Barrett Klein

Pronouns: he/him/his
Professor
Biology University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

Barrett Klein's office hours

Monday
2 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Wednesday
noon to 1 p.m.
FriendlyFace badge
Accessibility badge
TeachingAward badge
Barrett Klein alternate profile photo

Barrett Klein Pronouns: he/him/his

Professor

Biology

Specialty area(s)

Animal behavior, entomology, social insect biology, sleep biology, scientific visualization, intersection of entomology and art, cultural entomology (how insects affect human culture).

If you are a student interested in joining the Pupating Lab to conduct research as an undergraduate or in UWL's Master's program, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Brief biography

The Pupating Lab is where I study insect behavior, sleep biology, and explore the ways in which insects have affected humans throughout history. I studied entomology at Cornell University and the University of Arizona, received a Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin, fabricated natural history exhibits at Chase Studio and the American Museum of Natural History, and joined UWL in 2012. For more about me, my scientific passions, or my art, please visit my homepage, watch my TEDx talk, read The Insect Epiphany, or see my Curriculum vitae. 

Current courses at UWL

Entomology (BIO 444/544, every other fall semester during odd years)

Scientific Visualization (BIO 365, every other fall semester during even years)

Animal Behavior (BIO 446/546, spring semesters)

Ant Art, Fly Food, and Moth Music: How Insects affect our Lives (First Year Seminar)

Organismal Biology (BIO 203)

General Biology (BIO 105)

Senior Capstone (BIO 491)

Education

University of Texas at Austin: Ecology, Evolution & Behavior (Ph.D., 2010)
University of Arizona: Entomology (M.S., 2003)
Cornell University: Entomology (B.S., 1993)

Career

Teaching history

STEAM event (2014) - 10 Quintillion & Counting: The Art & Science of the Insect
Animal Biology

Professional history

Full Professor, UWL (since 2021)

Associate Professor, UWL (2016-2021)

Assistant Professor, UWL (2012-2016)

Innovative Lecturer, University of Konstanz, Germany (2011-2012)

Visiting scientist:
Neurobiology & Behavior, Cornell University (2011)
BEEgroup, University of Würzburg, Germany (2010)

Senior Preparator: Exhibition Department, American Museum of Natural History (1996-1999)

Model maker, illustrator, & curator of entomology: Chase Studio, Inc., Missouri (1995-1996)

Courtesy appointments:
Research Associate, Field Museum, Chicago (2013-2018)
Assistant Professor L/I (Locator Institution), Dept. of Entomology, UW-Madison (2013-2018)

Research and publishing

Welcome to the Pupating Lab, where we investigate entomology, animal behavior, scientific visualization, and cultural entomology. Present projects include studying the functional importance of sleep in social insects and bats, how insects impact human culture, and the importance of visuals in science.

Google Scholar

ResearchGate

Academia.edu

PUBLICATIONS:

Books

Klein B, Lesku J, Rattenborg N. Release date: 2025/2026. Sleep Across the Animal Kingdom. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Klein B. 2024. The Insect Epiphany: How Our Six-Legged Allies Shape Human Culture. Timber Press, Portland, OR.

Abbott JC. 2011. Illustrated by Klein BA. Damselflies of Texas. University of Texas Press.

Science                                                                                                                                           

Lysaker DT, Tucker B, Osmundson T, Geske D, Bartholomay L, Klein BA. In press. Persistence of Aedes triseriatus despite the invasion of Aedes japonicus in western Wisconsin. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association.

Lysaker DT, Tucker B, Bartholomay L, Klein BA. Submitted. Habitat use by Aedes japonicus and Aedes triseriatus (Diptera: Culicidae) at the emergence site of La Crosse virus.

Heckley AM, Harding CD, Page RA, Klein BA, Yovel Y, Diebold CA, Tilley HB. 2024. The effect of group size on sleep in a neotropical bat, Artibeus jamaicensis. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological and Integrative Physiology. 341:1097-1110. doi:10.1002/jez.2860 

Rößler DC, Klein BA. 2024. More sleep for behavioral ecologists. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological and Integrative Physiology. 341:1147-1156. doi:10.1002/jez.2856 

Klein BA. 2022. A sleeping paradox may extend to the spider. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 119:e2211216119. doi:10.1073/pnas.2211216119

Klein BA, Busby MK. 2020. Slumber in a cell: honeycomb used by honey bees for food, brood, heating… and sleeping. PeerJ. 8:e9583. doi:10.7717/peerj.9583

Klein BA, Vogt M, Unrein K, Reineke DR. 2018. Followers of honeybee waggle dancers change their behaviour when dancers are sleep-restricted or perform imprecise dances. Animal Behaviour. 146:71-77.

Taylor RC, Page RA, Klein BA, Ryan MJ, Hunter KL. 2017. Perceived synchrony of frog multimodal signal components is influenced by content and order. Integrative and Comparative Biology. doi:10.1093/icb/icx027

Lendrum J, Seebach B, Klein B, Liu S. 2017. Sleep and the gut microbiome: antibiotic-induced depletion of the gut microbiota reduces nocturnal sleep in mice. bioRxiv. doi:10.1101/199075v1 https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/199075v1

Klein BA, Seeley TD. 2015. The declining use of animal and behaviour images in animal behaviour journals. Animal Behaviour. 103:171-177.

Klein BA, Stiegler M, Klein A, Tautz J. 2014. Mapping sleeping bees within their nest: spatial and temporal analysis of worker honey bee sleep. PLOS ONE. 9(7): e102316. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0102316

Klein BA, Stein J, Taylor RC. 2012. Robots in the service of animal behavior. Communicative & Integrative Biology. 5:467-473.

Wray MK, Klein BA, Seeley TD. 2011. Honey bees use the social information in waggle dances more fully when foraging errors are more costly. Behavioral Ecology. 23:125-131.

Klein BA, Seeley TD. 2011. Work or sleep? Honeybee foragers opportunistically nap during the day when forage is not available. Animal Behaviour. 82:77-83.

Taylor RC, Klein BA, Stein J, Ryan MJ. 2011. Multimodal signal variation in space and time: how important is matching a signal with its signaler? Journal of Experimental Biology. 214:815-820.

Taylor RC, Klein BA, Ryan MJ. 2011. Inter-signal interaction and uncertain information in anuran multimodal signals. Current Zoology. 57:153-161.

Klein BA, Klein A, Wray MK, Mueller UG, Seeley TD. 2010. Sleep deprivation impairs precision of waggle dance signaling in honey bees. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 107:22705-22709.

Klein BA. 2010. Sleeping in a Society: Social Aspects of Sleep within Colonies of Honey Bees (Apis mellifera). Dissertation, Univ. of Texas at Austin.

Klein BA, Olzsowy KM, Klein A, Saunders KM, Seeley TD. 2008. Caste-dependent sleep of worker honey bees. Journal of Experimental Biology. 211:3028-3040.

Wray MK, Klein BA, Mattila HR, Seeley TD. 2008. Honeybees do not reject dances for ‘implausible’ locations: reconsidering the evidence for cognitive maps in insects. Animal Behaviour. 76:261-269.

Taylor RC, Klein BA, Stein J, Ryan MJ. 2008. Faux frogs: Multimodal signalling and the value of robotics in the study of animal behaviour. Animal Behaviour. 76:1089-1097.

Klein BA, Bukowski TC, Avilés L. 2005. Male residency and mating patterns in a subsocial spider. Journal of Arachnology. 33:703-710.

Bernays EA, Klein BA. 2002. Quantifying the symbiont contribution to essential amino acids in aphids: the importance of tryptophan for Uroleucon ambrosiae. Physiological Entomology. 27:275-284.

Engel MS, Klein BA. 1997. Neocorynurella, a new genus of Augochlorine bees from South America (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift. 44:155-163.

Online database

Klein BA, Klein A. 2016. Insects Incorporated: Database of Cultural Entomology. (under construction)

 

 

Science & Art, Cultural entomology
Klein B. 2025. An entomologist's improbable toolkit. American Entomologist. doi:10.1093/ae/tmaf030

Klein BA. 2024. From silk moths to fruit flies, these five insects have changed the world. Smithsonian Magazine.

Klein BA, Brosius TR. 2024. Insects in Art: A Planet in Peril and the Insect Muse. In: A Cultural History of Insects in the Modern Age. R Peterson, Ed. Bloomsbury Publ., London, UK. doi:10.5040/9781474203845.ch-8

Evans M. 2023. A deep attention to place: Lisa Schonberg in conversation with Barrett Klein. SEISMA Magazine. Edition 03:118-131.

Evans M. 2023. Exit, pursued by a bug: Una Chaudhuri in conversation with Barrett Klein. SEISMA Magazine. Edition 03:182-189.

Knox, C. 2023. Flick insects: Steven Kutcher in conversation with Barrett Klein. SEISMA Magazine. Edition 03:166-175.

Tighe K. 2023. Why not eat insects? Joseph Yoon in conversation with Barrett Klein. SEISMA Magazine. Edition 03:82-95.

Trigg D. 2023. A whisper of the bees: Marlène Huissoud in conversation with Barrett Klein. SEISMA Magazine. Edition 03:48-61.

Trigg D. 2023. The nature of art: Catherine Chalmers in conversation with Barrett Klein. SEISMA Magazine. Edition 03:138-155.

Wong J. 2023. Beautiful in their strangeness: Fiona Benson in conversation with Barrett Klein. SEISMA Magazine. Edition 03:26-39.

Klein BA, Brosius TR. 2022. Insects in art during an age of environmental turmoil. Insects. 13:448. doi: 10.3390/insects13050448 

Klein BA. 2022. Wax, wings, and swarms: Insects and their products as art media. Annual Review of Entomology. doi:10.1146/annurev-ento-020821-060803

Klein BA. 2021. Exposing the murky depths part 2: Producing a scientific illustration. In the Drift (Society for Freshwater Science newsletter). Issue 40.

Klein BA. 2020. Exposing the murky depths part 1: The value of scientific illustration for freshwater science. In the Drift (Society for Freshwater Science newsletter). Issue 37.

Klein BA. 2017. The six-legged muse. Introduction to: Inspired by Insects: Bugs in Contemporary Art. EA Rooney, Ed. Schiffer, Publ., Inc., Atglen, PA, USA.

Klein BA. 2015. Encaustics: repurposing the architecture of insects. Introduction to The Buzz Stops Here: an exhibition of encaustic artwork about the science and conservation of bees. Art.Science.Gallery., Austin, TX, USA. http://issuu.com/artsciencegallery/docs/buzzcatalogue_20150411_1608

Klein BA. 2013. Standing on the shoulders of wee giants. Introduction to ECLOSION: a juried group exhibition of insect-inspired art. Art.Science.Gallery., Austin, TX, USA

Klein BA. 2012. The curious connection between insects and dreams. Insects. 3:1-17

Monto G, Klein BA. 2011. In conversation: Barrett Anthony Klein. Current Science. 100:16-18.

Klein BA. 2007. Insects and Humans:  a relationship recorded in visual art. In: Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships: A Global Exploration of Our Connections with Animals. Bekoff, M., ed. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT, USA. 1:92-99.

Klein BA. 2003. Par for the palette: Insects and arachnids as art media. In: Insects in Oral Literature and Traditions. Motte-Florac, E. and J.M.C. Thomas, eds. Peeters, Paris, France.

Kudos

presented

Barrett Klein, Biology, presented "The Insect Epiphany" at the La Crosse Public Library on April 14 in our fair city.

Submitted on: April 21

presented

Barrett Klein, Biology, presented "The Insect Epiphany" at Grinnell College as the Scholar's Convocation speaker on April 17 in Grinnell, Iowa. A display of insects, cultural entomology items, and insect-themed art complemented the talk.

Submitted on: April 21

presented

Barrett Klein, Biology, presented "For the Love of Insects" at Round Table on March 5 in Vail, Colorado. Approximately 30 "interesting people" from a diverse array of disciplines (astronaut, governor, acrobatic pilot...) were invited to present and discuss, to make connections, and to bridge gaps across fields.

Submitted on: Mar. 10

interviewed

Rob Dunn reviewed Biology Professor Barrett Klein's book "The Insect Epiphany" quite positively in the Nov. 8 issue of Science.

Submitted on: Nov. 14, 2024

interviewed

Barrett Klein, Biology, was interviewed by Science Friday of National Public Radio on Oct. 25. Barrett talked about how insects affect human culture, recounting tales from his book "The Insect Epiphany."

Submitted on: Oct. 28, 2024

presented

Barrett Klein, Biology, presented "The Insect Epiphany" at a book launch on Tuesday, Oct. 15 in Pearl Street Books, La Crosse, WI..

Submitted on: Oct. 15, 2024

published

Barrett Klein, Biology, authored the article "From Silk Moths to Fruit Flies, These Five Insects Have Changed the World" in Smithsonian published on Tuesday, Oct. 15 by Smithsonian. I was asked to write about five insects that have most impacted our world. The choice wasn't easy because so many insects profoundly affect our lives.

Submitted on: Oct. 15, 2024

published

Barrett Klein, Biology, co-authored the article "The effect of group size on sleep in a Neotropical bat, Artibeus jamaicensis" in Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A, published on Thursday, July 25 by Wiley. Barrett joined bat-obsessed colleagues in Panama for a rare study of sleep in our flying vertebrates. Accessible here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jez.2860

Submitted on: July 25, 2024

published

Daniela Rößler, a spider sleep biologist at University of Konstanz, Germany, and Barrett Klein, Biology, wrote a commentary to compel more biologists to consider the importance of sleep when asking questions about their study organisms. "More sleep for behavioral ecologists" was published in the Journal of Experimental Zoology - A on Monday, July 22 by Wiley. Bug Hartsock, a master's student in the Pupating Lab, provided the perfect cartoon to accompany it!

Submitted on: July 22, 2024

published

Barrett Klein, Biology, co-authored the article "Insects and art (as 1 of 7 articles in a series)" in SEISMA Magazine published on Jan. 25 by SEISMA Magazine. The edition features seven different luminaries across the humanities... whose work features insects: Una Chaudhuri (theater/drama), Joseph Yoon (culinary arts), Marlène Huissoud (art/design), Catherine Chalmers (art), Steven Kutcher (movies/TV), Lisa Schonberg (music), and Fiona Benson (poetry). Watch a video playlist of conversations. 

Submitted on: Feb. 4, 2024

Important links