The blue willow leaf beetle lives in groups as adult and larvae and can be described as a communal species, which is the least complex form of sociality (e.g. ants/bees are eusocial which is the most complex form with overlapping generations, giving up sex of all individuals, and brood care).

This beetle is considered as the major insect pest within willow short rotation coppices that are grown as a second generation bio-fuel production system (`second generation´ because it’s not a food plant).

In this system I was interested in factors modulating aggregation, like food availability, the interaction with other beetle individuals, and the effect of predatory bugs on the beetle behaviour.

I have approached these questions mainly with controlled experiments in the lab that result in rather theoretical reflections on grouping of individuals, but also field sampling in the Uppsala area.

During the last years of these projects I was focusing more on the omnivore perspective of this tri-trophic interaction.

Some data from these investigations have not been used for a scientific publication and are freely available: 1) greenhouse experiments investiagting egg laying of two beetle species https://zenodo.org/record/7003059; 2) field experiments investigating egg predation by omnivores