Unlocking Nature’s Time Capsule

A researcher seeking to discover hidden truths in the natural world travels to his favorite spot in the Dutch East Indies. It’s 1924, and this is his third trip to this location since the end of the Great War. After three weeks of collecting damselfly specimens, he places the final insect in his trunk and affixes a handwritten tag on it that includes his name, date, and the coordinates of his current location. Closing the trunk, he has it shipped home—to Leiden, Netherlands—where it will join a growing collection of specimens at the National Museum of Natural History. The building will be renamed, rebuilt, and reformed into one of Europe’s largest public museums. But this damselfly will remain largely untouched—for almost 100 years.

Alex Atkinson (BIO ’25) encountered these specimens while on a two-month internship working with the research team at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, Netherlands. Atkinson and fellow undergraduate students came to the Naturalis with entomology expert Dr. Seth Bybee, a biology professor in the College of Life Sciences. While digitizing some of the specimens among Naturalis’s 43 million objects, Atkinson felt connected to the researchers who had prepared the way for his studies. “It was just surreal,” Atkinson recalls. “We would find these really old specimens with a location that isn’t even called that anymore. The researcher might be long gone, but I’m still reading their handwriting.” During his time at the center, Atkinson felt he got to know some of these researchers as he reviewed their specimens, followed their travels from year to year, and saw their dedication to this work.

Modern researchers are no less dedicated. In order to answer questions about the impact of invasive species, how habitats and climates have changed over time, and how insects are responding to those changes, modern researchers continue to collect and study specimens. As part of a $2.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation procured by Bybee, Dr. Paul Frandsen, Dr. Jamie Jensen, and collaborators at the University of Florida, the American Museum, and the University of Alabama, Bybee travels with students to the Naturalis to study dragonfly and damselfly genealogy. Students investigate the specimens closely, cataloging their findings into elaborate spreadsheets. They take photos with advanced electron microscopes and remove one of the insect’s six legs to prepare it for DNA extraction. Once they have tens of thousands of specimens cataloged, they can begin to see patterns of change over time that provide answers to important scientific questions and give researchers a glimpse into the past, which can inform future decisions in conservation and sustainability.

This data collection is also one way that BYU students and faculty safeguard the earth and its creatures: “I think students see the need to document all of God’s creations to make sure that we know what we have, so we can be good stewards over it,” says Bybee.

Phylogeny and Genealogy: Two Kindred Spirits

Photo by BYU Photo

In his study of phylogeny or, in other words, insect genealogy, Bybee has experiences that are similar to what many people encounter in family history research. While on sabbatical in France, Bybee contacted researchers at an insect collection in Austria to see if they could squeeze him in for a visit. He was writing a paper on dragonflies and searching far and wide for a particular specimen that his team knew existed but could not find anywhere in the world, even after contacting all the experts in the field. He arrived at the insect collection in Austria with just a spark of hope. “I opened up a drawer, and there it was—right there,” Bybee recalls. “I think it had been collected about 100 years ago, and we lost track of it. It was such a family history moment. And now we know where it is right now. It’s documented.”

For Bybee’s students, working at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center is a phenomenal opportunity to connect with scientists from bygone eras and continue to move their work forward. That connection is reminiscent of what many feel while learning about the lives of their ancestors. “This is just another way to connect to the past—to see how these other people were as committed as the students are today to doing the same craft,” Bybee explains.

Just as God aids genealogists, he also aids entomologists who faithfully seek Him. As President Jeffrey R. Holland taught, “[God] never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face.”¹

Bybee has seen this in his own life. “I’ve just had so many experiences during my undergrad, going through grad school, and even as a new professor where I solved issues in my research by getting on my knees and seeking help.” This process of revelatory research is one that he teaches to his students.

Linking the Past to the Future

Through the efforts of students like Atkinson and faculty like Bybee, the work from the scientists of yesteryear will live on, and that gives Atkinson some peace of mind. “It felt comforting to know that their research is not in vain,” Atkinson shares. “We’re digitizing it; we’re using it for the future. We’re cataloging it and putting it in a new bag with a QR code.” Some of their data has already been used in new scientific publications.

Atkinson is now part of bridging the research of past scientists with the artificial intelligence (AI) of the future. Thanks to his time at the Naturalis, Atkinson connected with a bioinformatician professor at Virginia Tech. The two now work together coding on BYU’s supercomputer to prepare data for insect DNA sequencing and comparison. Once all the data has been inputted, AI can assemble family trees of accurate insect classification.

This is just the beginning of what AI can do to catalog and compare insect species, and Atkinson intends to be part of it all. After he finishes his undergraduate degree at BYU, he plans to apply for a PhD at Virginia Tech to continue his research in bioinformatics.

Through BYU’s research, the expeditions of scholars from the past still have the potential to impact our future.