Charley Eiseman

Observation is the bedrock of all science. Charley Eiseman has devoted his career to making careful, direct field observations of plants and animals, particularly insects, and sharing those findings with the scientific community. 

Eiseman recognizes there is much to observe but little time or funding for scientists to do so. Although his interests are broad, he has specialized in studying leafminers: a functional guild of insects, including dipterans, lepidopterans, coleopterans and hymenopterans whose larvae feed on plant tissues by tunneling through leaves. He lives his commitment to share what he learns by publishing much of his work and sharing what he sees in the field — including observational notes on difficult to locate and identify organisms. He is the author of Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates (Stackpole Books, 2010), Leafminers of North America (self-published e-book, 2019; second edition, 2022), and an insect-themed blog called “BugTracks.” He frequently presents his work at scientific gatherings. 

He has described 78 species of insects from across the United States and Canada, and he’s done this on his own time aside from his consulting business. Eiseman’s work has produced numerous discoveries about how little-known insects interact with their host plants.

For more information, visit charleyeiseman.com.