Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services, and the Conservation of Wild Bees

Speaker: Rachael Winfree, Rutgers University. 

Abstract: Human well-being relies on ecosystem services, yet ecology lacks a clear understanding of how biodiversity affects ecosystem services in the real world — that is, in naturally assembled communities studied at large spatial scales. In the first part of this talk I will share my lab’s work on this topic, for which we use native bee pollinators, and the pollination services they provide to crops and wild plants, as a study system. The second part of my talk will discuss the translational side of my research program, in which we study the habitat needs and conservation status of wild bee species, and work with government agencies and conservation organizations to conserve and restore pollinators.

More information here.