WHEN AND WHY?
Phenology is the study of when bees and other organisms are active, and this is important because bees need pollen to provision their offspring and many plants need the pollination services that bees provide. If pollinators and plants do not match in their timing, they may face reproductive costs, or even local extirpation. This is especially true for specialist bees or plants with few pollinators, which are closely tied to their counterparts and have more limited alternatives.
One of my broader research goals is to characterize the phenological patterns of bees in different areas. Joan Meiners (UF) and I are currently addressing this aim with inventory data collected during projects throughout the western US (e.g., Pinnacles National Park, Yosemite National Park). Preliminary results suggest that elevation matters more than geography or ecoregion, as expected, and also that biological factors such as facultative voltinism (number of generations per year) and delayed emergence must be accounted for in phenological studies. My future phenological work will focus on desert bees, as these phenological traits appear most common in xeric areas.
One of my broader research goals is to characterize the phenological patterns of bees in different areas. Joan Meiners (UF) and I are currently addressing this aim with inventory data collected during projects throughout the western US (e.g., Pinnacles National Park, Yosemite National Park). Preliminary results suggest that elevation matters more than geography or ecoregion, as expected, and also that biological factors such as facultative voltinism (number of generations per year) and delayed emergence must be accounted for in phenological studies. My future phenological work will focus on desert bees, as these phenological traits appear most common in xeric areas.