Science Communication
Dr. Maria Carolina Simao, Michelle Fearon, and Ed Waisanen in the It’s Hot in Here studio.
Buzzfeed: Wild Bees Meet Urban Farming, It’s Hot In Here Podcast
Dr. Maria Carolina Simao and Dr. Rebecca Tonietto, and I joined our host, Ed Waisanen, to talk about the importance of wild bees in agriculture and urban areas, current factors impacting their health, and how we can all promote the diversity of wild bees. We also get into some of the challenges we’ve faced in bee research (yes, we do get stung), as well as some of the fun aspects of bee identification.
Bombus impatiens on Wingstem, Verbesina alternifolia. Photo by Michelle Fearon
Michigan State University Extension Pollinator Initiative Webinar
I gave a talk titled “The buzz about native bees: The multiple interacting factors that contribute to native bee declines” for the MSU Pollinator Initiative Webinar series. I talk about the incredible diversity of native bees in North America and why they are important in our ecosystems. I also address some of the key factors that contribute to their declines, including loss of habitat, pesticide use, and spread of diseases (where I highlight some of my recent work!).
Squash field at sunrise. Photo by Michelle Fearon
Interviews!
In 2021, I was fortunate to get to do a number of interviews with various news sources after the publication of my 2021 Ecology paper, “Pollinator community species richness dilutes prevalence of multiple viruses within multiple host species”. I really enjoyed getting to share this work from my dissertation with the public, and emphasizing that conservation of native bees has potential health benefits for pollinators.