Neal Williams
I am an evolutionary ecologist whose research ranges from basic bee and pollination biology to conservation biology and agricultural pollination. I am deeply interested in the interactions of flower visitors and the floral hosts which they often pollinate. I explore questions about pollinators, flowering plants and pollination from a variety of perspectives and at different scales from the foraging of individual bees, to the persistence of their populations, to the stability and dynamics of their communities in space and time. –more about my research
Graduate students
Katharina Ullmann- I am interested in understanding how species are able to persist in highly modified landscapes. Specifically, I study pollinators in intensified agricultural landscapes and the services they provide. I am also interested in pollinator habitat restoration. CV
Jennifer Van Wyk - I am broadly interested in floral evolution, pollination community structure and global change. My previous research has looked at butterfly constancy in a manipulated phenotypic array as well as single visit success and pollen load capacity of butterflies visiting Hymenoxys hoopesii. I am currently looking at how pollen environments influence sex allocation in plants.
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Leslie Saul - My previous research documented cooperative aggressive chemical and visual mimicry in a blister beetle bee nest parasite. The larvae of Meloe franciscanus cooperate to mimic the sex pheromones of the solitary bee Habropoda pallida female to lure in males. The larvae then attach to the male bee and then transfer to female bees when the male attempts to copulate with the female bee. My research interests include the evolution of chemical mimicry systems and the selection pressures on sex pheromone communication system of bees. I am also interested in the pollination ecology and conservation biology of native bees. http://www.lsaul.com
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Ryder Diaz- I am interested in species interactions, particularly symbioses and their role in structuring communities. I am currently pursuing questions related to how symbioses influence selection for host traits in pollinator-plant-microbial systems. My other interests include pollination biology and the role of symbionts on niche breadth and host plant use.Postdoctoral researchers
Claire Brittain - I am a visiting postdoctoral scientist from Luneberg investigating the role of wild bees as almond pollinators. My research explores the effect of local farm attributes and landscape on pollination. My expertise also extends to pesticide impacts on native bees.
For more information on my research visit http://www.leuphana.de/en/alex-home/research-projects/almond-pollination.html
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Jessica Forrest - I am an ecologist with a particular interest in the interplay between species interactions and environmental change. How has past environmental variability influenced the plant–pollinator relationships we see today, and how might these relationships be affected by more rapid future changes? A lot of my work deals with biological aspects of timing (e.g., phenology, synchrony, life history). My doctoral dissertation (with James Thomson, at the University of Toronto) looked at the effects of natural climatic variability and climate change on plant–pollinator interactions, with a particular focus on the subalpine meadows around the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (Colorado). My post-doctoral research in the Williams lab will investigate the relative importance of floral resources, nesting sites, and brood parasites as factors limiting population sizes of native solitary bees in California. In my spare time, I ponder various underappreciated aspects of the evolution of flowering phenology.
For more about my research, see http://individual.utoronto.ca/jforrest/index.html
Sandra Gillespie – I am an ecologist broadly interested in how mutualisms interact with, and are affected by the larger community. My doctoral dissertation (with Lynn Adler at the University of Massachusetts) sought to understand whether mutualisms can mediate trophic cascades, and whether the occurrence and strength of such cascades is affected by the interdependence between mutualists. I examined the context and mechanisms by which parasitoids and parasites of bumblebees can have indirect effects on pollination service to plants using a range of approaches, including field surveys, laboratory manipulations and theoretical modeling.
As a postdoc in the Williams lab, I will be applying these techniques to examine the mechanisms behind yield declines in hybrid onion seed production in California, with the goal of developing sustainable recommendations for producers.
Project Specialist
Kimiora Ward -Kimiora, an expert in plant restoration ecology, is a key collaborator in and manager of projects surrounding habitat enhancement to bolster native pollinators.
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Undergraduate Research Students -Research / Thesis topics
Sarah Bolm (University of California, Davis 2012)
Mira Parekh (University of California, Davis 2013)
Emily McGlynn (Bryn Mawr College 2009) – Native bee benefits for agriculture in the Mid-atlantic
Kristen Jenkins (Bryn Mawr College 2009) – Functional Compensation and biodiversity loss
Sarah Allard (Haverford College 2009) – Functional Compensation and biodiversity loss
Cecily Moyer (Haverford College 2009) – The role of floral morphology and reward in structuring pollinator plant networks
Rosemary Malfi (Bryn Mawr College 2007) – The effect of urban development on Bombus communities in the Delaware Valley, PA
Daniela Miteva (Bryn Mawr College 2007) – Pollinator communities and pollination in eastern old fields, Pollinator and pollen deposition webs in restored meadows
Amanda Rahi (Bryn Mawr College 2007) – The contributions of specialist and generalist bees to reproductive success of desert mallow
