In the face of insect decline, it is critical for us to understand pollinator health both in terms of influencing factors and how to monitor those impacts. Today we are specifically focusing on bees.

To talk about some exciting research in this field is Dr. Laura (la-u-ra) Figueroa (fig-eh-row-ah). Laura is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Conservation Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She was previously a National Science Foundation post-doctoral research fellow, and completed her PhD in entomology at Cornell University. Laura is broadly interested in insect conservation, with a focus on the health of pollinators in changing landscapes and the impacts of climate change. She has worked in temperate regions (primarily the Northeastern US) as well as in the tropics (in Costa Rica and in Colombia), and her active research program seeks to answer pressing questions in the field of pollinator conservation.

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Photo: Sara Morris / CC BY-NC 2.0

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