Dr. Jason Gibbs studies the diversity and taxonomy of wild bees. He completed his PhD at York University. He was a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University and a research associate at Michigan State University before joining Canada’s only Department of Entomology at the University of Manitoba in 2016. He is curator of one of the largest insect collections in western Canada. He has published 115 scientific papers on various aspects of bee diversity, pollination ecology, and taxonomy. He has supervised 4 PhDs and 7 MSc students. He has named dozens of new species. Four species of bees have been named after him for his contributions to bee taxonomy.

Dr. Gibbs shares his agricultural background, growing up as the son of a bee keeper, as well as some information about his research background and how this early interest and exposure to bees has led him on his career path.

Today we are taking a close look at the benefits that wild bees and pollinators bring to agricultural landscapes.  There are estimates that you can get an increase of 5-10% yield in agricultural crops from insect pollination and about 35% of crops benefit from pollination, along with many other benefits that wild bees and pollinators bring to agricultural production.  There are many types of agricultural production that require these pollination services.

We talk about the history of the number and diversification of the population size and diversity of wild pollinators in Manitoba.

Jason discusses the difference between wild bees and honey bees, what bees require for habitat and what practices in agriculture may be threatening these important insects, including the use of pesticides. 

Conversely, we discuss management practices that benefit wild pollinators and other beneficial insects, especially the use of floral or pollinator strips.  Jason also explains some of the benefits to crop health as a result of floral strips.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Dr. Gibbs’ Faculty Page U of Manitoba: https://umanitoba.ca/agricultural-food-sciences/entomology/jason-gibbs 

Gibbs Wild Bee Lab Website: https://sites.google.com/site/dialictus/home?authuser=0

Find Jason on Instagram @gibbsbeelab or https://www.instagram.com/gibbsbeelab/

Dr. Gibb’s Articles: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5SWs9jQAAAAJ&hl=en

Current projects: 

https://umanitoba.ca/agricultural-food-sciences/leap

https://genomeprairie.ca/project/gg4ghg_grassland_genomics/

Museum of Entomology:

https://umanitoba.ca/agricultural-food-sciences/wallis-roughley-museum-entomology

https://ecdysis.org/collections/misc/collprofiles.php?collid=129

The research programs and daily operations at MBFI would not be possible without the funding from the Province of Manitoba, Government of Canada, and Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, as well as the partnership with Manitoba Agriculture, Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) and Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC).

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