Neal Williams – PI
Pollination biology, bee ecology evolution and behavior, agroecology
CV,
Email 
Kimiora Ward – Project Specialist
Restoration ecology, ecological genetics, native plant materials, natural resource management
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Email
I aim to improve ecological functioning of pollinator habitat restorations through identification of key floral resources for bees and through refinement of management techniques to foster plant and insect diversity. I am interested in how consideration of species interactions can better achieve restoration goals. I formerly managed the Seed Increase Program at the Institute for Applied Ecology in Oregon where the program goal was to increase the availability of ecologically appropriate and genetically diverse native forb seed for use in wet prairie restorations.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Rosemary Malfi
Bumblebees, resource availability, natural enemies, population dynamics
Website,
Email
I am interested in how spatiotemporal patterns of food resource availability and natural enemies influence the population dynamics of bumblebees. I am also interested in how the interaction of these extrinsic variables with species-specific traits may result in differential impacts on bumblebee species within a community. In the Williams lab, I am working on a large multi-year field study designed to understand how temporal patterns of food resource availability influence colony-level demographics of bumblebees. Such colony-level demographic studies are essential for understanding the factors that regulate wild social bee populations as well as possible causes of bee declines. To read more about my other research, including my Doctoral work at the University of Virginia, please visit my website.
Maj Rundlöf
Agroecology, bumble bees, ecotoxicology, landscape ecology, pollination
Website,
CV,
Email
I currently work in the interface between landscape ecology and ecotoxicology, mainly in the DELETE project (DEveloping Landscape Ecotoxicology in Terrestrial Ecosystems: Pesticide Exposure and Effects on Bees). In this project, we conduct empirical landscape ecological experiments to assess how pesticide exposure and food availability determine the development and reproduction in bee colonies and populations and the pollination services that the bees provide. I am visiting the Williams’ lab as an International Career Grant Fellow to combine findings from field studies with individual based modelling to see if the results can be generalized. My background is in environmental science, ecology and conservation biology, with a PhD in animal ecology. During my PhD studies at Lund University, I focused on the influence of organic farming on farmland biodiversity. As a postdoc at SLU Uppsala, my focus shifted towards the services, mainly pollination, that the farmland biodiversity provides.
Tina Harrison
Biodiversity, global change, community ecology, bees
CV,
Email
I study how global change alters biodiversity, from local community assemblages to biogeographic spatial scales. In the Williams lab, I am applying machine learning techniques to understand how plant diversity supports insect diversity. An application of this research is designing seed mixes for restoration plantings that support crop pollination and pest control, while minimizing pest species. I am also running a field project to quantify how restoration plantings affect incidence of pests and predators in almond crops. My previous work at Rachael Winfree’s lab at Rutgers University focused on conservation of native bee diversity and the response of wild bee communities to agricultural and urban land use.
Graduate Students
Jennifer VanWyk
Pollination, floral evolution, restoration, global change
Email
I am broadly interested in floral evolution, pollinator community structure and global change. Currently I work in restored wet meadows in the Sierra Nevada – investigating temporal patterns of pollinator community assembly and functional restoration. 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.
Ross Brennan
conservation, biodiversity, functional traits, interaction turnover
Email
My interests range from basic bee and plant biology to community ecology and ecosystem function. I am particularly fascinated by how species interact as members of complex networks, how individuals accumulate into populations and communities, and how species play different roles within ecological communities. My previous work has focused on the co-flowering phenology of montane wildflower communities, phenology and diversity of Rocky Mountain bee species, and characterizing a bipartite plant-pollinator interaction network across time. I hope to explore the spatiotemporal dynamics and ecosystem functional roles of various plants and pollinators within natural plant-pollinator networks. Megachile relativa is one of my favorite native bee species.
John M. Mola
Bumblebees, foraging, dispersal, population genetics, movement ecology
Website,
CV,
Email
My dissertation is focused on the movement ecology of the yellow-faced bumblebee. Foraging and nest selection are critical components of central place forager’s life cycles. However, our ability to make inferences about these behaviors in bumblebees is often limited by idiosyncrasies between study methods and focal species. In my research, I use a single bumblebee widely-abundant species (Bombus vosnesenskii) and a common methodology to investigate foraging, nest selection, and dispersal in a variety of ecological contexts. I use genetic methods and GIS to aid in my studies. I’m broadly interested in pollination ecology, population ecology, population genetics, and all things bees.
Clara Stuligross
Bee ecology, environmental stressors, pesticide exposure, resource availability
Email
I am interested in the interactive effects of multiple stressors on native bees. Specifically, I hope to focus on floral resource availability and pesticide exposure and their comparative effects on social and solitary bee species. Previously, I studied native bee communities in blueberry fields and the response of bumblebee colonies to insecticide drift. I also studied the risks bumblebees face by both floral resource scarcity and an endoparasitoid conopid fly using an RFID system.
Maureen Page
Agriculture, conservation, competition, networks, Osmia lignaria
Email
I am broadly interested in pollination ecology and pollinator conservation in applied agricultural settings. My previous research has included developing a solitary bee monitoring program for the Bernard Field Station (Claremont,CA) and investigating whether some insects are more effective at pollinating Echinacea angustifolia than others. For my Ph.D., I am interested in studying how competitive interactions between honey bees and native pollinators affect network structure, pollination function, and nest provisioning by Osmia lignaria.
Lab Assistants
Andrew Buderi
(B.S. Humboldt State University, 2015)
Staci Cibotti
(B.S. Humboldt State University, 2015)
Heather Spaulding
(M.S. University of Kentucky, 2009)
Undergraduate Researchers
Jessica Drost (University of California, Davis 2017)
Sonja Glasser (University of California, Davis 2015)
Beth Beyer (University of California, Davis)
Kate Borchardt (University of California, Davis)
Past Members
Postdocs
Claire Brittain, http://clairebrittain.wordpress.com/
Jessica Forrest, Assistant Professor University of Ottawa
Jochen Fruend, Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Guelph, Currently at University of Freiburg
Sandra Gillespie, Postdoctoral Scholar, Simon Fraser University
Ola Lundin, Postdoctoral Scholar, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala
Graduate Students
Leslie Saul-Gershenz, (PhD) 2017, Post Doctoral Researcher UC Davis.
Rei Scampavia, (PhD) 2017, Consulting in the San Francisco Bay Area. Rei’s website
Katharina Ullmann, (PhD) 2014, Worked for Xerces Society of Invertebrate Conservation. Currently: Director of UC Davis Student Farm.
Ryder Diaz, (M.S.) 2012, http://www.ryderdiaz.com/
Felix Klaus, (Fulbright Scholar) 2014, Current M.S. student in Teja Tschartnke’s group at Georg-August-University Göttingen
Junior Specialists
Kitty Bolte – Xerces Society Pollinator Habitat Specialist
Logan Rowe – Currently at Michigan State University with Dr. Rufus Isaacs
Undergraduates
Sarah Bolm (University of California, Davis 2012)
Mira Parekh (University of California, Davis 2013)
Alexi Haack (University of California, Davis 2013)
Emily McGlynn (B.A., Bryn Mawr College 2009) – Native bee benefits for agriculture in the Mid-atlantic
Kristen Jenkins (B.A.,Bryn Mawr College 2009) – Functional Compensation and biodiversity loss
Sarah Allard (B.A.,Haverford College 2009) – Functional Compensation and biodiversity loss
Cecily Moyer (B.A.,Haverford College 2009) – The role of floral morphology and reward in structuring pollinator plant networks
Rosemary Malfi (B.A.,Bryn Mawr College 2007) – The effect of urban development onBombus communities in the Delaware Valley, PA
Daniela Miteva (B.A.,Bryn Mawr College 2007) – Pollinator communities and pollination in eastern old fields, Pollinator and pollen deposition webs in restored meadows
Amanda Rahi (B.A.,Bryn Mawr College 2007) – The contributions of specialist and generalist bees to reproductive success of desert mallow