There has been a lot of attention lately to whether there is a long-term towards declining insect abundance across the world. This week we catch up with Dr. Tyson Wepprich who recently reported on butterfly abundance declines in Ohio over the past 20 years.
Dr. Wepprich is an entomologist who researches insect populations, phenology, and adaptations to climate. At OSU, he works with Fritzi Grevstad and Len Coop on the management of invasive weeds with biocontrol insects. Previously, he was at NC State University, where he worked on habitat restoration for an endangered butterfly, but realized he was a better statistician than field biologist. He switched projects in graduate school to analyze data from long-term monitoring of butterflies in Ohio. He still work on butterflies and how they can tell us about the health of insect communities and about insect adaptations to environmental changes. What he has learned from butterflies informs both his current job and his knowledge about how pollinators may fare in the future. Butterflies, other pollinators, and biocontrol beetles all have life cycles that depend on the climate. He is especially interested if increases in the number of generations insects attempt with longer growing seasons will be beneficial for their populations or not.
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Links Mentioned:
Tyson’s Book Recommendation: The Butterflies of Cascadia (Robert Pyle, 2002); Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History (David Wagner, 2005)
Tyson’s Go to Tool: R and ggplot2
Favorite Pollinator: Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele)
Oregon and Florida may seem miles apart, but the role of bees in both states has remarkable parallels. This week Dr. Rachel Mallinger University of Florida talks about blueberry pollination, bees in forest systems and interests of gardeners around bees in the Sunshine State. Dr. Mallinger is a professor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology at the University of Florida. Her position is 60% research, 25% extension, and 15% teaching, so she wears many hats! In general, she conduct research on pollination ecology, plant-pollinator interactions, and wild bee community ecology. Her extension programs works with growers of pollinator-dependent specialty crops (e.g. blueberries, strawberries), and with Florida’s Master Gardeners to improve gardens and landscapes for native wild bees. She also teaches a course on the ecology and conservation of pollinators for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Watermelons are hard notoriously to pollinate. But pollination is not their only problem; they can also experience reduced yield from pest damage. This week we hear from Jacob Pecenka, a PhD candidate at Purdue Universtity, from who tells us about the trade-offs from managing pests and loosing pollination and how Integrated Pest Management can provide an excellent way to navigate these trade-offs.
There has been a lot of demand for nursery plants that are good for pollinators, but also confusion on whether these plants have been grown using practices that minimize impacts to pollinators. This week we hear from Sharon Selvaggio, Program Director at Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP), about a pilot study (conducted along with 
To mark 100 episodes of PolliNation we have assembled the dedicated faculty from OSU to answer your questions:
Adam Allington in a reporter with Bloomberg Environment in Washington DC. He covers environmental issues including pesticides and chemicals. Prior to coming to Bloomberg he spent more than ten years working in public radio. Over the course of one year, Adam, along with environment reporters David Schultz and Tiffany Stecker traveled to all corners of the honeybee ecosystem from Washington, D.C., to the California almond fields, and orchards of the upper Midwest to examine the changing relationship between commercial pollination and US food production. There findings are featured in a new Bloomberg podcast: The Business of Bees.
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