Alana Pindar
Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Environmental Sciences | University of Guelph
Halifax, NS, CANADA
Wild bee expert who studies the impact of environmental stressors such as climate change and habitat loss on bee communities
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Biography
I am a community ecologist who studies the impact of environmental stressors on wild bee communities.
Bees are the single most important taxonomic group of pollinators, comprised of more than 20,000 species essential to both agricultural production and maintaining wild plant diversity. Wild bees, and the pollination services they provide, appear to be in global decline with reported losses documented across multiple continents. Several causal factors for global bee declines have been suggested, including long-term anthropogenic land use change, climate change, parasites and pathogens, invasive species and the increasing use of agrochemicals. Whilst the scientific community has started to build consensus on how such environmental stress factors might affect bees, particularly honeybees and bumblebees, we know almost nothing about how these factors might affect wild bee communities. These wild bee communities have historically provided us with ‘free’ crop pollination services and it alarming to consider bee declines have already, or will in the future, lead to pollination deficits and reduced food production. We urgently need to understand how the full range of anthropogenic stressors could impact bee communities across a range of landscapes and spatial scales.
Industry Expertise (3)
Agriculture and Farming
Fire Protection
Research
Areas of Expertise (7)
Biodiversity
Pollination Biology
Pollination
Ecological Analysis
Ecological disturbance
Ecology
Entomology
Accomplishments (1)
Webster Postdoctoral Fellow (professional)
2021-08-07
Established in honour of the late Earle J.D. Webster, the Webster Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Environmental Sciences was created to fun ground-breaking environmental science research toward making a better planet. Webster attended OAC in 1927, and later went on to distinguish himself as an elementary school educator and author. He showed lifelong interest in both geology and forestry.
Education (3)
Acadia University: BSc, Biology 2004
York University: MSc, Entomology; Restoration Ecology 2007
York University: PhD, Pollination; Biodiversity 2012
Affiliations (1)
- Post Doctoral Fellow- University of Ottawa
Links (1)
Languages (1)
- English
Media Appearances (4)
Bees Are Losing Their Habitat Because of Climate Change
Time Magazine online
2015-07-09
Article for paper published in Science
Bumble bees being crushed by climate change
Science Magazine online
2015-07-09
Media from Science paper
The Buzz on Bees
CBC radio radio
2017-02-09
Maritime Noon radio show- all about bees and phone in from audience with questions
Climate change killing off bumblebees at alarming rate: study
Global news tv
2015-07-09
Media from Science paper
Social