When: 8 April 2021, 12-1pm

Guest: Dr. Sheila Colla | @SaveWildBees | savethebumblebees.ca

Faculty of Environmental Studies
York University

Title: Exploring the human dimensions of pollinator conservation

Abstract: Dr. Sheila Colla will be discussing the current status of wild pollinators and discuss their current environmental stressors. Her research has documented declines of many native species and examined threats globally. More recently her research has shifted focus to socio-economic barriers to conservation and sociocultural importance of pollinator biodiversity. This talk will discuss these challenges and ways forward.

Bio: Sheila Colla, PhD. is a Conservation Scientist and Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University. Her research program examines the status of wild pollinators, threats to declining species and wildlife conservation management. She is the York University Chair in Interdisciplinary Conservation Science and co-authored “The Bumblebee of North America: An Identification Guide” (Princeton University Press, 2014).

Register: Due to the current circumstances, the events are all taking place online. Please fill out the registration form here to receive a Zoom link.

When: 18 March 2021, 12-1pm

Guest: Dr. Claire Kremen | @clairekremen | nature.berkeley.edu/kremenlab

Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management
University of British Columbia

Title: Tweaks to transformations: Using ecological intensification and diversification to improve outcomes for biodiversity and food systems

Abstract: How do we re-design agricultural landscapes to maintain their productivity and profitability, while promoting rather than eradicating biodiversity, and regenerating rather than undermining the ecological processes that sustain food production and are vital for a livable planet? Ecological intensification harnesses ecological processes to increase food production per area through management processes that often diversify croplands to support beneficial organisms supplying these services. Dr. Kremen will explore several examples, from tweaks to full-scale transformations of farming systems, that show the promise of ecological intensification and diversification techniques, and discuss the policy changes needed to promote broader uptake.

Bio: Claire Kremen is President’s Excellence Chair in Biodiversity at University of British Columbia. Previously, she was a professor first at
Princeton and then at University of California, Berkeley, where she founded the Center for Diversified Farming Systems and the Berkeley Food Institute. Before that, she worked for the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Xerces Society on establishing protected areas and conducting biodiversity research in Madagascar. She was named a Macarthur Fellow in 2007 and Volvo Environment Prize Laureate in 2020. She obtained her PhD from Duke University in 1987.

Register: Due to the current circumstances, the events are all taking place online. Please fill out the registration form here to receive a Zoom link.