IUSSI Pollinator Virtual Symposia, July 6th 2022
RSVP by 6 pm ET June 2nd (Thursday), 2022. International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI) virtual symposia.
Keynote speaker in the morning of July 6th, Wednesday: Prof. Geraldine Wright (University of Oxford).
Symposia – “Protecting pollinators and our food supply: Understanding and managing threats to pollinator
health”. Part A of the symposium will cover managed pollinators (honey bees, bumble bees); Part B will cover wild pollinators (native bees). The organizers are Dr. Karen Kapheim (Utah State University), Dr. Jon Harrison (Arizona State University), Jay Evans (USDA-ARS), Hongmei Li-Byarlay (Central State University), and Tugrul Giray (University of Puerto Rico).
Symposia Abstract: Pollinators are declining and/or experiencing increased mortality worldwide.
As pollinators are critical for successful cultivation of 35% of the global food supply and
required for reproduction of 75% of flowering plants, it is clear that these threats to pollinator
health must be understood and managed. Social insects, including honey bees, bumble bees
and stingless bees are the most important and best-studied pollinators. Yet, recent research has
demonstrated that wild pollinators, including other social and solitary bees, are equally effective
and important in both agricultural and natural landscapes. Sustaining effective pollination services
thus requires understanding how environmental stressors (e.g., pesticides, habitat loss, disease, climate
change) impact both managed and wild pollinators. Certain stressors are likely to have similar
effects on managed and wild pollinators, but others may have disparate or even opposing effects on
different types of pollinators.
This symposium aims to bring together researchers working on how environmental factors affect a broad range of social insect pollinators. Part A will focus on managed and Part B on wild pollinators. Each symposium part will include a panel discussion focused on how to quantitatively assess the relative importance of different environmental stressors, and how government agencies and industry can protect crops and the pollinators critical for our sustainable food supply. After the Part B panel discussion, we will conclude with a discussion open to all. We will have 7 speakers give 15 minute presentations in each symposium. We will leave two slots open to allow adequate time for panel discussions.
Contact us at 937-376-6424 or hli-byarlay@centralstate.edu
Please use this link for the ‘sign-up’ form: https://forms.gle/58MYgFhSVvh863SHA
