Author & Ecologist
Cup traps proved very effect for sampling early spring native bees. Friday, I met my student, Gabrielle, on a frosty spring morning to set up traps for her capstone project. Gabrielle is following up on work begun last year assessing the impact of stem nester refugia on native bee communities in prairie remnants at Jerry... Continue Reading →
Filmmaker Jake Willers talks about the making of (Re)Connecting Wild at the 2020 North American Conference for Conservation Biology By February of this year, when Covid-19 was just making its presence known in the U.S., my summer calendar was booked. Early June, I planned to attend the Society for Ecological Restoration's (SER) global conference in... Continue Reading →
Normally this time of year I would be at my annual Women's Writing Retreat, more affectionately known as Dollbabies Week. Like so many other spring activities and conferences, that plan was washed away by the tide of Covid-19. My literary colleagues and I have organized a remote edition instead. It won't be the same, but... Continue Reading →
Life has been transformed in the past couple weeks for pretty much everyone in the United States, and around the world. At Avila University, faculty, staff and students have undertaken a monumental effort to move our entire spring curriculum online. Virtual classes started yesterday, almost all of us wading into unknown territory. On the bright... Continue Reading →
My bee page is now updated - check it out for details about our 2020 field season. I'm excited about my projects, coordinated as always with KC Wildlands, KC Parks, and the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). We're going to conduct a standardized survey of a unique habitat in the Kansas City area, the rocky... Continue Reading →
Avila University started its regular spring semester about two weeks ago. Seems I've hardly drawn a breath, and the month has already slipped by! After some worry that I might be teaching an overload again this spring, I managed to negotiate with the powers that be so that my teaching obligations remain within contract. This... Continue Reading →
Well, I warned you back in September, and I was right: My autumn overload was too much to allow weekly niceties such as visiting my online journal and communicating with all of you. I have missed this space. Truly. I'm hopeful I will have more time to spend with you in the spring, as I... Continue Reading →
About four months ago, this lovely photo by Joe Neely of Diadasia bees sleeping together in a flower appeared on Bored Panda and promptly went viral. Based on my experience as a biologist, I concluded at once these individuals were two adult females, perhaps sisters, cuddled for warmth as they were sleeping. Recently, it occurred to me others... Continue Reading →
August already, and I am moving into late summer collections at Jerry Smith Park. This season I don't have students working with me in the field. Avila is a small college, and the timing of biology majors moving through our programs isn't always conducive to having research assistants on my summer team. Even when you... Continue Reading →
Last fall, I wrote in a bee update that about 40% of our 2018 summer bee collection belonged to one species of small, metallic green bee: Augochlora pura. Turns out I was wrong. With a little more experience and a fresh look at our collection, I've been able to determine that of the 70-some-odd bees I... Continue Reading →
Karin Rita Gastreich 