Planting for pollinators: seed source impacts on plants and insects
The Figueroa lab is looking for a student to assist with projects that explore climate change impacts on flowering plants and pollinator communities.
Pollinator habitat restoration is vital for conservation, and plant selection can impact pollinator habitat resilience under climate change, including more frequent and severe heatwaves. Strategically sourcing seeds from locations in the direction of climate change could provide more consistent nectar and pollen resources for pollinators in the future. However, we lack evidence for this seed sourcing strategy in wildflowers.
The lab’s research teams have been experimentally assessing the effects of heatwaves and climate warming on northern and southern populations of the same plant species to inform seed sourcing strategies for pollinators.
Student responsibilities will include data entry, processing files from AI-enabled bioacoustic monitors, measuring plant fall phenology (senescence) and reproduction (seed set, seed pod size) metrics.
Ideal candidates will have great time management skills, be clear communicators, have great attention to detail, be interested in field work, and be enthusiastic about pollinator conservation, plant-insect interactions, and/or species responses to climate warming.
The student will learn from current lab members about many aspects of the scientific process (study motivation, experimental design, data collection, data entry/cleaning best practices, and some data visualization).
Research teams will be wrapping up summer field seasons, so the student will also have opportunities to join occasional visits to the South Deerfield Crop and Animal Research Farm, where the experimental plants are located.
Additionally, the student will learn about bioacoustics, as relatively new and powerful way to passively monitor biodiversity, including buzzing insects like native bumble bees. Our lab applies this technology to insects, but it is also used for birds, amphibians, marine mammals, etc. The student will become familiar with how to process the sound files collected by SwiftOne recorders in Raven Pro software from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Successful students will likely have opportunities to continue working in the lab beyond the semester, including applying to a funded summer technician position (summer 2027).