This year I am fortunate enough to be a part of Wildlife Preservation Canada\u2019s (WPC) Native Pollinator Initiative (NPI). I come from a background heavy in entomology, which is the study of insects. I began my university education in a zoology program at the University of Guelph, which shockingly did not have insect diversity as a mandatory course for the degree. I say shocking, because approximately half of the world’s animal diversity is insects! Insects are found in just about every habitat, and differ greatly in their appearance, behaviour and overall ecology.<\/p>\n
My appreciation of insects began by volunteering in a lab sorting through insect samples that came from Costa Rica. I marveled at the shapes and sizes of the specimens I was looking at, and I have worked closely with insects ever since. I continued my studies in entomology in the form of a master\u2019s degree looking at insect pollination. I analyzed the diversity of non-bee flower visitors to agricultural crops, the amount of pollen they carried, and the composition of the pollen carried by each insect. Prior to and during my master\u2019s research I worked on a long-term Ontario bee diversity survey program, where I helped collect, identify, database and analyze 20,000 bee specimens.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n