Environmental Change Effects on Bee Community Structure
Understanding how environmental change affects ecological communities is key given the ongoing biodiversity crisis. Much of Berry’s doctoral and post-doctoral work focused on these themes, focused on how tropical deforestation and land-use affect bee communities. We are currently finalizing work on this theme related to land-use changes surrounding biofuel feedstock cultivation in the southeastern US (see project to the right).
NOTE: our work has largely shifted away from this topic; we are unlikely to take on new students or get involved in new projects in this area unless there is a clear link to ecological networks or functioning.
Key Papers
We have published extensively in this arena; see the full publication list for many more.
Projects
Biofuels Management and Biotic Communities
With funding from the US Department of Agriculture and in collaboration with Rob Fletcher, Holly Ober, and Lora Smith, we are exploring how bee communities (and also birds, bats, and herps!) will respond to the massive predicted land-use changes driven by conversion of pine plantations in the southeastern US to management for cellulosic biofuel feedstocks. We have completed data collection on this project and are finishing up several manuscripts related to it, including two currently in review.