Current Lab Happenings
This week, the Brosi Lab was in charge of leading Ecoseminar! Berry gave a brief overview of our lab’s work, followed by four lightning talks from Annie, Chris, Madeleine, and Manogya. This quarter in Ecoseminar we’ve been hearing from all the ecology labs about their ongoing research — it’s been a blast chatting about science and building 4th floor community!
Congratulations to Laura Avila (and co-authors Berry and Annie S) for their recent publication on the effects of antibiotics on pollination! This study, published in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, compared the effects of two fire blight control methods (spraying an antibiotic and a biological antagonist) on honeybee pollination and fruit set, as well as lab experiments to understand the effects of these treatments on foraging behavior. You can read the full paper titled: “Effects of a field-sprayed antibiotic on bee foraging behavior and pollination in pear orchards” here!
The MeadoWatch program was recently featured in a Mt Rainier National Park video about research in the park! In the interview, Berry discusses how and why we monitor wildflower phenology at Rainier, as well as the importance of citizen science. The video also features clips of previous MeadoWatch coordinators Annie Schiffer and Ava Kloss-Schmidt collecting data on the trails. You can check out the video titled “Climate Change Science at Mt Rainier” on Youtube or on the NPS website!
A huge congratulations to Kaysee Arrowsmith for successfully defending and completing her dissertation! She gave an amazing presentation on the biotic and abiotic drivers of plant-pollinator interaction turnover. Her presence in the Brosi Lab will be missed, but we can’t wait to see where she goes next. We’re so proud of you, Kaysee!
Chris passed his general exam with flying colors and as of yesterday is officially a PhD candidate! He presented his dissertation proposal on investigating the structure and stability of mutualistic networks using computational models and simulations alongside empirical data and answered questions from his committee. Great Job, Chris!