Emily Greenland | 2024 I.S. Symposium

Name: Emily Greenland
Title: Growing the Buzz: Promoting Local Bee, Wasp, and Plant Knowledge Through Biodiversity Surveys and Environmental Education
Major: Biology
Minor: Environmental Studies
Advisors: Jennifer Ison; Carlo Moreno (second reader)

As humans continue to urbanize natural landscapes, scientific research and education are needed to conserve impacted species. Bees and wasps provide numerous environmental services but are especially vulnerable to habitat fragmentation and loss. With this Independent Study, I aim to increase local public knowledge about bees and wasps by providing information about local taxa and discussing effective environmental education practices. In my first chapter, I detail a survey of bees and wasps at Secrest Arboretum in Wooster, Ohio to explore how providing a variety of small gardens may support bee and wasp populations. While there were few differences found in overall bee and wasp collection between sampling dates and locations, similar trends in species diversity index values for bee and wasp taxa suggested a relationship between microhabitat and species diversity. The survey generated data that may be used to design small garden habitats to support bees and wasps and added to an online database of species present in the Arboretum. My second chapter is a personal essay and commentary on an environmental education presentation. With this chapter, I hope to provide my conception of environmental education, highlight literature detailing effective education strategies, and discuss the importance of environmental education. Together, these two chapters will provide an example of how research and education can work together to promote awareness of the natural world.

Posted in Symposium 2024 on April 24, 2024.