Monarchs for Monarchs project

Tatyana Lobova co-ordinates a joint effort between the Department of Biological Sciences , ODU student botanists, the Orchid Conservatory, the ODU grounds department and Norfolk Botanical Garden.  Check out what the program is all about:  Monarchs for Monarchs, Monarch project milkweed, Milkweed planting on campus.

Butler at Caribbean Fisheries Forum

Professor Mark Butler attends Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) meeting where his years of study on lobsters moves beyond pure science into policies related to fisheries management. Read more here

Honey Bees or Mason Bees

Check out the latest work of Dr Horth and her students on bees and strawberries...
honeybees decline - mason bees eyed

Bees and UV cues

Check out the latest work by Associate Professor Lisa Horth on the effect of floral UV cues in attacting bees to flowers just published:

Horth, L., L. Campbell & R. Bray. 2014.  Wild bees preferentially visit Rudbeckia flower heads with exaggerated ultraviolet absorbing floral guides. Biology Open (2014) 3, 221–230 doi:10.1242/bio.20146445

 

This research demonstrates for the first time that floral guides are not just important in directing pollinators to floral reward, but also in recruiting pollinators to flowers from a distance.

The ultraviolet absorbent floral guides found on black eyed susans were manipulated to be larger and smaller than they typically are in nature. 

This ultraviolet absorbent pattern forms a 'bullseye' around the center of the flower where pollen and nectar rewards are located.

In this study the size of that bullseye was diminished and enlarged. Bees preferred enlarged cues and recruited to flowers from a distance more often when this cue was big.

Biology Students doing good

Once again, Biology students are doing good....pitching in to help restore wetlands. Check out the story behind the hard work.

 

Also: 

 

Bees....

Dr Lisa's Horth interest in bees makes the news

More ODU birding news

Eric Walters' bird work makes the news as part of migration tracking study being conducted in the area. Andrew Arnold is a MS student working with Dr Walters on this study. Check out the story in the pilot...Tracking migratory birds