Left: Two Lasioglossum gotham, a recently described species, congregate at a nesting site in East Lansing, Michigan. The nesting biology of this species was described under the name L. laevissimum by Suzanne Batra in 1987.

Taxonomic impediments remain a serious issue of our understanding of bee diversity and pollinator conservation. Many genera remain challenging to identify. I use integrative approaches to delimit species and resolve taxonomic problems. My work has been primarily in halictid bees, but I am also interested in other taxa. 

Right. A honey bee, Apis mellifera, dwarfs another social bee, Lasioglossum imitatum, on an onion flower in Ithaca, New York. Lasioglossum imitatum nests in underground burrows with a queen and dozens of workers.

Social behaviour has evolved multiple times in the Hymenoptera. Halictid bees, such as Lasioglossum, evolved social complexity more recently than most other social insects. As a result they still retain a high level of behavioural variation within and among species. This makes them ideal models for studying social evolution. I am interested in using phylogenetic methods and studies of nesting biology to better understand the complex behaviours of halictid bees.

Left: Cover of the pocket guide to the bees of the Great Lakes region. A pair of Lasioglossum vierecki are shown visiting milkweed.

Bees are the most important pollinators of agricultural crops and wildflowers. I am interested in developing strategies for increasing and maintaining bee diversity in human managed landscapes.