Jason Gibbs

Lab members

Back L to R: Phoenix Nakagawa, Kathy Morgan, Jade Tanner, Amber Bass, Emily Hanuschuk, Reid Miller, Joel Gardner

Front L to R: Jason Gibbs, Sydney Shukla-Bergen

Not Pictured: Michael Killewald, Carl Dizon

ca. 2019

Jason is an Associate Professor in the Department of Entomology at the University of Manitoba. He is also Curator of the J. B. Wallis / R. E. Roughley Museum of Entomology. His research focuses on the systematics and biodiversity of wild bees, with a focus on Halictidae and prairie species.

Graduate students

Thilina Hettiarachchi

Thilina has returned as a PhD student studying the phylogenetic diversity of bees in prairie grasslands as part of a larger Genome Canada grant.

Michael Killewald

Michael is a PhD candidate studying the effects of habitat enhancements on beneficial insect diversity in crop fields and pastures. He's also studying pollen use by native bees. Mike has received numerous high value awards during his program. Way to go Mike!

Thilina Hettiarachchi

Thilina recenlty completed his MSc studying the alpha taxonomy of Lasioglossum (Hemihalictus) and a species complex of L. (Hemihalictus) in western North America. See his first contribution here: https://mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5404.1.13

Kirstyn Eckhardt

Kirstyn recently completed her MSc studying the endangered butterfly Oarisma poweshiek. Southern Manitoba is one of only two locations it occurs. She studied its growth and development. She was recently hired to a position at the Assiniboine Park Zoo.

Technicians and undergrads

James Watson

James was an NSERC-USRA student in the lab, and can still be seen volunteering. Part of his summer work on willow bees was published in the Great Lakes Entomologist! He is currently a Royal Bank of Canada Scholar in Sustainable Agriculture working with Dr. Kyle Bobiwash.

Past Lab Members

Joel Gardner, PhD

Joel is pictured here identifying a western Lasioglossum as part of his doctoral research. He tackled one of the hardest groups in North American bee taxonomy. Recent publications have described 32 new species! Find him at his new position at Washington State University.

https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2023.858.2041

https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2020.725.1167

https://doi.org/10.4039/tce.2021.47

Emily Krul (née Hanuschuk), MSc

Emily completed her MSc in 2021. She surveyed 64 sites in southern Manitoba for wild bees. She examined how landscape effects wild bee diversity and pollination networks. Her project was funded through a collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Brandon Manitoba. Emily is currently working for the Canadian Grains Commission working on insects related to these important commodities.

Reid Miller, MSc

Reid completed his MSc in 2021. He combined his interest in beetles with the lab focus on bees to examine how the diversity and abundance of insects that carry out ecological functions change in response to different management strategies in tall grass prairies. Reid is currently a sessional lecturer at the University of Manitoba and a former technician in the Department of Entomology.

Steve Robinson

Steve completed his MSc student in 2023 studying the alpha taxonomy of Protandrena (Pterosarus). Stay tuned for the revision!

Aro van Dyck

Aro is an NSERC USRA student working on how green spaces affect pollinator diversity in the City of Winnipeg. She is now working at the Manitoba Museum.

Phoenix Nakagawa

Phoenix is a former NSERC-USRA and honour's student who measured bee intertegular distances to see how size is affected by pollen use and landscape. She is currently an MSc student in Soil Science at the University of Manitoba.

Jade Tanner

Jade completed her honours thesis on the diversity and nesting habits of wild bees in Birds Hill Provincial Park. Jade is currently the Secretary for the Entomological Society of Manitoba.

Alanna Shaw

Alanna completed her honours thesis on landscape effects on bee communities. She graduated from UM and took a position in industry with Cargill.

Kathy Morgan

Kathy contributed to studies of longitudinal trends in North American bees., curating bees in WRME, and photographing interesting species. She graduated with her BSc and after a period of being a technician in the lab and Department she took a position at the Assiniboine Park Zoo.

Leah Irwin

Leah graduated from UM and is currently exploring her many options.

Olivia Lano

Olivia was an undergraduate volunteer. She left the lab to expand her horizons.

Mikyla Nash

Mikyla graduated and moved on to a MSc degree in Biology at the University of Manitoba

Sydney Shukla-Bergen

Sydney surveyed bees along a landuse gradient east of WInnipeg. She is currently an MSc student in the Department of Entomology working with Dr. Kyle Bobiwash. She's still into bees!

Ellen Freeth

Ellen is working on her BSc while assisting in surveys of Manitoban wildlife management areas as part of Manitoba Critical Wildlife Habitat Program contract.

Amber Bass

Amber was a lab technician who took a position at Genome Prairie and now works as a curatorial assistant at the Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnida and Nematodes

Cassidy Aguila

Cassidy worked on DNA barcoding bees for taxonomic projects and to improve understanding of Manitoba's wild bee fauna.