Bees are essential pollinators, providing ecosystem services that play an important role in regenerating and maintaining biodiversity. However they face multiple threats from human activities, such as climate change, pesticides, and habitat destruction. Worker drifting, where bees enter the wrong hive, may contribute to the spread of diseases among colonies and wild pollinators. Our project aims to study drifting behaviour in Brazilian stingless bees and UK honeybees, focusing on links with nutritional state, pesticide exposure, and pathogen infection. Throughout the project we will try to understand the links between the spatial arrangement of apiaries and drifting behaviour. The project has a partnership with Meli, a Brazilian not-for-profit organization, and local communities.

Focusing on South American lizards, our study gathered data on morphology, climate, and reproduction to explore sexual dimorphism. We offered new insights into the impacts of climate, development, and hormones on morphology, revealing the role of environmental and reproductive factors. This study was developed with my supervisor Dra. Tiana Kohlsdorf (University of São Paulo) and Dr. João Francisco Botelho (PUC Chile).

Social Meliponini bees can use pheromone trails to communicate food source locations, yet these signals can be exploited by competitor species. We examine if non-aggressive bees can assess risks from pheromones of aggressive species, investigating choice based on compound identity and quantity. Our results show that foragers avoid feeders with high levels of aggressive compounds. We highlighted how chemical trails shape interactions during foraging. My supervisor was Dr. Fábio Nascimento (University of São Paulo), and my co-advisor was Dr. Lucas von Zuben (University of São Paulo).

Non-formal education spaces, like university extensions, facilitate knowledge sharing. Visitors engaging in scientific practices through investigation enhance critical thinking. Our study explored a global warming-focused activity, analyzing discourse and learning processes. These activities positively impact society by co-creating knowledge and questioning socio-environmental matters. This study was developed in collaboration with Dr. Marcelo Motokane (University of São Paulo) and Msc. Gabriel Camargo (University of São Paulo).

The aim of the study was to assess whether adulthood age affects the fecundity and pollination efficiency of Ficus citrifolia pollinator wasps. Following data collection and analysis, it was found that pollination efficiency appeared to be less impacted by the number of hours post-emergence of wasps compared to oviposition capacity. This might be due to the wasps solely transporting pollen grains, a process that might not be as dependent on the viability of post-emergence wasps from the fig as on oviposition. The period following the fig's emergence is crucial for wasps to successfully complete their cycle, an essential factor for mutualism with the fig trees.