Biology student Lincoln Best's research helping Mt. Revelstoke National Park to save native bee species

fmaquito — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 08:00:00 +0000

The is an understated three-petalled white and yellow flower indigenous to some areas of the Columbia Basin. Like all living things, it’s part of the intricate and complex web of life that sustains us all, wrote B.C.’s :

Recent research by biologist Lincoln Best, [a graduate student] at 91��ɫ [Faculty of Science & Engineering] has uncovered that this flower has a particularly intricate relationship with its friends in the bee world. Best’s research, which included fieldwork in , has uncovered evidence that the flower may be highly dependent on just one species of wild bee for pollination. There are over 400 species of wild bees in B.C., but in repeated fieldwork around the flowers, Best caught only the one species of bee interacting with the flower.

With wild bees in decline in B.C. and elsewhere in North America, the concern is this intricate relationship could break down; the tragic end of the cycle could mean the last lilies are left to bloom alone in the forest, with no helpers to spread their pollen an continue their cycle of life.

Best is a student in Biology Professor 's laboratory at 91��ɫ.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Graduate student and bee researcher names new bee species to honour BC senior

fmaquito — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0000

George Dashwood Sr., a resident at Simon Fraser Lodge, is now the namesake of the rare Lasioglossum dashwoodi bee species in BC, wrote the July 7. Lincoln Best, a graduate student at 91��ɫ, is one of several researchers who found this bee in the Okanangan in 2008:

"There are hundreds of bee species in B.C., but this one appears to live in only one spot in the world and that's at Ripley Lake west of Oliver," said Best, who named the bee to honour the grandfather of his research partner, Graeme Stevens.

. . .

Best, a student of Professor of 91��ɫ’s , said the greatest concern of researchers today is the steady loss of bees.

“A lot have been dying due to pesticides and disease. The western bumblebee – the bigger yellow, black and white fuzzy bee found in Prince George gardens – is greatly endangered and disappearing quickly. They are already gone from the western United States,” said Best. “We’re not exactly sure why, but we suspect they are dying off due to disease introduced through other bumblebees used for greenhouse pollination.”

Packer is the author of .

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post Graduate student and bee researcher names new bee species to honour BC senior appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Lincoln Best Archives | Research & Innovation

Biology student Lincoln Best's research helping Mt. Revelstoke National Park to save native bee species

Graduate student and bee researcher names new bee species to honour BC senior