The symposium will take place Saturday, July 14, from 9am to 4pm, at 519 91��ɫ Research Tower, Keele campus.

EGCC brings together girls and young women with a network of researchers, public school professionals and youth-serving community organizations.

Nombuso Dlamini at last year's forum

The project, spearheaded by Nombuso Dlamini, a professor in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Education and the inaugural Jean Augustine Chair in Education in the New Urban Environment, investigates how young women and girls engage in leadership and civic activities in new urban environments.

Over the past 12 months, the project hired and trained youth from around the GTA to interview young women and girls about their experiences of leadership and civic engagement. The event highlights the youth interviewer participation in the research process by providing a space where they can present their experiences and receive positive feedback. Initial findings from the interviews will also be presented.

Youth interviewers being trained last summer

The symposium will also mark the kick-off of what promises to be an exciting and engaging second phase of EGCC, during which girls will be given resources to design their own projects and activities to learn about and practice leadership and civic engagement.

“There’s a pressing need for more women in leadership roles, particularly in government and the civic arena,” says Dlamini. “If we are to achieve this, we need to start from the ground up, which means getting girls engaged in civics early on.”

Youth interviewers from the GTA and the Windsor branch of the project will gather in Toronto on Friday to share a meal and visit a local attraction. On Saturday, project participants, researchers, community partners and a selection of youth from various community organizations will convene at 91��ɫ.

The day will begin with a short address from Dlamini and then launch into a panel showcasing youth engagement in different areas of Toronto. Youth interviewers will then present their experiences and findings with the audience. Finally, team building and brainstorming activities will take place to create and strengthen networks of collaboration, discuss next steps, as well as tap into the unique insight provided by youth from the communities for use in the construction of the summer initiative.

The project’s co-applicants, 91��ɫ Professor Joy Mannette of the Faculty of Education and Yvette Daniel of the University of Windsor, will also be in attendance.

Anyone interested in attending must RSVP to leadershipbygirls@edu.yorku.ca, or e-mail for more information.

This research is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The study, led by Rutgers University, finds that bees are emerging earlier each spring, advancing their life cycle by nearly a day per decade.

"This may become a case of ‘missed connections’ in terms of bees and the plants they need to pollinate," says Sheila Colla (right), a 91��ɫ PhD candidate in biology and study co-author. "So far, bees and plants are keeping pace with each other, but this may not be the case as rates of temperature warming increase."

Scientists call this phenomenon a "phenological mismatch" – when the life cycles of dependent species fall out of sync with one another.

"In the case of bees, [this mismatch] hasn’t happened yet," Colla says. "The concern is that some plant species will not respond to climate change in the same manner as their pollinators." 

The study looked at the past 130 years of data on 10 species of wild bees that emerge in the early spring in eastern North America, comparing it with published studies of bee pollinated plants over the same time period.

Results show that life cycle changes in bees have paralleled changes in the plants they visit. Both bees and plants responded to temperature increases from 1971-1999 by more than doubling their rates of phenological advance, suggesting a parallel response to climate change.

"So far, there is only a small difference between bees and plants in terms of their response to climate change, noted in only a handful of species. But, this small difference is worrying," Colla says, noting that of particular concern is the finding that plant studies conducted in cities showed greater rates of advance for species that emerge earlier in the season.

"This suggests more investigation into the effects of temperature warming in urban environments is needed," says Colla. She emphasizes that potential problems aren’t just limited to pollination.

"Many ecological functions result from interactions among species, and because not all species respond to climate warming in the same manner, this could potentially lead to phenological mismatches that result in the loss of function. In other words, this could result in serious challenges for many different forms of animal and plant life."

Colla conducted her research under the supervision of 91��ɫ biology Professor Laurence Packer as a PhD student in the Department of Biology in the Faculty of Science & Engineering. The research was funded through a Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship to Colla.

The study, "Climate-associated phenological advances in bee pollinators and bee-pollinated plants," was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post 91��ɫ co-authored study finds climate change is affecting bees appeared first on Research & Innovation.