[Pollinator] Keynote presenters announced for second annual national protecting pollinators conference

[Scott Black]

*Keynote presenters announced for second annual national protecting
pollinators conference*

The keynote presenters and their session descriptions have been announced
for the 2017 Protecting Pollinators in Ornamental Landscapes Conference
Oct. 9-11, in Traverse City, Michigan.

Posted on *July 11, 2017* by *Rebecca Finneran
<http://msue.anr.msu.edu/experts/rebecca_finneran>*, and Heidi Lindberg,
Michigan State University Extension

·

[image: With populations declining, the rare, Rusty Patch bumble bee has
become the flagship photo for this Conference. Photo by Colt Bolt.]

*With populations declining, the rare, Rusty Patch bumble bee has become
the flagship photo for this Conference. Photo by Colt Bolt.*

Michigan State University Extension <http://msue.anr.msu.edu/> and North
Carolina State University <https://www.ncsu.edu/> will host the second
national Protecting Pollinators in Urban Landscapes Conference
<https://events.anr.msu.edu/event.cfm?eventID=F29D7CC5F604007C> in Traverse
City, Michigan, at the Park Place Hotel <https://park-place-hotel.com/> on
Oct. 9-11, 2017, in Grand Traverse County.

The team of conference planners is pleased to announce featured speakers
and conference contributors including Laurence Packer
<http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/keynote_presenters_announced_for_second_annual_national_protecting_pollinat#LaurencePacker>,
York University; Damon Hall
<http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/keynote_presenters_announced_for_second_annual_national_protecting_pollinat#DamonHall>,
St. Louis University; Dan Potter
<http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/keynote_presenters_announced_for_second_annual_national_protecting_pollinat#DanPotter>,
University of Kentucky; Mary Gardiner
<http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/keynote_presenters_announced_for_second_annual_national_protecting_pollinat#MaryGardiner>,
The Ohio State University; and Mace Vaughan
<http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/keynote_presenters_announced_for_second_annual_national_protecting_pollinat#MaceVaughan>,
Xerces Society Pollinator Conservation Program.

Conference keynotes and 12 additional internationally-known speakers will
be addressing a cadre of topics during the three-day event. Some of the key
issues explored include:

·         Function of pollinators in urban landscapes.

·         Pesticides and pollinators.

·         Pollinator health and habitat in urban landscapes.

·         Efforts, challenges and opportunities for protecting pollinators.

·         Educating the public about the importance of protecting
pollinators.

Below are descriptions of the keynote presenters and their session
description.

*Opening Keynote: Laurence Packer, York University, Toronto, Canada –
“Bees: Important and Diversity”*

There are over 20,000 species of bees known worldwide, but only one—the
western domesticated honey bee—is generally understood to be important for
pollination. Laurence Packer
<http://www.yorku.ca/bugsrus/PCYU/DrLaurencePacker> will outline the
diversity of bees worldwide and present the results of some research that
suggests other pollinators are far more important than generally recognized.

Packer is a professor of biology at York University
<http://www.yorku.ca/index.html> where he has worked since 1988. His
teaching and research include entomology and biodiversity. He and his
students published, “Keeping the Bees,” published by HarperCollins, as well
as “Bees: A Close-up Look at Pollinators Around the World” with co-author
Sam Droege, published by Voyageur Press. Both books will be for sale at the
event.

Parker and his team have described over 100 new species of bees. The
collection he has started at York University now includes several hundred
thousand specimens with examples from well over 100 countries; it is one of
the most diverse bee collections in the world.

He was a member of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in
Canada <http://www.cosewic.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=A9DD45B7-1> and
the Natural
Science and Engineering Research Council
<http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/index_eng.asp> of Canada’s Evaluation Group
for Ecology and Evolution. His research has been funded by the latter
organization as well as National Geographic
<http://www.nationalgeographic.com/>, Genome Canada
<https://www.genomecanada.ca/> and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation
<https://www.innovation.ca/>. His general public presentations reach
hundreds to thousands of people each year.

*Dan Potter, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky – “Duration of
Bees’ Exposure of Insecticide Residue, BMPs and Safeguards”*

Dan Potter <https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/person/daniel-potter> will
summarize recent research on the extent and duration of bees’ exposure to
insecticide residues in lawn and landscape settings. Session will include
researched-based, best management practices (BMPs) landscape managers can
implement to safeguard bees when controlling pests. Opportunities for how
the “bee issue” can help educators, garden centers and lawn care providers
promote more diversified and sustainable landscapes will be discussed.

Potter is a professor of entomology at the University of Kentucky
<http://www.uky.edu/UKHome/>. He has studied management of pests and
beneficial insects in urban landscapes for more than 40 years. He teaches
courses in horticultural entomology and insect-plant relationships, and has
supervised dozens of graduate students.

Potter is a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America
<http://www.entsoc.org/> (ESA) and received ESA’s National Distinguished
Achievement Awards in Urban Entomology (1995), Teaching (1999) and
Horticultural Entomology (2006). His industry recognitions include the U.S.
Golf Association National Green Section Award (2010), the Professional Land
Care Network’s Leadership Award (2008) and the American Nursery and
Landscape Associations Distinguished Achievement Award (2006).

*Damon Hall, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri – “The Human
Dimensions of Urban Pollinator Conservation”*

Biodiversity losses give us insight into the long-term effects of human
behaviors. The task of social science is to engage in research designed to
understand the unintended consequences of intentional human actions. Damon
Hall’s <http://www.slu.edu/sustainability/about-us/faculty/damon-hall-phd> talk
chronicles the social, cultural and political dimensions of wild and native
bee conservation via collaborative research being conducted in St. Louis,
Missouri.

Hall is an assistant professor at Saint Louis University
<https://www.slu.edu/> at the Center for Sustainability
<https://www.slu.edu/sustainability>, a graduate-degree granting research
institute. He holds a PhD in wildlife and fisheries sciences and a Boone
and Crockett PhD Fellowship in Conservation Policy at Texas A&M University.

He attained a master’s degree in communication and bachelor’s degree in
agriculture concentrating on forestry and natural resources from Purdue
University. At Purdue, he was an apiary manager of Hunt’s Honeybee’s
Genetics Lab. His research examines the interactions between social and
ecological systems where science, policy and culture meet.

*Mary Gardiner, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio – “A Growing
Conservation Focus in Shrinking Cities; How Vacant Land Ecology Structures
Bee Communities”*

During this presentation, Mary Gardiner
<https://entomology.osu.edu/our-people/mary-gardiner> will examine how the
design, management, contamination legacy and landscape context of urban
greenspaces influences conservation value for bee communities.

Gardiner received her PhD in 2008 and is currently an associate professor
in the Department of Entomology <https://entomology.osu.edu/> at The Ohio
State University <https://www.osu.edu/>. Her research program focuses on
the ecological value of urban vacant land. This work is concentrated in
Cleveland, Ohio—a city that has experienced significant economic and
population decline.

Cleveland currently contains 27,000 vacant lots encompassing approximately
4,000 acres of land. The Gardiner Lab examines how alternative vegetation
designed and management regimes influence the value of vacant land for the
conservation of biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services.

Gardiner is a state specialist in Extension and works with several
stakeholder groups including home gardeners, Master Gardeners, Master
Naturalists and urban farmers. Her Extension programming focuses on
identifying and attracting beneficial insects to gardens and farms to
promote conservation and ecosystem services.

In 2015, she released a book focused on natural enemies and their role in
biological control in home gardens, “Good Garden Bugs: Everything You Need
to Know about Beneficial Predatory Insects.” She has also embraced the use
of citizen science in her research with the statewide program Pollination
Investigators, which engages volunteers in the study of pollination
services.

*Mace Vaughan, Xerces Society, Portland, Oregon – “Back Forty to the
Backyard: 15 years of pollinator conservation”*

The Xerces Society <https://xerces.org/> has been a leader in pollinator
conservation since its founding in 1971. The last 15 years have seen
remarkable growth in the work of the Xerces Society and our pollinator
conservation partners nationwide. In this talk, Mace Vaughan
<https://xerces.org/staff/> will share stories, strategies and lessons
learned working with farmers, conservation partners and backyard gardeners
across the U.S.

Vaughan serves as the Xerces Society’s Pollinator Conservation Program
co-director and a joint pollinator conservation specialist to the USDA’s
Natural Resources Conservation Services
<https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/national/home/> (NRCS).
Mace has led Xerces’ Pollinator Conservation programs since 2003. In his
tenure at the Xerces Society, the pollinator program has grown from a small
pilot project on California farms to the world’s largest team of pollinator
conservation experts.

His work with other staff at the Xerces Society and the USDA NRCS has led
to the implementation of protecting hundreds of thousands of acres of
pollinator habitat. Through education and outreach events, he has directly
reached thousands of agency staff and farmers.

*More information on the Conference*

For more information on the Protecting Pollinators in Urban Landscapes
Conference <https://events.anr.msu.edu/event.cfm?eventID=F29D7CC5F604007C>,
including lodging, tours, registration, poster sessions and other speakers,
see the article “Second national conference on protecting pollinators in
urban landscapes
<http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/second_national_conference_on_protecting_pollinators_in_urban_landscapes>
.”

You can also visit the registration page at Protecting Pollinators in Urban
Landscapes Conference
<https://events.anr.msu.edu/event.cfm?eventID=F29D7CC5F604007C>.

This article was published by *Michigan State University Extension*
<http://www.msue.msu.edu/>. For more information, visit
http://www.msue.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight
to your email inbox, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu/ne
<http://www.msue.msu.edu/newsletters>
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