I’m a student researcher in Dr. Mary Gardiner’s Lab at The Ohio State University, studying the health and population of native bee communities across urban landscapes. I am interested in studying the role human-dominated landscapes play in insect conservation.
Research
Some of my professional research projects are highlighted below.
Project Focus: Understanding how municipal investments in greening affect bumblebee health.
Project skills:
short term bumblebee rearing, coordination with homeowners for box placement, box dissection, differentiation of bumblebee males, workers, queens, and various life stages within frozen boxes, lipid analyses.
Project Presentations:
Shepard, C; Dehus, H; Meuti, M; Gardiner, MM. Monday, November 11, 2024. Do municipal investments in backyard greening improve bumble bee health in residential landscapes? Grad 10-min Competition: P-IE, Conservation, Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ, (oral presentation).
Project Focus: Determining the floral use by urban bee communities in residential backyards participating in native plant greening.
Project skills:
Designing sampling procedures, native plant identification and recording, ARC-GIS map design, native bee identification, floral network analyses, coordinating sampling with homeowners, mentoring undergraduate field technicians.
Project Focus: Uncovering preferences for managing vacant lots as pollinator habitats.
Project Skills:
Survey research design, in-person survey administration methods, working with non-profits and community groups to coordinate sampling, analysis of quantitative and qualitative results.
Project Presentations:
Shepard, C; Rodriguez, M; Gardiner, MM. Sunday November 10, 2024. Community preferences for vacant lot greening. Session: Enhancing Arthropod Mediated Ecosystem Services: Celebrating the Career of Doug Landis. Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ, (poster presentation).
Shepard, CA; Gardiner, MM; Rodriguez, Oct. 2024. Community Preferences for vacant lot greening. The Department of Entomology Seminar Series- DeLong and Root Student Competition, (poster presentation).
Shepard, CA; Gardiner, MM; Rodriguez, M. Nov. 2023. Demonstrating Intention: Uncovering management requirements for neighbors to accept vacant lots as a conservation space for bees. Graduate and Undergraduate Education, Outreach, and Extension. Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting, National Harbor, MD, (oral presentation).
Project Focus: Modeling affects of urbanization and vacant lot greening initiatives on functional communities of bees
Project skills:
Null Model analyses, Arc-GIS, large dataset manipulation.
Presentations (2/7):
Shepard, C; Perry, KI; Scott, S; Turo, K; Sivakoff, FS; Gardiner, MM. Aug. 2023. The Filtering Effects of Cleveland’s Urban Landscape. The Department of Entomology Seminar Series. Columbus, Ohio (oral presentation).
Shepard, C; Perry, KI; Scott, S; Turo, K; Sivakoff, FS; Gardiner, MM. Nov. 2022. Local and landscape drivers of bee taxonomic and functional diversity within vacant lots. Grad P-IE: Conservation and Ecology 1. Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, (oral presentation).