Alex Austin’s PhD project (co-supervised with Lori Lawson Handley at Hull) used semi-field mesocosm experiments to investigate whether and how wild red mason bees (Osmia bicornis) regulate the macronutrient composition of the pollen nutrition that parents provide to their offspring – and, by constructing and analysing interaction networks, how this may affect the species’ resilience to human induced landscape change.

Alex has emigrated to Sydney and now works with Kur-Ring-Gai Council to distribute native stingless bees.