Elisa’s postdoctoral work on our BBSRC grant focuses on the impact of developmental environments (nutrition, temperature) on provisioning by adult bees and on the life histories and performance of growing bee larvae.

Elisa writes: I am a behavioural ecologist aiming to understand how insects react and adapt to changing environmental conditions due to human activities. I have studied the effects of various anthropogenic disturbances, such as light pollution and pesticide exposure, on different hymenopteran species (the parasitoid wasp Venturia canescens, the honeybee Apis mellifera). My research focuses on the study of behavioural traits (e.g., foraging, decision-making) associated with life-history, physiological and genetic traits, because integrating different biological traits is essential to fully understand the consequences of human activities on living organisms. After a PhD thesis (University of Lyon) and a first postdoctoral experience (INRAE & University of Poitiers) in France, I have now moved to the UK to work as a postdoctoral research associate in James Gilbert’s lab (University of Hull). I’m involved in James Gilbert’s recently funded BBSRC project, which aims to study the impact of increasing temperatures on the nutrition of two wild bee species (solitary mason bees and social bumblebees).