Farming methods threaten wild bumblebees, York study finds

By Ashley Goodfellow Craig July 25, 2025 Wild bumblebees across Canada face significant threats linked to agricultural methods, a new study out of York University finds.  Published in Conservation Science and Practice, the study examines how Canadian agricultural practices contribute to disease spillover from managed pollinator bees – used to support crop production – to wild bumblebees.  Led

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All about bees: Common misconceptions, helping pollinators and how to actually ‘save the bees’

A Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat Gardens for Native Pollinators is an inspiring and practical guide that will help gardeners create habitats full of life and learn about what is needed to take action to support and protect pollinators  By Lorraine Johnson and Sheila Colla Native, or “wild” bees — that is, bees that occur naturally

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In communication with Semaa: Exploring floral nectar secretion in Nicotiana rustica

by Kennedy Halvorson My MES research partnered with Semaa (Nicotiana rustica; Goodspeed, 1954), a species of wild tobacco, to better understand the dynamics of their nectar secretion and reveal potential pollinator associations. This research is part of Finding Flowers, an interdisciplinary project of Drs. Lisa Myers and Sheila Colla that integrates art, ecology and education

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Fostering a collaborative, interdisciplinary, science-based approach to Canada’s First National Pollinator Strategy

How does the socio-political landscape shape our natural one? This is the driving question for Dr. Rachel Nalepa, a Postdoctoral Visitor with Professor Sheila R. Colla’s Native Pollinator Research Lab. As a human geographer grounded in the field of political ecology, she examines environmental issues that emerge in rural spaces through the lens of the

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Interdisciplinary Conservation Science

Principal Investigator: Sheila Colla Funding: York Research Chair Term: 2020-2025 The research program over the next five years continues to combine ecology, citizen science, policy and biocultural understanding to better address pollinator conservation and management challenges. The broad objectives are to: investigate differential success of native pollinators subject to multiple environmental stressors; develop new conservation

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Next-generation sequencing uncovers what’s stressing bumblebees

What’s stressing out bumblebees? To find out, York University scientists used next-generation sequencing to look deep inside bumblebees for evidence of pesticide exposure, including neonicotinoids, as well as pathogens, and found both. Using a conservation genomic approach – an emerging field of study that could radically change the way bee health is assessed – the

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Examining public awareness of bees and the need for pollinator conservation

What is the buzz about bees? Why do we need to protect the well-bee-ing of bees? How concerned are you about the health of honeybees and the conservation of wild, native bees? Who is responsible for the protection of wild native bee populations in Canada? These are some of the questions that a team of researchers

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The Problem with Honey Bees

They’re important for agriculture, but they’re not so good for the environment “Beekeeping is for people; it’s not a conservation practice,” says Sheila Colla, an assistant professor and conservation biologist at Toronto’s York University, Canada. “People mistakenly think keeping honey bees, or helping honey bees, is somehow helping the native bees, which are at risk

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York researchers find Canadians lack knowledge about bees

How well do you know your bees? York University researchers have found bee knowledge in Canada lacking with about half of those surveyed thinking honey bees are wild and native to Canada. They’re not. They were brought over from Europe and are managed by beekeepers like other farm animals, such as dairy cattle for example,

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A biocultural and interdisciplinary approach to pollinator conservation through ecology, art and pedagogy

Co-Principal Investigators: Sheila Colla and Lisa Myers. Funding: SSHRC New Frontiers in Research Fund. Term: 2020-2023. Dubbed as Finding Flowers, this interdisciplinary research project integrates art, ecology and education. Inspired by the work of the late Mi’kmaq artist Mike MacDonald, Finding Flowers grows, revitalizes and cares for native pollinator gardens as art installations, and as spaces for

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