Friends’ lecture by Zoom after the Annual General Meeting at 7pm

Dr Miranda Bane: Pollinator Paradise – Pesticide reduction and long-term monitoring in the Channel Islands

Dr Miranda Bane is a pollinator ecologist whose varied portfolio of work centres around the interactions between plants, pollinators, and people. With a PhD in pollinator ecology from the University of Bath, Miranda’s research first focused on the dynamics of plant-pollinator communities, using field experiments and modelling techniques.

In recent years she has explored the connections that people have to insects and plants, using citizen science to monitor pollinators and explore how nature connectedness impacts people’s well-being.

Raised in Guernsey, Miranda maintains her ties to the island as director and science lead of the Pollinator Project, a charity for the conservation of pollinating insects.

Working with the University of Bristol and the Pollinator Project, Miranda has initiated a long-term monitoring and research program across the Channel Islands to address pertinent research questions about the impacts of pesticides and to support pollinator conservation for the future.

Islands are microcosms – the snow globes of ecology in which a miniature world can be manipulated and examined. Taking advantage of this, the University of Bristol and the Pollinator Project charity have teamed up to establish a long-term pollinator monitoring project on the Channel Islands and assess the ecological impact of a pesticide ban.

Using a citizen science approach, the Pollinator Project is monitoring pollinators on the four largest islands – Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney and Sark. Meanwhile Guernsey is moving towards becoming a ‘pesticide-free’ island, thus providing the unique opportunity to monitor the impacts of widespread pesticide reduction on an entire island community.

Taking a multi-faceted approach, the project is assessing the impacts on specific pollinators and associated parasitoids, the pollinator community as a whole, and bat species that feed on insects. In this talk, Dr Miranda Bane will discuss the planning and implementation of the project, early results and the challenges and opportunities with this type of research.

The lecture will start at approx 7.30pm after the AGM and will last about 45 minutes, followed by a question and answer session. If possible please put your questions on to the chat facility within Zoom during the lecture. Once you have been admitted to the Zoom meeting please ensure your sound is muted.

If you do not wish to join the AGM then please join the Zoom from approx 7.25pm using the link below. Please note that there is a limit of 100 people which will be on a first come first served basis with no pre-booking.

ZOOM LINK

Friends Bristol Botanic is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Friends Bristol Botanic’s Zoom Meeting
Time: Mar 16, 2023 07:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81872299871?pwd=QSsxbUNOT3ZYc0hxbXdXVzcrNXRaQT09

Meeting ID: 818 7229 9871
Passcode: 022098