PhD Student Maddison Elliott recently presented a poster at the Entomological Society of America Conference held in National Harbor, Maryland from November 5 to 8. The poster is entitled Contextualizing conservation: Assessing how an interdisciplinary approach to urban pollinator science can facilitate equitable conservation efforts. Below is the abstract:

It is necessary for researchers in pollinator science to consider how their methods contribute to solving issues beyond pollinator species loss. This is especially true in urban areas where human and insect populations are interconnected and where the consequences of these relationships are more immediate. Cities have the potential to provide necessary habitat for urban pollinators. However, the distribution of pollinator-related risks and benefits are often unequally distributed, exacerbating issues of injustice. Though seemingly unrelated, biodiversity and social inequality interact to create obstacles for solving problems. And yet, they are often viewed separately and studied by different disciplines. As a result, many approaches to pollinator science in urban areas do not address the ways inequitable power distributions shape and are shaped by conservation practices. One way to address this issue is to apply anthropological ways of thinking to pollinator science. Building on insight from recent studies on interdisciplinary team science and wicked science, I argue that integrating anthropological approaches into entomological research is essential for promoting human and insect resilience in the face of climate crises. This argument is exemplified by developing research on the socio-economic determinants of effective bee conservation. This project uses ethnography, an anthropological method, to identify barriers to stakeholder collaboration. By centering pollinator science within a specific socio-political context, this research seeks to contribute to more sustainable and equitable urban pollinator conservation efforts that better represent the goals and values of all groups affected by pollinator conservation.