Amanda Dillon

148 Illick Hall

amdillon@syr.edu

I have been at ESF for seven years now having completed my undergradute degree in Natural History and Interpretation in 2003. As a masters student working with Bill Shields and Barb Hager, I study native solitary bees and wasps. My research focuses on differences in abundance and diversity between different types of habitat at Three Rivers Wildlife Management Area in Lysander, New York. I have collected over 2,500 specimens and identified them down to over 200 species. Understanding and having knowledge of our native pollinators is essential for maintaining our flowering plants especially with the collapse of our principle agricultural pollinator, the non-native honeybee, Apis mellifera. I have always had a special place in my heart for insects and have spent my college career studying, not only bees and wasps, but also dragonflies and damselflies, and the wasp Cerceris fumipennis which is currently being used as a biomonitoring tool for the invasive beetle Emerald Ash Borer. I have studied in Central New York, Archbold Biological Station in Florida, as well as Daintree National Park, Lamington National Park and Heron Island in Australia. I look forward to a career working with insects, people and maybe both.