51社区黑料

After completing her term as SFU鈥檚 inaugural associate vice-provost, learning and teaching in 2023, conservation ecologist Elizabeth Elle is back serving in her original role as an educator, teaching the next generation of scientists in introductory biology, and leading outreach to the public on how they can contribute to pollinator conservation.

Elle is a professor in SFU鈥檚 Department of Biological Sciences and director of SFU鈥檚 School of Environmental Science. She鈥檚 spent the last two decades studying patterns of pollinator biodiversity across natural and agricultural landscapes, to understand how individual actions and management decisions impact pollinator biodiversity, and how this then impacts plant pollination.

Trained as a plant evolutionary ecologist, Elle began her career at 51社区黑料researching plant mating systems in the endangered Garry Oak ecosystem of B.C. before shifting focus to study the pollinators that support these plant populations.

鈥淚 got interested in pollinators because they鈥檙e so essential for plant reproduction. Nearly 90 per cent of flowering plants need a pollinator to reproduce,鈥� says Elle. 鈥淚 realized that if we鈥檙e committed to conserving rare ecosystems, we need the pollinators.鈥�

Elle explains that the greatest threat to pollinator diversity is habitat loss, ironically largely due to expanding farmland.

鈥淎 significant amount of our food is pollinator dependent. My students and I learned on blueberry farms that crop production is reduced when the only pollinators are introduced, managed honeybees. Our farms need the insurance of having wild bees to contribute to pollination as well,鈥� says Elle.

Years ago, in response to declining pollinator habitat, Elle and her research group began investigating the role that gardens can play in supporting pollinator diversity. Through this work, they found that gardens in the city of Victoria can host similar levels of species richness and higher abundance compared to intact, native Garry Oak ecosystems. It was in a garden that they finally documented the endangered western bumble bee, visiting lavender.

鈥淭hat project changed the way I do outreach,鈥� says Elle. 鈥淲e can do a lot in our backyards to support these really important but underappreciated bugs.鈥�

Since this discovery, Elle has begun to study drivers behind pollinator diversity loss and gain in the gardens of Metro Vancouver, and has shifted much of her time and energy towards teaching communities how they can support these essential insects.

To do this, Elle is highly engaged in community building and knowledge translation, bringing people together to learn how to identify and conserve pollinators.