GB Speaker Series: It's complicated: The partnership of bees and their flowers

There are around 1,000 native bee species in the state of Nevada. From the size of an eyelash, to larger than a thumb, these beautiful and intriguing creatures are responsible for the majority of pollination that happens in wild landscapes, urban gardens, and in agricultural fields. Though the relationship between bees and flowers is essential to the functioning of any ecosystem, and seems beautiful and perfect at a distance, it is fraught with all the intricacies and manipulations of a Shakespeare play. Join the Friends of Gold Butte as Dr. Olivia Carril introduces her audience to Nevada's native solitary bees, and explores the relationships of these bees with the flowering plants on which they depend, and which depend on them.

Dr. Carril has been studying native bees for over 25 years. She received her BS in biology from Utah State University, while conducting a survey of the bees of Pinnacles National Monument in California. Her MSc is also from Utah State University, and involved a study of the bee fauna of the 2 million acre Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. For her PhD at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, she focused on the evolution of host choice and specialization for one bee group called Diadasia. She is the coauthor of three books: The Bees in Your Backyard, a Field Guide to North America's Bees, the Common Bees of Eastern North America, and the Common Bees of Western North America. She is also conducting several large scale surveys of bees across western North America, and looking at pollinators of rare plants in northern New Mexico. In her spare time, she teaches middle school science to girls. She lives in Santa Fe New Mexico, with her husband and two daughters, all of whom are excellent field assistants.