SLU biology professor studying bee populations under state grant

Southeastern Professor Studies Bee Communities

Southeastern biologist Janice Bossart and biology graduate assistant Eric Van Gorder study a bee they caught at one of the protected habitat sites they survey. Bossart received a $103,448 grant from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to compare and survey native bee communities in conservation habitats. (Photo by Randy Bergeron, Southeastern Louisiana University) (Randy Bergeron)

ASoutheastern Louisiana University professor has received a state grant to study bee communities in conservation habitats in southeast Louisiana, including St. Tammany Parish. Janice Bossart, an associate professor of biology, received a $103,448 grant from the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to finance the study, the university said.

The grant money will enable Bossart to include graduate student Eric Van Gorder, of Fuquay Varina, N.C., and several undergraduates in the work, the university said in a news release.

Bossart said the study will include surveys of bee populations, an understudied "faunal group'' in which some species are experiencing population declines.

"These surveys will generate data on the distribution and abundance of various species with a primary aim towards identifying rare, habitat-restricted and/or declining species," Bossart said in the news release.

"The project also presents a unique opportunity to explicitly assess how certain bee species in Louisiana have fared over the past decade," she said.

Survey data is important for determining those species that warrant conservation attention, Bossart said.

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SLU biology professor studying bee populations under state grant