Butterfly nets, rain boots, clear vials, and coolers filled with ice\u2014these were just a few of the tools Abigail Gill, a biological sciences and environmental science and management double major from Lincoln, Rhode Island, relied on during her summer research into the pollination ecology of cultivated and wild cranberry plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During her CELS Summer Research Fellowship<\/a>, Gill worked with The URI Bee Lab<\/a>, which studies the biology and behavior of native and managed bees in Rhode Island. Collaborating with Ren Johnson and Kate Perzanowski, she trekked to cranberry bogs across the state to survey and collect bees. Back in the lab, the team analyzed their samples, preparing to examine pollen under the microscope to determine flower fidelity (how closely the bees stick to cranberry blossoms).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gill also contributed to a project with the Natural Resource Conservation Service, visiting eleven managed pollinator meadows throughout Rhode Island. Alongside fellow researchers Casey Johnson and Emma Tondre, she surveyed blooming flowers, measured vegetation, and captured solitary bees for later identification, helping assess how effectively these meadows support pollinator populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gill credits the fellowship\u2019s hands-on nature for strengthening her versatility and passion as a researcher. \u201cThere\u2019s such a dedicated community around bee and insect conservation,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s been rewarding to engage people at outreach events and get them excited about what we do. There\u2019s so much to discover when you take the time to slow down and look closely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking ahead, Gill hopes to continue studying bee conservation and pollination ecology. \u201cUnderstanding how plants and insects interact is endlessly fascinating,\u201d she says. \u201cBeing able to contribute to such an important and often underrecognized cause is something I appreciate every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notably, Gill and Johnson\u2019s research earned recognition beyond URI: the duo received second place honors from both Arizona\u2019s Entomological Society of America and the URI Undergraduate Symposium for their study of the cranberry\u2019s life history in Rhode Island\u2014where they also identified two bee species never before recorded in the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Through fieldwork, lab analysis, and community outreach, Abigail Gill deepened her passion for pollinator conservation and contributed to important, novel discoveries in local bee ecology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1089,"featured_media":21162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[54,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fellowships","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1089"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21161"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21165,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21161\/revisions\/21165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}