This interest has taken her to the remote flower-filled meadows of the Colorado Rockies where she has worked with Prof. Forrest on her long-term bee monitoring study at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. They recently published their findings in the Journal of Animal Ecology after 6 years of hard work documenting the relationships between the seasonal timing of activity in wild bees and the number of offspring they produce. Lydia is also involved in projects exploring the consequences of drought for bees, as well as range shifts in bee populations, all in the Rockies. In the summer of 2020, unable to get to her Colorado field sites due to the pandemic, Lydia launched an extensive citizen-science-driven project studying the effects of urban warming on pollinators. Lydia is now working with citizen scientists in Toronto and Ottawa, training them to monitor bee and wasp nesting activity in pollinator ‘hotels’. This project was recently featured on CBC’s ‘In Town and Out’ radio show. In May 2021, she received a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship in support of her research.
Lydia credits her decision to study ecology as being largely based on an inspiring first-year biology course taught by Dr. James Thomson at the University of Toronto, where she pursued her undergraduate studies. She is thankful to Prof. Forrest and says that “in addition to being an immensely supportive supervisor, she has also been a role model of what it means to be an excellent scientist and thoughtful and caring human being”. Lydia also expresses gratitude for the numerous citizen scientists and community members involved in her urban warming project.
Finally, Lydia is immensely appreciative of the bees, wasps, and flowers that she studies. She notes that “they are not only the protagonists of my thesis, but they also keep me both humble and enlightened with their fascinating and quirky behaviours”. Lydia wishes to pass along two bits of advice to other students, which she stumbled upon in recent years. First, late Sto:lo poet and academic Lee Maracle, who taught Lydia at UToronto, always advised her to “look at the world upside down, backwards, and inside-out” before becoming too settled on an idea. Second, renowned entomologist May Berenbaum says to “use what you learn to make the world a better place –even if it is just for a butterfly”.
Lydia is also a writer and editor for the Department of Biology’s “Biomatters” magazine and is keeping busy with efforts to make the department’s academic environment more inclusive. Outside the department, Lydia plays ultimate frisbee with the GeeGees, and enjoys hiking, juggling and unicycling.
