I recently defended my Master's thesis and will graduate with a Master of Science in Ecology in the Spring of 2025. Following graduation, I am continuing with the Mola Lab to pursue a PhD in Ecology, starting in the Fall of 2025!

For my PhD, we are partnering with Dr. Seth Davis and the US Forest Service to explore native bee-honeybee competition on protected lands. 

Following concerns about honeybee hives on public lands, it is imperative to understand how non-native honeybees impact the foraging and reproductive success of native bees. We will use targeted netting and cavity nesting traps to assess the network structure, body size metrics, and reproductive health of native bees in areas with and without honeybees to understand the impact of honeybee competition on this system.

Views from a field site in the Araphoe and Roosevelt National Forest.

Urban Ecology Research

My master's thesis research explored local and landscape-level factors related to differences in bee and butterfly diversity across Denver city parks. A primary driver of this work was exploring the luxury effect, to determine if Denver parks had higher pollinator diversity in higher-income areas. We partnered with the Salazar Center and Denver Parks and Recreation to determine management solutions to improve pollinator habitat across all parks, regardless of income level.

Cavity nesting traps to assess cavity-nesting bee diversity and reproductive success.