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Event Name:
From Bees to Rodents |
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Location:
Manor House & East Terrace |
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Event Date:
Wednesday, 10/15/2025 |
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Event Time:
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM |
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Duration:
2 hours |
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Purchase Deadline:
Wednesday, 10/15/2025 7:30 PM
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Meet the Pollinators-From Bees to Rodents
Animal pollinators use flowers for different purposes, mainly for food, but sometimes to find mates or lay eggs. In the process, they all assist in the reproduction of flowering plants. This talk will focus on how pollinators have evolved to find the perfect flower for their needs.
We will discuss how animals rely mainly on sight and smell to select which plants to visit. Color variations, often imperceptible to humans, and floral scents unique to each species can help pollinators find the specific flower they are seeking.
Learn about the research into the evolutionary interplay between flowers and pollinators that is continually revealing new wonders that expand and challenge our understanding of animal pollination.
Leach Talks 2025 is generously sponsored by Portland Nursery.
Speaker Bio: Heidi Dobson
Heidi’s long-term research interests focus on how bees select which flowers to visit, with a special emphasis on flower-specialist solitary bee species, using primarily behavioral and chemical approaches. She earned her BA in Botany and BS in Agricultural Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley (1976), her MS in Entomology from UC Davis (1980), and her PhD in Botany from UC Berkeley (1985).
Heidi conducted five years of postdoctoral research on the chemical ecology of flowers, particularly pollen, at the Ecological Research Station on the island of Öland, Sweden. In 1992, she joined the faculty of the Biology Department at Whitman College, where she is responsible for the plant-focused curriculum, serves as Director of the Herbarium and teaching greenhouses, and mentors undergraduate students in bee research, both in Sweden and locally in eastern Washington. Almost every summer since coming to Whitman, Heidi has invited undergraduate students to collaborate with her on bee research, either abroad in Sweden or locally.
