Solutions for Farmers || Food for Bees
Who are we ?
We are a group of conservation researchers and practitioners in Quebec, Ontario and Massachussets, working closely with producers, agronomists, entrepreneurs and policy makers. We seek to identify solutions for a sustainable agriculture that combine the socio-economic reality of farmers with the ecological and nutritional needs of native pollinators.
Mathilde Tissier, PhD
Mathilde is interested in the effects of nutrition on the performance of terrestrial animals, including pollinators. A Liber Ero recipient (Canada) and research fellow at the CNRS (France), she is the researcher in charge of the project. She obtained her PhD in ecology and conservation biology in agricultural environments from the University of Strasbourg (France) in 2017, after several years of study as an exchange student between France, Quebec and British Columbia.
Laurie Auclair, MSc
Laurie graduated from the Université du Québec à Montréal in 2021 with a bachelor's degree in biology in problem-based learning. After working for over a year in forest ecology, she began her master's degree on the relationships between the gut microbiota and behaviour in wild animals. She has been working as a research professional on the SFFB project since the summer of 2024.
Amélie Morin, candidate au doctorat
Amélie obtained her bachelor's degree in biological and ecological sciences from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières in 2022. She continued her studies at master's level, where she focused on the use of flower strips in agricultural settings to conserve bumblebee populations in the Montérégie region. In 2024, she started her PhD to pursue her commitment to pollinator conservation. Her doctoral project aims to improve the health and nutrition of bumblebees in agricultural environments, while integrating agricultural producers upstream in the scientific process.
Businesses and associations
Louis Drainville
Louis, agronomist and biologist, is CEO of Terre-Eau Inc. which advises producers on how to reconcile agriculture and biodiversity
Yann Loranger et Isabelle Rabbat
Beekeepers and directors of Happy-Culture, Isabelle and Yann advise us and help us collect pollen from native flowers
Taylor Kerekes
Taylor is the lead biologist in charge of the native pollinator recovery program at Wildlife Preservation Canada
Parker Smale
Parker is the lead technician and bumblebee breeding specialist at Wildlife Preservation Canada
Cole Blair
Cole is in charge of bumblebee monitoring in the field and laboratory at Wildlife Preservation Canada
Sarah Mackell
Formerly in charge of the bumblebee project at Wildlife Preservation Canada
Carolyn Callaghan
Senior biologist in charge of terrestrial wildlife conservation at the Canadian Wildlife Federation
Academic collaborators
Valerie Fournier
Professor at the Centre for Research and Innovation on Plants at Université Laval (Québec), Valérie has a laboratory specializing in agricultural entomology. After doctoral studies in tropical environments, her research now focuses mainly on the ecology of arthropods in temperate environments.
Patrick Bergeron
Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Bishop's University (Sherbrooke), Patrick has a laboratory that conducts work in behavioral ecology and evolutionary ecophysiology in forest and agricultural environments, mainly on vertebrates. He is also developing a research focus on pre-industrial humans.
Lynn Adler
Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (USA), Lynn specializes in the evolution of plant-animal interactions, mainly in pollinators. Her team has discovered the medicinal properties of sunflower pollen for bees and bumblebees.
Sheila Colla
Sheila, Assistant Professor and York University Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Conservation Science, is a passionate protector of wild pollinators in North America. She heads a research laboratory specializing in the conservation biology of native pollinators, with an interdisciplinary dimension. She is also co-founder of the Finding Flowers project, which integrates art, ecology and education.
Frédéric McCune
Frédéric is a research professional in Valérie Fournier's laboratory at Laval University.
Declan Schroeder
Declan is an Associate Professor of Virology in the Veterinary Population Medicine Department at the University of Minnesota. He develops molecular tools to improve pathogen detection and surveillance, and is interested in securing agricultural productivity to better understand the true impact of infectious diseases.
