Let’s BEE Scientists: Youth co-creating ecological science on pollinators

To address the global challenge of insect pollinator declines, we need interdisciplinary action by empowered youth that understand ecological diversity. Increasing this informed environmental empathy requires science curriculum that incorporates creative approaches to learning in nature and with community. Designing curriculum using co-designed citizen science can improve scientific literacy alongside science communication, whilst empowering students as co-researchers. Through a participatory action research PhD in entomology, we developed two interdisciplinary school curriculums (primary and secondary). We aimed to foster understanding of local pollinators and the scientific method using creative pedagogies. High school students co-designed an experiment to understand flower preferences of wild pollinators in their own backyards. They created artificial flowers to test their hypotheses based on observations in nature. All students collected data which the high school students interpreted. Students also created visual and musical science communication projects based on their findings and experiences. This process inspired student reflections on the intersection between ‘scientists’ and ‘artists’. Students’ understandings of pollinators expanded to include a diversity of insects for whom they developed greater empathy. This resulted in students creatively expressing a passion for science as a means of understanding the nature on their doorstep and proposing practical actions to conserve pollinators

Stem and crown growth of Japanese larch and its hybrid F₁ grown in two soils and exposed to two free-air O₃ regimes

Ozone (O3) pollution and soil infertility may negatively affect boreal forests across the Northern Hemisphere. Impacts to economically and ecologically important larches (Larix sp., Pinacaeae) are particularly concerning. Using a free air O3 enrichment (FACE) system, we investigated the effect of 2-year elevated O3 exposure (approximate to 66 nmol mol-1)) on Japanese larch (L. kaempferi) and its hybrid larch F1 (L. gmelinii var. japonica x L. kaempferi) planted directly into either fertile brown forest soil (BF) or BF mixed with infertile volcanic ash soil (VA). Overall, photosynthetic pigmentation and the growth performance of the stem and crown were reduced in both taxa exposed to elevated O3. Furthermore, hybrid larch, in both O3 treatments, performed better than Japanese larch. This finding contradicts findings of prior experiments with potential experimental artifacts of O3 exposure facilities and root restrictions. Elevated O3 also disproportionately inhibited stem diameter growth and caused an imbalance in chlorophylls a/b and chlorophyll/carotenoid ratios. Hybrid and Japanese larches grown in BF and VA had a significantly lower drop of stem diameter over the run of stem height (from base to top) when exposed to elevated O-3, compared to ambient O3. This finding indicates altered stem shape under elevated O3. Among 11 response variables, there were no significant interactions between O3 treatment and taxa. There was also no significant interaction of soil condition and taxa, suggesting that the two larches shared a similar response to O3 and soil type. Understanding the performance of hybrid larch in relation to its parent species has ramifications for breeding success in a soil-degraded and O3-polluted environment