In late February, members of our lab participated in the 32nd annual Front Range Student Ecology Symposium, hosted by graduate student volunteers from the Ecology Program and other departments. Our very own Kyle Ruzkowski, Nicki Bailey, and Laura Lukens served on this year’s organizing committee, and overall we had seven presentations—and two award winners—from our lab. John also returned this year as a veteran judge, evaluating both poster and oral presentations. We are incredibly proud of our dedicated and hardworking undergraduate and PhD students. Read more about our lab’s presentations below!
Keirs Manlapas presented a research poster on an independent project they completed under the mentorship of PhD student Hannah Burke. Their project examined bumble bee foraging patterns in urban and floral landscapes, and their preliminary findings indicate that bumble bees at urban sites tend to collect a greater diversity of pollen from a wider variety of flowers.
In hopes of decreasing researchers’ reliance on collecting wild bumblebee queens for research, Allie McQuiston, advised by Laura Lukens, attempted to raise microcolonies from wild-caught Bombus huntii workers. While a few colonies laid eggs, none reared adult drones, so she believes that starting earlier and increasing sample sizes may improve success rates to a reliable standard.
Dylan Mitchell, mentored by Kyle Ruszkowski, shared results from a study investigating how bee hotels can be optimized for outreach and educational purposed as well as the conservation of native bee species. Dylan studied how overhangs on bee hotels and straw size influence native and non-native cavity-nesting bee occupancy rates.
In addition to serving as the 2026 FRSES Vice President, a role that includes organizing and supporting FRSES subcommittees and coordinating day‑of symposium logistics, Kyle Ruszkowski presented his research on bumble bee movement through the urban matrix. Kyle has volunteered with FRSES throughout his entire PhD and looks forward to presenting again next year
Laura Lukens served as the Judging Committee Chair, recruiting judges, coordinating evaluations, and supporting day-of logistics. She presented research examining bumble bee communities across an urban-natural gradient; urban sites showed lower β‑diversity, greater dominance of common species, and disproportionately negative responses among vulnerable Bombus species – patterns consistent with ecological homogenization.
Nicki Bailey served as FRSES Secretary, keeping FRSES meetings and communications organized. She presented work from her first official field season as a PhD student assessing the impacts of experimentally induced honey bee pressure on native bee interactions in Colorado public forests. We are so proud of her for winning best presentation in her section!
Hannah Burke presented on her research examining how food stress and neonicotinoid exposure impact bumblebees, finding that these stressors synergistically interact to harm various aspects of bee reproduction. This was her first official presentation as a PhD student, and she not only impressed us all with her incredible speaking skills, but also won best presentation for her section. Special congrats to Hannah on her first presentation and award!