James Crall

Wind, landscape fragmentation and orchid bee ecology

I am interested in how both landscape structure and wind patterns affect foraging behavior on an ecological scale. To examine these questions, I study the abundance and diversity of orchid bees (Apidae: Euglossini) in fragmented, agricultural landscapes in the Coto Brus region of Costa Rica. Using  high speed 3d wind speed recordings with collections of male orchid bees at scent trap, we've found that both wind and landscape structure are important drivers of  spatial and temporal variation in visitation by orchid bees. I have also developed a low-cost, field deployable RFID (radio-frequency) reader based on the Arduino microcontroller, which I've used to track orchid bees in the wild.