Michael Simanonok, PhD

I'm broadly interested in how landscape patterns and processes influence community- and network-level structure and function. My work at NPWRC in Clint Otto's lab follows these themes using both managed and native bee species to address questions of land-use change in the Northern Great Plains. Current projects include 1) investigating how the quality and species composition of forage collected by bees changes with land use, 2) using pollen DNA data from rusty-patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) museum specimens to infer historical foraging and inform conservation efforts, and 3) exploring relationships between solitary bee nesting and floral resource variability across the landscape.

My graduate work at Montana State University focused on spatiotemporal network turnover, plant-pollinator network assembly after wildfire, how bumble bee health and foraging change across their nutritional landscape, as well as the nesting habits and habitats of solitary bees.

Education

· Ph.D. Ecology & Environmental Sciences, Montana State University, 2018

· M.S. Biological Sciences, Montana State University, 2013

· B.S. Biology, University of North Texas, 2010

Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=0a7bxJsAAAAJ&hl=en