Jeremy Hemberger

Entomologist | Ecologist | Science Communicator | Photographer

Currently

I’m interested in how insect fitness, behavior, populations, and communities respond to landscape-scale drivers in agroecosystems in order to support the biodiversity essential for supporting our agriculturally productive landscapes.

Education

2013-2020 University of Wisconsin-Madison Entomology PhD (advisor: Claudio Gratton | committee: Neal Williams, Russ Groves, Christelle Geudot, John Orrock). Thesis title: Where have all the flowers gone? Understanding changes in spatiotemporal floral resources and their role in driving bumble bee behavior, colony development, and populations in agroecosystems.

2010-2012 University of Wisconsin-Madison BSc Biology with evolution emphasis

2008-2010 University of Wisconsin-Platteville BSc Genetic and molecular biology (Transfer to UW-Madison - fall 2010)

Research experience

2013-2020 University of Wisconsin-Madison PhD Thesis | See above

2012-2013 USGS National Wildlife Health Center Research Technician | Parisitology diagnostics, necropsy, specimen curation, research. Supevisors: Rebecca Cole and Anindo Choudhury

2010-2012 University of Wisconsion-Madison Undergraduate Independent Research | Biotic and abiotic determinants of West Nile Virus vector Culex pipiens larval success in sururban Chicago, USA. Advisors: Tavis Anderson and Tony Goldberg

Teaching experience

2013-2019 UW Entomology Insect Ambassadors Program coordinator and head presenter. This group is the primary outreach arm of the UW Entomology department - specializing in K-8, insect-themed outreach and presentations. Presentations to date: over 100.

2017 University of Wisconsin-Madison Laboratory Instructor - Insect Ecology (Entomology 451). Cirriculum development, lab preparation, instruction, field research trips, statistical instruction, writing mentor.

2015 University of Wisconsin-Madison Instructor - College for Kids. Preparing a curriculum and teaching a 4 day short course on insects for middle school students, including lab and field components.

2013 University of Wisconsin-Madison Teaching Assistant - General Biology (Zoology 152).

Papers

2019 Hemberger, J., and C. Gratton. Saved by the pulse? Separating the effects of total and temporal food abundance on the performance of bumble bee microcolonies. in revision, Basic and Applied Ecology.

2018 Hemberger, J., and C. Gratton. 2018. Floral resource pulse decreases bumble bee foraging trip duration in central Wisconsin agroecosystem. Ecological Entomology 43:447–457.

Grants

2018 UW Madison Baldwin Ideas Grant (co-written with Claudio Gratton and Hannah Gaines-Day). Show me the bees! Engaging growers with citizen science to improve management of crop pollinators $88,080

2017 CALS WAES Hatch Grant (co-written with Claudio Gratton) - Modeling wild bee occurrence in Wisconsin agriculture. $127,000

2016 University of Wisconsin – Madison, Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems Mini-Grant, Spatiotemporal floral resources and bumble bee abundance in WI cranberry agroecosystems. $1000

2015 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship – Honorable Mention, 2015

2014 University of Wisconsin – Madison, Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems Mini-Grant, Effect of Planting additional, non-crop floral resources on pollinator dependent crop production. $1500

Awards

2019 International Pollinator Conference - Travel Award. $500

2017 Albert J. & Adelaide E. Riker Scholarship – UW CALS Student Award. $1500 scholarship

Kinney Merrit Travel Award – UW Department of Entomology. $1000 travel award

BOMBUSS Student Scholarship – BOMBUSS Conference. $1000 travel award

2016 Best Presentation Award – Wisconsin Ecology Spring Symposium. $400 travel award

2015 President’s Prize (Best presentation) - Runner up, Entomological Society Meetings, Minneapolis, MN.

University of Wisconsin – Madison Graduate Student Travel Award, Tropentag 2015. Berlin, Germany. $1200 travel award

Best Poster Award – Wisconsin Ecology Spring Symposium

Presentations

Invited

2019 Hemberger, J.A., Koch, J. Bumble Bees in the Landscape: State of the science, methods, and research priorities. BOMBUSS 2.0. Toronto, ON. Canada.

2018 Hemberger, J.A., Gratton, C. Understanding bumble bee responses to spatiotemporal resource availability using automated colony scales. Annual Meetings of the Entomological Society of America. Vancouver, BC. Canada.

Hemberger, J.A., Gratton, C. Thinking like a bumble bee: Understanding bumble bee resource needs in agricultural landscapes. Annual Meetings of the Entomological Society of America. Vancouver, BC. Canada.

Hemberger, J.A., Gratton, C. Spatiotemporal resource heterogeneity in agroecosystems: implications for bumble bees and other beneficial insects. ESA North Central Branch Meetings. Madison, WI. USA.

Hemberger, J.A., Gratton, C. Bumble bee responses to spatiotemporal resource abundance in WI cranberry. ESA North Central Branch Meetings. Madison, WI. USA.

2017 Hemberger, J.A., Gratton, C. Temporal resource pulse decreases bumble bee foraging duration across central Wisconsin agricultural landscapes. Annual Meetings of the Entomological Society of America. Denver, CO. USA.

Hemberger, J.A., Gratton, C. Using foraging behavior to determine landscape suitability for bumble bees. BOMBUSS Conference Logan, UT. USA.

Hemberger, J.A., Gratton, C. Spatiotemporal floral resource modeling in Wisconsin agroecosystems. BOMBUSS Conference. Logan, UT. USA.

Submitted

2015 Hemberger, J.A., Gratton, C. How do bees perceive the landscape? Linking bumblebee foraging to resources in Wisconsin landscapes using RFID methods. Annual Meetings of the Entomological Society of America. Minneapolis, MN. USA.

Hemberger, J.A., Gratton, C. What’s best for bees? Determining landscape suitability of bumblebees using RFID technology. Tropentag 2015 -Management of land use systems for enhanced food security - conflicts, controversies and resolutions. Berlin, Germany.

2014 Hemberger, J.A., Gratton, C. Oh, the places bees go: RFID methods connect bumblebee foraging to resources in Wisconsin landscapes. Annual Meetings of the Entomological Society of America. Portland, OR. USA.

2013 Hemberger, J.A., Anderson, T.K., Goldberg, T.L., Newman, C.M., Abiotic determinants of the abundance of the West Nile virus vector, Culex pipiens, in suburban Chicago, USA. 27th National Conference for Undergraduate Research. LaCrosse, WI. USA.

Outreach

2019 December 4 - Madison Science on Tap. Madison, WI. 30 in attendance. June 23 - Bumble bee ID workshop - Olbrich Gardens, Madison, WI. 15 in attendance. June 17 - National Pollinator Week Talk - Olbrich Gardens, Madison, WI. 11 in attendance

2018 May 1 - Madison Optimist Society. Madison, WI. 25 in attendance April 4 - Madison Science on Tap. Madison, WI. 60 in attendance

2017

2016

2015

2013-2019

Involvement

University of Wisconsin

2017-2019 Wisconsin Ecology. Graduate student executive member. One of four graduate students responsible for providing direction to Wisconsin Ecology, as well as organizing Wisconsin Ecology events including spring symposium, undergraduate job fair, and graduate student socials.

2013-2019 Entomology Graduate Student Association. Student chair for Insect Ambassadors, Student chair for web committee. Responsible for graduate student input to department policy and on goings, including outreach web presence.

2015-2016 Wisconsin Society for Conservation Biology. Pollinator committee chair and citizen science program leader. Responsible for helping guide a citizen science based pollinator monitoring project at the UW Lakeshore preserve, including\ workshops and field days.

Professional involvement

Entomological Society of America, Ecological Society of America, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

Mentoring

Grant Witynski - Undergraduate researcher, Summer 2018 - present. Agathe Frappa – Intern student from SupAgro in Montpellier, France, Summer 2018 Brad Harrison – LaFollete High School biology instructor (NSF RET Program), Summer 2017 Gabriel Foote – Undergraduate capstone research, 2014 – 2015. Gabe did his senior capstone research with me, studying bumblebee behavioral responses to RFID tracking equipment. Ian Shi – Middle School Student, 2014 – 2015. I mentored Ian for the Wisconsin Science Olympiad. He went on to win the state competition and qualify for nationals, in which he competed in May of 2015.

Media

The Lakeland Times – August 28, 2015. “The earnest importance of bees.”

WXPR Local Public Radio – August 26, 2015. “Science on Tap Explores Pollinators Disappearance”

NBC 15 Local Broadcast News – August 12, 2015. “Monitoring Bees with Microchips”

The Daily Cardinal – August 10, 2015. “Radio-tagged bees offer new look at landscape”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – July 29, 2015. “Bee happy: UW Researchers help growers improve pollinator habitats”

WPR Larry Meiller Show – March 17, 2015. “Tagging bees to support Pollinators

On Wisconsin Magazine – Winter 2014. “Buzzworthy Research”

The Sauk Prairie Eagle – October 13, 2014. “Optimist Speaker is the Bees Knees”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – July 13, 2014. “UW Madison scientists seek alternatives to cranberry pollination”

Technical skills and languages

Areas of experience

Additional projects

Bumble bees of Wisconsin

Interest in bumble bee conservation is at an all time high. Each week I meet citizens concerned about our fuzzy friends - interseted in learning more to help with conservation efforts. To help further cultivate interest in bumble bees, and to share important information about their biology, conservation, and to help amateur naturalists identify Wisconsin bumble bees, I built a website. (www.wisconsinbumblebees.com).

Insect photography

We entomologists have the benefit of studying some of the most beautiful organisms on the planet. I do my best to capture that beauty, and that of the environments in which insects live, to share with people I meet throughout my academic journey. (www.jeremyhemberger.com/gallery).

References

Available on request.