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"text": "This is a list of publications by lab members, with a curated sample of figures to illustrate the diversity of research in our lab. See the Agriculture, Biodiversity, and Conservation pages for a topic-based review of our research.\nGraduate and undergraduate students, postdocs, technicians, and research associates who worked in the lab are in red. Lab PIs are in black.\nCan’t access these? Send an email to Paul Galpern.\n\n\n\nABC Lab Publications\n\nNeame, T. & Galpern, P. (2025). Body size mediates ground beetle dispersal from non-crop vegetation: Implications for conservation biocontrol. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 377:109270. Link\n\n\nNeame, T., Robinson, S., & Galpern, P. (2024). Proximity to non-crop vegetation increases estimates of predation frequency but not beetle numbers. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 373:109133. Link\n\n\nCohen, A. L., Devries, J. H., & Galpern, P. (2024). Wetland cover in agricultural landscapes is positively associated with bumblebee abundance. Insect Conservation and Diversity, 17. Link\n\n\nRohde, A. T., Branstetter, M. G., Mock, K. E., Knoblett, J. N., Pilliod, D. S., Everett, J. G., Galpern, P., & Strange, J. P. (2024). Population genetics of museum specimens indicate decreasing genetic resiliency: The case of two bumble bees of conservation concern. Biological Conservation, 291. Link\n\n\nClake, D. J., Rogers, S. M., & Galpern, P. (2024). Cryptic genotypic and phenotypic diversity in parapatric bumble bee populations associated with minimum cold temperatures. Biodiversity and Conservation, 33. Link (Figure 1)\n\n\n\nInnes, R., Neame, T., & Galpern, P. (2024). Contrasting late season pest insect abundance in non-crop vegetation areas and nearby canola fields in the canadian prairies. Agricultural and Forest Entomology. In press. Link (Figure 2)\n\n\n\nKwafo, R., Galpern, P., & Cartar, R. V. (2023). Contrasting effects of landscape on nest founding and colony success of bumble bees in a mixed-crop agroecosystem. Insect Conservation and Diversity, 16. Link\n\n\nRobinson, S. V. J., Schwinghamer, T., Cárcamo, H., & Galpern, P. (2023). Precision agricultural data and ecosystem services: Can we put the pieces together? Ecological Solutions and Evidence 4:e12271. Link (Figure 3)\n\n\n\nNguyen, L. H., Robinson, S., & Galpern, P. (2022). Effects of landscape complexity on crop productivity: An assessment from space. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment, 328, 107849. Link (Figure 4)\n\n\n\nNguyen, L., Robinson, S., & Galpern, P. (2022). Medium-resolution multispectral satellite imagery in precision agriculture: Mapping precision canola (brassica napus l.) yield using sentinel-2 time series. Precision Agriculture, 23, 1051–1071. Link\n\n\nRobinson, S., Nguyen, L., & Galpern, P. (2022). Livin’ on the edge: Precision yield data shows evidence of ecosystem services from field boundaries. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment, 333, 107956. Link\n\n\nClake, D. J., Rogers, S. M., & Galpern, P. (2022). Landscape complementation is a driver of bumble bee (bombus sp.) abundance in the canadian rocky mountains. Landscape Ecology, 37. Link\n\n\nDoyle-Baker, P. K., Ladle, A., Rout, A., & Galpern, P. (2021). Smartphone GPS locations of students’ movements to and from campus. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 10, 517. Link\n\n\nRout, A., Nitoslawski, S., Ladle, A., & Galpern, P. (2021). Using smartphone-GPS data to understand pedestrian-scale behavior in urban settings: A review of themes and approaches. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 90, 101705. Link\n\n\nVickruck, J., Purvis, E. E. N., Kwafo, R., Kerstiens, H., & Galpern, P. (2021). Diversifying landscapes for wild bees: Strategies for north american prairie agroecosystems. Current Landscape Ecology Reports, 6, 85–96. Link (Figure 5)\n\n\n\nRout, A., & Galpern, P. (2021). Benches, fountains and trees: Using mixed-methods with questionnaire and smartphone data to design urban green spaces. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 127335. Link\n\n\nPurvis, E. E. N., Best, L. R., & Galpern, P. (2021). Identifying key forage plants to support wild bee diversity and a species at risk in the prairie pothole region. Insect Conservation and Diversity, 14, 851–861. Link\n\n\nRobinson, S. V. J., Edwards, D., Vickruck, J. L., Best, L. R., & Galpern, P. (2021). Non-crop sources of beneficial arthropods vary within-season across a prairie agroecosystem. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 320, 107581. Link\n\n\nGalpern, P., Best, L. R., Devries, J. H., & Johnson, S. A. (2021). Wild bee responses to cropland landscape complexity are temporally-variable and taxon-specific: Evidence from a highly replicated pseudo-experiment. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 322, 107652. Link\n\n\nGalpern, P., Vickruck, J., Devries, J. H., & Gavin, M. P. (2020). Landscape complexity is associated with crop yields across a large temperate grassland region. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 290, 106724. Link\n\n\nChubaty, A. M., Galpern, P., & Doctolero, S. C. (2020). The r toolbox grainscape for modelling and visualizing landscape connectivity using spatially explicit networks. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 11, 591–595. Link (Figure 6)\n\n\n\nGalpern, P., & Gavin, M. P. (2020). Assessing the potential to increase landscape complexity in Canadian prairie croplands: A multi-scale analysis of land use pattern. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 8, 31. Link\n\n\nPurvis, E. E. N., Vickruck, J. L., Best, L. R., Devries, J. H., & Galpern, P. (2020). Wild bee community recovery in restored grassland-wetland complexes of prairie north america. Biological Conservation, 252, 108829. Link (Figure 7)\n\n\n\nPriadka, P., Manseau, M., Trottier, T., Hervieux, D., Galpern, P., McLoughlin, P. D., & Wilson, P. J. (2019). Partitioning drivers of spatial genetic variation for a continuously distributed population of boreal caribou: Implications for management unit delineation. Ecology and Evolution, 9, 141–153. Link\n\n\nVickruck, J. L., Best, L. R., Gavin, M. P., Devries, J. H., & Galpern, P. (2019). Pothole wetlands provide reservoir habitat for native bees in prairie croplands. Biological Conservation, 232, 42–50. Link\n\n\nSchweiger, O., Franzén, M., Frenzel, M., Galpern, P., Kerr, J., Papanikolaou, A., & Rasmont, P. (2019). Minimising risks of global change by enhancing resilience of pollinators in agricultural systems. In Atlas of Ecosystem Services (pp. 105–111). Link\n\n\nGalpern, P., Ladle, A., Uribe, F. A., Sandalack, B., & Doyle-Baker, P. (2018). Assessing urban connectivity using volunteered mobile phone GPS locations. Applied Geography, 93, 37–46. Link\n\n\nLadle, A., Galpern, P., & Doyle-Baker, P. (2018). Measuring the use of green space with urban resource selection functions: An application using smartphone GPS locations. Landscape and Urban Planning, 179, 107–115. Link (Figure 8)\n\n\n\nRout, A., & Galpern, P. (2018). Using personal smartphone location histories in public engagement: Locating a new campus amenity. Applied Geography, 100, 68–77. Link\n\n\nGalpern, P., Johnson, S. A., Retzlaff, J. L., Chang, D., & Swann, J. (2017). Reduced abundance and earlier collection of bumble bee workers under intensive cultivation of a mass-flowering prairie crop. Ecology and Evolution, 7, 2414–2422. Link\n\n\nGubili, C., Mariani, S., Weckworth, B. V., Galpern, P., McDevitt, A. D., Hebblewhite, M., Nickel, B., & Musiani, M. (2017). Environmental and anthropogenic drivers of connectivity patterns: A basis for prioritizing conservation efforts for threatened populations. Evolutionary Applications, 10, 199–211. Link\n\n\nRout, A., & Galpern, P. (2017). Evidence-based design of outdoor learning spaces in winter: Behavioral mapping in a ’forest school’. In Architectural Research Addressing Societal Challenges, Vols 1 and 2. Link\n\n\n\nPaul Galpern Publications (2017 and earlier)\n\nGalpern, P. (2017). Validating walkability models using volunteered mobile phone data ( breakout presentation ). Journal of Transport & Health, 7. Link\n\n\nLindquist, M., & Galpern, P. (2016). Crowdsourcing (in) voluntary citizen geospatial data from google android smartphones. Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture, 1, 263–272. Link\n\n\nKerr, J. T., Pindar, A., Galpern, P., Packer, L., Potts, S. G., Roberts, S. M., Rasmont, P., Schweiger, O., Colla, S. R., Richardson, L. L., Wagner, D. L., Gall, L. F., Sikes, D. S., & Pantoja, A. (2015). Relocation risky for bumblebee colonies—response. Science (New York, N.Y.), 350, 287. Link\n\n\nKerr, J. T., Pindar, A., Galpern, P., Packer, L., Potts, S. G., Roberts, S. M., Rasmont, P., Schweiger, O., Colla, S. R., Richardson, L. L., Wagner, D. L., & Gall, L. F. (2015). Climate change impacts on bumblebees converge across continents. Science, 349, 177–180. Link\n\n\nGalpern, P., Peres-Neto, P. R., Polfus, J., & Manseau, M. (2014). MEMGENE: Spatial pattern detection in genetic distance data. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 5, 1116–1120. Link\n\n\nHarris, L. N., Moore, J. S., Galpern, P., Tallman, R. F., & Taylor, E. B. (2014). Geographic influences on fine-scale, hierarchical population structure in northern canadian populations of anadromous arctic char (salvelinus alpinus). Environmental Biology of Fishes, 97, 1233–1252. Link\n\n\nGalpern, P., & Manseau, M. (2013a). Modelling the influence of landscape connectivity on animal distribution: A functional grain approach. Ecography, 36, 1004–1016. Link\n\n\nGalpern, P., & Manseau, M. (2013b). Finding the functional grain: Comparing methods for scaling resistance surfaces. Landscape Ecology, 28, 1269–1281. Link\n\n\nGalpern, P., Manseau, M., Hettinga, P. N., Wilson, P. J., & Smith, K. (2012). ALLELEMATCH: An r package for identifying unique multilocus genotypes where genotyping error and missing data may be present. Molecular Ecology Resources, 12, 771–778. Link (Figure 9)\n\n\n\nGalpern, P., Manseau, M., & Wilson, P. (2012). Grains of connectivity: Analysis at multiple spatial scales in landscape genetics. Molecular Ecology, 21, 3996–4009. Link\n\n\nGalpern, P., Manseau, M., & Fall, A. (2011). Patch-based graphs of landscape connectivity: A guide to construction, analysis and application for conservation. Biological Conservation, 144, 44–55. Link\n\n\nHoule, D., Mezey, J., Galpern, P., & Carter, A. (2003). Automated measurement of drosophila wings. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 3, 1–3. Link\n\n\nHoule, D., Mezey, J., & Galpern, P. (2002). Interpretation of the results of common principal components analyses. Evolution, 56, 433–440. Link\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 1: Clake, Rogers, and Galpern (2024) describe a new cryptic species of bumble bee in the Rocky mountains, named Bombus hibernus determined using genomic analyses. This research was led by lab PhD student Dr. Danielle Clake.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 2: Innes, Neame, and Galpern (2024) investigated the late-season spillover of crop pests from perennial vegetation into canola in Alberta, and showed that except for leafhoppers (shown), pests are not moving from these habitats into the fields at this time of year. Lab undergraduate Honors student Becca Innes led this paper.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 3: Robinson et al. (2023) motivate the potential for “precision ag” field maps collected by combine harvesting machinery to enhance agricultural sustainability. Postdoc Dr. Sam Robinson, who pioneered our lab’s precision ag work, leads this demonstration of best practices (e.g., filter using several criteria).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 4: Nguyen, Robinson, and Galpern (2022) determine the crop yield from 757 fields using remote sensing and precision data. They use this to show that non-crop vegetation (“messy places”) creates a positive yield halo in nearby canola. This work was led by lab postdoc Dr. Lan Nguyen,\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 5: Vickruck et al. (2021) set out principles for supporting wild bees in the Canadian Prairies. This diagram shows land management techniques with great potential for success. This review was a team effort led by lab postdoc Dr. Jess Vickruck.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 6: Chubaty, Galpern, and Doctolero (2020) introduced grainscape, new R software for landscape connectivity modelling. This team effort was led by visiting scientist Dr. Alex Chubaty and underwritten by lab undergraduate Sam Doctolero’s breathtakingly efficient C++ code.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 7: Purvis et al. (2020) compared the diversity and the abundance of bees and the flowers at Alberta grassland-wetland sites of various times since restoration. This was analyzed by MSc student Emily Purvis, with sampling implemented by postdoc Dr. Jess Vickruck.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 8: Ladle, Galpern, and Doyle-Baker (2018) brought wildlife ecological methods to urban landscape planning, proposing urban resource selection functions (RSFs). This work, led by lab postdoc Dr. Andrew Ladle, introduced how we can use “human radiocollars” (GPS-enabled smartphones) to understand how people use Calgary parks (pictured; green).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 9: Galpern et al. (2012) describes the allelematch package for R, which is software that matches DNA samples based on genomic profiles. This tool has had significant impact on conservation on the ground (or water) with hundreds of cited applications to at-risk populations of terrestrial mammals, plants, birds, fishes, and marine mammals. It is currently maintained by Todd Cross. An example of profile matching is shown.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 1: Clake, Rogers, and Galpern (2024) describe a new cryptic species of bumble bee in the Rocky mountains, named Bombus hibernus determined using genomic analyses. This research was led by lab PhD student Dr. Danielle Clake.\nFigure 2: Innes, Neame, and Galpern (2024) investigated the late-season spillover of crop pests from perennial vegetation into canola in Alberta, and showed that except for leafhoppers (shown), pests are not moving from these habitats into the fields at this time of year. Lab undergraduate Honors student Becca Innes led this paper.\nFigure 3: Robinson et al. (2023) motivate the potential for “precision ag” field maps collected by combine harvesting machinery to enhance agricultural sustainability. Postdoc Dr. Sam Robinson, who pioneered our lab’s precision ag work, leads this demonstration of best practices (e.g., filter using several criteria).\nFigure 4: Nguyen, Robinson, and Galpern (2022) determine the crop yield from 757 fields using remote sensing and precision data. They use this to show that non-crop vegetation (“messy places”) creates a positive yield halo in nearby canola. This work was led by lab postdoc Dr. Lan Nguyen,\nFigure 5: Vickruck et al. (2021) set out principles for supporting wild bees in the Canadian Prairies. This diagram shows land management techniques with great potential for success. This review was a team effort led by lab postdoc Dr. Jess Vickruck.\nFigure 6: Chubaty, Galpern, and Doctolero (2020) introduced grainscape, new R software for landscape connectivity modelling. This team effort was led by visiting scientist Dr. Alex Chubaty and underwritten by lab undergraduate Sam Doctolero’s breathtakingly efficient C++ code.\nFigure 7: Purvis et al. (2020) compared the diversity and the abundance of bees and the flowers at Alberta grassland-wetland sites of various times since restoration. This was analyzed by MSc student Emily Purvis, with sampling implemented by postdoc Dr. Jess Vickruck.\nFigure 8: Ladle, Galpern, and Doyle-Baker (2018) brought wildlife ecological methods to urban landscape planning, proposing urban resource selection functions (RSFs). This work, led by lab postdoc Dr. Andrew Ladle, introduced how we can use “human radiocollars” (GPS-enabled smartphones) to understand how people use Calgary parks (pictured; green).\nFigure 9: Galpern et al. (2012) describes the allelematch package for R, which is software that matches DNA samples based on genomic profiles. This tool has had significant impact on conservation on the ground (or water) with hundreds of cited applications to at-risk populations of terrestrial mammals, plants, birds, fishes, and marine mammals. It is currently maintained by Todd Cross. An example of profile matching is shown.\n\n\n\nThe ABC Lab is a collective project of Dr. Paul Galpern, Dr. Mindi Summers, and their students and trainees at University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.\n\n\nImage content created by past or present lab members is credited; other images are licensed or are in the public domain; Lab logo and beetle line drawing by Tobyn Neame; Built with Quarto; Last content update: May 2024"
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"text": "Figure 1: Beneficial insects providing ecosystem services, among more than 350 species identified by in our lab. (Left) Bombus terricola, a bumble bee of conservation concern, in Alberta, Canada. (Centre) Pterostichus melanarius, a common beetle predator of crop pests and weed seeds. (Right) A bee visits an invasive thistle in the Kootenays, British Columbia, Canada."
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"text": "Monitoring and surveillance\nWe love insects! (See Figure 1). So little is known about so many species. Our lab is working hard to change this, close to home, in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada.\nA major focus are the beneficial insects that provide ecosystem services. Our team has sampled at hundreds of sites (Figure 2). Back at the lab, sample processing (like this; Figure 3), followed by pinning specimens (like this; Figure 4) is a common activity for our undergraduate and graduate students.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 2: Between 2015 and 2021 the lab sampled bees, beetles, hoverflies, spiders, and other arthropods at 335 cropland sites across Alberta, Canada, for a total sampling effort of ~9000 trap-weeks. We curated over 200,000 beneficial arthropod specimens from this haul. The bee collection alone is among the largest (by specimen count) in Canada. Many specimens were identified by “visiting” taxonomists like bee expert Lincoln Best and coleopterist Dr. Manoj Kandoth.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 3: From the field to the lab. Each jar represents a different sample, containing arthropods of many species.\n\n\n\nBiodiversity data are the basis of many recent lab publications. For example:\n\nPostdoc Dr. Abigail Cohen reported that wetlands found in the Canadian Prairies (known as “sloughs”) are important for several bumble bee species, particularly when wildflowers growing in their margins come into bloom [1].\nAnother of Abigail’s forthcoming papers will explore risks to bees and beetles in the region under changing climate conditions.\nMaster’s student Emily Purvis investigated the reassembly of bee communities following restoration of grassland-wetland complexes [2] and which wildflowers support the greatest bee diversity [3].\nPhD student, Dr. Danielle Clake, took our monitoring work to the Rockies and adjacent Selkirk Mountains, climbing 17 mountains three times each. One outcome of that effort was the identification of a new cryptic species of bumble bee using genomic methods. Danielle named the new species Bombus hibernus [4].\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 4: One of many boxes of pinned insects in our collection. These come from traps placed near wetlands. Taxa shown include bumble bees, dragonflies, diving beetles, and others. After pinning, “easy” species are identified by us. But we’re not taxonomists, so we often recruit outside experts!"
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"text": "Arthropod ecosystem services\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat are ecosystem services?\n\n\n\nThese are nature’s contribution to people. Pollination, pest regulation and weed control are examples of ecosystem services where beneficial insects and arthropods play an outsized role.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 5: Wetlands, and other non-crop vegetation patches in prairie croplands, provide habitat for beneficial insects that supply ecosystem services. By sampling at various distances into the field, we have demonstrated spillover from these features into fields. This effect brings pollinators, pest regulation, and weed control ecosystem services closer to the crop.\n\n\n\nLab personnel have shown that non-crop vegetation near fields provides habitat for pollinators and for the natural enemies of crop pests. Spillover (Figure 5) of these arthropods has been a popular research topic for us. Some examples of our spillover research:\n\nIn a well-cited 2019 study, postdoc Dr. Jess Vickruck showed that native bees are more abundant closer to wetland margins [5], where they spillover (Figure 5) into crops. There they can supply pollination services to flowering crops, such as canola and alfalfa.\nDr. Sam Robinson, also a postdoc, discovered that beetles and other predatory arthropods move into and out of these habitats across the growing season, bringing them closer to where their service is needed [6].\nMSc student Tobyn Neame showed that predation frequency (as measured by sentinel prey caterpillars; Figure 6) is higher closer to non-crop vegetation [7], and that larger beetles are found further away from field edges [8], suggesting that the body size functional trait influences the spillover distance.\nBSc (Hons) student Rebecca Innes found that canola pests, at least late in the season, do not spillover from non-crop features [9], which has sometimes concerned farmers.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 6: Sentinel prey used to detect evidence of pest regulation spillover in crop fields. This plasticine caterpillar (from Tobyn’s research [7]) shows attempts by carabid beetles to bite it. Another approach, advanced by lab MSc student Sylvia Neumann, placed inviable moth eggs on tiny sticky cards. She then measured how many were eaten (not pictured).\n\n\n\nWhat next? Weed control! Many beetles are seed-eaters, and this ecosystem service may be mediated by proximity to non-crop vegetation. PhD student Tianyi Ren is working hard on this one.\nCan we predict arthropod ecosystem services better using functional traits? For example, like morphology or behaviour, that are not taxa-specific. Answering this second question is essential for generalizing beyond the region to gain global understanding of the mechanisms connecting biodiversity and ecosystem services."
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"text": "Education and community outreach\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 7: An outreach poster of native bees from Alberta, Canada in the University of Calgary collections. This digital imaging project was a lab partnership with several groups on campus.\n\n\n\nWe partnered with the library at the University of Calgary, in 2019, to create a digital image database of the bee diversity of Alberta. For this we drew on our lab’s bee collection, and high resolution photographic tools. The database contains more than 1000 images of bees and other arthropods, imaged by students in the lab or in entomology courses.\nWe even made a poster of some of Alberta’s most colourful native bee species (Figure 7). If you would like to print your own large-format poster, please download the high resolution PDF here.\nOur outreach is ongoing. Trainees in the lab have visited schools in the city, and some of us participate on City of Calgary biodiversity committees.\n\nFunders\nWe thank the following funders for their support of our biodiversity research, since 2015 (in alphabetical order):\n\nAlberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute\nAlberta Conservation Association\nCanadian Wildlife Service\nDucks Unlimited Canada\nMitacs\nMellon Foundation / Libraries and Cultural Resources, University of Calgary\nNorth American Waterfowl Management Plan (AB)\nNSERC\n\n\n\nSelected publications from the lab\nSee more of our biodiversity research publications here.\n\n\n[1] Cohen, A. L., Devries, J. H., & Galpern, P. (2024). Wetland cover in agricultural landscapes is positively associated with bumblebee abundance. Insect Conservation and Diversity, 17. https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12701\n\n\n[2] Purvis, E. E. N., Vickruck, J. L., Best, L. R., Devries, J. H., & Galpern, P. (2020). Wild bee community recovery in restored grassland-wetland complexes of prairie north america. Biological Conservation, 252, 108829. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108829\n\n\n[3] Purvis, E. E. N., Best, L. R., & Galpern, P. (2021). Identifying key forage plants to support wild bee diversity and a species at risk in the prairie pothole region. Insect Conservation and Diversity, 14, 851–861. https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12524\n\n\n[4] Clake, D. J., Rogers, S. M., & Galpern, P. (2024). Cryptic genotypic and phenotypic diversity in parapatric bumble bee populations associated with minimum cold temperatures. Biodiversity and Conservation, 33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-023-02753-1\n\n\n[5] Vickruck, J. L., Best, L. R., Gavin, M. P., Devries, J. H., & Galpern, P. (2019). Pothole wetlands provide reservoir habitat for native bees in prairie croplands. Biological Conservation, 232, 42–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.01.015\n\n\n[6] Robinson, S. V. J., Edwards, D., Vickruck, J. L., Best, L. R., & Galpern, P. (2021). Non-crop sources of beneficial arthropods vary within-season across a prairie agroecosystem. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 320, 107581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2021.107581\n\n\n[7] Neame, T., Robinson, S., & Galpern, P. (2025). Proximity to non-crop vegetation increases estimates of predation frequency but not beetle numbers. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 373, 109133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2024.109133\n\n\n[8] Neame, T., & Galpern, P. (2024). Body size mediates ground beetle dispersal from non-crop vegetation: Implications for conservation biocontrol. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 377, 109270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2024.109270\n\n\n[9] Innes, R., Neame, T., & Galpern, P. (2024). Contrasting late season pest insect abundance in non-crop vegetation areas and nearby canola fields in the canadian prairies. Agricultural and Forest Entomology. https://doi.org/10.1111/afe.12626\n\n\n\nKeywords\narthropods; bees; beetles; biodiversity monitoring; ecosystem services; functional traits; pest regulation; pollination; spillover, urban biodiversity; weed control;\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 1: Beneficial insects providing ecosystem services, among more than 350 species identified by in our lab. (Left) Bombus terricola, a bumble bee of conservation concern, in Alberta, Canada. (Centre) Pterostichus melanarius, a common beetle predator of crop pests and weed seeds. (Right) A bee visits an invasive thistle in the Kootenays, British Columbia, Canada.\nFigure 2: Between 2015 and 2021 the lab sampled bees, beetles, hoverflies, spiders, and other arthropods at 335 cropland sites across Alberta, Canada, for a total sampling effort of ~9000 trap-weeks. We curated over 200,000 beneficial arthropod specimens from this haul. The bee collection alone is among the largest (by specimen count) in Canada. Many specimens were identified by “visiting” taxonomists like bee expert Lincoln Best and coleopterist Dr. Manoj Kandoth.\nFigure 3: From the field to the lab. Each jar represents a different sample, containing arthropods of many species.\nFigure 4: One of many boxes of pinned insects in our collection. These come from traps placed near wetlands. Taxa shown include bumble bees, dragonflies, diving beetles, and others. After pinning, “easy” species are identified by us. But we’re not taxonomists, so we often recruit outside experts!\nFigure 5: Wetlands, and other non-crop vegetation patches in prairie croplands, provide habitat for beneficial insects that supply ecosystem services. By sampling at various distances into the field, we have demonstrated spillover from these features into fields. This effect brings pollinators, pest regulation, and weed control ecosystem services closer to the crop.\nFigure 6: Sentinel prey used to detect evidence of pest regulation spillover in crop fields. This plasticine caterpillar (from Tobyn’s research [7]) shows attempts by carabid beetles to bite it. Another approach, advanced by lab MSc student Sylvia Neumann, placed inviable moth eggs on tiny sticky cards. She then measured how many were eaten (not pictured).\nFigure 7: An outreach poster of native bees from Alberta, Canada in the University of Calgary collections. This digital imaging project was a lab partnership with several groups on campus."
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"text": "Associate Professor\nDepartment of Biological Sciences\nUniversity of Calgary\nAlberta\nCANADA\n\n\nEmail: paul.galpern [at] ucalgary [dot] ca He/him\n\n\nPhD (University of Manitoba)\nMSc, BEd, BSc (University of Toronto)\n\n\nGoogle Scholar\nPublications (ABC Lab)\nUniversity of Calgary profile LinkedIn\n\n\n\n“\n\n\nI’ve been leading a research program at the intersection of ecology, conservation and sustainable agriculture at University of Calgary (a large Canadian research-intensive institution), since 2013. I prioritize being a supportive mentor for my graduate students and trainees, and finding ways to innovate as a teacher.\nMy research has focused on sustainable agriculture, landscape ecology, ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, global change, and quantitative ecological methods. I have also spearheaded transdisciplinary research and courses that link ecology with the social sciences. I currently lead a multi-institutional research program in agricultural sustainability called the Prairie Precision Sustainability Network. As an advocate for sustainable agriculture on the Canadian Prairies, I have often been invited to speak on this issue to different types of audiences.\nI began my career as high school teacher (2001 to 2008), living and working in Indigenous communities in Ontario, Canada. This experience continues to inspire me, and it has shaped the design and philosophy of my undergraduate and graduate courses. Teaching well is very important to me. I strive to improve how we deliver post-secondary education and have introduced several novel teaching and assessment approaches in my courses.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe ABC Lab is a collective project of Dr. Paul Galpern, Dr. Mindi Summers, and their students and trainees at University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.\n\n\nImage content created by past or present lab members is credited; other images are licensed or are in the public domain; Lab logo and beetle line drawing by Tobyn Neame; Built with Quarto; Last content update: May 2024"
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"text": "Professor (Teaching)\nDepartment of Biological Sciences\nUniversity of Calgary\nAlberta\nCANADA\n\n\nEmail:\nmindi.summers [at] ucalgary [dot] ca\n\n\nPhD, MSc (Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego)\nBS (Standford University)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n“\n\n\nMindi’s biography is forthcoming.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe ABC Lab is a collective project of Dr. Paul Galpern, Dr. Mindi Summers, and their students and trainees at University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.\n\n\nImage content created by past or present lab members is credited; other images are licensed or are in the public domain; Lab logo and beetle line drawing by Tobyn Neame; Built with Quarto; Last content update: May 2024"
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"text": "Four BSc Honours research students from the ABC Lab received awards at the undergraduate symposium in March 2024. We take on several undergraduate research project students every year, and we hold weekly group meetings for students to develop research skills, and practice giving research talks.\n\n\nWe work hard to create a research community in which everyone is welcomed and feels included. We’d love to have you join us.\nDon’t hesitate to reach out with any questions to Dr. Paul Galpern or Dr. Mindi Summers.\n\nResearch Openings\n(Current: May 28, 2024)\n\nUndergraduate students: We take on several University of Calgary undergraduate students for full-year research projects (e.g., BIOL ECOL ENSC ZOOL 528 or 530). Please contact Paul Galpern or Mindi Summers. We usually finalize our group for the fall during the summer. Half-year opportunities (i.e., 507 courses) are also possible. Students must be prepared to spend 10 hours per week in the lab conducting research, and attend a weekly one-hour group meeting.\nGraduate students: We’re looking for PhD and possibly MSc students to work on topics related to sustainable agriculture, beneficial insects, or agrivoltaics. There are also exciting opportunities for students with background (or some basis to advance their learning) in remote sensing, machine learning, or statistical modelling.\nPostdoctoral scholars We have at least ONE open position for a postdoctoral fellow who could contribute to either or sustainable agriculture and/or or agrivoltaics projects. Experience in remote sensing or other computational modelling, soil ecology or entomology are particularly welcome.\n\n\n\nHow to apply\nWe request that anyone interested in joining the lab email us with the following:\n\nUnofficial transcripts\nA brief statement of how your research interests interface with active research projects in the lab (e.g., in agriculture, biodiversity, or conservation).\nA CV (not required for undergraduates)\nEvidence of your written work (not required for undergraduates)\n\n\n\n\nFour BSc Honours research students from the ABC Lab received awards at the undergraduate symposium in March 2024. We take on several undergraduate research project students every year, and we hold weekly group meetings for students to develop research skills, and practice giving research talks.\n\n\n\n\nThe ABC Lab is a collective project of Dr. Paul Galpern, Dr. Mindi Summers, and their students and trainees at University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.\n\n\nImage content created by past or present lab members is credited; other images are licensed or are in the public domain; Lab logo and beetle line drawing by Tobyn Neame; Built with Quarto; Last content update: May 2024"
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"text": "Dr. Paul Galpern, Dr. Mindi Summers\nand their students and trainees\nDepartment of Biological Sciences\nUniversity of Calgary, Alberta, Canada"
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"text": "Agriculture\nWe study the sustainable intensification of agriculture, and explore whether changes to landscape management can lead to mutually beneficial solutions for food, farmers, biodiversity, and climate.\n\n\n\nLearn more about our research on agricultural sustainability, messy fields, “win-win-wins,” precision farming, remote sensing, and agrivoltaics in the Canadian Prairies"
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"text": "Biodiversity\nWe love bees, beetles and other invertebrates, and research the ecosystem services supplied by these species.\n\n\n\nLearn more about our research on arthropod biodiversity and the pollination, pest regulation and weed control ecosystem services supplied by arthropods"
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"text": "Conservation\nWe study the theory and the practice of conservation at landscape scales, with a focus on prairie, mountain, and urban ecosystems in western Canada.\n\n\n\nLearn more about our research in landscape ecology, climate change impacts on biodiversity, ecological methods, collaborative science in cities, and our transdisciplinary studies of how people use city parks and streets\n\n\n\n\n\nLearn more about our research on agricultural sustainability, messy fields, “win-win-wins,” precision farming, remote sensing, and agrivoltaics in the Canadian Prairies\nLearn more about our research on arthropod biodiversity and the pollination, pest regulation and weed control ecosystem services supplied by arthropods\nLearn more about our research in landscape ecology, climate change impacts on biodiversity, ecological methods, collaborative science in cities, and our transdisciplinary studies of how people use city parks and streets"
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"text": "Here are some recent talks given by Paul Galpern on our agriculture and biodiversity research.\n\n\nPrairie Precision Sustainability Network (2025)\n\n\n\n\nPodcast on Messy Fields (2025)\n \n\n\nThe Simpson Centre (2024)\n\n\n\n\nUAlberta Sustainability (2023)\n\n\n\n\nFarming Smarter Lethbridge (2022)\n\n\n\n\nCanola Watch Webinar (2022)\nSustainable agriculture"
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"text": "Here are some recent talks given by Paul Galpern on our agriculture and biodiversity research.\n\n\nPrairie Precision Sustainability Network (2025)\n\n\n\n\nPodcast on Messy Fields (2025)\n \n\n\nThe Simpson Centre (2024)\n\n\n\n\nUAlberta Sustainability (2023)\n\n\n\n\nFarming Smarter Lethbridge (2022)\n\n\n\n\nCanola Watch Webinar (2022)\nSustainable agriculture"
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"text": "Posters\n\nPoster by Dr. Danielle Clake. Genetic data suggest limited bumble bee dispersal into Canadian Rockies. [PDF]"
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"text": "Media coverage\n\n\nAgrivoltaics\n\nGrainsWest (Tech supplement). Shared accommodation: hot renewables trend may allow for better integration of ag and solar. (June, 2024)\nWestern Producer. Beef-solar relationship to be studied. (March, 2024)\nUToday (U. Calgary). Moo-ve on over, there’s an exciting new solar project in town. (December, 2023)\n\n\n\nSustainable agriculture\n\nCanola Digest. How to create a field profit map. (January, 2025)\nAlberta Seed Guide. Farm the best, leave the rest: boosting profitability can come from an unlikely strategy. (December, 2024)\nDucks Unlimited Canada. How messy croplands help farmers and pollinators. (June, 2024)\nGrainews. Bless your mess: Crops may not be best for underperforming acres. (March, 2024)\nGrainsWest. Profit margins: research finds agronomic and economic value in uncultivated land. (November, 2023)\nTop Crop Manager (West). Landscape complexity can boost yields. (October, 2023)\nCanola Digest. Messy fields to bigger yields: what is happening in the field margins?. (February, 2022)\nWestern Producer. Messy fields may help bottom line. (November, 2020)\nCTV News Regina. Professor encourages producers to leave natural wetlands when farming. (November, 2020)\nConservation (Alberta Conservation Association). Be(e)autiful: Putting a Price on Pollinators. (June, 2020)\nThe Furrow. The messy spots: native insects of wetlands can increase yields. (March, 2020)\nTop Crop Manager. Unfarmed spaces support agriculture production. (May, 2019)\nCanola Digest Podcast. Non-farmed spaces have real value. (March, 2019)\nCanola Digest. Non-farmed spaces have real value. (January, 2019)\nDucks Unlimited Canada Podcast. Of potholes and pollinators. (August, 2018)\nGrainews. Increasing yields with natural landscapes. (June, 2017)\nThe Conservator Magazine of Ducks Unlimited Canada. Insects on call. (June, 2016)\n\n\n\nPollinators\n\nCBC News. University of Calgary unveils digital archive of 300 bee species. (May, 2019)\nCBC Radio Calgary. The Homestretch (Topic: digital bee collection). (May, 2019)\nCBC Radio Calgary. Local news (Topic: digital bee collection). (May, 2019)\nCBC TV Calgary. Local news (Topic: digital bee collection). (May, 2019)\nCalgary Herald. U of C buzzing about release of digital bee collection. (May, 2019)\nUToday (U. Calgary). Digital bee collection launched at University of Calgary. (May, 2019)\nCBC Radio Yukon. A New Day with Sandi Coleman (Topic: public lecture on bees). (February, 2019)\nCalgary Herald. U of C professor looking into dwindling monarch butterfly population. (August, 2016)\nNewsTalk (Corus Network Radio). Bruce Kenyon Talk Show (Topic: monarch butterfly conservation). (August, 2016)\nCBC Radio Calgary. The Eyeopener (Topic: monarch butterfly conservation). (August, 2016)\nUToday (U. Calgary). Iconic monarch butterflies get help from prof. (August, 2016)\nCBC Radio Saskatchewan. The Afternoon Edition (Topic: monarch butterfly conservation). (June, 2016)\nCBC Radio Alberta. Hourly news (Topic: monarch butterfly conservation). (June, 2016)\nCBC News Calgary. Project aims to help save monarch butterfly. (June, 2016)\n\n\n\nPollinators and climate change\n\nUniversity of Calgary. Bees and climate change. (July, 2017)\nAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science. Press conference (attended by hundreds of global media outlets). (July, 2015)\nScience (AAAS). Bumblebees aren’t keeping up with a warming planet (News article). (July, 2015)\nNature. Climate change crushes bee populations (News article). (July, 2015)\nThe New York Times. Climate change is shrinking where bumblebees ranged, research finds. (July, 2015)\nThe Guardian (UK). Climate change causing bumblebee habitat loss, say scientists. (July, 2015)\nReuters. Buzzkill: global warming shrinks range of pollinating bumblebees. (July, 2015)\nWashington Post. Bumblebee habitats are shrinking at an alarming rate. (July, 2015)\nTime. Bees are losing their habitat because of climate change. (July, 2015)\nParis Match. Les bourdons sont en train de mourir. (July, 2015)\nLe Monde. Bourdons se rétrécit sous l’effet du réchauffement climatique. (July, 2015)\nEl País. El mundo se queda sin abejorros. (July, 2015)\nNBC News. Bumblebees are being bumped off by climate change, scientists say. (July, 2015)\nCBS News. Bumblebees feeling the sting of climate change. (July, 2015)\nBBC News. Climate vice constricts bumblebees’ natural ranges – researchers. (July, 2015)\nLos Angeles Times. Rising temperatures due to climate change are threat to bumblebees. (July, 2015)\nCBC News. Bumblebee populations struggling due to climate change says study. (July, 2015)\nThe Globe and Mail. Bumblebees are trapped by warming climate, study finds. (July, 2015)\nCalgary Herald. Research shows bumblebees suffering in a changing climate. (July, 2015)\nToronto Star. Bumblebees struggling to survive warming world. (July, 2015)\nCanadian Press. Bumble bee ranges rapidly shrinking across continents. (July, 2015)\nUToday (U. Calgary). Study reveals alarming effects of climate change on bumblebees. (July, 2015)\nUToday (U. Calgary). Alarming effects of climate change on bumblebees. (July, 2015)\nUCalgary Alumni Magazine. Bumble bees crushed by climate. (July, 2015)"
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"text": "A list of our current lab members and alumni can be found at the bottom of the page.\nA sampling of lab members at work, since 2015.\n\n\n\n2023\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2023\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2023\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2023\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2022\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2022\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2022\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2021\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2018\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2018\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2017\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2016\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2016\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2015\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2015\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2015\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe ABC Lab (January 2025)\n\nGraduate students\n\nKaylin Husband (MSc) (2025–Current)\n\nGrassland restoration\n\nSylvia Neumann (MSc) (2023–Current)\n\nPest predation by beetles\n\nTianyi Ren (PhD) (2023–Current)\n\nWeed seed predators\n\n\n\n\nPostdoctoral scholars\n\nDr. Manoj Kandoth (2023–Current)\n\nBeetle taxonomy\n\n\n\n\nUndergraduate students\n\nFinn Grundy (Honours BSc) (2024–Current)\n\nBeetle taxonomy\n\nSarah Knude (Honours BSc) (2024–Current)\n\nHoverfly spillover\n\n\n\n\nResearch staff\n\nPeter Berndtsson (2024–Current)\n\nAgricultural software developer\n\nAndrea Astleford (2022–Current)\n\nSustainable agriculture\n\nTamara McLoughlin (2022–Current)\n\nSustainable agriculture\n\n\n\n\nPIs\n\nDr. Paul Galpern\nDr. Mindi Summers\n\n\n\n\nAlumni\nIf your name is missing, we really want to add it. We also want to link to where you are now. Please tell Paul!\n\nGraduate students\n\nTobyn Neame (MSc) (2021–2023)\n\nPest predation by beetles\n\nRowan Rampton (MSc) (2021–2023)\n\nAlpine pollination\n\nDanielle Clake (PhD) (2016–2022)\n\nBee landscape genomics\n\nEmily Purvis (MSc) (2019–2021)\n\nPollinator restoration\n\nRichard Kwafo (MSc) (2018–2020)\n\nBumble bee conservation\n\nAngela Rout (PhD) (2015–2020)\n\nUrban informatics\n\nJenn Retzlaff (MSc) (2015–2018)\n\nBee functional ecology\n\nCat Fauvelle (MSc) (2015–2017)\n\nCaribou connectivity\n\n\n\n\nPostdoctoral scholars\n\nDr. Abigail Cohen (2022–2024)\n\nInsect machine learning\n\nDr. Samuel Robinson (2019–2024)\n\nSustainable agriculture\n\nDr. Lan Nguyen (2019–2021)\n\nAgricl. remote sensing\n\nDr. Jess Vickruck (2017–2019)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nDr. Andrew Ladle (2017–2018)\n\nUrban informatics\n\nDr. Patrick Barks (2016–2017)\n\nPesticide impacts\n\n\n\n\nUndergraduate students\n\nG. Bennato (BSc project) (2024)\n\nGrasshopper taxonomy\n\nK. Brill (BSc project) (2023–2024)\n\nParasitoid wasp spillover\n\nS. McAmmond (Honours BSc) (2023–2024)\n\nMuskox landscape ecology\n\nY. Oyelese (BSc project) (2024)\n\nCrop modelling\n\nS. Zaplachinski (Honours BSc) (2023–2024)\n\nHarvestmen spillover\n\nE. Bickley (BSc project) (2022–2023)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nS. Neumann (Honours BSc) (2022–2023)\n\nPest control spillover\n\nC. Archibald (BSc project) (2021–2022)\n\nBumble bee mimicry\n\nT. Ford-Sahibzada (BSc project) (2021–2022)\n\nBumble bee colouration\n\nR. Innes (Honours BSc) (2021–2022)\n\nCrop pest spillover\n\nZ. Yong-Zhao (BSc project) (2021–2022)\n\nBees near wetlands\n\nC. Dizon (BSc project) (2020)\n\nAgricultural remote sensing\n\nM. Chmielarski (Honours BSc) (2017–2018)\n\nPollinators & crop yield\n\nL. Storey (BSc project) (2018)\n\nPollinators\n\nC. Hillaby (BSc project) (2016–2017)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nD. Chang (BSc project) (2016)\n\nSolitary bees\n\nS. Doctolero (BSc project) (2016)\n\nEcological methods (C++)\n\nT. Thambimuthu (Honours BSc) (2015–2016)\n\nBumble bee distribution\n\n\n\n\nResearch staff\n\nL. Best (2015–2024)\n\nBee taxonomy\n\nJ. Zheng (2024)\n\nAgricultural software developer\n\nR. Innes (2022–2023)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nH. Bloom (2018–2020)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nD. Edwards (2019)\n\nSpider taxonomy\n\nH. Kersteins (2019)\n\nBeneficials lit. review\n\nM. Gavin (2017–2018)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nI. Maggo (2017–2018)\n\nUrban walkability\n\nS. Johnson (2015–2016)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nF. Tan (2015–2016)\n\nAgricl. remote sensing\n\nS. Bell (2015)\n\nUrban walkability\n\nH. O’Connor (2015)\n\nUrban walkability\n\n\n\n\nResearch staff (field)\n\nK. Husband (2024)\n\nRanch agrivoltaics\n\nL. Popa (2023–2024)\n\nRanch agrivoltaics\n\nJ. Correch (2023)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nF. Kandil (2022)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nE. Pedersen (2021)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nM. Canuel (2018)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nR. Waytes (2018)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nM. Amarbayan (2017)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nA. Krause (2017)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nN. Morden (2017)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nJ. Sick (2017)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\n\n\n\nSponsorships of interns from other post-secondary institutions\n\nE. Dunlop (Quest U., BC) (2019)\n\nBumblebee identification\n\nA. Dedours (U. Picardie, France) (2017)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nK. Schulze (SAIT, Calgary) (2017)\n\nDatabase management\n\nS. Coutts (SAIT, Calgary) (2015)\n\nDatabase management\n\n\n\n\nSponsorships of visiting researchers\n\nDr. Alex Chubaty (2015–2018)\n\nEcological methods"
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"section": "The ABC Lab (January 2025)",
"text": "The ABC Lab (January 2025)\n\nGraduate students\n\nKaylin Husband (MSc) (2025–Current)\n\nGrassland restoration\n\nSylvia Neumann (MSc) (2023–Current)\n\nPest predation by beetles\n\nTianyi Ren (PhD) (2023–Current)\n\nWeed seed predators\n\n\n\n\nPostdoctoral scholars\n\nDr. Manoj Kandoth (2023–Current)\n\nBeetle taxonomy\n\n\n\n\nUndergraduate students\n\nFinn Grundy (Honours BSc) (2024–Current)\n\nBeetle taxonomy\n\nSarah Knude (Honours BSc) (2024–Current)\n\nHoverfly spillover\n\n\n\n\nResearch staff\n\nPeter Berndtsson (2024–Current)\n\nAgricultural software developer\n\nAndrea Astleford (2022–Current)\n\nSustainable agriculture\n\nTamara McLoughlin (2022–Current)\n\nSustainable agriculture\n\n\n\n\nPIs\n\nDr. Paul Galpern\nDr. Mindi Summers"
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"text": "Alumni\nIf your name is missing, we really want to add it. We also want to link to where you are now. Please tell Paul!\n\nGraduate students\n\nTobyn Neame (MSc) (2021–2023)\n\nPest predation by beetles\n\nRowan Rampton (MSc) (2021–2023)\n\nAlpine pollination\n\nDanielle Clake (PhD) (2016–2022)\n\nBee landscape genomics\n\nEmily Purvis (MSc) (2019–2021)\n\nPollinator restoration\n\nRichard Kwafo (MSc) (2018–2020)\n\nBumble bee conservation\n\nAngela Rout (PhD) (2015–2020)\n\nUrban informatics\n\nJenn Retzlaff (MSc) (2015–2018)\n\nBee functional ecology\n\nCat Fauvelle (MSc) (2015–2017)\n\nCaribou connectivity\n\n\n\n\nPostdoctoral scholars\n\nDr. Abigail Cohen (2022–2024)\n\nInsect machine learning\n\nDr. Samuel Robinson (2019–2024)\n\nSustainable agriculture\n\nDr. Lan Nguyen (2019–2021)\n\nAgricl. remote sensing\n\nDr. Jess Vickruck (2017–2019)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nDr. Andrew Ladle (2017–2018)\n\nUrban informatics\n\nDr. Patrick Barks (2016–2017)\n\nPesticide impacts\n\n\n\n\nUndergraduate students\n\nG. Bennato (BSc project) (2024)\n\nGrasshopper taxonomy\n\nK. Brill (BSc project) (2023–2024)\n\nParasitoid wasp spillover\n\nS. McAmmond (Honours BSc) (2023–2024)\n\nMuskox landscape ecology\n\nY. Oyelese (BSc project) (2024)\n\nCrop modelling\n\nS. Zaplachinski (Honours BSc) (2023–2024)\n\nHarvestmen spillover\n\nE. Bickley (BSc project) (2022–2023)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nS. Neumann (Honours BSc) (2022–2023)\n\nPest control spillover\n\nC. Archibald (BSc project) (2021–2022)\n\nBumble bee mimicry\n\nT. Ford-Sahibzada (BSc project) (2021–2022)\n\nBumble bee colouration\n\nR. Innes (Honours BSc) (2021–2022)\n\nCrop pest spillover\n\nZ. Yong-Zhao (BSc project) (2021–2022)\n\nBees near wetlands\n\nC. Dizon (BSc project) (2020)\n\nAgricultural remote sensing\n\nM. Chmielarski (Honours BSc) (2017–2018)\n\nPollinators & crop yield\n\nL. Storey (BSc project) (2018)\n\nPollinators\n\nC. Hillaby (BSc project) (2016–2017)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nD. Chang (BSc project) (2016)\n\nSolitary bees\n\nS. Doctolero (BSc project) (2016)\n\nEcological methods (C++)\n\nT. Thambimuthu (Honours BSc) (2015–2016)\n\nBumble bee distribution\n\n\n\n\nResearch staff\n\nL. Best (2015–2024)\n\nBee taxonomy\n\nJ. Zheng (2024)\n\nAgricultural software developer\n\nR. Innes (2022–2023)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nH. Bloom (2018–2020)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nD. Edwards (2019)\n\nSpider taxonomy\n\nH. Kersteins (2019)\n\nBeneficials lit. review\n\nM. Gavin (2017–2018)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nI. Maggo (2017–2018)\n\nUrban walkability\n\nS. Johnson (2015–2016)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nF. Tan (2015–2016)\n\nAgricl. remote sensing\n\nS. Bell (2015)\n\nUrban walkability\n\nH. O’Connor (2015)\n\nUrban walkability\n\n\n\n\nResearch staff (field)\n\nK. Husband (2024)\n\nRanch agrivoltaics\n\nL. Popa (2023–2024)\n\nRanch agrivoltaics\n\nJ. Correch (2023)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nF. Kandil (2022)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nE. Pedersen (2021)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nM. Canuel (2018)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nR. Waytes (2018)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nM. Amarbayan (2017)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nA. Krause (2017)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nN. Morden (2017)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nJ. Sick (2017)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\n\n\n\nSponsorships of interns from other post-secondary institutions\n\nE. Dunlop (Quest U., BC) (2019)\n\nBumblebee identification\n\nA. Dedours (U. Picardie, France) (2017)\n\nBeneficial insects\n\nK. Schulze (SAIT, Calgary) (2017)\n\nDatabase management\n\nS. Coutts (SAIT, Calgary) (2015)\n\nDatabase management\n\n\n\n\nSponsorships of visiting researchers\n\nDr. Alex Chubaty (2015–2018)\n\nEcological methods"
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"text": "Figure 1: Making fields messier (left and right), and co-locating renewable energy generation with pasture (centre) are examples of the lab’s agricultural sustainability research."
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"text": "The challenge\n\nSustainable intensification\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhy sustainable intensification?\n\n\n\nFinding ways to use less land to produce more food has received international recognition as a critical challenge to combat the climate crisis and safeguard biodiversity, while ensuring food security for all.\n\n\nOur research is animated by the possibility that small changes to management in Canadian Prairie croplands (Figure 2) could lead to win-win-wins (i.e., mutually beneficial solutions for food production, biodiversity and climate).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 2: Annual crop fields (yellow) cover a footprint of ~500,000 km2 in the Canadian Prairie provinces of Alberta (AB), Saskatchewan (SK) and Manitoba (MB). That’s the same as covering France with only canola, wheat, barley and peas (and a few other crops). Achieving sustainable intensification across this vast region is a globally-significant challenge.\n\n\n\nFor example, we could make fields messier, by restoring or retaining perennial non-crop vegetation (Figure 1; left and right). Patches of vegetation like these supply ecosystem services to agriculture, and serve as habitats for biodiversity, potentially improving crop yields in neighbouring fields.\nOr, as our Prairie Precision Sustainability Network investigates, we can help farmers identify small parcels of low productivity marginal land that they can stop cultivating, increasing profitability, and creating new habitat and carbon sequestration opportunities when that land is restored in perennial plants.\nAgrivoltaics is another exciting project in our lab. Co-locating cattle ranching with solar panels in small arrays (< 5 ha) helps to decarbonize our energy supply, and could have benefits for forage quality, soil health, and ecosystem services. In other words, maintaining food production while reducing impact."
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"text": "Messy fields\nOur lab has shown that “mess” (e.g., perennial and non-crop vegetation near crop fields) offers a measurable benefit by boosting yields [1–3], and by providing ecosystem services to crops. We found that these naturalized habitats host beneficial insects that move into the crop and supply services such as pest regulation, pollination and weed control (for more, see Biodiversity projects).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 3: A yield halo effect: a small increase in yield observable about 10 m to 75 m away from the field edge. We have shown this effect in several papers using different types of data (insurance [1], precision yield [3], satellite imagery/machine learning [2]). These findings are important, not because the halo is worth a lot of money (it’s not), but because they demonstrate non-crop patches can, under certain conditions, have a positive effect on crops.\n\n\n\nWe have also reported that canola yield surrounding messy patches can be higher. We have called this the halo effect (Figure 3). It is small, and not usually visible to the eye, requiring analysis of data to show that it is present [2–4]. Its cause remains an open question, but it may depend, in part, on soil moisture, the type of adjacent vegetation, and the abundance of bees, beetles and other beneficials hosted there.\nWhat’s next? We want to learn more about the halo effect. We’re just starting this journey. For example, how do moisture, vegetation type, patch size, arthropod ecosystem services, and soil fertility interact to create yield haloes? Wetlands and their vegetated margins are of particular interest. Can we value their contribution to crop yield as part of ecosystem service assessments?"
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"text": "Marginal areas\nHow can we make fields messier? Farmers may seed parts of their fields year after year and find that these acres, perhaps due to soil conditions, produce too little yield to offset their input costs (like the seeds, fertilizer, herbicides, etc.).\nWhat if these areas were restored to perennial vegetation? Perenniality is a nature-based solution (NbS) for reducing greenhouse gases. When the land being converted is marginally profitable, it may may save the farmer money to stop seeding it. Messy places can also be habitats for biodiversity and supply many ecosystem services. Restoring marginal areas could therefore help rewild the Canadian Prairies while supporting climate objectives and (critically for implementation) improve the farmer’s bottom line.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 4: Our Prairie Precision Sustainability Network collaborates with farmers to map marginal areas in crop fields across three prairie provinces. This prototype map illustrates the kinds of decision-support tools we are designing to help farmers make their fields messier.\n\n\n\nWe’ve been working hard with our PPSN research network colleagues (Figure 4) to bring together precision yield, satellite imagery, and economic data to identify parts of fields that have multi-annual net-negative profitability. Thanks to data shared by over 70 farmers in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, we’ve built a tool that farmers across the region can use to help them visualize the marginally-profitable parts of their fields.\nWhat’s next? We’re going to work with farmers in the three prairie provinces to make fields messier (i.e., by restoring marginal areas to perennials). More on these exciting next steps very soon!"
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"text": "Agrivoltaics\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhat is agrivoltaics (AV)?\n\n\n\nIt is a novel way of combining solar photovoltaic systems and agricultural activities on the same land. This can help resolve the land use conflicts that may occur when solar projects compete with farmland. AV can also offset emissions from greenhouse gas (GHG) electrical generating facilities and enhance or sustain agricultural productivity. Alberta, Canada is a suitable location for this AV approach, as it has abundant pastureland and high solar generation potential.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 5: How AI imagines our Agrivoltaics Research Park (Adobe Generative AI). It is scheduled for construction at the University of Calgary’s working cattle ranch (W.A. Ranches) in 2025. This 10 ha co-location of bifacial solar panels and cattle pasture is a collaboration with Solartility.\n\n\n\nWorking with Solartility we’re creating an Agrivoltaics Research Park at University of Calgary’s W.A. Ranches. It will occupy less than 10 ha of land, have bifacial upright panels, and cattle will graze beneath the panels. A distributed network of these small footprint facilities could go a long way to reducing the carbon exposure of the electrical grid. AI thinks the site will look something like this (Figure 5). We’ll have real pictures after the site is operating in 2025.\nWhat’s next? The ABC Lab will lead the long-term environmental monitoring at this facility, researching the agricultural and environmental risks and benefits of constructing these facilities. Aligned with our agricultural sustainability theme, we will ask whether beef cattle agrivoltaics can be mutually beneficial for rancher livelihoods and for climate while minimizing impacts on the ranch environment.\n\nFunders\nWe thank the following funders for their support of our agricultural sustainability research, since 2015 (in alphabetical order):\n\nAlberta Conservation Association\nAlberta Innovates\nAlberta Canola\nDucks Unlimited Canada\nEnvironment and Climate Change Canada\nManitoba Canola Growers\nMitacs\nNSERC\nSaskCanola\nSolartility\n\n\n\nSelected Publications from the lab\nSee more of our agricultural research publications here.\n\n\n[1] Galpern, P., Vickruck, J., Devries, J. H., & Gavin, M. P. (2020). Landscape complexity is associated with crop yields across a large temperate grassland region. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 290, 106724. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.106724\n\n\n[2] Nguyen, L. H., Robinson, S., & Galpern, P. (2022). Effects of landscape complexity on crop productivity: An assessment from space. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment, 328, 107849. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2021.107849\n\n\n[3] Robinson, S., Nguyen, L., & Galpern, P. (2022). Livin’ on the edge: Precision yield data shows evidence of ecosystem services from field boundaries. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment, 333, 107956. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2022.107956\n\n\n[4] Nguyen, L., Robinson, S., & Galpern, P. (2022). Medium-resolution multispectral satellite imagery in precision agriculture: Mapping precision canola (brassica napus l.) yield using sentinel-2 time series. Precision Agriculture, 23, 1051–1071. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11119-022-09874-7\n\n\n\nKeywords\nagricultural landscape ecology; agricultural sustainability; agrivoltaics; agronomy; Canadian Prairies; ecosystem services; greenhouse gases; machine learning; perenniality; precision agriculture; remote sensing; rewilding.\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 1: Making fields messier (left and right), and co-locating renewable energy generation with pasture (centre) are examples of the lab’s agricultural sustainability research.\nFigure 2: Annual crop fields (yellow) cover a footprint of ~500,000 km2 in the Canadian Prairie provinces of Alberta (AB), Saskatchewan (SK) and Manitoba (MB). That’s the same as covering France with only canola, wheat, barley and peas (and a few other crops). Achieving sustainable intensification across this vast region is a globally-significant challenge.\nFigure 3: A yield halo effect: a small increase in yield observable about 10 m to 75 m away from the field edge. We have shown this effect in several papers using different types of data (insurance [1], precision yield [3], satellite imagery/machine learning [2]). These findings are important, not because the halo is worth a lot of money (it’s not), but because they demonstrate non-crop patches can, under certain conditions, have a positive effect on crops.\nFigure 4: Our Prairie Precision Sustainability Network collaborates with farmers to map marginal areas in crop fields across three prairie provinces. This prototype map illustrates the kinds of decision-support tools we are designing to help farmers make their fields messier.\nFigure 5: How AI imagines our Agrivoltaics Research Park (Adobe Generative AI). It is scheduled for construction at the University of Calgary’s working cattle ranch (W.A. Ranches) in 2025. This 10 ha co-location of bifacial solar panels and cattle pasture is a collaboration with Solartility."
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"text": "We study theory, methods, and applications of conservation at broad scales. Our focus is on Canadian Prairie agricultural landscapes (left), on mountain landscapes of Alberta and adjacent British Columbia (centre), and on urban landscapes in the City of Calgary, Alberta (right)."
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"text": "Landscape ecology\nWe conduct fundamental and methodological research in conservation through the lens of landscape ecology. Here are some examples:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 1: Locations of the 17 mountains former PhD student Dr. Danielle Clake climbed three times each. Bumble bee data collected at many of these is featured in [1]. The locations of sampling were selected a priori to create a gradient in land cover.\n\n\n\n\nLandscape complementation: PhD student Dr. Danielle Clake found that bumble bee species were more abundant at Rocky Mountain sites (Figure 1) when both forest for nesting, and meadows with wildflowers for foraging, were in close proximity [1].\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 2: The design of our landscape pseudo-experiment where we identified 146 sites in Alberta croplands a priori across two gradients of complexity (patch richness, and contagion), and sampled bees at each for two years. We analyzed results for 213 wild bee taxa [2].\n\n\n\n\nLandscape complexity: We found, using a highly-replicated landscape “pseudo-experiment” (Figure 2), as expected, that locations with greater land cover heterogeneity support greater bee diversity. However, species differed dramatically in their numerical responses to land cover. We also found that time of year matters much more than landscape [2].\n\nWe also developed an “onion skinning” method that uses functional regression to describe landscape complexity (Figure 3). We used this to report locations in Alberta where increasing it might be most feasible [3].\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 3: We introduced the method of onion-skinning in [3]. Landscape complexity at a focal location (white) is a vector of values representing proportional land covers in multiple annuli of different sizes. The resulting data is analyzed using a technique called function-on-scalar regression.\n\n\n\n\nLandscape connectivity: Whether organisms can move or disperse without resistance across landscapes has been the subject of several methods and applications papers by Paul Galpern (e.g., in 2011; [4]). More recently, in 2020, visiting scientist Dr. Alex Chubaty and BSc student (and whiz C++ programmer) Sam Doctolero, led the development of the grainscape package for R which models landscape connectivity by combining discrete patches and resistance surfaces [5]\nLandscape genomics: The DNA of organisms can sometimes capture the fingerprints of landscape connectivity when it reduces gene flow. Most recently Dr. Danielle Clake has led the lab in this regard (Figure 4), studying gene flow of bumble bees across elevation in her PhD thesis.\n\nOur earlier methodological work in landscape genomics (2014) led to the development of the MEMGENE package for R, software for the detection of spatial patterns in genetic relationships across landscapes. MEMGENE [6] has been used in dozens of published conservation studies internationally.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 4: A landscape genomics hypothesis for how differences in elevation and separation in geographic distance may collectively influence gene flow. This emerges in the genetic similarity of individual bumble bees, which for illustration purposes are shown using a colour gradient. Tested in Dr. Danielle Clake’s PhD thesis."
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"text": "Climate and conservation\nImplications of the climate crisis for conservation have been been a theme in the lab for a while, notably punctuated by a 2015 paper on bumble bees and climate change in Science [7].\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 5: Camas (Camassia quamash) in BC.\n\n\n\n\n\nRecently, MSc student Rowan Rampton completed a thesis on plant-pollinator interactions, exploring the implications of phenological mismatch between camas, a plant of conservation concern (Figure 5) and its bee pollinators. He used an elevational gradient in the Kootenays, British Columbia as a proxy for the phenological changes that are expected under climate change. He found no evidence spring timing is affecting camas seed production."
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"text": "Urban landscapes\nA past focus for our urban work has been applications of smartphone GPS location histories collected from student participants. One paper using these data was led by postdoc Dr. Andrew Ladle, who applied resource selection functions, a type of logistic regression used to study wildlife, to study how people use of urban parks [8]. This method may have other applications in conservation, related to the establishment of protected areas.\nLab PhD student Dr. Angie Rout also completed a transdisciplinary thesis in computer science and urban planning using these smartphone GPS data (e.g., [9]).\n\nFunders\nWe thank the following funders for their support of our conservation research, since 2015 (in alphabetical order):\n\nAlberta Conservation Association\nMitacs\nNSERC\nKootenay Native Plant Society\nSSHRC\n\n\n\nSelected Publications from the lab\nSee more of our conservation research publications here.\n\n\n[1] Clake, D. J., Rogers, S. M., & Galpern, P. (2022). Landscape complementation is a driver of bumble bee (bombus sp.) abundance in the canadian rocky mountains. Landscape Ecology, 37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-021-01389-2\n\n\n[2] Galpern, P., Best, L. R., Devries, J. H., & Johnson, S. A. (2021). Wild bee responses to cropland landscape complexity are temporally-variable and taxon-specific: Evidence from a highly replicated pseudo-experiment. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 322, 107652. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2021.107652\n\n\n[3] Galpern, P., & Gavin, M. P. (2020). Assessing the potential to increase landscape complexity in canadian prairie croplands: A multi-scale analysis of land use pattern. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 8, 31. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2020.00031\n\n\n[4] Galpern, P., Manseau, M., & Fall, A. (2011). Patch-based graphs of landscape connectivity: A guide to construction, analysis and application for conservation. Biological Conservation, 144, 44–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2010.09.002\n\n\n[5] Chubaty, A. M., Galpern, P., & Doctolero, S. C. (2020). The r toolbox grainscape for modelling and visualizing landscape connectivity using spatially explicit networks. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 11, 591–595. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13350\n\n\n[6] Galpern, P., Peres-Neto, P. R., Polfus, J., & Manseau, M. (2014). MEMGENE: Spatial pattern detection in genetic distance data. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 5, 1116–1120. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12240\n\n\n[7] Kerr, J. T., Pindar, A., Galpern, P., Packer, L., Potts, S. G., Roberts, S. M., Rasmont, P., Schweiger, O., Colla, S. R., Richardson, L. L., Wagner, D. L., & Gall, L. F. (2015). Climate change impacts on bumblebees converge across continents. Science, 349, 177–180. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa7031\n\n\n[8] Ladle, A., Galpern, P., & Doyle-Baker, P. (2018). Measuring the use of green space with urban resource selection functions: An application using smartphone GPS locations. Landscape and Urban Planning, 179, 107–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.07.012\n\n\n[9] Rout, A., Nitoslawski, S., Ladle, A., & Galpern, P. (2021). Using smartphone-GPS data to understand pedestrian-scale behavior in urban settings: A review of themes and approaches. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 90, 101705. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2021.101705\n\n\n\nKeywords\nccommunity ecology; community science; geographic information systems; landscape complexity; landscape connectivity; landscape ecology; landscape genetics; ecological networks; parks and protected areas; phenological mismatch; plant-pollinator interactions; resource selection functions; statistical modelling; transdisciplinarity;\n\n\n\n\n\nWe study theory, methods, and applications of conservation at broad scales. Our focus is on Canadian Prairie agricultural landscapes (left), on mountain landscapes of Alberta and adjacent British Columbia (centre), and on urban landscapes in the City of Calgary, Alberta (right).\nFigure 1: Locations of the 17 mountains former PhD student Dr. Danielle Clake climbed three times each. Bumble bee data collected at many of these is featured in [1]. The locations of sampling were selected a priori to create a gradient in land cover.\nFigure 2: The design of our landscape pseudo-experiment where we identified 146 sites in Alberta croplands a priori across two gradients of complexity (patch richness, and contagion), and sampled bees at each for two years. We analyzed results for 213 wild bee taxa [2].\nFigure 3: We introduced the method of onion-skinning in [3]. Landscape complexity at a focal location (white) is a vector of values representing proportional land covers in multiple annuli of different sizes. The resulting data is analyzed using a technique called function-on-scalar regression.\nFigure 4: A landscape genomics hypothesis for how differences in elevation and separation in geographic distance may collectively influence gene flow. This emerges in the genetic similarity of individual bumble bees, which for illustration purposes are shown using a colour gradient. Tested in Dr. Danielle Clake’s PhD thesis.\nFigure 5: Camas (Camassia quamash) in BC."
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