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Dr. James Dorey, Flinders University, Lecturer (current); University of Adelaide, Research Academic (current); Yale University, Postdoctoral Associate (2021-2022); PhD graduate, Flinders University.
IMPORTANT, YET AGAIN!
Hmm..yes bees are important here in the US, we have heard about how researchers in Africa and Europe consider them important, and then here again, so does Dr. Dorey from Australia! Dr. James Dorey considers IMPORTANT as one word that comes to his mind when he thinks of bees. He further adds that we would want to protect them and their diversity.
To understand his journey into the world of bees, when asked when his interest in bees started, Dr. Dorey mentioned that he was not always interested in bees, in fact, he was not even interested in insects to begin with. It really started with his interest in photography. Once, when he got a macro lens, he saw a whole bunch of wasps in his backyard and he also started exploring bees. He mentioned he ended up catching 33 species of native bees in the backyard. He realized at least in Australia, there are around 2000-3000 native species of bees.
Listen to Dr. Dorey provide a brief overview of his work in a video posted when he was one of the 2022 #SAScienceAwards finalists!
Searching for.... and finding bee species across Australia.
One of his interesting research projects on bees is his work related to low-light foraging bees. Dr. Dorey and his coauthors are one of the very few researchers in Australia to have researched these bees, which like to forage at dusk or dawn. High-quality imaging of bees helped them to investigate bee species like Reepenia bituberculata and Meroglossa gemmata, which are active at night. Despite bees not being usually associated with nighttime foraging, Dr. Dorey and his coauthors believe there are more such species that are foraging at low light, dusk, and dawn. Further, they believe such low-light adapted bees can be investigated via bee images rather than challenging observations of bee behavior.
If interested, here is the link to the research below:
Currently, he is imaging different bee genres across Australia and has images of a species that has not been found for 100 years! Cool, Dr. Dorey, your earnest quest for such rare species is so fascinating, hope you find the one you are looking for in the southwest of Western Australia.
In this regard, Dr. Dorey mentioned, if he is searching for a specific type of bee, he would understand where the bee he is looking for was found before and then try to go out there with a net. Here is a picture of Dr. Dorey searching for bees😊.
When asked about any specific research challenges he faced, Dr. Dorey mentioned it has been a
fun experience for him so far, especially because of his support system, especially his supervisor. For example, to research the Fijian bees, they usually visit the University of South
Pacific and often stay in one of the villages with a family, which is always fun! One of the family members usually drives them around to look for the varied bee species.
Did you know Dr. Dorey has a bee species named after him? Chrysocolletes doreyi
Dr. Dorey, we wish you the very best in your never-ending journey of discovering and
describing new species of bees!
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