The Xerces Society hosts webinars and participates in events organized by other organizations. This page lists all the upcoming topics and dates. You can also find updates on our social media and via our enewsletter.
Please note that we are accepting remote speaker requests! Depending upon our capacity, we can provide talks through platforms such as Zoom and Google Hangouts. Please fill out our speaker request form here.
We also encourage you to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Webinars put on by Xerces will be uploaded here after their stated calendar date, and there are many other resources available on our channel, including the Xerces Classroom Series.
Bumble bees are critical to our agricultural and ecological systems. In this webinar you will learn from Sarah Nizzi, Farm Bill Pollinator Conservation Planner and NRCS Partner Biologist with Xerces, about bumble bee biology, ecology, and identification, as well as how to support bumble bees and techniques for tracking bumble bee populations through community science platforms.
Click here to register.
This year marks Xerces' 50th anniversary. It is only because of all of you and your steadfast partnership and support of our mission that we have reached this significant milestone. Please join us for a special online event to celebrate this important moment in Xerces' history. Together with staff, board, and special guests, including Xerces' founder Robert Michael Pyle, we will toast to the past 50 years and cheers to the future. We hope to see you there!
Click here for more information and to register.
Bumble bees are among the best-studied invertebrates, yet a number of aspects of these important pollinators' life history remain uncertain. One of these is the ecology of nest founding by queens in spring, and more broadly, behaviors in the nest. More than one-quarter of North American bumble bee species are currently at some degree of extinction risk, so we urgently need more information on how nesting biology impacts colony development and reproduction, and how a changing environment affects bumble bee nesting behavior. In this webinar, we'll examine what is known of bumble bee nesting biology, and consider some unanswered questions about how cooperation and conflict structure the social lives and growth of bumble bee colonies. Along the way, we'll answer questions about what queens are up to in early spring and how people can support bumble bees populations.
This webinar will be recorded and available on our YouTube channel. Closed Captioning will be available during this webinar.
Click here to register and for more information.
Leif Richardson
Conservation Biologist; California Bumble Bee Atlas - The Xerces Society
Leif is a conservation biologist who coordinates the California Bumble Bee Atlas project. His research focuses on the ecology, distribution, and declines of North American bumble bees. Leif previously worked as an environmental consultant, studying pesticide risk to bee pollinators, and as an ecologist for Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. He is co-author of a range of scientific publications on bees, including Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (2014, Princeton University Press), the standard reference manual on this group of insects. He is an expert in the inventory and identification of bumble bees, and has extensive experience training others to collect bumble bee distribution data in the field. Leif holds a Master’s degree from the University of Arizona and a PhD from Dartmouth College.
Join Emma Pelton, Senior Conservation Biologist, and Angela Laws, Endangered Species Conservation Biologist with Xerces, to learn more about the exciting work Xerces is doing to protect western monarchs in California. We will talk about the status of western monarchs, including information from the recent overwintering counts, and then discuss the work Xerces is doing with partners around the state to create and protect monarch habitat in their overwintering and breeding grounds.
This webinar will be recorded and available on our YouTube channel. Closed Captioning will be available during this webinar.
Click here for more information and to register.
Emma Pelton
Senior Endangered Species Conservation Biologist, Western Monarch Lead - The Xerces Society
As the Xerces Society's western monarch lead, Emma works on the western population of monarch butterflies, including adaptive management of overwintering habitat in California and breeding habitat throughout the western U.S. Emma completed a master's degree in agroecology and entomology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where her research focused on landscape ecology and an invasive fly that affects fruit crops. Previously, Emma worked at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources–Endangered Resources program as a biologist and on organic vegetable farms in southern Wisconsin.
Angela Laws
Endangered Species Conservation Biologist; Climate Change Lead - The Xerces Society
Based in Sacramento, California, Angela is working on habitat restoration for pollinators and monarch butterflies in the Central Valley. Her role at the Xerces Society also involves incorporating climate resiliency into pollinator restoration projects. Angela has over 15 years of experience studying arthropods in grassland habitats, including studies of how climate change can affect species interactions. She received a master's of science in ecology from Utah State University and a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Notre Dame.
Join Senior Conservation Biologist, Candace Fallon, as she shares stories and insights from five years of alpine streamfly surveys across Washington's North Cascades Mountains. In this webinar, Candace will discuss alpine stonefly and caddisfly species of conservation concern, collective efforts to understand these species' distributions and habitat associations, and anticipated next steps.
This webinar will be recorded and available on our YouTube channel. Closed Captioning will be available during this webinar.
Click here for more information and to register.
Candace Fallon
Senior Endangered Species Conservation Biologist; Public Lands; Lead Firefly Lead - The Xerces Society
As the Public Lands Lead, Candace manages federal contracts focusing on the conservation and management of at-risk invertebrate species in the West. She also manages Xerces’ firefly conservation program. Originally hired as a monarch conservation specialist, Candace now works with a diverse range of taxa, including butterflies, beetles, aquatic macroinvertebrates, and freshwater and terrestrial mollusks. She has extensive experience with inventory and monitoring of rare, declining, and sensitive invertebrate species; providing technical guidance to land managers; developing and managing community science projects; and conducting outreach. She is a coauthor of Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects.
Addressing climate change and protecting biodiversity go hand-in-hand. In this webinar Angela Laws, Endangered Species Conservation Biologist and Climate Change Lead for Xerces will talk about the many linkages between climate change and biodiversity. We will learn about some of the many ways that pollinators may be affected by climate change. We’ll discuss Xerces’ approach to protecting biodiversity while addressing climate change using nature-based climate solutions, as well as actions that everyone can take to help.
This webinar will be recorded and available on our YouTube channel. Closed Captioning will be available during this webinar.
Click here for more information and to register.
Angela Laws
Endangered Species Conservation Biologist; Climate Change Lead - The Xerces Society
Based in Sacramento, California, Angela is working on habitat restoration for pollinators and monarch butterflies in the Central Valley. Her role at the Xerces Society also involves incorporating climate resiliency into pollinator restoration projects. Angela has over 15 years of experience studying arthropods in grassland habitats, including studies of how climate change can affect species interactions. She received a master's of science in ecology from Utah State University, and a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Notre Dame.
By May, spring will have arrived across the US and with it, many bees will be emerging and seeking out places to forage and nest -- and you might be surprised at how many different species can be found in gardens, parks, and other green spaces across our neighborhoods and hometowns. Matthew Shepherd, Director of Outreach & Education, will introduce you to commonly encountered bees, with notes on their diversity and behaviors, how to identify them, and their habitat needs.
This webinar will be recorded and available on our YouTube channel. Closed Captioning will be available during this webinar.
Click here for more information and to register.
Matthew Shepherd
Director of Outreach and Education - The Xerces Society
Matthew has worked for the Xerces Society since 1999, initially at the vanguard of a new movement to protect pollinators, and subsequently on endangered species and a range of other projects. He has been editor of Wings Magazine since the fall 1999 issue, and in recent years his role shifted into communications full time as the Society grew. Matthew’s conservation career began in England and took him to Kenya before his arrival in the United States. After completing a master's of science in land resource management, Matthew managed National Trust lands in Oxfordshire, established a successful community-based conservation program in Essex, and helped to create Samphire Hoe, an award-winning nature park at the foot of the White Cliffs of Dover. During a VSO placement in Kenya, he worked with local communities and government agencies to improve the management of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, on the coast north of Mombasa.