Katja Hogendoorn

With a doctorate degree in behaviour of primitively social bee species (Utrecht University, the Netherlands), I moved to Australia to specialise in crop pollination using native bees.
The 3,000 native bee species in Australia provide pollination services that are important for both flora and fauna. Honeybees have been introduced in Australia around 1820, and they are good pollinators of our introduced crops. However, many fruit and vegetable farmers benefit unknowingly from pollination by native bees. and apart from solving specific pollination problems, I like to quantify the importance of native bees in our horticultural systems. My other interests are: The effects of pollination on crop quality (rather than quantity), foraging and mating behaviour of bees, the effects of climate change on plant-pollinator interactions, and engaging the general public in native bee conservation.