The 20 photos are displayed in a slideshow, where a ‘vote for this image’ button can be found.<\/p>\n
The competition showcases images taken during scientific research being conducted in all fields by faculty and student researchers in post-secondary institutions, as well as researchers in public and private research centres.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/JessieDehaan.jpg\")
<\/a>Brock University master\u2019s student Jessie deHaan is one of 20 researchers vying for the 2020 People\u2019s Choice Award in NSERC\u2019s Science Exposed competition.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cWhen I applied for the competition in December, we had just got this new microscope, which takes really cool pictures,\u201d deHaan says. \u201cI had started this idea of measuring the eye size of the bees. I saw on Twitter that NSERC was having this photo competition and I said, ‘perfect, these are great photos.’\u201d<\/p>\n
deHaan\u2019s photo, titled \u201cBeauty is in the eye of the bee,\u201d is an image of a small bee native to North America called Ceratina calcarata. <\/em><\/p>\n Evident on the photo of the female bee\u2019s head are the insect\u2019s compound eyes, simple eyes \u2014 called ocelli \u2014 on top of the bee\u2019s head, and sensory hairs on the face and antennae.<\/p>\n “What I like about this picture is that Jessie is giving us an incredibly detailed glimpse of a very common, but tiny bee that almost everyone has in their garden but never really notices,\u201d says Brock Professor of Biology Miriam Richards, deHaan\u2019s supervisor.<\/p>\n \u201cIt reminds us that we are surrounded by fantastic creatures, if only we know how to look for them,\u201d says Richards, adding that the microscope deHaan used to take the photo and conduct her research was purchased through contributions from Brock researchers and administrators. \u201cI am grateful for that spirit of generosity and cooperation.”<\/p>\n deHaan\u2019s research focuses on how temperature influences the development of Ceratina calcarata<\/em> bees, specifically by comparing the size of bees born and raised in the shade verses those born and raised in sunlight.<\/p>\n She\u2019s testing a theory called the temperature-size rule<\/a>, which says insects raised in cooler temperatures grow to be larger than those reared in warm conditions.<\/p>\n Environmental temperatures influence the development of insects\u2019 bodies, as they are unable to regulate their own body temperature.<\/p>\n \u201cBy measuring the width of the bee\u2019s head and the size of the units of its compound eye, the ommatidia, we can determine whether C. calcarata<\/em> conforms to the temperature-size rule,\u201d says deHaan.<\/p>\n The research raises many questions about the impacts that climate change will have on bees\u2019 growth and whether the bees are able to survive, especially if they can\u2019t adapt, says deHaan.<\/p>\n \u201cHow will climate change impact the bees\u2019 overall size, because their size has implications for how many offspring they can have or how big their own offspring are,” she says. “Are we going to see smaller bees from now on? How will they behaviourally or physiologically compensate for a hotter environment?”<\/p>\n \u201cJessie\u2019s spectacular photo helps to connect the public\u2019s increasing interest in bees with the science of their role in our natural environment,\u201d says Brock Vice-President, Research Tim Kenyon. \u201cThe fact that our student\u2019s photograph is among the stunning images of scientific research is testament both to her remarkable talent and to the research mentorship she received from Brock University faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n NSERC<\/a> is Canada\u2019s federal funding agency for university-based research, supporting faculty and students through a number of awards. In the most recent round, Brock University was awarded $2.5 million<\/a> in NSERC funding including graduate student awards<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Brock student’s photograph of a bee’s eye has turned out to be the bee’s knees to judges in a national contest. Jessie deHaan\u2019s photograph of a bee\u2019s eye has been shortlisted in a national photo competition hosted by NSERC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":66742,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,3319,4052,41,1,4,5],"tags":[3224,8907,348,9204,5961,7220,3325],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66741"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66741"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67642,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66741\/revisions\/67642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}