June General Meeting and Flower Show
Monday, June 9, 2025
Speaker: Alice Dabrowski
Topic: Flower flies: The overlooked garden heroes
Alice Dabrowski is a PhD student at the University of Guelph, and the 2024 OHS scholarship award winner. She is a backyard botanist with a deep appreciation for native plants. It was her love of plants that brought her to the world of insects—pollinators, decomposers, herbivores, transporters, or even saboteurs; there are no plants without insects.
In her current research, Alice examines the diversity of immature flower flies (yes, maggots!) and the ways formal scientific processes can be integrated into community science efforts. Her presentation will review the interesting world of flower flies as pollinators AND pest control agents, and how flower fly larvae are revealing new scientific insights.