Robert Gegear

Robert Gegear is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. His research focuses on the conservation of native pollination systems, neuroecology of plant-pollinator interactions, multi-modal sensory integration, floral evolution, and bumblebee ecology.

• PhD, Western University (2002)
• Postdoc, University of Toronto (2006)
• Postdoc, University of Massachusetts Medical School (2010)

His integrative research combines animal behavior, molecular biology, community ecology, and computational biology to study plant-pollinator relationships. Using bumblebees (Bombus spp.) as a model system, he investigates floral display complexity, foraging preferences, global pollinator decline, and conservation strategies.

Recent publications highlight his work on anthropogenic impacts on pollination systems (2021), cognition in monarch butterfly migration (2021), and challenges in measuring floral signal honesty (2020). These studies span ecology, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology, with subfields like sensory navigation, biodiversity modeling, and co-evolutionary dynamics.

He leads the Beecology Lab, which uses controlled experiments, field studies, and in silico simulations to address biodiversity stressors. Grants include $599,926 from the National Science Foundation for the CUBICS project and smaller awards from Landscape Interactions LLC.