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Doctor Amy Gilpin

Doctor Amy-Marie Gilpin was awarded a Research Support Program Fellowship in 2021. Her research centres on understanding the effect of fire on plant-pollinator networks.

Amy-Marie is interested in the ecology and conservation of invertebrate and vertebrate pollinators and the pollination function they provide within both natural and agricultural ecosystems. Her research to date has largely focussed on identifying interactions between pollinators and the plants they rely upon. She has also worked extensively on agriculturally important crops within both temperate and tropical regions of Australia. In addition, Amy-Marie’s research focusses on ways to conserve pollinators within agricultural and urban areas with particular focus on floral resources and nesting habitat to support healthy pollinator populations within these systems. Amy-Marie employs a variety of methods from multiple disciplines including large-scale manipulative field and glasshouse experiments to determine the effects of climate change on floral resources and pollinators. She uses an integrative approach to understand firstly who are the pollinators and then what is there effect on surrounding plants, ecosystems, plant mating systems, seed fitness as well as fruit quality and yield.

My website is https://www.amy-mariegilpin.com/ (opens in a new window)

Current research projects

Current research includes:

  1. Understanding the nesting habitat requirements, nest architecture and sociality of ground-nesting bees.
  2. Determining the effect of fire severity and history on the flowering phenology and vertebrate pollinators of Spotted gum (Corymbia maculata).
  3. Documenting interactions between native bees and introduced honeybees and understanding the impact on native plant-pollinator networks.
  4. Assessing plant-pollinator dynamics at the interface between agricultural and natural ecosystems.
  5. Understanding the effect of anthropogenic change (fire, drought and increased CO2) on plant-pollinator interactions.

Areas of research and teaching

Ecology, Conservation Biology, Pollination, Animal Behaviour, Ecological Responses to Climate Change.

Awards and recognition

  • HIE Research Symposium “Best presentation” award, WSU 2022
  • Vice Chancellors Professional Development Award
  • Research Support Program Fellow (Level A) - Bushfire & Pollination (2 yrs), 2021
  • Nominated for the Research Impact Competition, Western Sydney University, 2019

Professional Service

IUCN Wild Bee Specialist Group (opens in a new window) Oceania Committee member 2023.
Communications correspondent for Birds In Backyards, Birdlife Australia, 2022.
Chair, Ecological Society of Australia, Early Career Working Group, 2017-2018.

  • Organising committee, Job application workshop for Higher Degree and Early Career Researchers at the Ecological Society of Australia Conference, Brisbane, 2018.
  • Conference organising committee, Early Career Researcher Twitter Conference supported by the Ecological Society of Australia and The International Network of Next Generation Ecologists, 2017

Grants

Horticulture Innovation Australia grant. Supporting the health and expansion of the Australian stingless bee industry. ($2,453,635), 2023. (Co-researcher).

Western STEM Engagement Grant. ($5,000), 2023.

Horticulture Innovation Australia grant. Loss of Horticultural pollination services from wild insects following bushfires. ($189,000) 2021-2023. (Co-researcher)

NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment grants. The regreening of the Blue Mountains: Using citizen science to study post-fire recovery in the Blue Mountains. ($120,000), 2021. (Co-researcher)

Wheen Bee Foundation Grant. ($18,000) Ecoregional planting guides to support pollinators within agroecosystems in NSW. 2021-2022.
Sustainable Schools Grant NSW Department of Education. Bee Curious. ($14,850) In collaboration with Keiraville Primary School and Wollongong Botanic Gardens.

MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development. ($5,000) Survey on supporting environmental literacy in public green spaces.
Early Career Researcher Fellowship WSU: Quantifying the effects of climate change on key floral resources for agriculturally important wild pollinators. ($18,174) 2018.

Lake Macquarie Environmental Research Grant: Determining seed viability of endangered coastal saltmarsh plants in Lake Macquarie under climate change. ($4,320) 2016.

Australian Postgraduate Scholarship 2012-2015.

Publications

Finch, J, Gilpin, A-M, and Cook, J. (2023). Fishing for flies: Testing the efficacy of “stink stations” for promoting blow flies (Calliphoridae) as tree crop pollinators. Journal of Pollination Ecology. 33, 79-99

Lopresti, L.C., Sommerville, K.D., Gilpin, A-M., Minchinton, T.E. (2023). Reproductive biology of rainforest Rutaceae: floral biology, breeding systems and pollination vectors of Acronychia oblongifolia and Sarcomelicope simplicifolia subsp. simplicifolia. Cunninghamia. 23, 011-026

Sheoran S, Kalkal D, Chauhan R, Rolania K, Ahlawat S, Gilpin A-M, (2023) 'Insecticide Efficacy against Earias Species Infestation of Okra and Residue Analysis of Chlorantraniliprole under Field Conditions in India', Horticulturae, vol.9, no.3, Article no.356

Gilpin A-M, Brettell LE. Cook J, Power SA, (2022) The use of trap-nests to support crop pollinators in agricultural areas, Ecological Research, (37(6), 768-779)

Gilpin A-M, Brettell LE, O’Brien C, Cook JM, Power SA, (2022) Co-flowering species richness increases pollinator visitation to apple flowers, Agriculture, vol.12, no.8, Article no.1246

Gilpin A-M, O'Brien C, Kobel C, Brettell LE, Cook JM, Power SA, (2022) Co-flowering plants support diverse pollinator populations and facilitate pollinator visitation to sweet cherry crops, Basic and Applied Ecology, vol.63, pp 36-48

Ollerton J, Trunschke J, Havens K, Landaverde-González P, Keller A, Gilpin A-M, Rech AR, Baronio GJ, Phillips BJ, Mackin C, Stanley DA, Treanore E, Baker E, Rotheray EL, Erickson E, Fornoff F, Brearley FQ, Ballantyne G, Iossa G, Stone GN, Bartomeus I, Stockan JA, Leguizamón J, Prendergast K, Rowley L, Giovanetti M, de Oliveira Bueno R, Wesselingh RA, Mallinger R, Edmondson S, Howard SR, Leonhardt SD, Rojas-Nossa SV, Brett M, Joaqui T, Antoniazzi R, Burton VJ, Feng HH, Tian ZX, Xu Q, Zhang C, Shi CL, Huang SQ, Cole LJ, Bendifallah L, Ellis EE, Hegland SJ, Díaz SS, Lander T, Mayr AV, Katzer S, Dawson R, Eeraerts M, Armbruster WS, Walton B, Adjlane N, Falk S, Mata L, Geiger AG, Carvell C, Wallace C, Ratto F, Barberis M, Kahane F, Connop S, Stip A, Sigrist MR, Vereecken NJ, Klein AM, Baldock KCR, Arnold SEJ, (2022) Pollinator-flower interactions in gardens during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of 2020, Journal of Pollination Ecology, vol.32, no. pp 87-96

Schmidt LA, Gilpin A-M, Cook J, Rymer P, Gibson-Roy P, Craigie S, Power SA. (2020) Restoration of native wildflower patched in agronomic settings for diverse and healthy pollinator populations. Australasian Plant Conservation: Journal of the Australian Network for Plant Conservation, vol 28. pp17-19

Gilpin AM, Denham AJ, Ayre DJ, (2019) Are there magnet plants in Australian ecosystems: Pollinator visits to neighbouring plants are not affected by proximity to mass flowering plants, Basic and Applied Ecology, vol.35, pp 34-44

Gilpin A-M, Denham AJ, Ayre DJ, (2019) Do mass flowering agricultural species affect the pollination of Australian native plants through localised depletion of pollinators or pollinator spillover effects?, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, vol.277, pp 83-94

Gilpin A-M, (2017) Investigating the combined role of the introduced honeybee (Apis mellifera) and magnet plants on the pollination of both native and exotic plants in Australian ecosystems, PhD thesis. University of Wollongong.

Gilpin A-M, Denham AJ, Ayre DJ, (2017) The use of Digital Video Recorders in pollination biology', Ecological Entomology, vol.42, pp 383-388

Gilpin A-M, Collette J, Ooi M, Denham AJ, Ayre DJ, (2017) Do introduced honeybees effect seed set and seed quality in a plant adapted for bird pollination? Journal of Plant Ecology, vol.10, no.4, pp 721–729

Gilpin A-M, Ayre DJ, Denham AJ, (2014) Can the pollination biology and floral ontogeny of the threatened Acacia carneorum explain its lack of reproductive success? Ecological Research, vol.29, pp 225-235

Denham AJ, Auld T, Ayre DJ, Forrest C, Gilpin A-M, O'Brien E, Roberts D, (2013) 'Research and conservation initiatives for the vulnerable Purple-wood wattle: a model for plant species conservation in Australia?' Australasian Plant Conservation: Journal of the Australian Network for Plant Conservation, vol.21, pp  22-24

Selected Community Engagement

Ecoregional planting guides to support pollinators within key agricultural areas across NSW.
Specifically:

  • Blue Mountains
  • NSW South East corner
  • Sydney Basin Coastal (Illawarra)
  • Western Sydney (Penrith, Richmond)
  • South Eastern Highlands (Southern Highlands, Bowral, Mittagong)
  • South Eastern Highlands (Orange, Oberon, Bathurst)
  • All of these guides are freely accessible through the Wheen Bee foundation (opens in a new window).

Television and other media Interviews

Radio Interviews

  • Stingless bees: latest weapon in arsenal to protect Aussie crops (ABC Central Coast). 2017
  • Pollinators of Ivy Citizen Science project. (ABC New England North West) 2017.