Rebecca Irwin

Bio

Education

Ph.D., University of Vermont

Research Interests

Biological communities form from a complex web of interactions among multiple species. My lab is interested in the ecology and evolution of multiple-species interactions, pollination biology, and species invasions. Among my research interests are the relative importance of direct and indirect effects of antagonists on the ecology and evolution of plant-pollinator mutualisms, and whether plant interactions with mutualists and antagonists simultaneously shape and constrain selection on nectar traits.

Web Resources

The Irwin Lab

Publications

• Costs of floral larceny: A meta‐analytical evaluation of nectar robbing and nectar theft on animal‐pollinated plants , Ecology (2025)
• Elevated extinction risk in over one-fifth of native North American pollinators , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025)
• Shorter seasonal snow cover poses a risk to solitary bee populations in a mountainous ecosystem , Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (2025)
• Soil moisture influences nectar robbing and plant fitness in a primrose species , Journal of Ecology (2025)
• Two Metschnikowia nectar yeast species have similar volatile profiles, but elicit differential foraging in bee pollinators , DRYAD (2025)
• As prey and pollinators, insects increase reproduction and allow for outcrossing in the carnivorous plant Dionaea muscipula , American Journal of Botany (2024)
• Colorado Native Pollinating Insects Health Study , (2024)
• Socioecological drivers of mutualistic and antagonistic plant-insect interactions and interaction outcomes in suburban landscapes , PLoS ONE (2024)
• The Hole Truth: Why Do Bumble Bees Rob Flowers More Than Once? , Plants (2024)
• Bee species richness through time in an urbanizing landscape of the southeastern United States , Global Change Biology (2023)