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Areas of Specialization

  • Native bee conservation, ecology, taxonomy
  • Spotted turtle habitat use and conservation

Primary Interests

The focus of my research is on native bee taxonomy, biodiversity, and conservation. I work in collaboration with Federal and State agencies, and NGO’s to provide inventories and baseline data for monitoring native bees in managed habitats. My research has included a systematic review of the bee fauna of Massachusetts, the effects of habitat restoration and fuels control on pine-barrens habitats, the bee fauna of remnant glacial outwash areas, the role of silviculture in enhancing bee pollination services in forested landscapes, and surveys of the bee fauna of suburban lawns in relation to management.

Current Projects

  • Native bee activity in and above forests
  • Native bee response to habitat management
  • The distribution and habitat associations of wild bees in the Northeast

Courses Taught

  • NRC 390P –Pollinators: Ecology and Conservation (3 credits, Spring 2020)

Selected Publications

Roch, J.C., Malfi, R., Van Wyk, J.I., Muñoz Agudelo, D.C., Milam, J. and Adler, L.S., 2023. The Intersection of Bee and Flower Sexes: Pollen Availability Shapes Sex-Specific Bee Foraging Associations in Sunflower. Accepted Environmental Entomology

Cunningham-Minnick, M., Milam, J., Kane, B., Roberts, H., King, D.I., Milam, J. and Kane, B., 2023. Abundant, distinct, and seasonally dynamic bee community in the canopy-aerosphere interface above a temperate forest. Ecology and Evolution, 13(2), pe9739.

Cunningham-Minnick, M.J., Milam, J. and King, D.I., 2022. SpORtI: The species originality and rarity index combines phylogenetic and functional originality with rarity metrics to provide a new perspective on species rarity. Ecological Indicators143, p.109339.

Cunningham‐Minnick, M.J., Roberts, H.P., Kane, B., Milam, J. and King, D.I., 2022. A cost‐effective method to passively sample communities at the forest canopy–aerosphere interface. Methods in Ecology and Evolution13(11), pp.2389-2396.

Milam, J., Cunningham‐Minnick, M., Roberts, H.P., Buelow, C. and King, D.I., 2022. The contribution of canopy samples to assessments of forestry effects on native bees. Conservation Science and Practice, p.e12690.

Hardy S, McFarland K, Sharp N, Milam J, Veit M, Richardson L, Droege S (2022). Vermont Wild Bee Survey (2019-2021). Version 1.10. Vermont Center for Ecostudies. Sampling event dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/yjw5fk accessed via GBIF.org on 2022-12-05. https://gbif.org/occurrence/3698892199

Veit, M.F., Ascher, J.S., Milam, J., Morrison, F.R. and Goldstein, P.Z., 2021. A Checklist of the Bees of Massachusetts (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society94(2), pp.81-157.

Roch, J.C., Agudelo, D.C.M., Adler, L.S. and Milam, J., 2021. First Records of Perdita bequaerti (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) from New England. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society93(4), pp.354-360.

Milam, J., Johnson, D.E., Andersen, J.C., Fassler, A.B., Narango, D.L. and Elkinton, J.S., 2020. Validating morphometrics with DNA barcoding to reliably separate three cryptic species of Bombus Cresson (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Insects11(10), p.669.

Lerman, S.B., Contosta, A.R., Milam, J. and Bang, C., 2018. To mow or to mow less: Lawn mowing frequency affects bee abundance and diversity in suburban yards. Biological Conservation221, pp.160-174.

Milam, J.C., Litvaitis, J.A., Warren, A., Keirstead, D. and King, D.I., 2018. Bee assemblages in managed early-successional habitats in southeastern New Hampshire. Northeastern Naturalist25(3), pp.437-459.

Roberts, H.P., King, D.I. and Milam, J., 2017. Factors affecting bee communities in forest openings and adjacent mature forest. Forest Ecology and Management394, pp.111-122.

Lerman, S.B. and Milam, J., 2016. Bee fauna and floral abundance within lawn-dominated suburban yards in Springfield, MA. Annals of the Entomological Society of America109(5), pp.713-723.

Milam, J. 2001. Ode to odonates: Dragonflies and damselflies in Distress. National Wetlands Newletter 23(3):3-4,24-25.

Milam, J.C. and Melvin, S.M., 2001. Density, habitat use, movements, and conservation of spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata) in Massachusetts. Journal of Herpetology, pp.418-427.