Tracy Zarrillo
Department of Entomology
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
123 Huntington Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Voice: (203) 974-8473 Fax: (203) 974-8502
E-mail: Tracy.Zarrillo@ct.gov
Expertise:
Tracy has expertise in native bee taxonomy, native bee monitoring and survey techniques, and pollinator conservation. She can do species-level identifications for the apoid fauna in the northeastern U.S., specializing in the genera Bombus, Andrena, Ceratina, and Lasioglossum.
Education:
B.S., Biology, Southern Connecticut State University, 1992
M.S., Biology, Southern Connecticut State University, 2016
Training Received in Wild Bee Identification and Pollinator Conservation:
- Native Bee Identification, Ecology, Research and Monitoring Course: July 5-10, 2010, FWS National Conservation Training Center, West Virginia.
- Pollinator Conservation Planning Short Course: July 6, 2011, University Of Rhode Island, Kingston, Xerces Society.
- Dialictus Identification Course: March 23-25, 2012, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
- Pollinator Conservation Planning Short Course, Xerces Society: April 12, 2012, Tolland County Agricultural Center, Vernon, Connecticut.
- Northeastern Bee Identification Workshop, March 22-24, 2013, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts.
- Bumble Bee Identification Workshop, March 21, 2014, The Connecticut Entomological Society, University of Connecticut, Connecticut.
Station Career:
Agricultural Research Assistant II, 1992-1994
Agricultural Research Assistant III, 1994-1998
Agricultural Research Technician I, 1998-2014
Agricultural Research Technician II, 2014-2022
Assistant Agricultural Scientist I, 2022-present
Responsibilities and Past Research:
Ms. Zarrillo has provided assistance in the field and laboratory for research projects dealing with bee pollination, pesticides, floral preference trials, and wild bee diversity in Connecticut. She initiated and coordinates the Wild Bee Monitoring Program in Connecticut, which includes cooperators at the White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield, the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge in Westbrook, and CAES campuses around the state. She has examined wild bee communities living in Connecticut's maritime habitats and has identified potential threats due to climate change and non-native plant species. In addition to her bee work, she has also assisted in natural history surveys of longhorn beetles, exotic insect surveys, and surveys of bio-control agents for emerald ash borer throughout Connecticut.
Focus of Current Research:
Ms. Zarrillo is currently writing a checklist of the wild bees of Connecticut. She is also collaborating with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection on a meadow restoration project and will be monitoring the response of wild bees and monarchs to the improved habitat over time. She conducts surveys for rare and/or threatened wild bee species in Connecticut and is interested in the biology of bees that specialize on specific types of pollen.
Publications:
- Zarrillo, T. A. and K. A. Stoner. (2019). The bee fauna of an Atlantic coastal plain tidal marsh community in Southern New England, USA. J. Melittology, 86, 1-34. doi.org/10.17161/jom.v0i86.7334
- Zarrillo. T., J. S. Ascher, J. Gibbs, and K. Stoner. (2016). New and Noteworthy Records of Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila) for Connecticut. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 89(2), 138-157.
- Zarrillo, T. (2016). A Survey of the bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of Grass Island Preserve, Connecticut. M. S. Thesis. Southern Connecticut State University; New Haven, Connecticut; 127 pp.
- Zarrillo, T. (2014). Connecticut Bumble Bee Guide. https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/CAES/DOCUMENTS/Publications/pollinators/CTBombusGuidepdf.pdf
- Droege, S. and Zarillo, T., (Ed.). (2015). The Very Handy Manual: How to Catch and Identify Bees and Manage a Collection. USGS Native Bee and Inventory Monitoring Lab. http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/nativebees/Handy%20Bee%20Manual/The%20Very%20Handy%20Manual%20-%202015.pdf