Phone: 706-542-1115
email: pick@discoverlife.org
Updated: 22 July, 2009

Education: 1980   Ph. D., Harvard University, Biology 1976   A. M., Harvard University, Biology 1973   B. S., University of Illinois, Honors Biology              with high departmental & university honors Appointments and Professional Experience: 1984- Faculty Member, University of Georgia, Athens          Department of Entomology (1984-95)          Odum School/Institute of Ecology (1994- ) 1982-84 Postgraduate Research Entomologist       Division of Biological Control       University of California, Berkeley 1981-82 Research Associate       Division of Entomology & Parasitology       University of California, Berkeley 1979-81 Miller Postdoctoral Fellow       Department of Entomological Sciences       University of California, Berkeley Awards: 1996-98 Mellon Senior Research Fellowship       Organization for Tropical Studies, Costa Rica;       Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama 1996 Outstanding Upper Division Advisor Award       University of Georgia 1994 Special Sandy Beaver Award for Teaching Excellence       University of Georgia 1991 Outstanding Conference Paper Presentation       GRASS Users Conference, Berkeley 1979-81 Postdoctoral Fellowship       Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science       University of California, Berkeley 1976-77 1974-79 1973 Predoctoral Fellowship, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Richmond Fellow, Harvard University Bronze Tablet, University of Illinois Five Web Publications/Databases Relevant to the Proposed Research: Pickering, J., K. Smith, G. Cotter, A. Simpson, B. Magill and E. McNierney. 2006. Global Mapper. News report for International Biogeography Society. www.discoverlife.org/pa/or/polistes/fe/2006ibs.html [e. g., www.discoverlife.org/mp/20m?kind=Bombus maps 250,000 bumblebees.] Ascher, J. S. et al. 2009. Apoidea species guide. www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Apoidea_species Ascher, J. S. and J. Pickering. 2009. World bee diversity -- Interactive checklists of world bees by country. www.discoverlife.org/nh/cl/counts/Apoidea_species.html Pickering, J. 2009. Database of Hymenoptera in America north of Mexico. Based on Krombein, K. V., P. D. Hurd, Jr., D. R. Smith and B. D. Burks. 1979. Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico, Volumes 1-3. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. www.discoverlife.org/proceedings/0000/6 Droege, S. W. , J. S. Ascher and J. Pickering. 2009. Apoidea. www.discoverlife.org/20/q?search=Apoidea Five Other Significant Research Publications: [on Hymenoptera] Skillen, E. L., J. Pickering and M. J. Sharkey. 2000. Species richness of the Campopleginae and Ichneumoninae (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) along a latitudinal gradient in eastern North American old-growth forests. Environmental Entomology 29: 460-466. Bartlett, R., J. Pickering, I. Gauld and D. Windsor. 1999. Estimating global biodiversity: tropical beetles and wasps send different signals. Ecological Entomology 24: 118-121. Gaasch, C. M., J. Pickering and C. T. Moore. 1998. Flight phenology of parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) in Georgia's piedmont. Environmental Entomology 27:606-614. Wenzel, J. W., and J. Pickering. 1991. Cooperative foraging, productivity, and the central limit theorem. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 88: 36-38. Pickering, J. 1980. Larval competition and brood sex ratios in the gregarious parasitoid Pachysomoides stupidus. Nature 283: 291-292. Synergistic Activities: Discover Life (www.discoverlife.org) Founder and coordinator of this website, its International Center for Public Health and Environmental Research, and electronic publication, the Proceedings of Life. Discover Life enables web users to contribute and retrieve information about nature. It has assembled over 100 million database records and 1.2 million valid species names from numerous sources. Since inception, it has had over 470 million hits and now serves users at over 250,000 unique IP addresses each month. Bee Hunt! (www.discoverlife.org/bee) This outreach project is developing formal science curricula and rigorous research protocols that will enable K-16 classes and other participants to build a large network of research sites to study the impact of climate change and other factors on plant-pollinator interactions. The Polistes Foundation (www.discoverlife.org/pa/or/polistes) Co-founder and president of The Polistes Foundation, the mission of which is to assemble and share knowledge about nature in order to improve education, health, agriculture, economic development, and conservation throughout the world. Polistes works with numerous museums, herbaria, and other organizations. Since 2002 it has been supported by the USGS's National Biological Information Infrastructure to integrate databases and help everyone participate in biodiversity research via the web. In 2009, Polistes will start a second 5-year cooperative agreement with NBII. The NSF supports Polistes through Informal Science Education award 0741738. Collaborators and Research Associates: Discover Life has many partners and contributors: www.discoverlife.org/pa/or/polistes/partners.html lists organizations; www.discoverlife.org/research/personnel.html lists 70 researchers with whom I collaborate. Graduate and Post Doctoral Advisors: My graduate advisors were Richard C. Lewontin and Robert L. Trivers at Harvard University. My post doctoral advisors were George F. Oster, Wayne M. Getz, and Andy P. Gutierrez at the University of California, Berkeley. Thesis Advisor and Postgraduate-Scholar Sponsor: I have no current graduate or postdoctoral students.