Alex Beauchemin (he/him/il)

My name is Alex, and I am a global change ecologist currently working towards a M.Sc. degree at the University of British Columbia as a part of Team Shrub (Myers-Smith Lab).

I am passionate about collaborative research on global change ecology, with a focus on plant-pollinator ecology. As part of my Master's work, I am listening in on bumblebee activity across the Arctic tundra using passive monitoring approaches and ecoacoustics. Through this, I aim to study the occurence of a climate-driven phenological mismatch between Arctic plants and bumblebees. This research is being conducted on Qikiqtaruk - Herschel Island, in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, in the traditional territory of the Inuvialuit peoples.

During my B.Sc. (Hons) Biology dissertation, with Team Shrub, I deployed a network of Autonomous Recording Units (ARUs) each paired with time-lapse cameras monitoring vegetation. Following this, I developed a recognizer algorithm which I used to detect bumblebee flight buzzes from the acoustic data collected across the scale of the flowering season. Findings from this study supported a marginal mismatch between bumblebee activity and flowering along a microclimate gradient, consistent with hypotheses of a climate-driven mismatch.

Outside of my research, I have experience as a wildland firefighter in the BC Wildfire Service, as well as instructing sea kayaking and skiing. I am passionate about climate and social justice, and find myself at home in the outdoors.

Beauchemin_CV_Sep2025 

Eavesdropping on Arctic Bumblebees

Insect pollinators support Arctic biodiversity by facilitating plant reproduction, gene flow, and seed and fruit production. Bumblebees (Uumarmiuttun: Igutchaq) are a keystone pollinator in tundra ecosystems due to their large pollen-carrying capacity, ability to thermoregulate, and specialized buzz-pollination.

As the Arctic warms, climate change is altering the timing of flowering and insect pollinator activity, which could drive a decoupling of plants and pollinator life histories (ie., a phenological mismatch). Decreased pollination linked to a mismatch between tundra plants and their pollinators could disrupt food webs and Arctic food systems through changes to fruit production and plant seedling recruitment in tundra plants, altering local biodiversity. In turn, decreased synchrony (the phenological alignment between flowering and pollinator activity) could reduce food availability for pollinators, which rely on pollen and nectar from flowers for survival, with demographic impact. As Arctic warming accelerates, changes in plant-pollinator synchrony could become a key mechanism driving ecological change.