Denis MICHEZ

Denis Michez holds a degree in engineering from University of Liège (Belgium) and a Ph-D in Biological Sciences from the University of Mons (Belgium). He did a postdoc at Cornell University (USA) in the laboratory of Prof. Bryan Danforth. He is currently Professor at the University of Mons (Belgium). He took the head of the laboratory of Zoology after the retirement if Prof. Pierre Rasmont in 2022. He is developing studies to globally understand bee diversity and conservation. His Ph-D field background is Systematics. He published species descriptions, phylogenies and monographies. Now he is leading projects exploring how bee diversity evolved at population and upper taxonomic levels (species, families) considering fossils, molecular phylogenies, phylogeography and bee-plant chemical interactions. The team is still doing basic research in taxonomy describing new species for Science. Moreover his team is developing research measuring impact of threats like pesticides and host-plant shift on bee population trends. The group is focussing more and more on emergent global threats like climate change. Overall these studies support the development of evidence based strategy to mitigate pollinator decline.