Claudia Ratti

Part-Time Web Master
M.Sc. in Biology, Simon Fraser University
Honours B.Sc. in Biology, University of Waterloo
e-mail: cratti@yorku.ca

Research Interests:

Claudia is currently employed part-time as the Packer Laboratory web master. She is in charge of creating and maintaining the Bugsrus website, the tribe images page and the technical elements of interactive, on-line keys. Her previous work with the lab focused on producing and processing all required bee images using the Visionary Digital BK plus Digital Imaging System. Other duties have included databasing 49,000 specimens for GBIF, organisation of the Bee-BOL inaugural meeting and curatorial work on the collection.

Publications:

In Peer Reviewed Journals:

Colla, S.R. and Ratti C.M. (accepted) Evidence for the decline of the Western Bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis Greene) in British Columbia
Ratti, C.M. and Colla S.R. (accepted) The presence of an eastern bumble bee, Bombus impatiens, in western Canada
Sheffield, C.S., Ratti C., Packer L., and Grisowld T. (accepted) Leafcutter and mason bees of the genus Megachile Latreille (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in Canada and Alaska. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification (accepted Mar 20, 2009; 200+ ms pages)
Ratti, C.M., Higo H.A., Griswold T.L., and Winston, M.L. 2008. Bumble bees influence berry size in commercial Vaccinium spp. cultivation in British Columbia. The Canadian Entomologist, 140: 348-363. [abstract]
Ratti, C. and Barton, D. R. 2003. Decline in the diversity of benthic invertebrates in the wave-zone of eastern Lake Erie, 1974-2001. Journal of Great Lakes Research, 29(4): 608-615.[abstract]

On-line publications:

Ratti, C. and Packer, L. 2009. Key to the Bee Families of the World. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation. http://www.yorku.ca/bugsrus/BFoW/Images/Introduction/Introduction.html

Favourite Recipe:

Chirpy Chips (Roasted Crickets)

Ingredients:

1/2 lbs crickets
1 tsp butter
salt

Directions

Purchase crickets at your local pet store. Feed crickets apple slices for 24hrs to improve their flavour (remember that crickets need air holes!). Next place crickets in freezer for a few hours or until the are sufficiently slow. Do not include any crickets that are already dead as they will taste awful.

Melt butter in a pan. Place crickets in pan and cover with a lid (they may start jumping as they heat up). Roast until crunchy. Salt / season to taste. You may choose to remove the hind legs as they can scratch as you chew. Enjoy!

Funniest Research Story:

Sense of Direction

Having just moved to Vancouver from Ontario to start my Masters I was having a bit of a hard time getting my bearings. A fellow student was heading to Alberta for her summer field season. I asked my supervisor when she was heading West. He looked at me with utter disgust and said "She's heading East!"

Dragging sound? What dragging sound?

I was in charge of picking up a very important visitor to the lab. My car was on its last leg but no other vehicle was available. Pulling out of the airport parking lot, the side moulding of my car (which had already been quite loose) peeled back and dragged on the ground for thirty seconds before finally falling off with much clanging. Should I stop to pick it up? My embarrassment won out and I kept driving without saying a word.