With apologies to Beyonce, 2018 University of Cincinnati graduate Sylvana Ross is the Queen Bee on PBS’ Bugs That Rule The World.
The entomologist — who appears in all four hours of the documentary series about endangered insects that pollinate everything from flowers and fruits to vegetables, almonds and avocados — introduces national TV viewers to the Queen City Pollinators Project in Lick Run Greenway along Queen City Avenue in South Fairmount. She’s a co-founder and board member of the nonprofit organization that mentors gardeners, beekeepers and young entomologists.
“If you love to eat, and you love pretty things, we need pollinators,” says Ross, a UC track team recruit who developed a love of bugs her senior year at UC. After earning a biology degree, she taught several years for Skool Aid, the Greater Cincinnati enrichment program, before enrolling in a five-year doctoral program at Cornell University in 2022.
The “Lifegivers” episode on Wednesday, May 14 (10 p.m., Channels 48, 16, 54, PBS) explores the diminishing number of bees, butterflies and moths in the past decade, which has been dubbed the “insect apocalypse” by scientists. NBC News reported in 2015 that 40% of bees in colonies had died in the past year…