Sheila R Colla

Sheila Rafaella Colla (4 May 1982 – 6 July 2025) was a Canadian conservation biologist specialising in wild bumblebees, and an advocate for increasing diversity in entomology. Her work with the rusty patched bumblebee led to the first listing of a bumblebee as endangered in both Canada and the United States.

Early life and education Sheila Rafaella Colla was born 4 May 1982 in East York, Toronto She was brought up in the Greater Toronto area of Canada. She was interested in nature from a young age and studied zoology at University of Toronto, graduating in 2005. She focused on biodiversity and went on to study for a doctoral degree in York University with Laurence Packer, graduating in 2012.

Scientific career Colla was appointed to York University in 2015, after working at University of Toronto between 2014 and 2015. She was a tenured assistant professor at York University, holding a research chair in interdisciplinary conservation science. She was also executive committee member at the university's Centre for Bee Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation.

Since 2004, Colla's research focused on bees, especially wild bee population biology, conservation and their roles as pollinators and in sustainable agriculture. In her PhD research, she recorded the decline in rusty patched bumblebee using museum specimens and field observations

Colla was the North American Coordinator for the IUCN Red List Bumblebee Specialist Group.

Colla co-founded Bumble Bee Watch in 2014, a community science project with over 5,000 observers created to track and conserve North America's bumble bees that has received media attention. Her public outreach also addressed strategies for improving Canadian landscapes for insects, particularly in gardens and urban locations.

Personal life Colla married Marc Michalak in 2011. They had 2 children, born in 2013 and 2016. Colla died on 6 July 2025 of mesothelioma. She is buried in St. John's Norway Cemetery in Toronto. the President's Research Impact Award from York University in 2024 for the way her research had influenced government policy, an Ontario Nature Education award in 2024 and the NSERC Award for Science Promotion in 2024 She received the King Charles III Coronation Medal in 2025.

Colla's 2014 book Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide was listed on the American Library Association's Outstanding References Sources list in 2015.