Kevan was a contract biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service (Western Region) in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, researching Arctic ecology and environmental impacts of oil exploration and vehicular traffic on tundra ecosystems,[1] between 1970 and 1976.

Kevan was a contract biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service (Western Region) in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, researching Arctic ecology and environmental impacts of oil exploration and vehicular traffic on tundra ecosystems,[1] between 1970 and 1976.

[8] That research precedes the Colour Opponency Coding System for insects developed by German zoologists Randolf Menzel, Lars Chittka and Werner Backhaus in the 1990s.

He has since published on explosive pollen release in the fossil species Ekrixanthera ehecatli[10] with American evolutionary biologist George Poinar.

He shared his apiculture knowledge through an internationally recognized course in pollination ecology which he taught in several countries, notably in North, South and Central America.

[13] Between 1975 and 1989, Kevan published a series of controversial papers demonstrating adverse and lethal effects of the organophosphate pesticide Fenitrothion[14] on pollinators, causing lower blueberry yields [15] and economic losses in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

[18] His work examines micrometeorology of stems, reasons for different temperature regimes and possible implications of such findings around plant survival during climate change.