Location: Vegetable Crops Research
Project Number: 5090-21220-004-016-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2019
End Date: Mar 31, 2023
Objective:
Investigate the microbial symbioses that native pollinators rely upon during larval development.
Approach:
The pollen-borne microbiome will be examined across a range of native bee foraging strategies, and the impacts of agricultural fungicides on larval bee development will be assayed.
We will 1) characterize the identities of pollen-borne microbial communities associated with native bees; 2) measure the magnitude and breadth of larval reliance on microbial proteins and lipids; 3) assay the impacts of fungicides on larval bee survival, as mediated by pollen-borne symbionts.