Moutain BEEnome Project

 I am working with Dr. Jeff Lozier as part of an NSF funded research project, in collaboration with Michael Dillon at the University of Wyoming, a physiologist and expert in insect flight, and Jamie Strange with the USDA Pollinating Insect Research Unit and Utah State, an expert bumble bee biologist.

We are investigating how native bumble bees adapt to environmental changes associated with latitude (North/South) and altitude (high/low). We are comparing genetics within and between species using RADtag sequencing, as well as morphological, physiological, and gene expression variation of bumble bees across the Sierra and Cascade Mountain ranges of CA, OR, and WA.

I am particularly interested in the differences in gene expression between bees exposed to their thermal maximum and minimum temperatures, to see if bees from different regions respond the same way physiologically and transcriptomically to thermal stress. While I have given a few talks, we are also hard at work on publications related to the gene expression of thermal stress in mountain bumble bees. Keep an eye out!