Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/L009455/1
Ecology and evolution of the bumblebee gut microbiota
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Professor MS Heard, NERC CEH (Up to 30.11.2019), Biodiversity (Wallingford)
- Grant held at:
- NERC CEH (Up to 30.11.2019), Biodiversity (Wallingford)
- Science Area:
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Terrestrial
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Natural Resource Management
- Science Topics:
- None
- Abstract:
- Communities of microorganisms (microbiota) that colonize animal hosts are ubiquitous in nature and play important roles in digestion and immune defence. Understanding their ecology and evolution is a novel and rapidly emerging area of science largely facilitated by technological advances in molecular biology. Researchers are increasingly aware of the important role that interactions between different elements of the microbiota (both commensal microorganisms and pathogens), host immunity and the environment play in determining host health. However, to date most studies have focused on the microbiota found within the human gut. We lack a good understanding of the of gut microbiota of many wild species that provide important ecosystem services such as pollination. Pollination provides direct commercial benefits to crop production (global value 2005=153 billion euros) and makes a key contribution to the persistence of native plant species and communities. Concerns over reductions in pollination services encompass losses of both managed and wild populations of insect pollinators. Wild bees, particularly bumblebees (Bombus spp), have shown dramatic declines in range and diversity across Europe and North America. These declines, largely a result of the loss of food resources (pollen and nectar) and nesting habitats due to agricultural intensification, have serious economic as well as conservation implications. In temperate systems bumblebees may be able to compensate for the losses in other pollinator groups since they forage over large areas and are active in a wider range of climatic conditions. Bumblebees are also bred commercially to provide pollination to a variety of high value glasshouse and fruit crops with exports to the UK of c.60,000 colonies per year (a cost to UK farmers of 3 million UKP). Recent studies of the bumblebee gut microbiota have revealed apparently highly specific bacterial communities. It is likely that these play a role in immune defence and digestive efficiency and may be particularly important in determining overall fitness. However, little is known about the ecology of these bacteria at the colony level or how environmental factors affect their transmission, community assembly and efficacy. Understanding the role that the gut microbiota plays in bumblebee ecology may thus have wide-reaching implications for our understanding of their basic biology and for current practices in breeding, conservation, and agriculture. In this project the PhD student will be provided with training in ecology, molecular microbial ecology, modelling and statistics, parasitology, genomics and bioinformatics. Training will be provided by a strong collaboration team including members from the NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Royal Holloway University and the industrial partner Biobest. This innovative inter-disciplinary training will allow the student to gain an entirely new level of understanding of the ecology of the bumble bee gut microbiota and to address the following fundamental questions: 1. What are the diversity, abundance and distribution of bacterial gut microbiota through wild type and cultured subspecies of Bombus terrestris 2. How do changes in foraging behaviour and access to different food sources affect the gut microbiota? 3. What are the relative contributions of vertical (flower to bee) vs. horizontal (between nest mates) transmission to gut microbiota assembly and how are these influenced by environmental factors? 4. What protection does the gut microbiota give bees against challenges from widely-used pesticides, e.g.,neonicotinoids, and common high impact microparasites e.g. Crithidia bombi and Nosema bombi?
- NERC Reference:
- NE/L009455/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- DTG - directed
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Industrial CASE
This training grant award has a total value of £83,515
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Fees | Total - RTSG | Total - Student Stipend |
|---|---|---|
| £16,226 | £11,000 | £56,292 |
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