Pollinator Science and Apiculture

Pollinators are critical components of both agricultural and ecological landscapes, so understanding their ecology and the causes of recent declines is important in conserving the pollination services they provide along with their incredible diversity. Several faculty in the Entomology Department study honey bees and other pollinators from a variety of scientific perspectives, not only to build on our knowledge of their ecology but also to provide the most up-to-date, relevant, research-based information to stakeholders.
Honey bees are very important pollinators for a variety of fruit, vegetable, nut, and other specialty crops, providing pollination services valued at over $15 billion in the United States alone. One in every three bites you eat is pollinated either directly or indirectly by an insect pollinator. Honey bees are the most common and most heavily managed insect pollinator.
Habitat loss or land use changes are among the main drivers of declines in bee populations - especially ground nesting species - as well as those of other pollinators. Environments heavily shaped by human activity typically have one or more of the following characteristics: reduced native floral abundance and diversity, regular disturbance to soil, greater exposure to toxins, an increase of non-permeable surfaces, and/or lack of connectivity. These disturbance typically take place over relatively short historical time scales; however, there is evidence that long-term environmental changes have affected the relationships between plants and their pollinators.
Ongoing work in the Entomology Department on the ecology and management of pollinators includes:
Honey bees are very important pollinators for a variety of fruit, vegetable, nut, and other specialty crops, providing pollination services valued at over $15 billion in the United States alone. One in every three bites you eat is pollinated either directly or indirectly by an insect pollinator. Honey bees are the most common and most heavily managed insect pollinator.
Habitat loss or land use changes are among the main drivers of declines in bee populations - especially ground nesting species - as well as those of other pollinators. Environments heavily shaped by human activity typically have one or more of the following characteristics: reduced native floral abundance and diversity, regular disturbance to soil, greater exposure to toxins, an increase of non-permeable surfaces, and/or lack of connectivity. These disturbance typically take place over relatively short historical time scales; however, there is evidence that long-term environmental changes have affected the relationships between plants and their pollinators.
Ongoing work in the Entomology Department on the ecology and management of pollinators includes:
- BIP Tech Transfer Team Sampling. As a partner and founding member of the Bee Informed Partnership, the vanEngelsdorp Lab works closely with specially trained Tech Teams and beekeepers around the country to conduct colony sampling for numerous apiaries, the results of which give beekeepers up to date information on the health of their colonies and allow them to react to conditions that may be affecting their apiaries.
- Colony Loss & Management Surveys. In partnership with USDA, the vanEngelsdorp Lab administers three surveys as part of a nationwide colony health questionnaire for beekeepers managing apiaries, which together produce the largest data set of managed honey bee colony health in the country.
- The Colony Loss Survey monitors colony losses throughout the country to observe trends of honey bee mortality from year-to-year.
- The National Management Survey takes an epidemiological approach to acquire a greater understanding of the effects of various colony management practices and their relationship with colony health.
- The National Honey Bee Survey is a comprehensive examination of colony health throughout apiaries in the US. This survey takes an epidemiological approach to document honey bee diseases, pests, and pathogens. This survey also monitors the presence or absence of invasive threats to honey bee colonies as well as pesticides present in honey bee hives.
- Sentinel Apiaries. The Sentinel Apiary Project is new a initiative being launched out of the vanEngelsdorp Lab to serve as an early warning system for apiary health. This project involves monitoring multiple attributes of colony health for indicators of stress on the hive, including the weight of the hive which indicates honey flows, deaths, swarming, etc.
- The UMD Bee Wall. The pollinator garden and solitary bee wall located next to the Arboretum Outreach Center allows the University of Maryland community and campus to learn more about bees. The pollinator garden was originally built in 2016 by Olivia Bernauer (MS, 2016, vanEngelsdorp Lab) to research plant-pollinator interactions. The garden and wall were recently expanded after receiving a UMD sustainability grant. Both the wall and garden is maintained by vanEngelsdorp Lab, UMD Arboretum staff, and students who volunteer.
- Plant-Pollinator Phylogenetics & Phylogeography. Previous studies have demonstrated that species reacted to historic environmental disturbances like glaciation and tectonic events, but how interactions respond to such events is less well understood. Under strong environmental pressure, interacting organisms can be expected to respond in a concerted manner, since they rely on each other to survive. The Espindola Lab uses phylogenetic, phylogeographic, and species distribution models to understand the spatial histories of plants and their pollinators, and identify how these organisms react to strong environmental disturbances over historic time scales.
Participating Faculty
Dennis vanEngelsdorp, Associate Professor
PLS 3158 | 301-405-3942 | [email protected] Research: The vanEngelsdorp Lab uses an epidemiological approach to understand and improve pollinator health, which involves understanding the etiology of individual diseases and large scale monitoring. The Lab is also a major partner and founding member of the Bee Informed Partnership, which works closely with beekeepers to better understand the loss in honey bee colonies in the United States. |
Anahi Espindola, Assistant Professor
PLS 3138 | 301-405-3920 | [email protected] Research: The Espindola Lab focuses on the effect of the biotic and abiotic environment on individual species, species communities, and inter-species interactions (with a slight preference for pollination) using molecular, geospatial, ecological, and experimental approaches. |
David Hawthorne, Associate Professor & Director of Education at SESYNC
PLS 4132 | 301-405-2401 | [email protected] Research: The Hawthorne Lab uses population genetics to understand how insects become pests, how they evolve to counter control efforts, and how to use evolutionary thinking to manage them. Additionally, research in the Hawthorne Lab dissects the genetic basis of host-plant associated divides among pest populations and uses phylogeographic analyses to investigate issues in conservation genetics. |