PATHOGEN LOAD IN BUMBLE BEE COMMUNITIES ACROSS AN ELEVATIONAL
GRADIENT Location: Pollinating Insects-- Biology, Management and
Systematics Research Project Number: 5428-21000-013-30 Nonfunded
Cooperative Agreement Start Date: Jun 01, 2011 End Date: Sep 01,
2014 The objective of this project is to quantify the prevalence
of parasite infections in wild populations of bumble bees, and
to determine if elevation has any affect on the incidence of
disease in these bees. Bumble bees are important pollinators of
wild plants and agricultural crops. The populations of some
species of wild bumblebee are in apparent decline in Europe and
North America, but the extent of the declines cannot be
precisely ascertained in the United States because of a lack of
baseline population data. However, at least three (3) species of
North American bumblebee are now endangered or extinct.
Suspected causes for the decline include parasites and
pathogens, habitat fragmentation, and pesticides. In this
project, we will address four questi