Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Data And R Code For "Gut Transplants From Bees Fed An Antipathogenic Pollen Diet Do Not Confer Pathogen Resistance To Recipients", Rachel T. Yost, Alison E. Fowler, Lynn S. Adler

Data and Datasets

Pollinators are threatened by diverse stressors, including microbial pathogens such as Crithidia bombi. Consuming sunflower pollen dramatically reduces C. bombi infection in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens, but the mechanism behind this medicinal effect is unclear. We asked whether diet mediates resistance to C. bombi through changes in the gut microbiome. We hypothesized that sunflower pollen changes the gut microbiome, which in turn reduces Crithidia infection. To test this, we performed a gut transplant experiment. We fed donor bees either a sunflower pollen treatment or buckwheat pollen as a control treatment, and then inoculated recipient bees with homogenized guts …

Songbird-Mediated Insect Pest Control In Low Intensity New England Agriculture, Samuel J. Mayne

Masters Theses

Global agricultural intensification has caused large-scale wildlife declines, but agricultural lands that maintain natural habitats can support healthy wildlife populations and receive significant ecosystem services from these natural communities. However, how on-farm biodiversity results in beneficial ecosystem services is highly variable and is reported to differ among taxa and guilds. One group that has attracted attention for their potential beneficial role in reducing pest abundance are birds. Understanding the role of bird communities and individual species in pest control could be important for managing farms under a low intensity agroecological framework. In New England, farmers are increasingly applying low intensity …

Abundant, Distinct, And Seasonally Dynamic Bee Community In The Canopy-Aerosphere Interface Above A Temperate Forest: Associated Data, Michael J. Cunningham-Minnick, Joan Milam, Brian Kane, H. Patrick Roberts, David I. King

Data and Datasets

This dataset describes bees (Apoidea) sampled with blue vane traps at different heights within and above a temperate forest on the campus of University of Massachusetts Amherst from April through August of 2021, as well as the R-code used for data analyses. Specifically, it includes 2 files: 1) all data on individual specimens, including species identifications, occurrence dates and coordinates, and more information on encounter location and study design, and 2) All code used to generate figures and tables from the data that are included within the published manuscript.

Sunflower Plantings Reduce A Common Gut Pathogen And Increase Queen Production In Bumble Bee Colonies, Rosemary L. Malfi, Quinn S. Mcfrederick, Giselle Lozano, Rebecca E. Irwin, Lynn S. Adler

Data and Datasets

We evaluated whether plantings of sunflower (Helianthus annuus), whose pollen reduces infection by some pathogens when fed to bees in captivity, lowered pathogen levels and increased reproduction in free-foraging bumble bee colonies (Bombus impatiens). We placed pairs of commercial colonies of B. impatiens at 20 mixed vegetable farms in western Massachusetts between Jul-23 and Oct-6 2019. Flowering resources typically visited by bumble bees were quantified at each farm twice to characterize abundance and diversity. We also visited each farm 3-4 times and at each visit, we (a) recorded colony weights to track growth, (b) collected ~10 …

The Intersection Of Bee And Flower Sexes: Pollen Presence Shapes Sex-Specific Bee Foraging Associations In Sunflower, Justin C. Roch, Rosemary Malfi, Jennifer I. Van Wyk, Deicy Carolina Muñoz Agudelo, Joan Milam, Lynn S. Adler

Data and Datasets

We evaluated whether female or male bees were more abundant on sunflowers, whether female bees were more abundant on pollen-fertile or pollen-sterile sunflower cultivars, and whether the bee community differed between pollen-fertile and pollen-sterile sunflower cultivars. We further evaluated whether bee communities were shaped by local floral resources and landscape composition. We sampled bees visiting sunflowers (Helianthus spp.) from 14 farms in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts between 25 July to 27 September 2019, typically making two sampling visits to a farm. We also measured floral resource diversity and abundance at the farms, and categorized the landscape types …

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: Pollinators As Vectors Of Mummy Berry Disease In Highbush Blueberry, Matthew Boyer

Doctoral Dissertations

Background: Many plants must balance the need for pollination services with mediating the risk of pollinator-vectored pathogens. Vaccinium corymbosum, highbush blueberry, is negatively affected by an insect-vectored, fungal plant pathogen, Monilinia vaccinii-corymosi (MVC), the cause of mummy berry disease, in which the asexual spore mimics pollen grains and is transferred from blighted tissue to flowers via pollinators, resulting in inedible, hardened fruits. Highbush blueberry plants require outcrossed pollen for maximum yield and fecundity. Therefore, yield of blueberry plants rely on a balance between adequate pollination service and disease avoidance. Approach: To explore the relationship between pollinator community and infection …

Visual Attention In Jumping Spiders, Margaret Bruce

Masters Theses

The different ways that animals extract and analyze visual information from their environment is of interest to sensory ecologists. Jumping spiders, well-known for visually guided mating and hunting behavior, are an interesting model for the study of visual attention because they quickly and efficiently integrate information from eight eyes with a small brain. Stimuli in front of the spider are examined by two functionally and morphologically distinct pairs of forward-facing eyes. The principal eyes discern fine details and have small retinas and thus a small visual field. However, their position at the back of moveable tubes within the cephalothorax expands …

Impact Of Native Natural Enemies On Populations Of The Invasive Winter Moth (Operophtera Brumata L) In The Northeast United States, Hannah J. Broadley

Doctoral Dissertations

Invasive insects increasingly affect forested landscapes and have important ecological and economic impacts. My dissertation focuses on population dynamics of winter moth (Operophtera brumata L.), an invasive pest in the northeastern United States. Native to Europe, this is the species’ fourth accidental introduction to North America. The Elkinton lab established the biological control agent Cyzenis albicans across the range of winter moth in the northeastern U.S. Prior research indicates that C. albicans’ ability to control winter moth likely depends on additional mortality from native natural enemies. My dissertation research evaluates the identity and role of natural enemies already …

Effects Of Floral Phytochemicals On Growth And Evolution Of A Parasite Of Bumble Bees, Evan Palmer-Young

Doctoral Dissertations

Background: Nectar and pollen are rich in phytochemicals, some of which can reduce disease in pollinators, including agriculturally important honey and bumble bees. Floral phytochemicals could influence the ecological and evolutionary relationships between plants, their pollinators, and parasites that cause pollinator disease. Antiparasitic effects of phytochemicals could be exploited to ameliorate pollinator disease and decline, and thereby sustain pollinator-dependent agricultural production. However, prior studies showed variable effects of phytochemicals on infection in live bees, where differences in bee genotype, abiotic conditions, and parasite strain could influence results. Approach: I used cell cultures of the intestinal trypanosome parasite of bumble bees, …

Specialization And Trade-Offs In Plant-Feeding Insects, Daniel Peterson

Doctoral Dissertations

The immense diversity of life on Earth has been attributed to the partitioning of available resources into ecological niches, but it is not obvious what determines the niche size of each species. For example, most plant-feeding insects consume only one or a few closely-related host-plant species despite the advantages of having a broader diet. Many researchers have therefore suggested that the evolution of broad diets in plant-feeding insects must be constrained by genetic trade-offs between adaptations to alternative host-plants. Despite its intuitive feel, however, little empirical evidence in support of the trade-off hypothesis has emerged from decades of experimental studies …

Biology, Molecular Systematics, Population Dynamics And Control Of A Stem Gall Wasp, Zapatella Davisae (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), Monica Davis

Doctoral Dissertations

Gall wasps are phytophagous insects that often go unnoticed, however, when they are released from their natural enemies, they have the capacity to outbreak and cause extensive foliar damage. One such outbreaking pest, Zapatella davisae, causes significant damage and mortality to black oak, Quercus velutina. In recent years, black oak decline has been documented in Long Island, New York and coastal New England. Little is known about the lifecycle, distribution or population dynamics of Zapatella davisae and the taxonomy of the species is still unclear. My first study described the biology and distribution of Z. davisae. Zapatella …

Sex-Biased Oviposition By A Nursery Pollinator On A Gynodioecious Host Plant: Implications For Breeding System Evolution And Evolution Of Mutualism, Laura A. D. Doubleday, Lynn S. Adler

Biology Department Faculty Publication Series

Dioecy, a breeding system where individual plants are exclusively male or female, has evolved repeatedly. Extensive theory describes when dioecy should arise from hermaphroditism, frequently through gynodioecy, where females and hermaphrodites coexist, and when gynodioecy should be stable. Both pollinators and herbivores often prefer the pollen-bearing sex, with sex-specific fitness effects that can affect breeding system evolution. Nursery pollination, where adult insects pollinate flowers but their larvae feed on plant reproductive tissues, is a model for understanding mutualism evolution but could also yield insights into plant breeding system evolution. We studied a recently established nursery pollination interaction between native Hadena …

Variations In The Invertebrate Communities Of Wild Cape Cod Cranberry Bogs, Barbara Wagner

Masters Theses

As a species domesticated only in the last century, agricultural cranberry plants (Vaccinium macrocarpon) remain little removed from their wild relatives. Thus, it is a potential model species for studies of the earliest stages of domestication; however, there is little available quantitative information on its wild population biology and ecology. As such information is vital to studies of the ecological changes occurring during domestication, the purpose of this study was to consolidate the relevant knowledge available and conduct a preliminary search for patterns in the invertebrate communities of wild bogs. The alpha diversity was found to be greater …

Density-Dependent Survival In The Larval Stage Of An Invasive Insect: Dispersal Vs. Predation, Adam A. Pepi

Masters Theses

1. The success of invasive species is often thought to be due to release from natural enemies. This hypothesis relies on the assumption that species are regulated by top-down forces in their native range and implies that species are likely to be regulated by bottom-up forces in the invasive range. Neither of these assumptions has been consistently supported with insects, a group which include many highly destructive invasive pest species.

2. Winter moth (Operophtera brumata) is an invasive defoliator in North America that appears to be regulated by mortality in the larval stage in its invasive range. To …

Ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Assemblages In Three New York Pine Barrens And The Impacts Of Hiking Trails, Grace W. Barber

Masters Theses

Ants are ecologically important, environmentally sensitive, widespread, and abundant, yet ant assemblages of many habitats remain poorly understood. Ants in inland barrens of New York State (NY) barely have been studied, but the limited data suggest such habitats are likely to support uncommon ant species and high species density for the region. To increase knowledge of these assemblages, I systematically collected ants from three inland barrens systems in NY, to create species lists and measure species density. I also investigated how hiking trails — a common man-made disturbance — may be impacting ant assemblages in these early-successional, disturbance-dependent ecosystems. My …

The Potential For Restoration Of Tan Brook, An Urban Headwater Stream In Amherst, Massachusetts, Alison Tenhulzen, Alyssa Black, Robert F. Smith

Research

The goal of the Tan Brook Student Conservation Group is to educate undergraduate students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst about freshwater sustainability. to accomplish this, the group will act to provide opportunities in original research, applied field and laboratory methods, and outreach. The initial goal for the group will be a collaborative project describing the ecological, historical, and social significance of the Tan Brook, which will result in an informative website and educational signage located at several locations in the town of Amherst and on University property where the Tan Brook enters campus. Ultimately, the group will contribute to …

Regional Comparison Of Overwintering Mortality, Fecundity, And Virulence In The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, Artemis Demas Roehrig

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Throughout the eastern United States, the spread of the hemlock woolly adelgid, Adelges tsugae Annand, has caused high mortality of eastern hemlocks Tsuga canadensis (L.). We recorded overwintering survival and fecundity of A. tsugae, and tree new growth at sites in the northeastern and southeastern United States and in a common garden experiment in Massachusetts.

Overwintering mortality of A. tsugae was much higher in the north (87%) than the south (37%) in 2009, and showed significantly positive density-dependence in the north only. In 2010, overwintering mortality decreased in both regions but remained higher in the north (54%) than the …

Resin Volatiles Of Eastern Hemlock Induced By Its Non-Native Herbivores, Joshua D. Pezet

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is in decline because of infestation by the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae; ‘HWA’) and, to a lesser extent, the elongate hemlock scale (Fiorinia externa; ‘EHS’). Many conifers respond to insect herbivory by inducing oleoresin-based defenses, however it is unknown whether eastern hemlock is capable of this inducible response. We conducted a plantation setting study of artificially infested saplings to determine if feeding by HWA or EHS induces changes in the tree’s volatile chemistry. The induced changes in volatiles we found were unlike the terpenoid-based defenses of related conifers. Only HWA feeding …

Interactions Between Pieris Oleracea And Pieris Rapae (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) Butterflies, And The Biological Control Agents Cotesia Glomerata And Cotesia Rubecula (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)., Megan V. Herlihy

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Pieris oleracea, formerly Pieries napi, was once a widespread pierid butterfly in New England until the introduction of a biological control agent, Cotesia glomerata. It has been suggested that C. glomerata is responsible for the range reduction of P. oleracea. There are been several introductions of a second more specialized biological control agent, Cotesia rubecula, to the United States since the 1960’s. My first goal was to determine the current distribution and status of P. rapae parasitoids and the effectiveness of C. rubecula as a biological control agent since its release. The findings of a survey …

Spatial Variation And Tradeoffs In Species Interactions, Holly L. Bernardo

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The geographic mosaic theory of coevolution predicts that spatial differences in species interactions result in a patchwork of evolutionary hot and cold spots across a landscape. We used horsenettle (Solanum carolinense L.), a perennial weed with a diverse insect community found in old fields and meadows, to examine local adaptation and resource-mediated selection. The goals of this study were to (1) determine the potential for a selection mosaic by identifying local adaptation through trait-interaction matching with herbivores, pollinations and plant competitors, and (2) determine the potential for indirect selection through resource allocation tradeoffs. The potential for local adaptation was determined …

Pollinator Populations In Massachusetts Cranberry, 1990 To 2009: Changes In Diversity And Abundance, Effects Of Agricultural Intensification, And A Contribution To The North American Pollinator Survey., Molly M. Notestine

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

It is now widely accepted that over one-third of the global food supply depends upon pollinators. Risking severe ecological and economic implications, the status of the 4000 species of bees native to North America has been poorly understood due to a lack of long-term survey data. In this study, I conducted bee surveys on Massachusetts cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) bogs from 2007-2009 and compared diversity and abundance data to those from historical surveys performed in 1990-1992 on the same bogs. I found that overall bee diversity declined severely in the 19-year survey period, while total bee abundance remained consistent. My …

A Phylogenetic Analysis Of Armored Scale Insects, Based Upon Nuclear, Mitochondrial, And Endosymbiont Gene Sequences, Jeremy C. Andersen

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Armored scale insects (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) are among the most invasive insects in the world. They have unusual genetic systems, including diverse types of paternal genome elimination (PGE) and parthenogenesis. Intimate relationships with their host plants and bacterial endosymbionts make them potentially important subjects for the study of co- evolution. Also, in some groups, the adult female never sheds the second instars cuticle, and remains within its confines, a habit referred to as the pupillarial habit. Here we expand upon recent phylogenetic work (Morse and Normark 2006) by analyzing a partitioned dataset including armored scale and endoysmbiont DNA from one hundred …