In insects, prolonged exposure to unseasonably low temperatures can lead to detrimental physiological effects known as chill injury. Changes to active and passive transport across epithelia during chilling likely drive the collapse of ion gradients, metabolic imbalance and potentially oxidative stress. In the alfalfa leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata transcriptomic evidence provides support for these responses…

Dr. Julia Bowsher is an Associate Professor at North Dakota State University and is a crucial part of the Fargo ICE group. Currently, she is the lead scientist on a multi-million dollar NSF grant that combines professors, and USDA scientists across three different states. Julia’s expertise is in evolution and development and was inspired to…

Complex phenotypes frequently have shared physiological mechanisms, but determining the underlying genetic regulation continues to be a challenge. The long-term research goal of the ICE Network is to understand the genetic and physiological regulation of the overwintering phenotype in solitary and social bees. Overwintering, also called diapause, is hypothesized to be regulated by a shared…