Garett P. Slater, George D. Yocum and Julia H. Bowsher In species that care for their young, provisioning has profound effects on offspring fitness. Provisioning is important in honeybees because nutritional cues determine whether a female becomes a reproductive queen or sterile worker. A qualitative difference between the larval diets of queens and workers is…

Article written for the Orchard Bee Association newsletter, Orchard Buzz, Winter 2020 issue (Vol. 7, Issue 1) Written by: Courtney Grula, PhD Student, North Dakota State University Body size is influenced by temperature, nutrition, and nest size. Nutrition is the most influential factor in determining adult body size. The amount of food the mother provides…

Gagandeep Singh Brar is a PhD student at North Dakota State University in Insect Molecular Biology. He is studying the alfalfa leafcutter bee, Megachile rotundata. Gagan’s research is focused on examining the maternal effects on diapausing and non-diapausing individuals through DNA methylation using bisulfite sequencing. He is also interested in evaluating the effect of gut…

The temperature of the nest influences fitness in cavity-nesting bees. Females may choose nest cavities that mitigate their offspring’s exposure to stressful temperatures. This study aims to understand how cavity temperature impacts the nesting preference of the solitary bee Megachile rotundata (Fabricius) under field conditions. We designed and 3D printed nest boxes that measured the…