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Welcome! I am a postdoctoral associate in the USDA Bee Research Lab in Beltsville, Maryland. I study the effects of chemical, microbial, and environmental factors on bee parasites, with a focus on trypanosomatid parasites from honey and bumble bees.
I was previously a postdoctoral fellow in Quinn McFrederick's lab at University of California Riverside. I received my PhD in Organismic & Evolutionary Biology and Entomology--advised by Lynn Adler-- from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2018. Prior to this position, I was a National Science Graduate Research Fellow in Biology for Broadening Participation of Underrepresented Groups at University of California Riverside, and received a joint-degree PhD in Entomology and Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Home bases & sponsorships
2022.12 USDA-NIFA Postdoctoral Fellow, USDA Bee Research Lab (Beltsville, MD)
2021.01 ORISE Postdoctoral Fellow, USDA Bee Research Lab (Beltsville, MD)
Eva Crane Trust Research grant (2021-'24)
North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) Honey Bee Health Grant (2021-'22)
2019.05 Research Entomologist at Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, Tucson, Arizona
2018-19 NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Biology with Quinn McFrederick, UC Riverside Entomology
2011-2017 PhD Organismic & Evolutionary Biology & Entomology with Lynn Adler, UMass Amherst
EFFECTS OF FLORAL PHYTOCHEMICALS ON GROWTH AND EVOLUTION OF A PARASITE OF BUMBLE BEES (thesis link)
NSF GRFP, NSF DDIG, USDA Predoctoral, and Garden Club of America Centennial Pollinator Fellowships
Presentations and Press
2021.11 Research on heat tolerance of honey bee parasites featured in The Economist
2020.07 ESA Abstract on how high temperatures potentiate effects of microbes against bee parasites
Research on antiparasitic effects of high temperature featured in SFAM Journal
Research on anabasine and bumble bee infection, productivity featured on AAAS blog
The Chronicle of Higher Education also mentioned the anabasine article in an article on open data
Evolution 2016 on Youtube! Watch Evan's talk: "Pathogen of most resistance"
Research featured in Chemistry blog "The Column"
Publications
High temperatures augment inhibition of parasites by a honey bee gut symbiont. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Preprint. Video: A heated interactionHost-driven temperature dependence of viral infection in honey bees. Communications Biology. Preprint Video
Sunflower cropland and pollen for honey bee resistance to Varroa mites (J Economic Entomology) Preprint. Blog post. Video. Podcast.
Antiparasitic Effects of Three Floral Volatiles on Trypanosomatid Infection in Honey Bees (J. Invertebrate Pathology) (SSRN preprint) (Blog post) (Video)
Potential for floral nectars to combat transmission of neglected tropical disease-causing Leishmania (PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases)Video: Unleish the flies
Host ecology-associated differences in phytochemical tolerance between bee and mosquito parasites (Environmental Microbiology)Biorxiv PreprintVideo: Punch in the gutBlog post
Hot and sour: parasite adaptations to honey bee body temperature and pH (Proceedings B)
Coverage in The Economist
Preprints
‘Honey, you light my fire’: Host-driven temperature dependence of viral infection in honey bees Preprint Video
From post-doc at UC Riverside:
Temperature-mediated effects on bumble bee parasites, symbionts, and infection
Cross infection of honey and bumble bee parasites in bees of three families (Parasitology)
High temperatures reduce infection in bumble bees (Env. Microbio)
High temperatures promote growth of non-pathogenic bee gut bacteria and inhibit parasites (Proc B)
Acids from bee gut bacteria pickle parasites (Parasitology)
From PhD at UMass Amherst: Floral chemicals and bee parasites
Big survey of nectar and pollen secondary chemistry (Ecol. Monographs)
A guide to the dataset (Ecology)
Secondary chemistry of blueberry nectar and pollen (Frontiers Plant Sci)
Effects of short-term exposure to naturally occurring thymol concentrations on transmission of bee parasite (J. Ecological Ent.)
Effects of the floral phytochemical eugenol on parasite evolution and bumble bee infection and preference (Scientific Reports)
Phytochemicals boost honey bee immunity to Deformed wing virus (J. Economic Ent.)
Pollen extracts increase growth of Crithidia bombi (PeerJ)
Bumble bee parasite evolves resistance to inhibitory phytochemicals (J. Evolutionary Biology)
This paper was recommended by Alison Duncan and Sara Magalhaes at the brand-new Peer Community in Evolutionary Bio.
Synergistic effects of eugenol and thymol against bee parasite Crithidia bombi
Resistance to phytochemicals across 4 strains of bee parasite Crithidia bombi (Scientific Reports)
Dose-dependent effects of anabasine on bumble bees (PLOS ONE)
Nicotine, thymol, and a bumble bee parasite (PLOS ONE)
Variable effects of nicotine and anabasine on bumble bees (F1000 Research)
Want old news? Visit the Fernald Entomology Club blog