Acquisition and environmental filtering of introduced floral microbes in the blue orchard bee, Osmia lignaria

In this study, we applied microbes to flowers and directly tracked their movement into the guts of adult Osmia lignaria and their food stores (pollen provisions). We then (1) assessed whether flowers act as sources for microbes in adult bees and pollen provisions, (2) evaluated the role that environmental filtering plays in microbial community establishment across habitat types, and (3) examined the extent to which microbial communities overlap between habitat types.