Data for: Sunflower pollen diets reduce infection in closely related bumble bee species

Parasite growth and infection success are often influenced by host diet. Consuming sunflower pollen (Helianthus annuus) dramatically reduces infection by the trypanosomatid gut parasite Crithidia in the model bumble bee species Bombus impatiens, as well as two of its relatives in the subgenus Pyrobombus. However, only five Bombus species out of 265 species globally have been assessed, making results difficult to generalize. We examined how consuming sunflower pollen affects Crithidia infection in two previously untested species of bumble bees in the subgenus Pyrobombus, Bombus perplexus and Bombus ternarius, compared to wild-caught B. impatiens. Infected bees were fed either monofloral sunflower pollen, or monofloral buckwheat pollen (Fagopyrum esculentum) as a control for seven days, after which we counted the number of Crithidia cells in the gut and compared infection intensity between buckwheat and sunflower diets in these three species, while also examining how much of each diet the..., , # Data for: Sunflower pollen diets reduce infection in closely related bumble bee species

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.59zw3r2p0](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.59zw3r2p0)

## Description of the data and file structure

Collated data of exposing three bumble bees to Crithidia bombi and feeding sunflower or buckwheat pollen, and quantifying parasite.

### File: PyrobombusS23_master_ECM.csv

**Description:** Infection intensity data for three bumble bee species. NA values indicate \"not applicable\". 

#### Variables

* species: Bumble bee species epithet used.

* ID: Bee individual identification number.

* colony_ID: Name of the bumble bee colony the individual was pulled from.

* treatment: Pollen diet treatment of buckwheat (BW) or sunflower (SF).

* inoc_date: Date bee was inoculated with Crithidia bombi

* dissect_date: Date bees were dissected to count Crithidia bombi

* death_yn: Death record for bees. 1 = bee died, NA = bee lived

* deathdate: Date bees died.

* crit_count:...,