Parasites and pathogen host switching in solitary bees

The focus of the research is to determine the interspecies transmission path of the virus and the pathogenicity of the virus in bees. This research would have broad implications for the health of native and non-native pollinators species both in national parks and other wild landscapes and in agricultural systems in the United States. Rust et al. (1985) lists 35 and 39 bee species on San Miguel Island and Santa Rosa Island respectively. Santa Rosa Island supports populations of Anthophora edwardsii Cresson and San Miguel supports populations of Habropoda miserabilis (Cresson) and most importantly has no records of Apis mellifera (Rust et al 1985, Thorp 2011). Both Habropoda miserabilis and Anthophora edwardsii are closely related species to Habropoda pallida and all three species are parasitized by the same species of nest parsitoid Meloe franciscanus (Saul-Gershenz and Millar 2006, Hafernik and Saul-Gershenz 2000), which has been the focus of my research for the past several years. The ultimate goal of this research is to determine the transmission path of the newly discovered RNA virus between species and its host specificity.Recently Singh et al. (2010) have demonstrated that viruses can be transmitted between Apis and native non-Apis bees via pollen that is contaminated with RNA viruses. This transmission path will be investigated by examining pollen samples obtained from the Mojave National Preserve where honey bees and Habropoda and Anthophora bees co-exist and utilize the same pollen and nectar sources.Santa Cruz Island also supports nest sites of Anthophora edwardsii to compare with the population on San Miguel on Santa Rosa.