Take-all disease is one of the most destructive root diseases of wheat crops. Caused by infection with the fungi Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici, the disease kills the plants and can remain in soils over successive years if careful treatment and management is not applied.

Over the next 3 years, the labs of Bonnie Waring, Peter Graystock, Tom Bell, Samraat Pawar and Emma Ransome will employ 5 Postdocs and 2 technicians to explore the underlying wheat-microbe interactions that are influencing disease and crop yield. The project will then go on to explore manipulative techniques to better harness the microbial communities to improve crop health and yield. In addition to this applied impact, we will also explore the creation of a ‘digital microbiome’ to predict changes and impacts of microbiome manipulations.

More information can be found here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/248639/245-million-gift-launches-novel-research/

This summer the lab bought some new digital dissection scopes and digital phase contrast microscopes to help us catalogue what we are seeing. Here you can see a few of the microbes we commonly find inside wild bumblebees – the moving microbes are a common parasite called Crithidia (a genus of trypanasomatids)

Our annual Silwood outreach day: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/georgina-mace-living-planet/events/bugsday/

Its been a great couple of days at the RES student forum. Lab PhD student Monika presented some of her data on parasites in pollinator communities and throughout there was a wonderful range of talks and some very exciting research!

This year the lab will be without Pete for a few weeks whilst on Paternity leave, so the new students are getting upto speed as fast as possible on an array of projects!

We have Naomi, Kat and Maggie running their undergraduate final year projects on microbial growth, parasite spread, and bumblebee nest architecture respectively.

From the Silwood Masters streams we have Xiao, Logan, Noel and Charlotte who are working on Honeybee stressors, directed evolution, bumblebee invitro rearing, and parasite transmission respectively.

Learn more about their projects from our group page!

The lab has a new toy and its magnificent! Today we played with the labs new 3D scanner and scanned in some bumblebee nests which are complex shapes but could tell us alot about the age, health and reproductive fitness of the colony!

Today we officially launched the opening of the Leverhulme center for the Holobiont. With £10 million funding from the Leverhulme trust, the center will explore how microbes interact with their hosts across the tree of life.

Based at Imperial College London the center includes an incredible range of partners such as the  Wellcome Sanger Institute; the EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI); the Natural History Museum; the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew; CABI; the Rosalind Franklin Institute; the Mary Lyon Centre; ZSL London Zoo and the Tara Oceans Consortium.

The research at the center will consist of 4 main themes (challenges). Challenge 1: the holobiont tree of Life – will look at microbial-host interactions across a diversity of species and environments providing baseline data. Challenge 2: Crafting the holobiont – will explore synthetic methods to create new host-microbe interactions and improve holobiont health. Challenge 3: Holobiont rescue – will identify current emergencies that could be solved with microbial intervention. Challenge 4: Holobiont Green Revolution – will explore ways to improve crop health and yields using microbial interventions.

More information here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/241454/imperial-partners-launch-leverhulme-centre-holobiont/

A PhD as part of the NERC Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet DTP is available in my group. The PhD will explore the evidence and impact of parasite spillover across pollinator communities with the aim of improving our understanding of disease dynamics and helping to inform policy.

Full details of the PhD called “Evidence and impact of parasite spillover across pollinator communities” can be found here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/grantham-institute/public/dtp/2023-projects/2023_53_DoLS_Graystock.pdf

Details of applying for the PhD can be found here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/grantham/education/science-and-solutions-for-a-changing-planet-dtp/studentship-opportunities/

The application deadline is 12 midday on Jan 6th 2023. Please do not hesitate to ask me any questions relating to this PhD.

This week has been the 2022 FrEECS conference and all masters students did an excellent job with their presentations!

From the lab we had;

Dylan Asbury – The impacts of two pesticides on the parasite load and colony growth of Bombus terrestris
Sofia Riccomagno – Microbes in flowers and their role in pollination networks
Paul Cabrisy – Evaluating the ability of deep learning models to track markerless bumblebees
Congjia Chen – Microbial associations and inferred interactions in wild bumble bees
Tash Ramsden – Genomic Signals of Selection in three UK Bumblebees
Carlota Berbel Torres – Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) resilience to exposure of pesticides and microbiota manipulation

Congratulations! Just the vivas to go!

Ryans Mres explored the population genetics of bumblebees in the UK and here he presents his findings at the 55th Population Genetics Group (popgroup) conference. Despite the nerves, Ryan did a great job presenting at his first conference and a recording is available to view here;

More flowers and pollinator diversity could help protect bees from parasites

Press release by Hayley Dunning on a recent publication

Having more flowers and maintaining diverse bee communities could help reduce the spread of bee parasites, according to a new study.

The research, conducted on more than 5,000 flowers and bees, reveals how bee parasites spread and what measures could help control them.

Bees can be infected with a cocktail of parasites that can cause a range of symptoms from reduced foraging ability to dysentery and death. Though parasites contribute to bee declines, scientists are unsure how they spread between bee species.

“It’s a little like if subway cars are sites of transmission between humans – if there are more subway cars, there are less people in each and less chance for transmission.” Dr Peter Graystock

Flowers are essential for bee health, but may also act as transmission hubs for bee diseases. Over a growing season the diversity and abundance of bees and flowers change but little is known about how this may be linked to the risk of parasite transmission.

The new study, published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, suggests having more flowers and a more diverse bee community could help dilute the load of parasites, and that this may be particularly important in areas with high densities of social bees, such as honeybees and bumblebees.

Most studies of bee parasites focus on social bee species that often live in farmed colonies. Little is therefore known about the interactions between parasites and wild solitary bee species, or how parasites are transferred between them. The team behind the new paper studied how parasites are spread across diverse bee and flower communities, including solitary bee species.

More flowers and diverse bee species

Lead author Dr Peter Graystock, who completed the work at Cornell University and now works in the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London, said: “We found that when bee communities are at their most diverse, the proportion of infected bees were at their lowest; and when flowers were at their most abundant, fewer were likely to be acting as transmission hubs.

“There are two things potentially occurring here. In diverse bee communities, parasites are more likely to end up in a species they are not compatible with, meaning they can’t replicate and spread further. The second thing is by having more flowers, bees aren’t all visiting and contaminating the same few flowers with high concentrations of parasites.

“It’s a little like if subway cars are sites of transmission between humans – if there are more subway cars, there are less people in each and less chance for transmission. Furthermore if some of the ‘people’ riding the subway cars were different animal species that were not susceptible to the parasite, that too reduces the risk of transmission.”

The team screened more than 5,000 wildflowers and bees across a 24-week growing season, capturing changes as different flowers bloomed and different species of bee dominated.

Over 110 bee species and 89 flower species were screened, revealing 42% of bee species (12.2% individual bees) and 70% of flower species (8.7% individual flowers) had at least one parasite in or on them.

Bees had the highest prevalence of parasites late in the season, when social bees formed the majority of screened bees and overall bee diversity was lowest. This suggests keeping bee diversity high, with a variety of social and solitary species present, could help reduce the spread of parasites.

Since social bees are likely to come from farmed colonies, the researchers also say their research points to the importance of keeping hives healthy, to avoid infecting wild bees.

Favourite flowers

The study is the first time researchers have screened wildflowers and bees for parasites over the season, and as well as the abundance of flowers affecting transmission, the team also found that the species of flowers played a role.

For example, the species Lychnis flos-cuculi, commonly known as ‘ragged robin’, often had multiple parasite species on them, whereas Lythrum salicaria, or ‘purple loosestrife’ had few.

Dr Graystock added: “The power of this study is the number of bees and flowers screened over time, allowing us to see if the patterns fit with parasite transmission theory. We next want to dig deeper and understand some of the underlying mechanisms – such as why some flowers are more likely to harbour parasites than others.”

The work was funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health in the US.

To read more, please read the article;

‘Dominant bee species and floral abundance drive parasite temporal dynamics in plant-pollinator communities’ by Peter Graystock, Wee Hao Ng, Kyle Parks, Amber D. Tripodi, Paige A. Muñiz, Ashley A. Fersch, Christopher R. Myers, Quinn S. McFrederick and Scott H. McArt is published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.

I am advertising a fully funded PhD to work with me, Dr Richard Gill, and Dr Sophie Evison on one of the most damaging bee parasites.

Project Description

Understanding the factors placing insect pollinators at risk is a research priority with our future food security reliant on the health of these important organisms. Bees are vital insect pollinators, making the high rates of colony losses observed in recent years a global issue. Whilst we know the drivers of bee losses are multifactorial, such as disease, pesticides, and land use change, we fall short of understanding how these three stressors interact. Indeed, a major challenge in host-parasite ecology is understanding the context-dependence of disease dynamics, and how disease severity is altered by multiple interacting stressors.

This studentship will focus on honeybees and one of the most destructive diseases they experience: European foul brood (EFB). This globally distributed disease causes significant damage to the beekeeping industry, and in the UK, EFB is one of only two microbial bee diseases considered so harmful that positive detection requires immediate notification to the authorities. Severe cases of the disease often result in the destruction/burning of the hive to prevent further spread. Yet despite the impact this disease can have, we currently have little understanding as to how additional stressors influence the severity and spread of this disease, nor the ultimate influence this has on honey bee health.

The student will explore the mechanism behind transmission of the causal bacteria of the disease (Melissococcus plutonius), before determining if key stressors (Land and pesticide use) influence the severity of the disease. Thanks to generous funding from CB Dennis British Beekeepers Research Trust and Bee Diseases Insurance Ltd, this directly-funded studentship will employ a suite of cutting-edge scientific techniques to address questions on what modulates the transmission and virulence of this disease. The project will add substantially to our understanding of the vulnerability of bees to this significantly destructive disease and the results will facilitate the formation of evidence-led disease management strategies.

The student will gain a set of interdisciplinary skills including field work, next generation DNA sequencing and bioinformatics, pesticide residue analysis, microbiology and honeybee keeping. The student will gain training and collaboration from leading scientists including supervisor Dr Peter Graystock (Imperial College London), Dr Richard Gill (Imperial College London), and Dr Sophie Evison (University of Nottingham), plus assistance from the National Bee Unit/Defra. Based at the Silwood Park campus, the student will join the world leading university of Imperial College and benefit from being surrounded by top researchers in the disciplines of ecology, evolution and conservation. Facilities include >100 hectares of field site, new controlled environment rooms, microbiology facility, labs tailored for bee research and spacious workspace.

How to apply

Please send your CV, a one page cover letter explaining why you are suitable for this project, and the names and e-mail addresses of two referees to Dr Peter Graystock p.graystock@imperial.ac.uk by 13th January 2020.

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be sent to Dr Peter Graystock p.graystock@imperial.ac.uk

Student eligibility

The studentship is funded by the CB Dennis British Beekeepers Research Trust and Bee Diseases Insurance Ltd. Applicants should have a BSc degree at 2.1 or higher in Biology, Ecology, Microbiology or similar and to hold, or be about to obtain, a Masters degree. Exceptional students at Bachelors level without a Masters will also be considered. The project will start in September 2020.

Funding Notes

The studentship covers a stipend for 3 years at current research council rates of £17,009 per year tax free, and tuition fees for UK and EU citizens.

Also advertised here: https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/the-context-dependence-of-disease-spread-and-virulence-in-a-pollinator-system/?p114278

Over the coming months we will be increasing our focus on insect cognition thanks to funding from the British Ecological Society! If you are a student interested in this field and are looking for a project based at Silwood, please get in touch – we have lots of cool projects!

I’m excited to announce that I have started my new position at Imperial College London (Silwood Park campus)! Over the coming years I will be looking at the role of the microbiome in bee health. This will include a range of topics from microbiome transmission and diversity, to the functional role of the microbiome and how me may engineer bespoke microbiomes.

I will be working closely with the Gill lab in addition to Tim Barraclough and Tom Bell.

Keep checking back for opportunities to work in the lab!