In the current COVID climate, we are acutely aware of how emerging diseases can dramatically shape our world. For @EntSoc #PollinatorHealthDay, I wanted to share how insect pollinators are ALSO impacted by viruses, & how to design conservation strategies to protect them! 1/23

While ameliorating pollinator disease risk is difficult -- you can't just tell bees and flies to social distance -- recent research shows promise of reducing disease prevalence, underscoring the importance of government-funded research on pollinator protection. #EntVocate20 2/23

Ok let's jump in! Pollinator diseases come in all shapes and sizes, and can be caused by tiny viruses, pathogenic fungi, or protozoans that set up shop in bee guts. Many viruses that affect wild pollinators are thought to have "spilled over" from managed honey bee colonies. 3/23

Pollinators are able to pick up & transmit disease-causing pathogens while foraging on flowers. So, if a sick bee lands on a flower, the next bee visiting that flower could be exposed. This makes transmission between species not only possible, but likely common. 4/23

So what can we do? Some flowers actually have an anti-microbial effect on bee pathogens! Research on the medicinal properties of sunflower demonstrates that bumble bees fed on sunflower pollen have lower infection intensity after pathogen exposure, compared to other pollens. 5/23

Not only can flowers directly reduce pollinator infection, but some species allow pathogens to persist on them for only short periods, due to flower morphology & environmental factors affecting pathogen survival like desiccation and UV radiation. 6/23

Reducing pollinator disease risk solution #1: Because disease transmission often occurs on flower "hubs", we can intentionally design wildflower plantings to include species that have anti-microbial properties and minimize pathogen survival on flowers. 7/23

Another strategy to reduce pollinator disease risk is recognizing the link between managed bees and wild pollinator health. The disease prevalence of wild bees around managed honey bee colonies is higher than that of wild bees far from honey bees. Why is this? 8/23

The answer? Mites. In honey bee colonies, viruses can be vectored between honey bees by the parasitic Varroa mite and result in disease outbreaks. You can think of Varroa mites basically as giant ticks that vector nasty viruses! 9/23

Although Varroa mites only affect honey bees, their association with viruses have been found to have effects on the broader pollinator community. When sick honey bees forage on flowers around the apiary, they may transmit viruses to other pollinators across shared flowers. 10/23

Essentially, if honey bee apiaries have Varroa mites, the wild pollinators around those sick apiaries are more likely to have viruses as well, suggesting disease spillover. This is alarming because these viruses also can infect and harm a broad range of wild bees! 11/23

Reducing pollinator disease risk solution #2: Educate beekeepers on the connection of honey bee and wild pollinator health, and give them the tools and expertise to properly treat for Varroa mites and manage healthy honey bee colonies! 12/23

Reducing pollinator disease risk solution #3: Despite being essential pollinators and charismatic standard-bearers of pollinator conservation, keep honey bees OUT of conservation areas and natural lands.... 13/ 23

… Because we know the presence of honey bees leads to higher disease prevalence in wild bees, limiting honey bee access to conservation areas is critical to provide forage and habitat for wild pollinators without high disease loads. 14/23

Finally, a team at UT Austin took a different approach to ameliorating pollinator disease -- by genetically engineering gut bacteria to produce molecules that “teach” the bee immune system to recognize and destroy viruses! 15/23

In a (non-technical) nutshell, they engineered the naturally-occurring gut bacteria Snodgrassia alvi to continuously produce double stranded RNA (dsRNA) molecules that activate the bee's RNA interference (RNAi) pathway to target and destroy deformed wing virus. 16/23

The S. alvi bacteria produced dsRNA molecules that successfully "silenced" deformed wing virus, and infected bees with genetically engineered gut bacteria were 36.5% more likely to survive to the end of the experiment than controls. 17/23

If you want to learn more about this research, @McArtLab wrote an article summarizing the study here. There is still more testing and regulatory review necessary before the GE bacteria can leave the laboratory, but overall shows a lot of promise! 18/23

https://rb.gy/dnyo72 

Reducing pollinator disease risk solution #4: Explore and invest in biotechnology research that interfaces with pollinator health to consider more "out of the box" solutions, like utilizing the RNAi pathway to silence bee viruses. 19/23

Summary of conservation strategies to mitigate disease risk to pollinators: 1) choose species in wildflower plantings that minimize disease spread; 2) keep honey bees healthy & out of conservation areas; and 3) invest in research to harness biotechnology to target pathogens 20/23

I'd like to mention that most of the research referenced in this thread was funded by government agencies (NSF, USDA, NIH, or DARPA grants)! @EntsocAmerica does amazing work demonstrating the importance of entomological research to policymakers to ensure continued funding. 21/23

Seeing this list of government-funded, evidence-based conservation strategies *just* in the field of pollinator disease ecology is a testament to the power of entomological advocacy and engagement with policymakers. 22/23

So what are you waiting for?? Write or call your lawmakers and tell them why investing in pollinator health is important -- and how research in these avenues has already paid dividends! #PollinatorHealth #EntVocate20 23/23