Of mites and bumble bees

Humans manage honey bees to complete roughly 30% of pollination work we depend on for our survival, but the remaining work is done by wild bees and flies. Bumble bees compete for food and struggle against habitat loss, pesticide use, and parasitic mites to remain healthy and abundant. Bumble bees are shown to be host to several phoretic mite species. Mites are capable of transmitting viruses and diseases within colonies of social bees, and through bee communities. They may act parasitically by eating pollen or, conversely, they may work symbiotically with their hosts by eating parasitic nematodes or fungi in the colony. To understand forces affecting bumble bee mite populations, bees were sampled from canola fields in conventional agricultural spaces, canola in semi natural spaces, and wildflowers in natural spaces. Mites were found to be more populous at the end of the growing season, and on bees that had collected pollen. By comparing habitats with varying floral abundance, diversity, and nesting habitat, this research seeks to determine the abundance and diversity of mites living on bumble bees in the Palouse region of eastern Washington. Further identification of various mite species will allow for the creation of landscape management strategies that maximize pollination services while reducing pollinator stressors.