Social epidemiology: using genomics to investigate a key fungal disease in bumblebees

Disease spread - in humans, domesticated animals and plants, and wildlife - is a major threat to health and ecosystem services. However, how diseases spread - their epidemiology - in complex social organisms, like humans and bees, is poorly understood. Determining how diseases spread in social networks is key to understanding and controlling them. Bumblebees and their parasites provide a model system in which to develop an understanding of such epidemiology. In addition, bumblebees are key pollinators that are undergoing decline across the globe, and one reason for these declines is parasites and the diseases they cause. Consequently, understanding disease spread in bumblebees also has significant applied conservation value.

This project will use the bumblebee Bombus terrestris and its parasite Vairimorpha bombi which has a significant impact on bumblebee colonies, to ask how landscape features affect parasite epidemiology. Importantly, it will combine both empirical experiments, genomics, and modelling work to understand parasite dynamics. Empirical research will range from controlled laboratory experiments, through developing protocols for extraction and sequencing of parasite DNA, to observations in wild field populations of parasite dynamics. Genomics work will involve de novo sequencing and assembly of the Vairimorpha bombi genome and comparative bioinformatics from samples caught across different landscapes.

The results of the project will provide a detailed insight into how social networks impact disease epidemics, and specifically how these occur in bumblebees. In addition to its scientific impact, it will feed into policy and management of pollinators in the UK, and globally.