Importance of pollinators for ecological services in agriculture and maintaining the stability of natural ecosystems has recently been acknowledged. However, nearly 10% of wild bees are threatened by extinction in Europe and very little is known about the reasons causing population decline across different species. As the problems are likely caused by a combination of factors, we focused on effects of parasites and flower specialization in a species rich lineage of bees from the family Andrenidae as a model group (genus Andrena). Population genetics of tens of bee species will by studied on the continental scale. The new research bring first comprehensive and widely comparable data for high number of species. Moreover, we will accumulate data about parasitation rate and host flower specialization from sampled populations for further statistical analysis. The research will be conducted using microsatellites processed by next generation sequencing methods and consist of work from field collection of material to laboratory work with DNA samples, and further optimization of PCR multiplexes, NGS library preparation and population genetic data analysis. The project aims to uncover general principles of pollinator-parasite interactions through quantitative analysis of three trophic levels (plants-pollinators-parasites) on population genetic level.
Deadline is closed