UC Irvine researchers study bumblebee gut microbes to help save the bees.
BY LILLY NGUYEN
UC Irvine assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Tobin Hammer, along with his team of researchers, has spent the last few years chasing down bumblebee populations to try to better understand a vitally important part of bee physiology: the bee gut microbiome.
“Bumblebees and honeybees have very specific and beneficial bacteria in their gut, but they also do get infected by pathogens,” Hammer said in a recent interview. “We’re looking at the whole microbial system in the bee gut. It’s fundamental curiosity. The field fairly recently has had cheap and easy tools for characterizing those bacteria … and all sorts of people are investigating microbial systems…
* THESE STATEMENTS HAVE NOT BEEN EVALUATED BY THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION. THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO DIAGNOSE, TREAT CURE OR PREVENT ANY DISEASE.