ECOLOGICALLY INFORMED DESIGN AND DEPLOYMENT OF BUMBLEBEE PROBIOTICS

The main goal of the proposed project is to develop native probiotics as a tool to promote bumblebee health and pollination services. I will integrate microbiological and metagenomic methods with field and lab experiments to accomplish three objectives: (1) To experimentally test the importance of microbiome diversity and composition for key host functions, (2) To optimize probiotic delivery for successful establishment at the colony scale, and (3) To evaluate how readily probiotic bacteria are transmitted between colonies and species.