At Brunet Research we focus on bees and their role in agriculture and natural populations.

Check out the following blog about pollinators in peril:

https://thebeesknees.website/bee-stressors

Bees pollinate flowers resulting in fruits and seeds

Bees are fairly unique amongst pollinators because they actively collect both pollen and and nectar from flowers. They collect pollen to feed their young and can have special structures on their bodies to gather pollen. Most other groups of pollinators collect mostly nectar.

Bees collect pollen from a flower and deposit it on the next flowers visited and pollinate a flower in the process. In doing so, they move the genes present in the pollen among flowers and plants. When the pollen fertilizes an ovule and a seed is set and grows into a plant the genes carried via the pollen can become expressed in the plant. Gene flow occurs when a seed is set following fertilization by the pollen grains carried to the flower.

At Brunet Research we examine how bee behavior affects plant pollination and gene movement.

Linking the foraging behavior of three bee species to pollen dispersal and gene flow: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0212561

The spread and maintenance of cultivar genes into wild and feral populations

Bees can transfer pollen from agricultural fields to wild plants and feral populations, and genes previously inserted into cultivars can move and get integrated into feral or wild populations.

Exchange and maintenance of cultivar genes in wild and feral populations describes gene flow and introgression between cultivated and wild or feral plants.

Brunet Research examines the extent of gene flow and presence of introgression into some feral and wild populations closely related to cultivars.

Introgression and persistence of cultivar alleles in wild carrot (Daucus carota) populations in the United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16242

Bee decline

Pollinator populations are declining worldwide. The great majority of flowering plant species and many leading global food crops rely on pollinators. A decline in pollinators can negatively impact crop yield and threaten food security. A better understanding of the factors that most impact pollinators would facilitate the development of strategies and action plans aimed at protecting and conserving pollinators together with the essential ecosystem services they provide.

What are the main reasons for the world-wide decline in pollinator populations? CABI Reviews 19:1. https://doi.org/10.1079/cabireviews.2024.0016