UW’s Storey Makes Winning Presentation at Wyoming Chapter of Wildlife Society Meeting

Wild bumble bees are in decline, and various parasites may be a major cause. But there hasn’t been any data on whether Wyoming bees have parasites and to what degree -- until now.

Amy Storey, a University of Wyoming third-year master’s student in zoology and physiology, shed light on her research when she took center stage at the recent Wyoming Chapter of the Wildlife Society meeting in Sheridan.

Her presentation, titled “Parasites and Bumble Bee Decline in Wyoming,” was named the winning entry for a master’s student at the event April 8.

“I think my project presentation won because the project has had a lot of time to mature into a cohesive story due to where I am in my degree,” says Storey, of Grand Junction, Colo. “I also think these results are interesting for audiences to hear about because bees are charismatic and folks understand how important pollination is. They’re also interesting results because they’re the first; these are the first-ever parasite rates in Wyoming. Researchers of bee parasitism in the Rocky Mountains now have baseline infection rates to work from.”

While Storey says she didn’t get much in the way of specific feedback from judges, who submitted ratings through an anonymous system, she did pocket $100 for her winning effort.

Parasites can seriously decrease the health of bees and can lead to fewer bee colonies found each spring. The parasites Apicystis bombi, Vairimorpha bombi and Vairimorpha ceranae are all known in bumble bees, and all three are present in wild bumble bees in Wyoming, Storey says. 

“In specific cases, we have seen parasites directly linked to bee decline, and we also have seen that parasites can move from commercial bees to wild bees easily,” Storey says. “Yet, we haven’t had any confirmation of whether three of the most common/most researched parasites are present in our area. I used a molecular lab method called PCR to screen wild bumble bees from across the state for these parasites and found higher rates than we expected.”

“We had no idea what proportion of bumble bees were infected in the Intermountain West before Amy Marie conducted her study. Parasites are thought to be the main reason bumble bees are declining, but we lacked information,” says Lusha Tronstad, lead invertebrate zoologist with the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database and Storey’s adviser. “Amy Marie’s study showed that most bumble bees in Wyoming are infected with at least one of these three parasites, which are all capable of causing bumble bee loss. Surprisingly, bumble bees from Wyoming towns to wilderness were equally infected by some parasites.”

However, Tronstad says there is good news from the study.

“Amy Marie’s results showed that more flowers in an area related to fewer infected bees,” Tronstad says. “So, planting more flowers that bloom throughout the summer supports our native bees.”

While Storey’s recent presentation took 15 minutes, she will go more in depth on the subject when she defends her thesis Friday, April 24.