Bees and Their Symbionts

Dear Colleagues,

Bee pollination is critical for agricultural production and ecosystem health. While honey bees are an emerging model for gut bacterial symbiosis, microbes associated with wild and solitary bees are understudied. In contrast to honey bees and their relatives, many bee species may reflect a deeper reliance on flower microbes and microbes adapted to nutrient-rich niches. In this special edition, we invite a broad perspective of bee-microbe symbiosis, including the niche-specific or context dependent factors that shape microbial community diversity and composition, stability and succession. How might variations in the nesting, social and pollination environment effect microbial exposure and establishment at multiple scales including floral-insect transmission, seasonal cycles, agroecosystems and pollinator guilds? We solicit ecological questions, including host behavioral roles, dysbiotic states, susceptibility to disease, immune training, host gland and plant secretions, nutrition and aging, detoxification, fungal associations and pathogen defense. We encourage synthesis and invite research on all bee species.

Dr. Kirk E. Anderson
Dr. Quinn S. McFrederick
Guest Editors

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