Cross-infectivity of honey and bumble bee-associated parasites across three bee families.

Recent declines of wild pollinators and infections in honey, bumble and other bee species have raised concerns about pathogen spillover from managed honey and bumble bees to other pollinators. Parasites of honey and bumble bees include trypanosomatids and microsporidia that often exhibit low host specificity, suggesting potential for spillover to co-occurring bees via shared floral resources. However, experimental tests of trypanosomatid and microsporidial cross-infectivity outside of managed honey and bumble bees are scarce. To characterize potential cross-infectivity of honey and bumble bee-associated parasites, we inoculated three trypanosomatids and one microsporidian into five potential hosts - including four managed species - from the apid, halictid and megachilid bee families. We found evidence of cross-infection by the trypanosomatids Crithidia bombi and C. mellificae, with evidence for replication in 3/5 and 3/4 host species, respectively. These include the first reports of experimental C. bombi infection in Megachile rotundata and Osmia lignaria, and C. mellificae infection in O. lignaria and Halictus ligatus. Although inability to control amounts inoculated in O. lignaria and H. ligatus hindered estimates of parasite replication, our findings suggest a broad host range in these trypanosomatids, and underscore the need to quantify disease-mediated threats of managed social bees to sympatric pollinators.

Temperature dependence of parasitic infection and gut bacterial communities in bumble bees.

High temperatures (e.g., fever) and gut microbiota can both influence host resistance to infection. However, effects of temperature-driven changes in gut microbiota on resistance to parasites remain unexplored. We examined the temperature dependence of infection and gut bacterial communities in bumble bees infected with the trypanosomatid parasite Crithidia bombi. Infection intensity decreased by over 80% between 21 and 37°C. Temperatures of peak infection were lower than predicted based on parasite growth in vitro, consistent with mismatches in thermal performance curves of hosts, parasites and gut symbionts. Gut bacterial community size and composition exhibited slight but significant, non-linear, and taxon-specific responses to temperature. Abundance of total gut bacteria and of Orbaceae, both negatively correlated with infection in previous studies, were positively correlated with infection here. Prevalence of the bee pathogen-containing family Enterobacteriaceae declined with temperature, suggesting that high temperature may confer protection against diverse gut pathogens. Our results indicate that resistance to infection reflects not only the temperature dependence of host and parasite performance, but also temperature-dependent activity of gut bacteria. The thermal ecology of gut parasite-symbiont interactions may be broadly relevant to infectious disease, both in ectothermic organisms that inhabit changing climates, and in endotherms that exhibit fever-based immunity.