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Student 10-Minute Presentation Competition

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

Student Competition

Student

Grad 10-min Competition: P-IE, Bumble Bees

Diploid male frequencies of Bombus flavifrons across a gradient of habitat development in Anchorage, Alaska

Monday, November 10, 2025
8:24 AM - 8:36 AM Pacific
Location: Oregon Convention Center, D136, OCC
Oral Presentation Student Competition

Most Hymenoptera (ants, wasps, bees, and sawflies) have a haplodiploid sex determination system, in which males develop from unfertilized eggs (haploid) and females from fertilized ones (diploid). However, inbreeding and other extrinsic factors, such as habitat loss and fragmentation, can increase the production of inviable or effectively sterile diploid males that inherit two identical alleles (homozygosity) at the sex-determination locus. High diploid male production (DMP) can reduce population fitness and accelerate genetic decline, making it a useful indicator of population health in Hymenoptera.


To explore these dynamics in a wild pollinator system, we used the bumble bee Bombus flavifrons as a focal species to assess diploid male frequencies and population health across a gradient of habitat development in Anchorage, Alaska. During the summers of 2024 and 2025, we collected males from 21 sites (n = 7-43 males per site), encompassing various levels of urban development and natural areas. Individuals were genotyped at 11 microsatellite loci to estimate diploid male frequency and evaluate genetic diversity. We also measured morphological traits, including body size and head width, to explore whether morphology varied with habitat development or diploidy. This study integrates fine-scale geographic sampling with molecular and morphological tools to investigate how landscape development may influence genetic diversity and population condition in wild Bombus populations.