Haploid and Sexual Selection Shape the Rate of Evolution of Genes across the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera L.) Genome.

Many species have separate haploid and diploid phases. Theory predicts that each phase should experience the effects of evolutionary forces (like selection) differently. In the haploid phase, all fitness-affecting alleles are exposed to selection, whereas in the diploid phase, those same alleles can be masked by homologous alleles.

Population Genetics of Reproductive Genes in Haplodiploid Species.

Many animal species are haplodiploid: their fertilized eggs develop into diploid females and their unfertilized eggs develop into haploid males. The unique genetic features of haplodiploidy raise the prospect that these systems can be used to disentangle the population genetic consequences of haploid and diploid selection. To this end, sex-specific reproductive genes are of particular interest because, while they are shared within the same genome, they consistently experience selection in different ploidal environments.

Prospects in Connecting Genetic Variation to Variation in Fertility in Male Bees.

Bees are economically and ecologically important pollinating species. Managed and native bee species face increasing pressures from human-created stressors such as habitat loss, pesticide use, and introduced pathogens. There has been increasing attention towards how each of these factors impacts fertility, especially sperm production and maintenance in males.

The geometric framework for nutrition reveals interactions between protein and carbohydrate during larval growth in honey bees.

In holometabolous insects, larval nutrition affects adult body size, a life history trait with a profound influence on performance and fitness. Individual nutritional components of larval diets are often complex and may interact with one another, necessitating the use of a geometric framework for elucidating nutritional effects. In the honey bee, , nurse bees provision food to developing larvae, directly moderating growth rates and caste development.